Olympus Standard

The Olympus Standard (オリンパス・スタンダード) is a rangefinder camera, made in 1937 by Takachiho (predecessor of Olympus) at prototype level.

Description

The Olympus Standard takes 4×5cm pictures on 127 film. It has a coupled rangefinder combined with the viewfinder, and a focal plane shutter with T, B, 20–500 speeds. The advance knob is at the right end of the top plate, as seen by the photographer. It simultaneously advances the film and winds the shutter, and its base is surrounded by an exposure counter. There is a red window at the left of the back, protected by a sliding cover and used to set the first exposure. The back is opened by a key under the camera, and is removable together with the bottom plate. There is a plate under the camera at the center, that slides forward to act as a support leg. Inside the back, the camera has a removable pressure plate, said to be made of aluminium.

On the top plate, immediately to the left of the advance knob, there is a hole for a distant release connection. The shutter release itself is just behind, combined with a two-position selector, marked T and I and easily mistaken for a Time and Instant selector. This is actually used for film loading, to disconnect the film advance from the shutter operation: when set on the T position, the coupling mechanism is disengaged and the film is freely wound until the number 1 appears in the red window, then the exposure counter is manually reset to zero and the selector is switched to the I position for normal operation.

To the left of the distant release hole is the shutter speed selector, with the following positions: B, 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 500. Just to the left there is a step in the top plate, corresponding to the viewfinder window, with a small arrow engraved to indicate the selected shutter speed. The accessory shoe is slightly offset to the left, and the serial number is engraved just in front of it: No 1xx. The left end of the top plate is engraved Olympus Standard in cursive script. The rangefinder window is at the left end of the body. Between the two windows is an OLYMPUS TOKYO logo. The same logo is also embossed in the back leather, on the right.

The Olympus Standard has an interchangeable lens, screwed to the front of the focusing helical. The helical itself is attached to the body and does not come off, the same as on the Contax. It is driven by a tab and has an infinity lock. Quite unusually, the distance scale is fixed and the depth-of-field indications are on the rotating part. No other lens mount is visible, and it is unclear how the tele and wide angle lenses would have been focused or coupled to the rangefinder.

The standard lens is a Zuiko 65mm f/3.5, with an all chrome finish. It is collapsible, with an internal three-lug bayonet to maintain the extended position. The aperture ring is on the front and the aperture scale goes from 3.5 to 22. The lens bezel is black, with the following marking in white: Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx Zuiko 1:3.5 f=65mm.

History

Origin

The Olympus Standard was the first camera designed by Sakurai Eiichi. It is said that Sakurai was engaged in 1935 because Yamashita Takeshi, founder of the company, wanted to make cameras. However the company had not yet made its first experimental camera lenses at the time, and the first commitment given to Sakurai was a revolving head for a microscope. Yamashita wanted to emulate the Carl Zeiss and Zeiss Ikon companies, and the Olympus Standard and Semi Olympus II (designed by Kitakawa) were positioned as rivals of the Contax and Ikonta.

Public announce and lens range

The Olympus Standard was presented to the public in 1937. It was advertised in Asahi Camera from June to December, and was featured in the new products column of the August issue of the same magazine.

The August 1937 advertisement is for the Olympus Standard alone, offered with the standard 6.5cm f/3.5 Zuiko lens (written 瑞光), for ¥275 (case, lens hood and distant release included). It also gives a list of interchangeable lenses:

• Zuiko 6.5cm f/3.5: ¥100;
• Zuiko 6.5cm f/2.7: ¥145;
• Falcon 6.5cm f/2: ¥225;
• Zuiko 5cm f/4.5: ¥90;
• Zuiko 13.5cm f/4.5: ¥130.

The Falcon 65/2 and the Zuiko 135/4.5 were only announced as "available soon" (近日発売), certainly indicating that they were at a less advanced stage of development. The Zuiko f/2.7 and Falcon f/2 designs were part of a program subsidized by the Japanese government, to develop high-aperture lenses from Japanese optical glass (see Olympus); the f/2.7 has six elements in four groups and the f/2 has six elements in five groups. Only the 65/3.5 standard lens is known to exist for sure.

The October 1937 advertisement presented the Olympus Standard together with the early version of the Semi Olympus II. This time no price was indicated and no interchangeable lens was listed. It is probable that the company had already abandoned the idea of selling the camera.

Both advertisements mention the maker K.K. Takachiho Seisakusho (distinguished by the Ministry of the Navy) and the two authorized dealers Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten and Misuzu Shōkai. The logo appearing in the advertisements is the same OLYMPUS TOKYO logo as engraved on the cameras.

The end

The development of the Standard was stopped after only ten prototypes were made.

It is sometimes said that the Standard was abandoned because the military required the company to concentrate on other projects. This explanation is probably oversimplified. The military demands may have contributed to the abandon of the project: military orders became more numerous after the outbreak of war with China in 1937, and these high-priority tasks certainly drove the attention of the most qualified engineers and technicians, making them unavailable for other tasks.

Sakurai Eiichi once said that the company did not have enough resource to reach serial production of such a complex model: "Even if we could design and make the first prototypes of the Olympus Standard, if the camera were produced, it would have ruined the company at the same time." Sakurai also mentions film flatness problems caused by the choice of 127 film, which is rolled too tight on slim spools. The designer was perhaps disappointed by the image quality, which probably did not reflect the quality of the lens, a critical point on such a pricey camera. (Sakurai became particularly aware of this problem and conducted research on film flatness after the war, which resulted on the film tensioner of the Olympus Chrome Six III and Olympus Flex.)

Other reliability problems might have emerged, notably with the auto-stop advance and its coupling to the focal plane shutter, but the sources are silent on that point. (Some years later, the comparable Gokoku and Ricohl 3×4cm cameras made by Riken were plagued by numerous film spacing problems, and the delays caused harsh complaints from the first customers which had bought the camera by anticipated payment.) In any case, the camera was not yet ready for serial production, and more time and efforts were needed to overcome the problems, more than the company could afford.

Surviving examples

At least two of the ten prototypes survive. Body no.102 is still owned by Olympus, and body no.110 was sold on May 10th, 2006 at the Yahoo Japan auction site, in quite poor condition. The pictures show only one difference between the two: in no.102, the viewfinder window is red tinted and the rangefinder window is green tinted, whereas in no.110 at least the viewfinder window is clear.

Both surviving bodies come with a standard 65/3.5 lens. The lens attached to the body no.102 has no.1300, and the lens attached to the body no.110 has a serial number in the same range. Both lenses look similar except the infinity lock button.

The fate of the other prototypes is unknown (the serial numbers probably ranged from 101 to 110). It is said that one of them was sold by mistake during its presentation in a photographic fair at the Mitsukoshi department store in 1937; the rumour says that it was quickly sent to Germany where it was dismantled by Leitz technicians. It is also said that one example was sold second-hand by a camera shop in Tokyo in 1946, we may only wonder if it was no.110 or not.

Bibliography

Original documents

• Asahi Camera. Advertisements by Takachiho Seisakusho:
  • June 1937, p.A68;
  • July 1937, p.A71;
  • August 1937, p.A71;
  • September 1937, p.A75;
  • October 1937, p.A58;
  • November 1937, p.A54;
  • December 1937, p.A52.
• Asahi Camera August 1937. "Atarashii kikai to zairyō" (新しい機械と材料, New equipment and machinery). Pp.353–4.

Recent sources

• Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Item 36. (See also the advertisements for item 38.)
• Francesch, Dominique and Jean-Paul. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Olympus de 1936 à 1983. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27679-X. Pp.22 and 114–5.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P.747.
• "Orinpasu kamera shisakuki 2-shu" (オリンパスカメラ試作機2種, Two experimental Olympus cameras). Anonymous column about the Olympus Standard and Olympus Eye Flex. Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no. 20, 25 March 1992. No ISBN number. Orinpasu no subete (オリンパスのすべて, special issue on Olympus). P.59.
• Orinpasu-ten — oputo-dejitaru-tekunolojī no kiseki (オリンパス展・オプトデジタルテクノロジーの軌跡, Olympus exhibition, the tracks of opto-digital technology). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2005. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) Pp.3 and 24.
• Pont, P.-H., and Princelle, J.-L. 300 Leica Copies. Neuilly: Fotosaga, 1990. ISBN 2-906840-03-3. P.252. (Contains one picture and a short description.)
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 3043.
• "Zadankai: Orinpasu no michi" (座談会・オリンパスの道, Conversation: the way of Olympus). Interview of Sakurai Eiichi (桜井栄一), Maitani Yoshihisa (米谷美久) and Kawazoe Mitsuo (河添光男), by Saeki Kakugorō (佐伯恪五郎). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no. 20, 25 March 1992. No ISBN number. Orinpasu no subete (オリンパスのすべて, special issue on Olympus). Pp.64–71.

Links

In English:

• Olympus Standard in the medium format camera page of the Olympus official history site
• Olympus 35 page, including the Standard, at the Biofos site by John Foster
• Olympus camera history at the Unofficial Olympus OM Sales Information File

In Italian:

• Cronologia della fotografia in the Reflex Online website

In Japanese:

• Olympus Standard in the Olympus history pages of the Olympus Photo Club website
• Olympus Standard in the Map Camera Museum