Super Olympic

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The Super Olympic (スーパーオリンピック) is a Japanese 35mm camera made of bakelite. It was distributed by Asahi Bussan from 1935 or 1936 and certainly by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō after 1938.[1] It was perhaps the first 35mm Japanese camera and certainly the first 35mm Japanese camera with a leaf shutter.

General description

The Super Olympic has a bakelite body. The name SUPER is moulded in the bakelite on the front left side. The body has a rounded shape like the first Olympic cameras but it is longer. The back and bottom plate are detachable to load the film. They are locked in place by a small screw at the rear center, near the bottom edge of the back. The pressure plate is hinged to the top of the exposure chamber.

The lens and shutter assembly is fixed and there is a massive metal ring at the base of the lens barrel. It looks like the ring for the bakelite helical of the Olympic C and Vest Olympic but it has a decorative purpose only. There is a tubular optical finder, an advance knob at the top right, an automatic film advance device and an exposure counter. The advance is unlocked by a small button on the right of the finder.

The Super Olympic D

The Super Olympic D uses 35mm film in a pair of cassettes. It does not have a rewind knob and transports the film from one cassette to the other. The advance knob has a flat top and the exposure counter is on the left end of the top plate: the frame number is visible in a window inside a fixed cylinder, and a small knob protrudes from the middle of the same cylinder. The tubular finder is in the middle of the top plate and is attached to the body by two screws.

The name and frame size are engraved on the metal ring at the base of the lens barrel: SUPER OLYMPIC MOD. D PICTURE SIZE 3.6 X 2.4 cm. The everset shutter gives T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds and the shutter plate is marked SUPER OLYMPIC at the top and MADE IN JAPAN MOD. D. 36×24mm at the bottom, with the AB logo of Asahi Bussan on the right. The lens is a front-cell focusing Ukas 50mm f/4.5. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate. On the early examples, the distance numbers are engraved on the front of the lens rim and the lens bezel is engraved UKAS 1:4.5 F=50mm Nr xxxx; on later examples the distance scale is on the outer edge of the rim and the lens bezel is engraved UKAS Anastigmat 1:4.5 F=50mm Nr xxxxx.[2]

In advertisements by Asahi Bussan dated August 1936, February and March 1937, the Super Olympic D was simply called "Super Olympic" (スーパーオリンピック) and was offered for ¥35 (case ¥4 extra).[3] All these advertisements show the early type of distance ring.

The Super Olympic D III

The Super Olympic D III was the successor of the model D. It uses only one film cassette and has a rewind knob and a take-up spool. The advance knob has a smaller stepped part in the middle. The engraving on the metal ring reads SUPER OLYMPIC MOD. D III PICTURE SIZE 3.6 X 2.4 cm.

Two versions are known. The early version has the exposure counter at the left end of the top plate. It consists of a disc that can be manually reset by two pins and it is surmounted by a small rewind knob shaped like a mushroom. The finder and the advance unlock button are identical to those mounted on the Super Olympic D.

This early version appeared with an f/4.5 lens in an advertisement in Asahi Camera dated March 1937 where it was offered for ¥45, along with the model D that was still listed for ¥35.[4] The pictured camera has the early type of distance ring described for the Super Olympic D and a similar shutter plate (except perhaps for the bottom marking).

The design of the shutter plate was modified at some time with larger silver strips. The Super Olympic D and D III were presented side by side in an advertisement published at the end of 1937 in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938.[5] In the advertising picture, the D III has the newer shutter plate and the older distance ring. The same advertisement also offered T, B, 1–250 shutters and f/3.5 lenses, mentioned as "available on request".

The actual examples observed of the D III have the new type of distance ring and the newer shutter plate, marked MOD. D. III MADE IN JAPAN at the bottom. The lens is either a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/4.5 or a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5.[6]

The late version has the exposure counter between the viewfinder and the rewind knob. The exposure counter consists of a rotating disc which can be reset by turning a small pin in the middle. The rewind knob has a cylindrical shape. The viewfinder is larger and is slightly offset to the right. It is attached to the body by four screws. The only example of this version observed so far has a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5 lens and T, B, 250, 150, 50, 25 speeds.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ This page of the JCII collection says that the Super Olympic was released in April 1935 and Lewis, p. 42, says May 1935. Tanaka, p. 13 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14, Sugiyama, item 3039 and McKeown, p. 85, all say 1936. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 335, lists advertisements dated 1936 and 1937 and says that the camera was featured in the new products column of the April 1936 issue of Asahi Camera.
  2. ↑ Examples with the early type of distance ring are pictured in this page of Massimo Bertacchi's website, in this page of the JCII collection, in Lewis, p. 42 and in Sugiyama, item 3039. An example with the late type of distance ring is pictured in McKeown, p.&nbsp85 and another was sold in the Westlicht Auction no. 4, lot 611.
  3. ↑ August 1936 advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 63. February 1937 advertisement published in Camera Art, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 63. March 1937 advertisement published in Shashin Salon, reproduced in Tanaka, p. 9 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14.
  4. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 63.
  5. ↑ Advertisement published by Asahi Bussan at the end of 1937 in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, pp. 694–5.
  6. ↑ The early version of the Super Olympic D III is pictured with an f/4.5 lens in Tanaka, p. 14 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14. It has been observed with an f/3.5 lens in an eBay auction.
  7. ↑ Example pictured in Tanaka, p. 14 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14. One of the pictures is reproduced in small size in this page of the Ricoh official website.

Bibliography

Links

In English:

In Japanese:


Asahi Bussan and Riken prewar and wartime cameras (edit)
rigid or collapsible
Vest Adler | Gokoku | Semi Kinsi | Letix | Olympic | New Olympic | Regal Olympic | Semi Olympic | Super Olympic | Vest Olympic | Riken No.1 | Ricohl | Roico | Seica | Zessan
folders pseudo TLR TLR
Semi Adler | Adler III | Adler A | Adler B | Adler C | Adler Four | Adler Six | Gaica | Heil | Kinsi Chukon Ref Ricohflex | Ricohflex B
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