Zuiko

Zuiko is the name of the camera lenses made by Olympus, from the first one, mounted in 1936 on the Semi Olympus, to the present day. All the Olympus cameras use the Zuiko lenses made by the company.

Zuikō is written 瑞光 in Japanese and can be translated as "auspicious optics" or "auspicious light". It is the abbreviation of Mizuho Kōgaku Kenkyūjo (瑞穂光学研究所, Mizuho Optical Research Institute), a branch of Takachiho Seisakusho (the later Olympus) that had been founded to develop a camera lens.

Where a lens is denominated with a letter before the Zuiko name (e.g. D.Zuiko or F.Zuiko) it represents the number of optical elements in the lens. The letter's placing in the alphabet corresponds to the number of elements present - so a D.Zuiko lens has 4 elements, and a F.Zuiko has 6.

Zuiko interchangeable lenses

• OM series: see Olympus OM lenses
• M42 (FTL) series: see 42mm screw lenses
• Pen F series: see Olympus Pen F lenses
• Ace series: see Olympus Ace
• Exakta lens: see Exakta lenses
• Leica screw lens: see 39mm screw lenses
• Olympus Standard lenses: see Olympus Standard
• Zuiko Digital series for the Four-Thirds system: see Four-Thirds lenses

Zuiko for other companies

The Zuiko lenses were also mounted on some cameras made by other Japanese companies:

• Airesflex by Aires
• Elmoflex by Elmo
• Mamiya Six by Mamiya
• Wagoflex by Walz
• Wester Chrome Six R by Nishida
• perhaps some Semi Minolta by Chiyoda Kogaku

List of Zuiko lenses

13.5×18mm lenses

A range of 'Zuiko Digital'-branded lenses developed for the Four-Thirds digital SLR system. See Four-Thirds lenses for further details.

18×24mm lenses

A range of interchangeable SLR lenses for the half-frame Pen F system - see Olympus Pen F lenses for further details.

24×36mm lenses

A large range of interchangeable lenses for the 35mm OM system was developed over a period of thirty years; see Olympus OM lenses for further details.

4×4cm lenses

• 60/2.8 Olympus D.Zuiko, 4 elements, taking and viewing lens of the Eye Flex B
• 60/3.5, elements unknown, taking and viewing lens of the Eye Flex A

4×5cm lenses

Interchangeable lenses of the Olympus Standard: see Olympus Standard.

4.5×6cm and 6×6cm lenses

• 75/4.5, four elements, three groups
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo Zuiko 1:4.5 f=75mm No.xxxx (or Zuikō?), black face:
    • Semi Olympus (early)
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx Zuiko 1:4.5 f=7.5cm, black face:
    • Semi Olympus (late)
    • Semi Olympus II
    • Olympus Six I

• 75/3.5, four elements, three groups
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxxx Zuiko 1:3.5 f=7.5cm, white face:
    • Olympus Six II
    • Olympus Six postwar
    • Chrome Six I
    • Mamiya Six, some
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxxx Zuiko 1:3.5 f=7.5cm, black face:
    • Elmoflex, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko Coated 1:3.5 f=7.5cm No.xxxxx, white face:
    • Chrome Six IIIA, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko Coated 1:3.5 f=7.5cm No.xxxxx, red Zuiko, white face:
    • Mamiya Six, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm No.xxxxx, red C., white face:
    • Chrome Six I
    • Chrome Six IIIA, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm No.xxxxx, red Zuiko C., white face:
    • Mamiya Six, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm No.xxxxxx, black C., white face:
    • Chrome Six I
  • marked Olympus Zuiko F.C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm xxxxxx or No,xxxxxx, white face:
    • Chrome Six IIIA, some
    • Mamiya Six, some
    • Wester Chrome Six R, some
  • marked Olympus Zuiko F.C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm, black face:
    • Olympus Flex BII, taking lens
    • Olympus Flex A3.5, viewing lens on all, taking lens on some (?)
    • Olympus Flex A3.5 II, viewing and taking lens on some
    • Wagoflex, viewing and taking lens on some
  • recomputed, marked Olympus D.Zuiko F.C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm xxxxxx, white face:
    • Chrome Six IIIA, some
    • Chrome Six IVA
    • Chrome Six RIIA, some (black depth of field plate)
  • marked Olympus D.Zuiko F.C. 1:3.5 f=7.5cm xxxxxx, black face:
    • Chrome Six VA (white depth of field plate)
    • Chrome Six RIIA, some (white depth of field plate)
    • Olympus Flex A3.5, taking lens on some
    • Olympus Flex A3.5 II, viewing and taking lens on some
    • Mamiya Six, some
    • Mamiyaflex, some

• 75/3.5, five elements:
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxxx Zuiko-S 1:3.5 f=7.5cm, white face:
    • Olympus Six, some

• 75/2.8, four elements, three groups
  • marked Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxxx Zuiko 1:2.8 f=7.5cm, black face:
    • Chrome Six II
  • marked Olympus Zuiko Coated 1:2.8 f=7.5cm No.xxxxx, black face:
    • Chrome Six II
  • marked Olympus Zuiko C. 1:2.8 f=7.5cm No.xxxxxx, black face:
    • Chrome Six II
  • marked Olympus Zuiko F.C. 1:2.8 f=7.5cm xxxxxx or No,xxxxxx, black face:
    • Chrome Six II
    • Chrome Six IIIB
    • Chrome Six IVB
    • Chrome Six VB
    • Chrome Six RIIB
    • Olympus Flex I, viewing lens
    • Olympus Flex BI, viewing lens
    • Olympus Flex BII, viewing lens
    • Olympus Flex A2.8, viewing lens on all, taking lens on some
  • marked Olympus D.Zuiko F.C. 1:2.8 f=7.5cm xxxxxx, black face:
    • Olympus Flex A2.8, taking lens on some

• 75/2.8, six elements, four groups
  • marked Olympus F.Zuiko F.C. 1:2.8 f=7.5cm xxxxxx, black face:
    • Olympus Flex I, taking lens
    • Olympus Flex BI, taking lens

Other lenses

• 50/4.5 enlarging lens, seen in a 1941 ad published on this page
• 200/4.5, marked Takatiho Noxxxx ZUIKO 1:4.5 f=200mm, for aerial camera

Links

• A page of the Olympus corporate site, in the Zuiko Club pages, with an explanation of the Zuiko name