Zuiko

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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". The name was adopted after a contest open to the company employees,[1] being a contraction of the first characters of "Mizuho Kōgaku Kenkyūjo" (瑞穂光学研究所, meaning Mizuho Optical Research Institute), name of a branch of Takachiho Seisakusho (the later Olympus) founded to develop the 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. Olympus began to phase out these letter designations when introducing new products in the early 1980s (e.g. the XA-3 and XA-4).

Zuiko interchangeable lenses

Zuiko for other companies

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

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 single lens was made in Leica screw mount; see Zuiko 4cm f/2.8 for Leica.

A single lens was made in Exakta mount; see Zuiko 4cm f/3.5 for Exakta.

A small range of interchangeable lenses in 42mm screw mount was developed for the Olympus FTL; see 42mm screw lenses for further details.

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

The first prototype lenses made by Takachiho in 1936 include the 75/4.5 mounted on the Semi Olympus, a 105/4.5 for 6.5×9cm format (listed below), and perhaps a 75/3.5.[2]

565416670_afe13fe9e9_m_d.jpg

The "lowest" and "highest" numbers correspond to the serial numbers actually observed.

  • 75/4.5, four elements, three groups
    • marked Takatiho Tôkyô Zuikô 1:4.5 f=75mm. No.xxxx, black face (lowest 1048, highest 1141):
    • marked Zuikô 1:4,5 f=7.5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx, black face (lowest 144x, highest 3797):
    • marked Zuiko 1:4,5 f=7.5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx, black face (lowest 5253, highest 7157):
  • 75/4.5, five elements, three groups
    • marked Zuiko–S 1:4,5 f=7,5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.1xxxx, black face (lowest 12507, highest 13501):
  • 75/3.5, four elements, three groups
    • marked Zuiko 1:3,5 f=7,5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxxx, silver face (wartime: lowest 7242, highest 10727)
  • 75/3.5, five elements, three groups
    • marked Zuiko–S 1:3,5 f=7,5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.1xxxx, silver face (lowest 12126, highest 12126):
  • 75/2.8, six elements, four groups

6.5×9cm lens

  • 105/4.5, four elements, three groups, first prototype lens made by Takachiho, intended for 6.5×9cm plate cameras[3]

High-aperture lenses

Three high-aperture lenses were developed from 1936–7, using Japanese optical glass, after a request from the Japanese government:[4]

  • Zuiko f/2.7, five elements in three groups
  • Falcon f/2, six elements in four groups
  • Olympar f/1.5, six elements in five groups

It seems that the projects were first designed with a focal length of 50mm, then that a 65mm version of the Zuiko f/2.7 and Falcon f/2 was planned for the Olympus Standard.[5] It is unclear if any of these lenses were actually made.[6]

The Olympar f/1.5 design later evolved as the Zuiko 50/1.5, which was produced in small quantities and sold to Shimazu Seisakusho for X-ray cameras made around 1940.[7] It is said that some of these lenses appeared on the market after the war, perhaps in Leica screw mount and perhaps sold by Shimazu as surplus.[8]

Aerial lenses

Enlarging lenses

  • 50/4.5 enlarging lens, sold ¥60 in 1941[11]
  • 75/4.5 enlarging lens, four elements, three groups, marked Olympus Zuiko C. 1:4,5 f=7,5cm xxxxxx[12]
  • 75/3.5 enlarging lens, four elements, three groups[10]

Notes

  1. ↑ Maitani, "Kamera-zukuri he no bōken"; Sakai, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20; Francesch, p.19.
  2. ↑ The 75/3.5 is only mentioned in Sakai, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  3. ↑ Hagiya, p.13 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  4. ↑ Sakai, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20. "Orinpasu kamera shisakuki 2-shu", p.59 of the same magazine. Japanese optical glass: Sakurai Eiichi, p.67 of the same magazine.
  5. ↑ "Orinpasu kamera shisakuki 2-shu", p.59 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20. The Zuiko 65/2.7 and Falcon 65/2 appear in an advertisement for the Olympus Standard dated August 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.62.
  6. ↑ Sakurai, p.67 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20, seems to imply that they were not.
  7. ↑ Sakurai Eiichi, p.67 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  8. ↑ Sakurai and Saeki, p.67 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  9. ↑ "Orinpasu renzu hoi", p.81 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20, and example observed for sale at a dealer.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Mentioned in "Orinpasu renzu hoi", p.81 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  11. ↑ Advertisement dated 1941, reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura.
  12. ↑ "Orinpasu renzu hoi", p.81 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20. The example pictured has no.104603.

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese:

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