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 of the body

The following description is based on pictures of two surviving cameras as well as on period advertisements.

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. 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 certainly 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.

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 T–I selector (T for Time on the front position, I for Instant on the rear position). 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, with an arrow engraved to indicate the selected shutter speed. This step corresponds to the viewfinder window. The accessory shoe is slightly offset to the left, and the serial number is engraved just in front of it. The left end of the top plate is engraved Olympus Standard in handwritten style. 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.

Standard lens

The standard lens is a Zuiko 65mm f/3.5. It is a collapsible lens with a chrome finish. The focusing helical is driven by a focusing tab with an infinity lock. Quite unusually, the distance scale is on the fixed part and there is a depth of field scale on the rotating part of the focusing helical. 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.

Advertisements and lens range

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

The advertisement dated August 1937 presented the Olympus Standard alone. It offered the body with the standard 6.5cm f/3.5 Zuiko lens (written 瑞光), for ¥275 (case, lens hood and distant release included). It also presented 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 announced as available soon, certainly indicating that they were at a less advanced stage of development. Only the 65/3.5 standard lens is known for sure to exist.

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 that appears in the advertisements is the same OLYMPUS TOKYO logo that is engraved on the cameras.

It is usually said that the Standard was abandoned because the military required the company to concentrate on other projects. However it is suspected that this story was spread by the company and that it is only part of the reason. We cannot discard the possibility that the Standard was abandoned because it was plagued by reliability problems, as would be the later Gokoku and Ricohl 3×4 rangefinder models made by Riken. This would not be shameful given that the Standard was a very ambitious design for the company's first camera body.

Surviving examples

It is said that only ten prototypes were produced. The Olympus Standard No 102 is still owned by Olympus, and 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 these two surviving examples: in No 102, the viewfinder window is red tinted and the rangefinder window is green tinted, while 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). There is a rumour saying that one of them was sold by mistake during its presentation in a photographic fair in 1937 and was quickly dismantled by Leitz technicians.

Bibliography

• 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.
• 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-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.
• 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.

Links

In English:

• Olympus 35 page, including the Standard, at the Biofos site by John Foster
• Medium format camera page at the Olympus corporate history site (the Standard is hidden in the yellow box at the Semi Olympus I entry)

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, with