Semi Olympus II

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582928294_ce7d22ba80_m_d.jpg
Picture courtesy of Richard Marks. (Image rights)
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The Semi Olympus II (セミ・オリンパス・Ⅱ型) is a 4.5×6cm folder, made from 1937 by Takachiho (later Olympus). It was the first camera entirely made by the company, after the Semi Olympus whose body was bought elsewhere. It was succeeded in 1940 by the Olympus Six, which was first announced as the Semi Olympus III, despite its different 6×6cm format.

Contents

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Description

582649573_13221a8c51_m_d.jpg
Advance knob and serial number. (Image rights)

The Semi Olympus II is a horizontal folder taking 4.5×6cm pictures. The body was designed by Mr Kitagawa (北川).[1] The folding struts are the same as on the Balda products, certainly under the influence of the previous Semi Olympus. The camera has a tubular viewfinder, an advance knob at the left end of the top plate, as seen by the photographer, and an accessory shoe at the right end. The serial number is engraved in the advance knob, together with an arrow indicating the winding direction.

The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle; there are two red windows at the bottom to control the film advance, covered by a black plate pivoting on an axis in the middle. The bottom of the camera has two film flanges, with the shape of a truncated cone; one has a 1/4″ tripod thread and the other has a 3/8″ thread. The OLYMPUS TOKYO logo is embossed at two places: in the back leather (above the red windows) and in the handle. The lens is the same Zuiko 75/4.5 as on the previous Semi Olympus.

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Evolution through original documents

The Semi Olympus II was advertised in Asahi Camera from October 1937 to March 1940, and it was featured in the January 1938 issue of the same magazine.[2]

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First version, offset finder

The first version of the camera is pictured in advertisements from October 1937 to February 1938 and in a brochure dated 1937.[3] The viewfinder is offset to the left (as seen by the photographer) and the folding bed release is in the middle of the top plate. In the documents, the shutter is called Laurel (ローレル, rōreru) and is said to give 1–150, B, T speeds with a self-timer. The name LAUREL is engraved at the base of the speed rim. The shutter plate is inscribed OLYMPUS-TOKYO-N at the top and the aperture scale is at the bottom. No surviving example has been observed with the offset finder and the Laurel shutter, and it is not clear whether this version was actually sold.

In the October 1937 advertisement in Asahi Camera,[4] no price is given and the camera is presented together with the Olympus Standard; Misuzu Shōkai and Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten are given as authorized dealers for the Standard, and it is unclear whether this applies to the Semi II as well.

The advertisement that appears in the November and December issues of Asahi Camera photographs the camera from a slightly different angle, prices the camera at ¥95, and names Misuzu and Yamashita as distributors for the Standard, not mentioning any distributor for the Semi.[5] In the full-page advertisement for the Semi Olympus II in the January 1938 issue of the same magazine, the Laurel shutter is stated to be designed by Takachiho based on the Prontor II shutter, and Yamashita is given as the distributor.[6] The advertisement in the February issue is revised: the distributors are now Yamashita and Mizuno Shashinki-ten.[7] The camera was also featured in the new products column of the January issue.[8]

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Regular version, centred finder

The advertisement in the March 1938 issue of Asahi Camera is the first in that magazine to show the regular version, with the tubular finder in the middle of the top plate and the folding bed release on the right.[9] That in the April issue at first looks the same, but there is no mention of the shutter (which is anyway not shown in the photograph of the camera).[10]

One of the pictures in the May 1938 advertisement in Asahi Camera[11] shows a number of cameras from a distance (at least twenty), indicating that the serial production of the camera bodies had begun. In another picture showing a camera from a closer distance, the shutter rim reads DAURED (or possibly DAUREL). It is not clear whether this engraving actually existed or if this is a retouched picture of a camera with Laurel shutter. It is said that the Laurel name was dropped because it was already registered by another company,[12] and the Daured name appearing in this advertisement was certainly the result of a hasty move. The shutter has speeds of 1–150, B, T, and the lens number is legible as 1448 or 1446. The lens number 144x certainly means that less than 500 examples of the Semi Olympus and Semi Olympus II were made up to May 1938.[13]

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Apparition of the Koho shutter

The advertisement in the June 1938 issue of Asahi Camera[14] shows the new shutter name Koho (コーホー), both in the text and on the pictured camera. The advertisement shows a mountain and a country road, with the catch-phrase "[Let's go] gallantly to the green mountains and fields" (緑の山野に颯爽と!), an allusion to the season and perhaps to the camera name Olympus and shutter name Kōhō (meaning "high peak" or "high mountain"). The company Honjō Shōkai was added to the list of authorized dealers and the price was still given as ¥95.

In advertisements dated July and September 1938, February and October 1939,[15] the price was raised to ¥105 and the company Hinode Kōgyō gradually replaced the three authorized dealers and became the sole distributor. The February 1939 advertisement says that the price of ¥105 comprised a lens hood and a cable release. The top speed is given as 1/150 in all these advertisements. Incidentally, in all the advertisements for the Semi Olympus II, the lens is called 瑞光 ("Zuikō") in kanji script whereas the shutter is called コーホー ("Kōhō") in katakana script.

The price of ¥105 and the Koho shutter to 1/150 also appear on two undated brochures for the Semi Olympus II.[16] In one of them, the lens number is legible as 1675 or 1678.[17] This camera was obviously made after the May 1938 "Daured" episode (see above): if it were existing before, the company would not have used a picture (original or retouched) showing the name Daured. This is again an indication that very few Olympus cameras were made before that date.

The Semi Olympus II was advertised in Asahi Camera until the March 1940 issue.[18] It was still mentioned in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, for ¥121.[19] It was also in a similar price list dated November 1941, for an unknown price.[20] The Olympus Six was already available for sale at that time, and the observed serial numbers seem to indicate that there was no overlap in the production of the two models. It is thus presumed that these prices applied to the remaining stocks of the Semi Olympus II, held by the company or by the retailers.

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Surviving examples

2448715588_985af1f993_m_d.jpg 2448715594_05b32ac926_m_d.jpg 2448715600_15ffc18865_m_d.jpg
2448715608_fb1c0a20cf_m_d.jpg 2448715602_c3ce50c838_m_d.jpg 2448715606_28a2b42763_m_d.jpg
Semi Olympus II no.5182, Zuiko 7.5cm f/4.5 lens no.3620, Koho shutter to 1/150.
Pictures courtesy of Adrian Gotts. (Image rights)

All the examples observed of the Semi Olympus II have the viewfinder centred above the top plate and a Koho shutter. The early examples have 1–150, B, T speeds. The lowest lens number observed so far on a surviving example is no.2001.[21]

582649591_94408169d2_m_d.jpg
Koho shutter to 1/200, no T setting. (Image rights)

An example is known with a folding optical finder centred above the top plate, instead of the tubular finder.[22] It has lens no.2048 and a Koho shutter, and the folding finder is probably not original.

On all the examples observed of the Semi Olympus II, the lens engraving differs from the early engraving found on the previous Semi Olympus. It is Zuikô 1:4,5 f=7.5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx (circunflex accent) up to lens no.3797 and Zuiko 1:4,5 f=7.5cm Takatiho Tokyo No.xxxx (no accent) from lens no.5253.[23]

Later examples have 1–200, B, T speeds, with no other change. The last known example with 1/150 top speed has body no.5368 and lens no.5253, and the earliest known example with 1/200 has body no.5362 and lens no.5389.[24] The different parts constituting the camera (body, shutter and lens) were not used in strict sequence, but the transition occurred around body and lens no.5300.

One isolated example is known with 1–200, B speeds and no T setting.[25] It has body no.6641 and lens no.6168, the highest numbers observed so far on a Semi Olympus II.

582928294_ce7d22ba80_m_d.jpg 582928368_0248f1fde7_m_d.jpg 582928302_97860db83c_m_d.jpg
582928362_63cf3054a6_m_d.jpg 582928304_1471663c58_m_d.jpg 582928308_ce7d22ba80_m_d.jpg
Semi Olympus II no.6641, Zuiko 7.5cm f/4.5 lens no.6168, Koho shutter to 1/200, no T setting.
Pictures courtesy of Richard Marks. (Image rights)
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Notes

  1. ↑ Sakurai Eiichi, p.64 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  2. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.335.
  3. ↑ Brochure (part 1 and part 2) reproduced in the medium format page of the Olympus official website. It has a sticker indicating a price of ¥105.
  4. ↑ Advertisement (on p.A59 of the magazine) reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.62, and in Hibi, p.62 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8.
  5. ↑ Asahi Camera November 1937, p.A54, and December 1937, p.A52.
  6. ↑ Asahi Camera January 1938, p.A54.
  7. ↑ Asahi Camera February 1938, p.A42.
  8. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.335.
  9. ↑ Asahi Camera March 1938, p.A52.
  10. ↑ Asahi Camera April 1938, p.A50.
  11. ↑ Asahi Camera May 1938, p.A52. Advertisement reproduced in Hibi, p.62 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8.
  12. ↑ Francesch, p.24. Hibi, p.63 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8, says that it was registered by Tōkyō Kōgaku but this is perhaps a confusion with the postwar Laurelflex made by that company.
  13. ↑ The pictured camera was certainly finished a short time before the advertisement was published. The company would not have published pictures of the older version in the previous advertisements if the new model was ready to be photographed.
  14. ↑ Asahi Camera June 1938, p.A50. Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.62, and in Hibi, p.62 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8.
  15. ↑ July 1938: advertisement published in Ars Camera reproduced in Hagiya, p.10 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20. — September 1938: advertisement published in Asahi Camera reproduced in the Gochamaze website and in Hibi, p.63 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8. — February 1939: advertisement published in Asahi Graph (8 February 1939), reproduced in the Gochamaze website. — October 1939: advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in this page of the Heiki Seikatsu website.
  16. ↑ First brochure (part 1 and part 2) and second brochure (part 1 and part 2) reproduced in the medium format page of the Olympus official website.
  17. ↑ Lens number legible on this page.
  18. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.335.
  19. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku", type 3, section 6B.
  20. ↑ "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, section 6B.
  21. ↑ Example pictured in Francesch (cover page) and in McKeown, p.747.
  22. ↑ Example picture in Hibi, p.63 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8, in Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten, p.21 and in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p.23.
  23. ↑ Lens no.3797: example pictured in Francesch, p.58, in Sugiyama, item 1215, in Hagiya, p.14 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20 and in this page of the Olympus Photo Club. Lens no.5253 (body no.5368): example pictured in Hagiya, p.14 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20.
  24. ↑ Body no.5368, lens no.5253: example pictured in Hagiya, p.14 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.20. Body no.5362, lens no.5389: example observed in an online auction.
  25. ↑ Example observed in an online auction.
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Bibliography

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Original documents

  • Advertisements for the Semi Olympus II: Asahi Camera October 1937, p.A59; November 1937, p.A54; December 1937, p.A52; January 1938, p.A54; February 1938, p.A42; March 1938, p.A52; April 1938, p.A50; May 1938, p.A52; June 1938, p.A50.
  • "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 3, section 6B.
  • "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp. 108–9. Type 3, section 6B.
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Recent sources

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Links

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General links

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Literature and advertisements

In Japanese:


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