by Karen Nakamura
The Olympus Wide-S was a revolutionary camera when it was released in 1957. It was an affordable (¥37,000) rangefinder with a very bright wide-angle lens. In comparison, the Nikon SP released the same year with a 50mm f/1.4 lens kit was ¥98,000.
It was the second revision of the Olympus Wide (1955) which had a very wide 35mm lens, but no rangefinder. Since the Wide had only an f/3.5 lens, you could get away with just scale-focusing. But the Wide-S came with a bright f/2 lens, so it needed a rangefinder. Olympus put in a very nice coupled rangefinder and replaced the Copal leaf shutter with a Seikosha shutter that could reach 1/500 sec.
The Zuiko lens in the Wide-S is incredible. It has 8 elements in 6 groups and is very well corrected. That Olympus put such a nice lens in a consumer camera is a testament to their dedication to optical quality.
I bought my Wide-S at a yard sale in St. Paul in 2003.10. It was the seller's mom, and he was selling it for next to nothing. It came with the original "Tower" everready leather case. The Tower case indicates that it was sold through the Sears Roebuck department store, which used to be a major camera dealer. The camera itself has no markings indicating the relationship with Tower/Sears, although the rangefinder is calibrated in feet.
Trivia: The Wide-S stands for "Wide-Super" but it's not marked that way on the body. The 8 element lens is extremely well corrected, but is prone to flare.
| Camera
Name |
Wide | Wide-S |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer |
Olympus | Olympus |
| Place
of Manufacture |
Body:
Japan |
Body:
Japan |
| Date
of Manufacture |
1955-57 | 1957-58 |
| Focusing
System |
Viewfinder
(no rangefinder) |
Coupled
rangefinder (~xx mm baselength) |
| Fixed
Lens |
35mm, f/3.5, D.Zuiko-W lens (4 elements in 3 groups) Minimum focusing distance = 0.7 meters (~2.2 feet) Left
focusing (infinity on left side) |
35mm, f/2, H.Zuiko-W lens (8 elements in 6 groups) Minimum focusing distance = 0.7 meters (~2.2 feet) Left focusing
(infinity on left side) |
| Shutter |
Copal-MXV
leaf shutter |
Seikosha
SLV leaf shutter |
| Metering
System |
none |
none |
| Apertures |
f/3.5-f/16 (1 step stops) |
f/2-f/16 (1 step stops) |
| Flash |
External
cold accessory shoe |
External
cold accessory shoe |
| Film
type / speeds |
Type
135 (35mm standard) film |
Type
135 (35mm standard) film |
| Battery
type |
none | none |
| Dimensions
and weight |
125 x 80 x 60 mm 540g |
xx x
xx x xx mm g |
| Retail
price |
¥16,900 (1955) | ¥39,000 (1957) |
Although people think that Olympus must be a recent company, it actually has very old roots. It was founded in 1919 as "Takachiho Seisakusho" as a manufacturer of optical goods, with its first product being a microscope. In 1921, they released their first "Olympus" brand product. Their first camera came out in 1936, the Semi-Olympus with 75mm f/4.5 Zuiko lens. In 1949, the company changed their name to "Olympus Optical Co." after their main brand. One of their designers Yoshihisa Maitani, is famed for some classic designs:
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