This was a very question I was going to ask. I've recently acquired a
fairly beat-up Ace here in England. And with Hans' Olympus history pages on
site now it looks like an opportune time to share our knowledge on Olympus'
early 35mm cameras so that Hans' history pages can become more
comprehensive.
Just recently there three of these on E-bay a 35K which sported a
fixed f3.5 Zuiko and rangefinder and two 35Ss. Interestingly they were a
little different, one with f2.8 Zuiko and smaller finder and the other with
a f3.5 and what looked like a brightline finder. Both were equipped with
rangefinders. Digging around on the Web I found some pictures and more text
but in Japanese at www.olympus.co.jp, the official Olympus site. It looks as
if the text included production figures as well as dates but perhaps some
Japanese reading members of the list could do a translation. Included are
pictures of 35mm with f3.5 Zuiko and selenium meter but no rangefinder, an
another 35 with an f1.8 Zuiko, rangefinder and brightline finder. And what
looks like othe 35S sold on E-bay but with knob rather than lever wind. The
picture of the 35I reminds me that that very first Olympus 35mm camera
sported a 24 x 32mm image size rather than the conventional 24 x 36mm.
Back to the Ace. I think I know why the Ace was in production for a very
short time only the bayonet lens mount is undersized and rather fragile. I
bought a 80mm f5.6 with the Ace but two out of the three flanges pieces were
broken off. And the standard lens was a very floppy fit in the camera. The
flange sections had stretched upwards a juidicious touch with a small
hammer straightened them out and now the lens is a reasonably tight fit on
the camera. The suppliers are supposed to be sending me a replacement 80mm
which has all the bayonet intact. However the finder is really good as is
the rangefinder so it's a real pity that Olympus did not get the bayonet
right.
And finally for Hans' history site on another site
www.cosmonet.org/camera/olympus_e.html I found details and a picture of an
Olympus Chrome Six IVA from 1954 which was pretty similar to the other
Olympus Six folding 120 cameras but sporting a non coupled rangefinder and
alternative masking for 6 x 4.5cm images.
Hilary
----------
>From: Canon50E@xxxxxxx
>To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] Olympus Ace E Rangefinder
>Date: Mon, Jul 3, 2000, 9:13 pm
>
> Hi, I would like to know if anyone here has any information about the Olympus
> Ace E rangefinder camera from the 60's. I recently acquired a Tower 19 which
> is said to be identical to the Olympus Ace E. Actually it's made by Olympus
> for Sear's Tower. I'm also looking for any scans or pictures you may have.
> I've searched all over the web and could hardly find any information about
> this camera, it doesn't look like it even exists. I looked my old ''95-96
> McKeown's to know what it was.
>
> Sincerely yours,
> Kar Yan Mak
> http://www.kyphoto.com/classics
>
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