Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Zuiko 21mm f/2

Olympus · Olympus OM · 1978 · Retrofocus with a floating group, 11 elements in 9 groups

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Zuiko MC Auto-W 21mm F2 · Zuiko Auto-W 21mm F2 · ZUIKO AUTO-W 21mm F2 · Olympus OM-System Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm · Olympus OM-System Zuiko Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm · Zuiko 21mm 1:2 · OM 21mm f/2 · Olympus 21mm f2 · ズイコー 21mm F2 · オリンパス OM 21mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm Olympus OM 1978 1003xx, 1021xx and 1407xx: lenses engraved MC in Paul Schings' coating survey; the 1407xx lens is engraved Zuiko MC Auto-W and shows green and magenta reflections —
Zuiko Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm Olympus OM — 1042xx: a multicoated lens whose engraving Schings records simply as Zuiko, which may be this version; the number sits below the 1407xx MC lens, so the survey does not put the two versions in serial order —
  1. The launch year is not settled. Olypedia gives 1978; lens-db lists the lens under 1979; PhotoArk's reviewer says 1978 or 1979; OM Mania says the early 1980s, alongside the OM-4; and a 1984 date circulates in dealer copy without a source behind it. The patent behind the design was filed in the United States on 25 April 1977, which rules out nothing but favours the earlier dates. The page carries 1978.
  2. The world's-first claim is Olympus's own, from the sales-information sheet: "The world's first 21mm focal length lens (92°) to provide a fast F2 speed." Olypedia adds that it held the speed record in the 19 to 21mm class for decades, until Sigma's 20mm f/1.8. The Japanese Wikipedia article on the OM system also lists the 21mm F2 as a world first.
  3. No dated list price has been found. OM Mania gives a Japanese list price of ¥132,000 without a year; Olypedia gives DM 1,094 from the 1992/93 edition of "der große Foto-Katalog". Neither is entered as a launch price.
  4. Blade count. Neither Olympus's specification table nor any source consulted gives it, so it is left out.
  5. A widely repeated claim that the lens was used to film the television series House traces to a DPReview forum thread that was not consulted here, and to shop copy derived from it. It is not carried.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 55mm filter thread and 250g on a 21mm f/2: the 21mm f/3.5 beside it takes 49mm and weighs 180g
  • Focuses to 0.2m with a floating group, which Olympus advertised as the cure for close-range fall-off
  • Black nose on every lens; there was never a chrome-nose or letter-prefix version
  • MC engraved or not is the only visible difference between the two versions

Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm:

  • MC engraved after Zuiko, no letter prefix, black nose; the first production version, and every known example is multicoated (Olypedia)

Zuiko Auto-W 1:2 f=21mm:

  • No MC on the name ring; constructionally no different from the MC lens (Olypedia)
  • Japanese dealers list it as the 最終型, the final type

Serial-range notes

1003xx – 1407xx
The four lenses in Paul Schings' 2001 coating survey: 1003xx (MC), 1021xx (MC; magenta front, magenta, green and yellow inner reflections), 1042xx (recorded as Zuiko) and 1407xx (Zuiko MC Auto-W). All are black and all multicoated. The survey is owner reports, not a factory list, and the MC lens at 1407xx above the plain lens at 1042xx means the engraving change cannot be read off the number from this evidence.

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus with a floating group, 11 elements in 9 groups
Designed by
Ikeda Yoshitsugi — inventor on US patent 4,145,116, Retrofocus type super wide angle lens system, filed 25 April 1977 and assigned to Olympus Optical (Olypedia)
Construction
11 elements / 9 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Min. focus
0.2 m
Dimensions
60 × 43.5 mm
Weight
250 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1978
Country
Japan
Coating
Multicoated on every known lens; engraved MC at first, the engraving dropped later
Original price
¥132,000 Japanese list (OM Mania, year not stated); DM 1,094 in the 1992/93 German catalogue (Olypedia)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Spherical aberration
soft wide open
Distortion
slight barrel
Optical formula — Retrofocus with a floating group, 11 elements in 9 groups

History

Olympus sold two 21mm lenses for the OM system, and this is the one it built to make a point. The 21mm f/3.5 of 1973 was already the smallest lens of its kind; the f/2 that followed it is, on Olympus’s own sales sheet, “the world’s first 21mm focal length lens (92°) to provide a fast F2 speed”, still compact enough to take a 55mm filter, with a floating lens group to solve image fall-off at close distances and new optical glasses behind the resolution and contrast. Eleven elements in nine groups, 250g, 43.5mm long, focusing to 0.2m. The design is Yoshitsugi Ikeda’s; his American patent for a retrofocus super wide angle lens system was filed on 25 April 1977 and assigned to Olympus, and zeissikonveb.de, quoted on Olypedia, describes him reworking an earlier Nakagawa layout with a fixed internal stop to tame the coma that flooded the prototype at full aperture.

When it went on sale is less clear than it should be. Olypedia says 1978, lens-db lists it under 1979, PhotoArk’s reviewer says 1978 or 1979, and OM Mania puts it in the early 1980s beside the OM-4. The patent date favours the earlier end and the page carries 1978. Olypedia adds that the lens held the speed record in its focal-length class for decades, until Sigma’s 20mm f/1.8, and that no maker now offers anything comparable to measure it against.

There are two versions and they are the same lens. The first is engraved Zuiko MC Auto-W and every known example is multicoated; the second drops the MC, which Olympus did across the range once multicoating was universal, and Japanese dealers call it the final type. Paul Schings’ coating survey records MC lenses at 1003xx, 1021xx and 1407xx and a plainly engraved lens at 1042xx, so the serial number does not sort them. There was never a chrome-nose or letter-prefix 21mm f/2.

Reviewers split along the line that divides most fast wides of the period. On film, Steven at PhotoArk found the centre startlingly sharp wide open, the edges only slightly soft, and the whole frame excellent by f/4 to f/5.6. On a high-resolution sensor David Braddon-Mitchell calls wide-open performance a bit iffy and rates the f/3.5 the better optic, while allowing that the extra stop makes manual focus easier on film. Olypedia agrees on both counts: a little soft at f/2, sharper and contrastier stopped down, slight barrel distortion, and a lighter lens by far than anything of its speed and angle, at 250g against the 620g of the Zeiss Distagon 2.8/21 ZF. OM Mania’s verdict is that the rendering is plain in the OM manner and the lens is indispensable anyway.

What it cost at launch has not been found. OM Mania’s ¥132,000 carries no year, and Olypedia’s DM 1,094 is a 1992 catalogue price. What it costs now is the reason it is written about: prices climbed once cinematographers began adapting it, and a story that it was used to shoot the television series House circulates on forums and in shop copy without a source behind it, so it is not carried here. A buyer paying those prices should check that the floating group moves freely through the whole 0.2m to infinity throw, and should not pay a premium for MC on the name ring, since the lens without it is coated the same.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Zuiko 21mm f/2
OM Zuiko 21mm F2 (Hiyotada) — Hiyotada, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Zuiko 21mm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $2,600 across 17 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $2,300–$3,300). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 24 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-18. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Zuiko 100mm f/2 · Zuiko 24mm f/2 · Zuiko 28mm f/2 · Zuiko 28mm f/2.8 · Zuiko 35mm f/2

Sources (12)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.