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

Zuiko 28mm f/2

Olympus · Olympus OM · 1973

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=28mm · OM-System Zuiko MC Auto-W 28mm f/2 · OM-System Zuiko Auto-W 28mm 1:2 · Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f2 · Olympus OM 28mm f/2 · OM Zuiko 2/28 · I.Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/2 · ズイコー 28mm F2 · ZUIKO AUTO-W 28mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
I.Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/2 (the letter-prefixed early lens) Olympus OM — — —
Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=28mm (silver nose, then black nose) Olympus OM — — —
Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/2 (MC dropped from the engraving) Olympus OM — — —
  1. The launch year. mir.com.my says the lens "may not have been made available with the original Olympus M-1 body but could well be introduced between 1973/74 as Rick's compilation database suggests", and that it was in the Zuiko section of the OM-2 sales catalogue by 1975. The dementix M-1 page lists the lenses known to have been sold under the M-System name in 1972–73, and neither f/2 wide-angle is among them. The patent Olypedia attaches to the design has a Japanese priority date of 26 January 1972. 1973 is the earliest year consistent with all of that; no source consulted prints a firm date.
  2. The I.Zuiko version rests on printed mentions alone. Olypedia has found it only as a name in the period press, in Kadlubek's catalogue and in Pangerl's 1975 book, with a cross-section but no photograph; mir.com.my lists it with 240g in its spec table. Olypedia reads Pangerl as saying the lens was multicoated and suggests it went only to selected journalists for testing. It is carried as a variant because two sources name it, but it is unconfirmed by any example and the single-source badge applies to it.
  3. When the MC engraving began is disputed. mir.com.my says "the first Zuiko 28mm f/2.0 lense that beared 'MC' in its lens data was believed to have been introduced in 1978"; Olypedia and Phillip Reeve both describe silver-nosed lenses already engraved MC, and silver noses are the earliest OM barrels. Both cannot be right unless the silver nose ran later on this lens than on the rest of the range, and no source consulted resolves it.
  4. Prices. OM-mania gives a launch price of ¥100,000, without saying which year's price list it comes from; it is the only yen figure found and carries the single-source badge. Olypedia gives 703 DM from the German "der große Foto-Katalog 92/93". mir.com.my says only that the lens cost more than double the 28mm f/2.8.
  5. Weights differ by source. Olympus's own table (the eSIF transcription, Wikipedia and the Japanese Wikipedia table all agree) gives 250g and 43mm; mir.com.my gives 245g for the MC lens and 240g for the I.Zuiko; Phillip Reeve weighed his late lens at 248g. The spec table carries Olympus's figure.
  6. No source consulted gives the blade count from Olympus's own data. The eight blades in the spec table are Phillip Reeve's count on his review lens.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Nine elements in eight groups behind a 49mm filter thread, 43mm long: the only OM 28mm with an f/2 aperture ring, and the only one with a floating group
  • Aperture ring runs f/2 to f/16. The 28mm f/2.8 is the only OM 28 that stops down to f/22, so an f/22 mark means the wrong lens
  • Front ring reads I.Zuiko, Zuiko MC or plain Zuiko in that order of age

I.Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/2 (the letter-prefixed early lens):

  • Front ring engraved I.Zuiko (I for the ninth letter, nine elements) instead of Zuiko MC; the only version to carry a letter prefix
  • mir.com.my lists it at 240g against 245g for the MC lens, with the same 9-element, 8-group optics

Zuiko MC Auto-W 1:2 f=28mm (silver nose, then black nose):

  • MC engraved on the front ring; the earliest of these have a brushed-aluminium filter ring (the silver nose), later ones an all-black front
  • Rubberised focusing ring, aperture ring at the front of the barrel with full stops f/2 to f/16, 49mm filter thread, 43mm long

Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/2 (MC dropped from the engraving):

  • Front ring reads OM-System Zuiko Auto-W with no MC; the lens is still multicoated

Serial-range notes

any number
No published serial table exists for this lens. CHLNGR's Zuiko list says Olympus started each lens type at 100,000 and ran its own series, so a number places a lens within its type but not in a year. Nothing better has been found, and no range is invented here.
silver nose against black nose
Finish only. Olypedia, Phillip Reeve and David Braddon-Mitchell agree the silver-nosed MC lens is the older barrel and the black-nosed MC lens the same lens with a black filter ring; nothing optical or mechanical separates them.

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus, 9 elements in 8 groups, with a floating group that corrects the close-range aberrations
Designed by
Fujii Toru — named on the German patent 2,303,852 of 26 January 1973 (Japanese priority 26 January 1972) that Olypedia attaches to this lens
Construction
9 elements / 8 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
8
Min. focus
0.3 m
Dimensions
60 × 43 mm
Weight
250 g
Filter
49 mm
Years manufactured
1973
Country
Japan
Coating
Multicoated on every known example, engraved MC and later not engraved at all; the coating of the printed-only I.Zuiko version is unconfirmed
Original price
¥100,000 at launch (OM-mania, single source); 703 DM in the 1992/93 German catalogue (Olypedia) (today ¥281,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

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

Vignetting
very strong open
Flare & ghosting
good for era
Coma
not reported
Distortion
mild moustache
Optical formula — Retrofocus, 9 elements in 8 groups, with a floating group that corrects the close-range aberrations

History

The fast 28 of the OM system, and for most of its life the most expensive of the three. Olympus built it around nine elements in eight groups, a retrofocus design with a floating group that moves as the lens focuses so that close-range aberrations are corrected rather than tolerated; the lens focuses to 0.3 m. The patent Olypedia attaches to it, German 2,303,852, names Toru Fujii and carries a Japanese priority date of 26 January 1972, the year the OM system was launched. The lens itself came a little later. It is not among the lenses the dementix M-1 page records as sold under the M-System name in 1972 and early 1973, and mir.com.my dates it to 1973 or 1974 from Rick Oleson’s database, noting it was in the OM-2 catalogue by 1975. Olympus’s own sheet gives 250 g, 43 mm long, 60 mm across and a 49 mm filter thread, which is the same thread as the f/2.8 and f/3.5 lenses and a small one for an f/2 wide-angle. OM-mania records a launch price of ¥100,000, more than twice the ¥47,000 it gives for the f/2.8, and Olypedia has it at 703 DM in the German catalogue of 1992/93.

Three engravings exist and the sources agree they are otherwise the same lens. The earliest, the I.Zuiko Auto-W, is known only from print: Olypedia has found the name in the period press, in Kadlubek’s catalogue and in Franz Pangerl’s 1975 book, with a cross-section but no photograph, and mir.com.my lists it as the older version with a weight of 240 g. Olypedia suggests these were test lenses lent to journalists, and reads Pangerl as describing a multicoated lens, so the assumption that the I.Zuiko was single-coated is not supported by anything found here. The first version that turns up in the hand is the Zuiko MC Auto-W, at first with the brushed-aluminium silver nose and then with a black one; Olypedia and the phillipreeve.net writers agree that only the finish changed. The last version drops MC from the engraving, as every OM lens did once the whole range was multicoated. mir.com.my’s statement that the MC engraving began in 1978 sits awkwardly against the silver-nosed MC lenses everyone else describes, and the page leaves that unresolved.

What it does on film and on a sensor is where the sources disagree, and the disagreement is about taste more than measurement. Phillip Reeve, on a Sony a7II, measured three stops of vignetting at f/2 and still a stop and a half at f/5.6, found the centre a little soft wide open and very sharp from f/2.8, the extreme corners only sharp at f/11, a moustache distortion that a profile will not fully remove, and bokeh that is busy with strong outlining at f/2 and much smoother at f/4. He called the whole a decent but unexciting performance and said the used price was high for it. David Braddon-Mitchell, on the same site, is warmer: decently sharp centrally at wide apertures, quite sharp across the field stopped down, and better in backlight than most fast wides of the era. Anthony Baines found it the most fun of the OM lenses he tried on an A7 III. OM-mania rates it below the f/2.8 for contrast and sharpness but above it for shadow rendering and for the telephoto-like blur it gives a 28mm view. Olypedia, characteristically, calls its distortion excellently corrected and its chromatic aberration almost impossible to provoke, which is not what Reeve or Baines saw.

Two things to check when buying. The floating group makes the lens unusually sensitive to register: Reeve thought his had the worst field curvature he had ever seen until he found his adapter was short, and only a 28.00 mm OM-to-E adapter gave good results, so a lens that looks bad on a mirrorless body may be a good lens on a bad adapter. And the front element is close to the front of the barrel and the lens ghosts easily, so a hood matters. No serial table has been published for this lens; CHLNGR’s note that Olympus started each type at 100,000 is as much as the sources give, and nothing here dates a number.

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 28mm f/2
The OM f/2 lineup; front row from left, the 28mm f/2, the 35mm f/2 and the 50mm f/2 Macro — Hiyotada, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Zuiko 28mm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $360 across 25 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $280–$390). First day tracked.

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

Show 35 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 21mm f/2 · Zuiko 24mm 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.