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

Zuiko 50mm f/2 Macro

Olympus · Olympus OM · 1985

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f/2 Macro · Zuiko Auto-Macro 50mm f/2 · Zuiko Auto-Macro 50mm 1:2 · Zuiko MC Macro 50mm f/2 · OM-System Zuiko Auto-Macro 1:2 f=50mm · ズイコー マクロ 50mm F2 · OM ZUIKO AUTO-MACRO 50mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zuiko Auto-Macro 50mm f/2 Olympus OM 1985–2002 101xxx to 107xxx and 113xxx, engraved ZUIKO AUTO-MACRO 50mm 1:2 (Alan Wood)
112xxx and 113xxx, engraved ZUIKO AUTO-MACRO f=50mm 1:2 (Alan Wood) 		—
  1. The launch year. Alan Wood: introduced 1985, and his page reproduces an Olympus instruction leaflet dated April 1985; the Olympus Lens Handbook of October 1985 lists it; mir.com.my says 1986 in one place and "between 1983/1985" in another. The page carries 1985. The 2002 discontinuation is Alan Wood's alone.
  2. Price. Alan Wood gives a 1988 US price of $470, which is the figure in the price fields. om-mania gives a list price of ¥100,000 with no year attached.
  3. The serial blocks and the six-blade count rest on Alan Wood's tabulation alone; no other source consulted prints either. The single-source badge applies to them.
  4. Olympus's own claim in the sales file is "the world's first 50mm standard macro lens to feature F2 brightness"; mir.com.my repeats it as "the fastest macro lens in 35mm SLR photography". Neither source names what it was measured against.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved OLYMPUS OM-SYSTEM ZUIKO AUTO-MACRO 50mm 1:2 (later f=50mm 1:2); no MC on the ring, though every source lists it as multicoated
  • Front element set deep in the barrel, so Olympus's own table says a hood is not necessary

Zuiko Auto-Macro 50mm f/2:

  • 55mm filter and a 69mm barrel, against 49mm and 60mm on the 50mm f/3.5 Macro; 320g against 200g
  • Minimum aperture f/16, where the f/3.5 stops down to f/22
  • Focuses to 0.24m for 1:2 without tubes; six aperture blades (Alan Wood)

Serial-range notes

101xxx to 107xxx
Engraved ZUIKO AUTO-MACRO 50mm 1:2, in feet-scale and metre-scale versions (Alan Wood).
112xxx to 113xxx
The f=50mm engraving appears at 112xxx; Alan Wood lists 113xxx under both engravings, so the change was not a clean break at a serial boundary.

Specifications

Formula
9 elements in 7 groups, multicoated, with a floating group for close-range correction; half life size unaided
Construction
9 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.24 m
Dimensions
69 × 55 mm
Weight
320 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1985–2002
Country
Japan
Coating
Multicoated throughout; one version only
Original price
US$470 (1988 US list, per Alan Wood) (today $1,250)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

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

Distortion
flat field

History

The OM system had a 50mm macro from the beginning, the f/3.5 of 1972, five elements in four groups with the first close-range correction group Olympus put in a macro lens. It sold for a decade and a half unchanged. In 1985 Olympus added a second 50mm macro rather than replacing the first: nine elements in seven groups, a floating group, 55mm filter, 320g, and a maximum aperture of f/2 that the sales file calls a world first for a standard-length macro. The f/3.5 stayed in the catalogue beside it, and the Japanese nicknames record the relationship, おおまくろだま and こまくろだま, the big macro and the little one.

The point of the speed was the finder. Olympus’s own text says it plainly: even at full extension the viewfinder stays bright. The lens focuses to 0.24m for half life size without tubes, goes to 1:1 with the Auto Extension Tube 25, and, in Olympus’s phrase, is excellent as a standard lens as well as a macro. Alan Wood, whose site reproduces the April 1985 instruction leaflet, dates it 1985 to 2002; mir.com.my says 1986. The one design decision reviewers hold against it is the minimum aperture, f/16 where the f/3.5 goes to f/22, which mir.com.my calls a designing flaw for a macro lens.

On image quality there is no dissent among the sources read here. Braddon-Mitchell’s guide gives it outstanding contrast and colour at all apertures and distances and puts it in the final generation of high-performance Zuikos, alongside the 90mm f/2 macro and the 100mm f/2, and on a level with the Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/50. om-mania finds it sharp from wide open, crisp with a little stopping down, and soft in the out-of-focus areas. The mflenses thread calls its images the most Leica-like in the OM line, with the honest qualification from one member that the old f/3.5 is a tiny bit sharper at its own full aperture, which is nearly two stops slower.

There is one optical version. Alan Wood records two engravings, 50mm 1:2 in the 101xxx to 107xxx block and f=50mm 1:2 from 112xxx, with 113xxx appearing under both, each sold with either a feet or a metre scale. That is an engraving change, so it is a serial note here, not a variant. He also gives the only dated price found, US$470 in 1988; om-mania’s ¥100,000 has no year attached. camera-wiki lists it as uncommon, and the used prices in the mflenses thread, called “generally insane” in 2022, bear that out.

When buying, run the focus from infinity to 0.24m and back: the barrel extends a long way, the floating group rides a second cam, and roughness or a change in tone along the throw is the sign of a lens that has been apart or dropped. Look through it against a torch for haze, which afflicts late Zuikos as readily as early ones, and check that the six blades are dry. The 55mm filter thread and the 69mm barrel separate it at a glance from the f/3.5 with its 49mm thread, so mis-described listings are rare; the problem is price, not identification.

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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 wanted — shot with a Zuiko 50mm f/2 Macro? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $320 across 38 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $280–$370). First day tracked.

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

Show 65 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 50mm f/1.4 · Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 · Zuiko 90mm f/2 Macro

Sources (9)

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.