Topcon

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Super Topcon!

With features far advanced over mortal cameras!
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Topcon RE Super. An imposing machine that set the standard for TTL exposure metering.

 
     Alpa, Pentax and Topcon all announced new cameras with "through the lens" light  metering in 1963. Who got to market first? The modern consensus seems to be Topcon, though there is room for argument. More importantly, Topcon got it absolutely right, right at the beginning. The Topcon RE Super (AKA Beseler-Topcon Super D, Hanimex-Topcon RE Super. I'll refer to it as the Topcon Super) combined TTL metering at full aperture with interchangeable viewfinders and motor drive capability in 1963! Better yet, the meter was in the body and not in the finder. No other camera would match this until the Canon F-1, eight years later.      Tokyo Kogaku entered the SLR market during 1957 with the Topcon R. From the beginning the camera featured a removable pentaprism, rapid advance lever and rewind crank. Lens apertures were semi automatic with an Exakta style shutter/aperture release in the base of the lens. The lenses attached to the camera via a copy of the Exakta bayonet mount. This camera was updated twice; with internal, fully automatic diaphragm operation as the RII, and with a non-rotating shutter speed dial on the RIII. By 1962, the RE Super body was ready but the metering system wasn't. The camera was released as the Topcon RS with an attachable light meter.

Topcon retained the front mounted shutter release long after abandoning Exakta style auto-diaphragm. Nikon F and Canon F-1 also featured hot shoe adapters that fit over the rewind crank.

 

 

     The Topcon Super represented quite an advance when it was introduced. Meters coupled to the shutter speed dial were nothing new. Meters cross coupled to the shutter and aperture already existed on the Contarex, Miranda Automex and Nikon F. Topcon's big advance was combining all of this in the camera body and reading light through the lens. Again, I'll remind you that Topcon did this in 1963. Most other Japanese manufacturers didn't get TTL metering on the market until 1965-66 and for most of them it was a slower "stop down" style system.
     These features were combined in a rather impressive body, too. The camera has the look and feel of having been milled from a block of brass, then chrome plated. Indeed, the quality and quantity of the plating would make a '58 Buick envious! The Super is eminently adaptable, too. The viewfinder is interchangeable, a motor can be added to the bottom and a bulk film back can be attached.

Topcon Top; Button by shutter dial is prism release, focusing screen is interchangeable, window by rewind is meter readout.

Busy Bottom; Caps are for battery and motor drive, lever is meter switch, large button opens back, small button is rewind.   

       

     The Super was a legitimate rival to the Nikon F in capability and superior in some features. The loading door was hinged to the camera. No clamping it in your teeth or under your armpit like the Nikon. Pull the prism off and you still have TTL metering via a small window on the top deck. Pull the Photomic off your F and you are meterless. Want to add a motordrive? Unscrew a cap from the baseplate and secure the Topcon motor to the tripod socket. The Nikon had to be sent to a Nikon repair facility and modified to accept a motor.

      

     So, why didn't the Super make a bigger impact in the professional market? One answer is right up front, lenses. Topcon made some great lenses but never in the huge variety that supported the Nikon F.  Another reason may be Topcon's U.S.A. distributor. The Charles Beseler company wasn't nearly as aggressive as E.P.O.I. in marketing and the Nikon F had a four year head start. During the 1970s the Super evolved into the Super DM and Topcon Supreme. The U.S. distributor changed from Beseler, to Paillard, to Hervic.

Inside the Exakta bayonet, the etched mirror passes light to the CdS cell. Outside; pin in the short slot operates diaphragm, pin in long slot couples lens to light meter. Lever on lens mount locks and releases lens, control on rewind side of mirror box is depth of field preview. Acres of chrome challenge my lighting skill!

     One notable Topcon innovation of the '70s was a compact, lightweight motor, the Autowinder. Similar winders soon became an option for just about every 35mm SLR. As the 70s progressed, Topcon sales declined. Ultimately the company stopped making cameras and concentrated on medical and surveying equipment. The Topcon Super was a fabulous instrument, but competition got the better of it.
     This RE Super was entrusted to me after the owner passed away. It appears to have been only lightly used and carefully stored. It is an impressive camera to hold and use. Every control operates with incredible smoothness. The action of the reflex mirror is especially quick and positive. The 5.8cm f-1.4 lens is quite a handful. It takes 62mm filters!
 
     This particular camera is responsible for stimulating and diversifying my collecting interests. The desire to have extra lenses to use with it led to my collection of Soligor and Vivitar T4 lenses. It has also led me to search for more Topcon information both in print and on the internet. As always, learning a few facts leads to more questions. Why is this camera a Topcon RE Super and not a Beseler-Topcon Super D? Was it originally purchased overseas? RE Supers seem too common in the U.S. for that to make sense. Perhaps Beseler wasn't the only American importer.      What I have learned is that Topcon also manufactured a diverse line of leaf shutter SLRs. A modified RE Super was made for opthalmic use. The RE Super had a less expensive sibling, the RE-2. Towards the end of the 70s, Topcon tried to broaden their appeal with the smaller and far less elegant RE 200 and RE 300 that accepted RE lenses. Their last camera was the RM-300 which adopted the Pentax K lensmount. The RE/RM body sold under other names, leading me to believe Topcon may not have manufactured it. I have also learned that Topcon lives on, even though their cameras don't. They still manufacture surveying and opthalmic equipment.
     Today, the Topcon Super lives on in spirit. In 2003, the Cosina company of Japan introduced the Voigtlander Bessaflex. The silver finished version of the Bessaflex has a broad prism housing, reminiscent of the Super. The standard lens is a 58mm f-1.4 Topcor, the name being used through an agreement with Topcon. A fitting tribute to a super camera that got it right, right out of the box.

Update: Leon Schoenfeld writes... 

About 1965 the US Navy tested cameras from several Japanese and German manufacturers (including Nikon's F). The Topcon Super D was the winner of this competition and served in the Navy until the very end of Topcon production in 1977. 

     Leon points out that while he believes this to be fact, the above comes from second hand and anecdotal information.

Weird and wonderful lenses made for the Exakta fit the Topcon. This 35/3.5 has a name that could have come from  Star Trek . "Gamma Terragon"
     Cameras with built in light meters have been around since the 1930s. The typical selenium cell they used generated voltage in proportion to the amount of light falling on it. A galvanometer and calibrated scale gave the light reading, no battery required. On the downside, it had a very wide angle of acceptance. The typical, waffle pattern window was an attempt to address this problem. Further, it responded poorly in low light unless it was relatively large. 
     Experiments in alternatives during the 1950s produced the Cadmium-Sulfide photo resistor. As the name implies, the cell's resistance varies in proportion to the light falling on it. Add a battery and galvanometer and you have a light meter. CdS cells were small enough to be mounted inside the camera body, reading the light through the camera lens.
     There are several ways to implement a TTL metering system.  The Pentax Spotmatic used two CdS cells positioned to read light off the focusing screen. Turn on the meter switch and the lens' iris stops down. Turn the aperture ring of the lens or the shutter speed dial to align the meter needle with the reference mark in the viewfinder. A simple system in an elegant camera, the Spotmatic went on to become the best selling 35mm SLR of the late 60s.
     Topcon's solution was  more complex, but far more convenient. The CdS cell was incorporated into the mirror assembly. The aperture setting was mechanically coupled to the meter movement via a lug on the rear surface of the lens. Nothing new here. The Miranda Automex lenses had a coupling lever, Nikkors, the trademark prong. The Topcor lug was located slightly differently on each lens and compensated the meter for each lens' maximum aperture. Eventually, every full aperture metering camera emulated this Topcon feature in one way or another.
Topcon Links

The Topcon Collection  Leon Schoenfeld has studied the Topcon RE Super in detail. Topcon could learn a thing or two from his site.

The Topcon Story  Marco Antonetto wrote the book. See just about every Topcon from 1957 to the end.

Topcon Club  An excellent Japanese site with photos of the "badge engineered" RE and RM cameras.

Son of Topcon!  Stephen Gandy's page on the RE inspired Voigtlander Bessaflex.

 RE 200. Last of the RE mount Topcons