A new play toy, for free!!

[galenk]

I just came back from a visit from my oldest brothers and to my surprise he gave me his old Topcon unirex that he bought while stationed in Germany back in 1972. It's the first SLR I've handled with a leaf shutter and it is in mint condition. It's a real nice addition to my collection ;D

[nikonbob]

Interesting find and that lens should be sharp too. Show us some photos when you get around to trying it out.

Bob

[Just Plain Curt]

You'll like the Unirex if its working properly. Often they give up the ghost as the shutter seems to be a weak spot. One of my first SLR system was and is my Topcon Unirex I bought when I was first married 25 years ago. Since I've added a Uni, a second Unirex and an Auto 100. All are versions of this camera and use UV Topcon lenses not the RE line that the SuperD did. For lenses I have a 50 f2.8, 50 f2, 3-53 f2, a 35 f3.5, 100 f4, 135 f4 and 200 f4. Never seen a zoom for this mount or a Tamron or T4/TX adapter either. Sort of similar to the Canon/Bell & Howell auto 35 and its line of 35/50/90/125 lenses. I have several of those too but the Topcon is much nicer to use.

[galenk]

Curt,
I just replaced the light seals last night and will try to shoot a test roll through it soon
I have three cameras with film in them right now so I think I'll try to empty one of them first.
As I stated before it seems to work perfectly so I will have to wait till I get a roll of film through it and then will post some.

I'm glad some one on the forum has had one, It looks like a fun little camera

Thanks
Galen

[alanegreen]

I have most of the Topcon leaf shutter SLRs in my collection - the Wink-S (selenium meter) the Uni, Unirex, and Unirex EE. Also in the series in the IC-1 which is very similar to the Unirex EE but has an electronic focal plane shutter (Topcon did this when Seiko discontinued the SLV shutter).

I also have all of the lenses (28/f-4, 35/f-3.5, 50/f2.8, 50/f-2, 53/f2, 100/f-4, 135/f-4 (2 versions) and 200/f-4). There was a zoom made in this mount - an 87-205mm that was a re-mount of the RE series lens. However, this only works on the IC-1 - if mounted on one of the leaf shutter cameras it vignettes.

The early cameras (Wink-s and Uni) fell a bit cheap, but the later ones (Unirex onwards) feel much better made. All of them are a bit unreliable due to the complexity of the leaf shutter to mirror mechanism linkages. For reliability, go for an IC-1!

[daveh]

Alan,

Welcome. I've never got into the Topcon Uni series and suchlike. I've looked at them several times, but have stuck with the Re-2 and SuperD. The SuperD is built like a tank.

Dave.

[alanegreen]

Thanks for your welcome!

I have an RE-2 and an RE Super as well. My interest in the Uni series is largely because a Unirex EE was the first SLR I owned - bought new when I was a teenager back in the 1970s. The unreliable shutter had me swap it for a Canon AE-1 as soon as funds would allow, but I always quite liked the way it felt.

I recently bought a Ricoh Singlex TLS - mainly because it uses the same Copal Square shutter as the RE-2 and also brings the shutter speed dial out on the front panel (rather than coupling it to a ring around the lens, as Nikon did with the Nikkormats).