Been to the Antwerp camera fair and after all these years i finally found what i was looking fo for so long:
a Topcon RE Super with Topcor 58mm 1:1.8, finally!!!. While i was there i picked up a Werra, black Pentax SV and a chrome K2 as well. I was short on time so no pics of the fair itself, just one of what i took home.
I am glad you finally got a Topcon to help you some way to complete your “collection”. Confusedly for collectors are the different model designations with the US models having ‘Beseler’ and different model numbers on them and 2 different naming conventions on models for the rest of the World market. I have a couple including the later version with mirror lockup which also has "US Navy” engraved on the bottom. (The US Navy contract is also an interesting story)
In theory the Topcon was the first system camera to challenge the Nikon F and despite selling well they did not knock Nikon off the pedestal. By 1964 the Nikon F was the defacto pro 35mm camera and Beseler could not match the sheer marketing expertise and experience of EPOI nor the four plus years of pros experience with the Nikon F. The Topcon of course used the Exakta bayonet with a modified internal ring for the TTL metering, the problem was that Exakta lenses mounted the wrong way which lost the advantage of open TTL. The Exakta bayonet had another problem which was the throat size which limited the design of lenses and although Topcon did produce a couple of superb lenses they could never match Nikons range. The Topcon in theory had another great advantage – a motor that could be just screwed on rather than Nikons ‘mated’ by a technician. Unfortunately, Topcon’s early motor drives were notoriously unreliable.
Two interesting facts about Topcon.
Most camera manufacturers were experimenting with CDS metering and Pentax showed the first prototype Spotmatic in 1960. The problem was early CDS cells were big, had power problems and colour sensitivity issues. Toshiba were the main developer of these cells and Topcon took a chance with development in a camera
BUT they had inside information because Toshiba was a shareholder in Topcon. Later Toshiba took a controlling interest in Topcon.
The Zunow only produced one related descendant because a design team member joined Topcon. Also the coupling chain used for the Topcon metering was initially developed by Zunow to couple the shutter speed dial with the shutter.
I would be very interested to hear ‘your take’ on the handling and usability of the Topcon considering you’re a Nikon man.Thanks Conan for the Topcon info,
With the risk of stating the obvious or repeatig what you just said, here's my take on the Topcon, from a nikon guys point of view
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The coupled lightmeter in the Topcon really is a great feature, so metering with any finder is possible it took Nikon till the F3 to realise just how handy it is.
The sliding removal of the finders ( something Miranda and Canon did get right as well) is just better than Nikons nail breaking push button drop out prism annd focus screen set up (they must have had a very good reason for that, it's however beyond me what that reason might have been.
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I'm not fond of the front mounted release button on any camera (Miranda, Exakta,Praktica...)the F's wasn't in the right place as well, this was corrected with the F2.
The swing back and clip on motor drive are better than Nikon's sliding back and the dedicated to one body motordrive.(Though word is the Topcon motor drive was very unreliable, don't know haven't used it)
Finder on the F is 100% framing and it was the ONLY camera with this feature, because i did a lot of critical reproduction work it was one of my main reasons choosing the F.
The double exposure rewind marking on the release button of the F did came in handy at some occasions, Topcon didn't have this feature.
The Topcon has a nice bright viewfinder and so dos the F.
The topcon optics were top notch but i guess the same could be said about the Nikkors, the focus action on the Topcor is diffrent from any of my Nikkors i dare say a bit smoother..
The lens mount of the Topcon was in some ways ahead of it's time with the no-fuss meter and diafragm coupling, sadly the Exakta mount diameter was to small to prevent vignetting with some more extreme lenses with large rear elements, something Nikon did manage to exell in this matter with the F mount and their wide range of glass right from the beginning (once again a decision maker in favour of the F)
No mirror lock up on the REsuper made it less suitable in critical (astro-micro-repro) set ups than the F, though the F's MU feature was a bit cumbersome as it is coupled with the film transport and you lose a frame before the mirror stays up.
Film transport is good on both cameras no Leica smoothness but good enough to any ones standards , they are both mechanically well made and this shows when using these cameras.
The US Army choose the Topcon RE over the Nikon F back then, they had their reasons,but they didn't needed to be the same as a camera for civilian (pro) use.
Then we come to difficult point wich is rather subjective, i don't like the looks of the REsuper,it looks like a Praktica on steroids, the F is so much better looking, but yes, looks alone don't make a good camera.
In retrospect it is sad to see Topcon didn't survive and the RE/DM was their moment of glory, they could have given Canon and Nikon a hard time...
And today? i would be happy using any of these two cameras but the Nikon would most likely picked first as i've got a ton of lenses for it, while the RE with only the Topcor 58mm makes its use very limited.
