Topcon

Japanese SLRs with some of the finest metering ever built

Topcon built the camera that made every other SLR manufacturer rethink metering. The RE Super, with its through-the-lens metering system, was so far ahead of its time that it took the rest of the industry years to catch up. If you care about metering accuracy, about getting the exposure right in-camera without chimping at an LCD screen, Topcon deserves your attention and your respect.

History

Tokyo Optical Company was established in 1932 as a manufacturer of optical instruments, initially focusing on military optics and surveying equipment. This background in precision measurement would prove prophetic, because when Tokyo Optical turned to camera manufacturing after the war, they brought with them an engineer's obsession with accuracy that manifested most dramatically in their approach to light metering.

Topcon's early cameras were competent but conventional 35mm SLRs. The breakthrough came in 1963 with the introduction of the Topcon RE Super, the first SLR camera with through-the-lens (TTL) metering using a CdS cell positioned behind the lens. This was a genuinely revolutionary achievement. Before the RE Super, exposure meters in cameras measured light from outside the lens, introducing errors from filters, lens extensions, and varying angles of view. The RE Super measured light exactly as the film would receive it, through whatever lens was mounted, accounting automatically for filters, bellows extensions, and any other factor affecting exposure. Nikon, Canon, and Pentax all rushed to develop their own TTL metering systems, but Topcon got there first.

The RE Super earned a devoted following among professional photographers, particularly in the United States where it was marketed aggressively. Its UV Topcor lenses, named for Tokyo Optical's expertise in ultraviolet optics, were exceptionally sharp and well-corrected, often compared favorably with Nikon and Zeiss glass of the same era. The company expanded its SLR line with the Super D, the Uni, and the Unirex, each offering variations on Topcon's core strengths of precise metering and optical excellence.

Despite its technical achievements, Topcon never achieved the market share of Nikon or Canon. The company's primary business remained surveying and medical optical instruments, and the camera division was always something of a secondary concern. By the late 1970s, Topcon had largely withdrawn from the consumer camera market to focus on its core industrial and medical optics business, where the company remains successful today. But for a brief, brilliant period in the 1960s and 1970s, Topcon cameras represented the absolute cutting edge of SLR technology, and they remain among the most undervalued vintage cameras on the market.

Notable Cameras

Topcon RE Super

The RE Super is one of the most important cameras of the 1960s, full stop. Its TTL metering system, using a CdS cell mounted on a pivoting arm behind the mirror, was an engineering triumph that influenced every SLR that followed. But the RE Super is more than a historical footnote. It is a genuinely excellent camera to shoot with today. The body is solid and well-balanced, the cloth focal-plane shutter is smooth and quiet, and the viewfinder is bright with clear metering information. Pair it with the UV Topcor 58mm f/1.4, one of the most underrated standard lenses in photography history, and you have a combination that produces images of extraordinary quality. The RE Super regularly sells for a fraction of what comparable Nikons command, which tells you everything about the power of marketing over merit.

Topcon Super D

The Super D refined the RE Super's design with improved TTL metering and a modernized body. It retained the RE Super's core strengths while addressing some of the earlier model's quirks, resulting in a more polished shooting experience. The Super D was particularly popular among scientific and technical photographers who valued its metering accuracy for documentation work where correct exposure was critical. It accepts the full range of UV Topcor lenses and represents the peak of Topcon's SLR development.

Topcon Uni

The Topcon Uni was Topcon's attempt to bring TTL metering to a more affordable price point. It succeeded admirably, offering Topcon's signature metering accuracy in a smaller, lighter body with a fixed 53mm f/2 UV Topcor lens. The Uni is an outstanding camera for anyone who wants to experience Topcon's metering heritage without the bulk of the RE Super system. Its fixed lens is impressively sharp, and the integrated metering makes exposure decisions almost effortless. The Uni proves that Topcon could build an accessible camera without compromising on the precision that defined the brand.

All Models in Archive (5)

Slr

• R - 1957-1963
• RE Super - 1963-1971
• Super D - 1973-1978
• Uni - 1964-1969
• Unirex - 1969-1973