Topcon RIII (Topcon R3 Automatic)

Variants & identification

1. Black RIII: Topcon Club says it has not confirmed that a black RII or RIII exists, though it would not be surprising. Maxifiche says every body from the R to the Super D exists in black or chrome, but shows no black R3. Not listed as a version until one is seen.
2. Self-timer: Topcon Club and Eckman put the self-timer on the RII already, and Topcon Club says the RIII kept the late RII's straight lever. Hugo Ruys writes that the R3 was the first model with one; Topcon Club's photographs of the RII show the lever, so the only point in dispute is the RII.
3. Clip-on meter: selenium, coupled to the speed dial only (Topcon Club; Maxifiche). Topcon Club compares it with the RS's CdS meter, which is neater and fixes to small studs above the release and on the speed dial instead of a shoe. Check that a meter offered with an RIII is the selenium one made for the shoe.
4. F Auto-Topcors (3.5cm, 5.8cm, 10cm, 13.5cm): the lenses made for the RII, RIII and RS, closed automatically by the lever inside the bayonet (Maxifiche); Topcon Club calls the RII's system a fully automatic diaphragm. Their coupling finger, meant for a future TTL meter, does nothing on the R3 (Maxifiche).
5. Semi-automatic Auto-Topcors of the R (3.5cm, 5.8cm, 10cm, and the 13.5cm): Hugo Ruys says the older semi-automatic lenses can be used on the later cameras, but the user then needs a shutter-button extension rod. No other source describes them on the RIII.
6. R Topcors (28mm to 300mm): preset diaphragms set by hand, with no coupling to the body (Maxifiche).
7. Macro Topcors: Maxifiche says the 58mm f/3.5 and 135mm f/4 close automatically and are re-cocked by hand, worked semi-automatically with a double cable release on the focusing extension tube; the 30mm f/3.5 has a click-stopped diaphragm. The RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5 is an RE lens (next note). No source describes any of them on an R3 specifically.
8. RE Auto-Topcors, RE GN Topcors and the RE Topcors of the RE200 era: no source describes an RE lens on an R3. Maxifiche and Topcon Club both say the RE lenses' diaphragm coupling turns the opposite way to the F Auto-Topcors' (Topcon Club, RS page: the TTL linkage reversed the direction), and the R3 has no meter for that coupling to work with; the clip-on meter reads only with the shutter dial. Topcon Club notes that many RS bodies are found with RE Auto-Topcors, but Hugo Ruys puts the RS on a different, larger mount ring from the R2 and R3, so that evidence does not carry over directly. The links stay because no source shows an RE lens failing to fit or work on the R3.
9. Going the other way, Maxifiche warns that the F Auto-Topcors of the RII, R3 and RS must not be used on the RE Super, RE-2, Super D or Super DM, because their coupling finger turns the opposite way to the RE lenses' finger.
10. Exakta lenses: Maxifiche says all older Exakta lenses with plain or preset diaphragms fit Topcon bodies without an adapter, as do Angénieux automatic lenses, but the automatic Carl Zeiss Jena lenses of 1961–70 foul the outer ring of the Topcon bayonet and will not mount. Exakta lenses worked by an external button do not line up with the Topcon release, which is on the opposite side, so semi-automatic lenses cross between the two systems only clumsily (Ruys); Eckman says such Exakta lenses still mount, with the automatic feature unused or worked with a second finger, and Topcon Club says a preset-arm lens swapped either way no longer does its job.
11. Beseler Topcon C in listing titles: the same name covers the RII-based and the RIII-based camera, so a title that says only Beseler C cannot be filed by name. This page does not take such titles; the photographs decide (single speed dial and front meter shoe = RIII).

• Topcon RIII (Topcon R3 Automatic): Usually found with the F.Auto-Topcor 1:1.8 f=5.8cm of the RII, the standard lens of the RII, RIII and RS (Maxifiche). The model number does not appear on the camera (Ruys); collectors and dealers write RIII, R III or R3, and camera-wiki says sources including the maker's own advertising call it the Topcon R3 Automatic (Maxifiche heads its entry 'TOPCON R3 Automatic ou TOPCON R III'; Japanese Wikipedia lists it as トプコンRIII).
• Beseler Topcon C (RIII body, United States): Topcon Club says the American camera kept the name of the RII export model and simply took the RIII body from 1961; Eckman says both the RII and RIII Automatics were sold as the Beseler Topcon C. Topcon Club adds that Beseler judged the RIII-based C uncompetitive against the Nikon F and waited impatiently for the TTL camera Tokyo Kogaku was developing, which became the RE Super, sold by Beseler as the Super D. Topcon Club says the RII-based C has no 'Automatic' on the front of the prism cover; it does not say whether the RIII-based C follows it, and does not photograph the RIII-based C, so its engravings are not recorded here.

Specifications

Format

24×36mm on 135 film

Finder

interchangeable eye-level pentaprism (Maxifiche's type 1 prism, as on the R and RII); waist-level hood as the alternative

Shutter

cloth focal plane, horizontal travel, as on the R and RII · 1s–1/1000, B, all on one non-rotating dial with even spacing (Topcon Club; camera-wiki; Maxifiche: 'un seul barillet des vitesses' with a coupling pin for the meter) · flash sync F and X, X at 1/60 (Maxifiche, against 1/50 on the RII and 1/40 on the R) · self-timer

Film advance

single-stroke lever, with a larger finger rest than on the RII (Topcon Club)

Meter

none built in; a clip-on selenium meter made for the camera slides into the shoe above the release and couples to the shutter-speed dial only, so the aperture it reads must be set on the lens by hand (Topcon Club; Maxifiche)

Motor drive

Not compatible — Maxifiche says a motor fits Topcon bodies only from the RS of 1962; Topcon Club shows the RS base with the motor coupling.

Country

Japan

Original price

¥48,000 in Japan, with the case ¥2,000 and the clip-on meter ¥5,000 extra (Topcon Club, list prices; it does not say whether the standard lens was included). The RII had listed at ¥43,000. No American price for the RIII-based Beseler C has been found. (today ¥273,000)

Accessories

Clip-on selenium meter for the R3, fitting the front shoe above the release and coupled to the speed dial, ¥5,000 (Maxifiche; Topcon Club) · Waist-level finder hood in place of the pentaprism (Maxifiche) · Accessory shoe shared by the R, RII and R3 (Maxifiche) · Hinged microscope adapter, a 62mm fixed tube with a hinged eyepiece coupling, which Maxifiche believes the oldest and made for the R to R3

Maxifiche shows the finder well of the R, RII and R3 together: the screen is held by four screws and can be removed only with a tool, and the finder release is a small button on the left of the top plate. A screen the user can change came with the RS (Maxifiche).

Figures we worked out rather than found: Shutter type and finder are taken from the R and RII, because Maxifiche describes the R3 as 'Comme TOPCON RII plus' the clip-on meter and the single speed dial, and the RII as the R plus the internal stop-down lever.

What reviewers say

• Topcon Club (blog) — A hurried minor change that sold poorly against the Nikon F and Canonflex. Topcon Club quotes Shashin Salon's report of the time, that it was less popular than the R perhaps because it is big and heavy, but robust, with faultless lens rendering, a camera worth using that one would not tire of, and agrees with it.

History

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.

Photographs

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