Topcon RE-2

Topcon · Exakta mount · 24×36mm on 135 film · 1965

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Topcon RE-2 · Topcon RE2 · Topcon RE 2 · Tokyo Kogaku Topcon RE-2 · Beseler Topcon D-1 · Beseler Topcon D1 · Beseler Topcon D 1 · Beseler D-1 · Beselar Topcon D-1 · Hanimex Topcon RE-2 · Hanimex Topcon RE2 · トプコン RE-2 · トプコンRE-2 · トプコン RE2 · トプコンRE2 · 東京光学 RE-2 · 東京光学トプコン RE-2 · ベセラートプコン D-1

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Topcon RE-2, chrome	Exakta	1965	—	—
Topcon RE-2, black	Exakta	—	—	—
Beseler Topcon D-1 (United States)	Exakta	1965	—	—
Hanimex Topcon RE-2	Exakta	1966	—	—

Production: about 55,000 by the Maxifiche's serial limits. Topcon Club gives no figure but says the RE-2 sold poorly against the Pentax SP, Minolta SR-T 101, Canon FT QL and Nikomat FT, and was made for only about two years.
RE Auto-Topcors meter at full aperture: the instruction book lists the 25mm f/3.5, 35mm f/2.8, both 58mm standards, 100mm f/2.8, 135mm f/3.5 and 200mm f/5.6 as mechanically coupled to the meter, and the Beseler sheet promises the D-1 every lens of the Super-D. The Maxifiche says every lens with AUTO in its name, the RE Zoom, RE Macro Auto and RE GN Topcors included, meters at full aperture; none names the RE GN lenses or the later RE Topcors of the RE200 on this body, though Topcon Club calls theirs the same RE mount.
Preset R Topcors meter stopped down: the instruction book describes them as optically coupled, the meter reading the aperture as it is closed, and lists the 90mm f/3.5, 200mm f/4 and 300mm f/5.6; the Beseler sheet adds the 135mm f/2, 135mm f/3.5 and 300mm f/2.8 to the D-1's lenses. The R Topcor 28mm f/2.8 is not listed for this camera but has the same preset mount.
Macro Topcors meter stopped down (the Maxifiche's lens table gives metering at the working aperture for the Macro Topcor 30mm, 58mm and 135mm). The instruction book lists the 58mm and 135mm for the RE-2, used on the focusing extension tube or Bellows Model III, with a semi-automatic diaphragm worked through Topcon's double cable release; the Macro Topcor 30mm is not named for this body.
F Auto-Topcors (the RII, RIII and RS lenses within the Auto-Topcor 35mm, 58mm, 100mm and 135mm families): the Maxifiche says their meter-coupling finger turns the opposite way to an RE lens's and that they must not be used on the RE Super, RE-2, Super D or Super DM. The links stay because the RE versions of the 35mm, 100mm and 135mm families work on this body; the Auto-Topcor 58mm f/1.8 family has no RE version and stays linked for its semi-automatic R lens, with that warning.
Semi-automatic Auto-Topcors of the Topcon R trip their diaphragm from a plunger meant to sit against a front release; Hugo Ruys says they work on later Topcons only with a shutter-button extension rod. The RE-2 moved the release to the top plate, and no source describes how these lenses work on it.
Exakta lenses mount without an adapter, but the Maxifiche says the Carl Zeiss Jena automatics of 1961–70, and other lenses with a bulky diaphragm drive, foul the outer ring of the Topcon bayonet; preset and manual Exakta lenses and Angénieux automatics fit. It does not single out the RE-2.
The UV mount adapter for the UV Topcor and Hi-Topcor lenses of the Unirex and IC-1 is listed for the RE Super, Super D and Super DM, with stop-down metering (Maxifiche); the RE-2 is not named.
RE Super finder accessories such as dioptre lenses fit only through an eyepiece adapter, which Topcon Club says is almost the same as the Uni's, Unirex's and IC-1's; the Maxifiche says its meter-needle illuminator, which sits in the accessory shoe, fits the RE Super, Super D and DM but not the RE-2.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Shutter-speed dial upright on the front of the body beside the mount, and the release on the top plate; the RE Super, Super D and DM have the release on the front and the speed dial on top (Topcon Club; camera-wiki)
Prism fixed to the body, with slots either side of the eyepiece for the accessory shoe; no bayonet shoe at the rewind crank and no depth-of-field preview lever (Topcon Club; camera-wiki)
Lens mount off-centre to the right, seen from the front (Topcon Club)
Fine slits cut across the reflex mirror for the TTL meter, as on the RE Super (instruction book)
Serial beginning 56 (Maxifiche's limits 5600001–5655000)

Topcon RE-2, chrome:

RE-2 on the front of the top plate, TOPCON across the prism front (Topcon Club photograph)
Chrome shutter-speed dial on the front of the body, to the left of the mount as you face the camera (under the right hand as you hold it), with the film-speed scale inside it, and the release on the top plate: the reverse of the RE Super's front release and top speed dial (Topcon Club; camera-wiki)
Mirror box and mount set noticeably to the right of centre, seen from the front, to keep the speed dial clear of the right hand (Topcon Club)
Film-speed scale in ASA or, on European bodies, DIN (Topcon Club)

Topcon RE-2, black:

Black enamel on every outer part, the speed dial included, so the dial disappears into the leatherette; only the shutter button and the strap lugs are the plated parts of the chrome body (Topcon Club)

Beseler Topcon D-1 (United States):

Beseler in script above TOPCON on the prism front (Beseler sheet; Topcon Club)
D-1 in place of RE-2, and moved to the right of the prism as you face the camera (Topcon Club; Beseler sheet photograph)

Hanimex Topcon RE-2:

HANIMEX TOPCON in a ruled box on the prism front; the model name stays RE-2 (Topcon Club photograph)

Topcon RE-2, chrome: The Japanese-market camera and the type the others follow. Topcon Club says every badge of the RE-2 was changed in small ways during production: early bodies have no window for the meter switch, later ones have a small round hole above the switch in which a red flag appears when the meter is on. No source ties the change to a serial number. The catalogue standard lens was the RE Auto-Topcor 58mm f/1.8; Topcon Club notes that the f/1.4 is not listed with this camera in the catalogues, though it assumes it could be had, and the English instruction book and the Maxifiche both name the f/1.4 as an option.
Topcon RE-2, black: Topcon Club says the black body seldom appears on the market and was probably made in small numbers, and that clean examples fetch high prices. The body it pictures has a DIN film-speed scale, and it says ASA bodies exist too. camera-wiki and the Maxifiche also list a black finish.
Beseler Topcon D-1 (United States): The RE-2 for Charles Beseler Company, the American importer. Topcon Club says it is mechanically the Japanese camera and takes the RE system's accessories. Beseler had named the RE Super the Super D, and Topcon Club does not know why the junior camera became D-1 rather than D-2. Beseler's sheet offered it at $269 with the 58mm f/1.8, against $420 for the Super-D with the f/1.4 and $159 for the leaf-shutter Auto-100 with f/2. Topcon Club says the Beseler bodies sell for comparatively little.
Hanimex Topcon RE-2: Supplied to Hanimex, which by about 1966 sold all three Topcon TTL models, the Uni, the RE-2 and the RE Super; only the Uni was renamed, as the RE Auto (Topcon Club). Topcon Club finds no mechanical difference from the Japanese camera and says the Hanimex body is rare and priced as a curiosity. The Maxifiche gives it as the British-market name.

Serial-range notes

5600001–5655000: The Maxifiche's serial limits for the RE-2, Beseler D-1 and Hanimex RE-2, with about 55,000 made. No source says whether the badges share one run.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 135 film
Finder: fixed eye-level pentaprism with a large rectangular eyepiece · 93% coverage
Shutter: Copal Square S, vertical-travel metal-blade focal plane · 1s–1/1000, B · flash sync Separate M and X sockets with no automatic switching: X to 1/125 for electronic flash, M for M and FP bulbs at all speeds (instruction book; Beseler; camera-wiki; Maxifiche X 1/125) · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke lever, 180°; additive counter that resets when the back is opened (instruction book)
Back: hinged, with a pull-down lock (instruction book)
Meter: CdS, through the lens, on the back of the reflex mirror, whose surface is cut with 0.05mm slits that pass about 7% of the light (instruction book). Averaging, read at full aperture with RE lenses, match-needle: switching on brings up a circular index beside the needle, and the rims of the circle mark a stop either way (Topcon Club; instruction book; camera-wiki). EV 2.7–16.7 at ASA 100 with an f/1.8 lens; ASA 25–1600 or DIN 15–33 (instruction book; Beseler; camera-wiki). One mercury cell of the PX13 / 625 size, given as 1.3V (instruction book) and 1.35V (camera-wiki; Maxifiche). Topcon Club says that, unlike the RE Super, where the aperture-shutter chain turns the meter movement itself, the RE-2's meter is fixed and the chain moves a brush over a variable resistor.
Motor drive: Not compatible — No motor coupling (Maxifiche).
Weight: 750 g
Dimensions: 154 × 54 × 93 (Maxifiche) mm
Country: Japan
Original price: United States list price, through Beseler: $269 for the Beseler Topcon D-1 with the 58mm f/1.8, on an undated Beseler sheet that also prices the Super-D at $420.00 with f/1.4. France, December 1966: 1,550 francs with the 58mm f/1.8, against 2,310 for the RE Super with the same lens (prices quoted by the Maxifiche, which does not say whether they are list or dealer prices). No Japanese price has been found.
Accessories: Accessory shoe that slides into the slots beside the eyepiece, eye-cup, dioptre-lens adapter, magnifier and angle finder (instruction book; Topcon Club) · Eyepiece adapter for the RE Super's finder accessories (Topcon Club) · Focusing extension tube and Bellows Model III for the Macro Topcors; RE-system close-up, microscope and copying accessories (instruction book)

The only Topcon focal-plane body of its time without an interchangeable finder (Maxifiche). The screen is fixed too: ground glass with a Fresnel lens, a central microprism spot and a fine-focusing ring around it (instruction book; camera-wiki), where the RE Super has a split image. Topcon Club finds the Fresnel rings finer than on the early RE Super and the finder brighter overall. The meter needle shows only in the viewfinder, at the lower right of the screen; there is no second window on the top plate (Maxifiche; instruction book). 93% coverage is camera-wiki's figure. Vertical slots either side of the eyepiece frame take the eye-cup, the accessory shoe, a dioptre-lens adapter, the magnifier and the angle finder (instruction book; Topcon Club).

Where sources disagree

Last

1969 — camera-wiki
1970 — Maxifiche
Made about two years from 1965, sold about four — Topcon Club

The Topcon Club account fits both end dates if production stopped around 1967 and stock was sold to 1969–70.

Weight (grams)

750g without lens — Maxifiche
590g — Kamerastore listing

Better supported: 750g without lens

Dimensions (mm)

154 × 54 × 93mm — Maxifiche
141 × 87 × 48mm — Kamerastore listing

Meter (cell voltage)

1.3V mercury cell like the PX-13 or E625 — instruction book
1.35V 625 mercury cell — camera-wiki; Maxifiche

Mount

The RE bayonet of the RE Super, taking RE Auto-Topcors at full aperture — instruction book; Beseler; Topcon Club; Maxifiche
A separate third version of the Topcon bayonet, 0.5mm smaller in outside diameter, with the aperture coupling on top of the mount ring, its lenses called f.Auto-Topcor — Hugo Ruys

Better supported: The RE bayonet of the RE Super

Ruys's account of the lenses conflicts with the instruction book, which names the RE Auto-Topcors, and with the Maxifiche, which warns against F Auto-Topcors on the RE-2. No other source gives his 0.5mm difference in the mount ring.

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The RE-2 is the middle camera of Topcon’s 1960s line. Tokyo Kogaku had the professional RE Super, the first SLR to meter through the lens at full aperture, and the Uni, a leaf-shutter beginner’s camera on the separate UV mount, but nothing in the class most buyers wanted. Topcon Club says the company developed the Copal Square S vertical metal focal-plane shutter jointly with Copal and was the first to build a camera around it, the RE-2 of 1965. The meter is the RE Super’s: CdS cells behind a reflex mirror cut with fine slits, reading at full aperture through the RE bayonet, so the whole range of RE Auto-Topcors couples to it. Around that, the camera is simpler. The prism and the microprism screen are fixed, there is no depth-of-field preview, no motor coupling, and the meter needle shows only in the finder. The Maxifiche adds that it is slightly smaller than the RE Super and as well finished; it gives the body as 750g without lens.

The early Copal Square had its shutter shaft horizontal, so the speed dial stands on the body front beside the mount, as it does on the Nikomat and the Ricoh Singlex TLS, and the release moved to the top plate. The mount sits off-centre to the right, seen from the front, to keep the dial away from the right hand, though Topcon Club finds that the dial still presses into it. Inside, the meter coupling changed too: where the RE Super’s aperture-and-shutter chain turns the meter movement itself, the RE-2’s meter is fixed and the chain moves a brush over a resistor. When the meter is switched on a circle appears beside the needle, and the exposure is right when the needle sits in it.

There are four versions to tell apart from photographs. The Japanese-market Topcon RE-2 came in chrome and, seldom, in black with a black speed dial; Topcon Club pictures a black body with a DIN film-speed scale and says ASA bodies exist. In the United States Beseler sold it as the Beseler Topcon D-1, with Beseler in script on the prism and D-1 moved to the right of it, at $269 with the 58mm f/1.8 on an undated Beseler sheet. Hanimex sold it with HANIMEX TOPCON on the prism and the model name unchanged, and the Maxifiche gives that as the British name. All are mechanically the same. Across every badge, early bodies have no window for the meter switch, while later ones show a red flag in a small hole above it. The Maxifiche’s serial limits, 5600001 to 5655000, allow for about 55,000 cameras. Topcon Club, though, says the RE-2 sold poorly against the Pentax SP, Minolta SR-T 101, Canon FT QL and Nikomat FT, and was made for only about two years and sold for four. camera-wiki ends it in 1969, the Maxifiche in 1970.

When buying, check the meter. Topcon Club says many RE-2s are sold with dead meters, but the fault is often an electrical contact rather than the meter itself. That is worth a gamble only at a junk price. It takes a mercury cell of the PX13 / 625 size. RE Auto-Topcors meter at full aperture. Preset R Topcors and Macro Topcors meter stopped down. The Maxifiche says the F Auto-Topcors of the RII, RIII and RS must not be used on the RE-2, because their coupling finger turns the other way. The semi-automatic lenses of the Topcon R were made for a front release, and no source shows them working on this top-release body. Topcon Club calls the black body very rare, with clean examples fetching high prices, and the Hanimex body rare enough to be priced as a curiosity, while the Beseler D-1 sells comparatively cheaply. The leaf-shutter Topcons’ UV Topcors are a different mount: the Maxifiche lists Topcon’s UV adapter for the RE Super, Super D and DM, but not for the RE-2.

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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

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

東京光学 TOPCON RE-2 フィルムカメラ RE.Auto-Topcor 58mm F1.8【M181026003】中古 — from ¥25,800 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-11
【返品保証】トプコン RE-2 Tokyo Kogaku Japan RE AUTO-Topcor 58mm F1.8 e10152 — from ¥9,650 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-12
【返品保証】トプコン Topcon RE-2 RE Auto-Topcor 5.8cm F1.8 ボディレンズセット e13878 — from ¥11,300 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-12
【返品保証】トプコン Topcon RE-2 RE. Auto-Topcor 5.8cm F1.8 ボディレンズセット e15268 — from ¥15,550 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-12
【返品保証】トプコン TOPCON RE-2 RE TOPCOR 28mm F2.8 ボディレンズセット e14012 — from ¥30,010 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-12
【返品保証】トプコン TOPCON RE-2 RE,Auto-Topcor 3.5cm F2.8 ボディレンズセット e19202 — from ¥44,100 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-12

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