R Topcor 13.5cm (135mm) f/2
Topcon · Exakta · 1957
Also known as: R Topcor 135mm f/2 · R Topcor 135mm f2 · R Topcor 135mm F2 · R Topcor 13.5cm f/2 · R Topcor 13.5cm f2 · R Topcor 13.5cm F2 · R Topcor 13,5cm F2 · R.Topcor 135mm f2 · R.Topcor 135mm f/2 · R.Topcor 13.5cm f2 · R.Topcor 13.5cm f/2 · R. Topcor 135mm f2 · R-Topcor 135mm f2 · R-Topcor 13.5cm f2 · R Topcor 1:2 f=13.5cm · R.Topcor 1:2 f=13.5cm · R Topcor 2/135 · R Topcor 135mm 1:2 · R Topcor 13.5cm 1:2 · R Topcor 1:2 135mm · R Topcor 135/2 · Topcor 135mm f2 · Topcor 135mm f/2 · Topcor 13.5cm f2 · Topcor 13.5cm f/2 · Topcon 135mm f2 · Topcon 135mm f/2 · Topcon 13.5cm f2 · Topcon R Topcor 135mm f2 · Topcon 13.5cm F2 R.Topcor · Tokyo Kogaku R Topcor 135mm f2 · Tokyo Kogaku R.Topcor 13.5cm f2 · Rトプコール 135mm F2 · R トプコール 135mm F2 · Rトプコール 13.5cm F2 · トプコール 135mm F2 · トプコール 13.5cm F2 · トプコン 135mm F2 · トプコン Rトプコール 135mm F2
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Topcor 13.5cm f/2 (manual preset, Exakta-type bayonet) | Exakta | 1957 | — | — |
- Engraving. The Maxifiche says the R Topcor series gave focal lengths in centimetres until about 1970, and Topcon Club's small photograph of the front ring appears to show 13.5cm. Topcon Club says production had all but stopped by 1963, so a copy engraved 135mm is unlikely, but neither source rules it out and none has been seen. Topcon Club and the Maxifiche both name the lens in millimetres in their own text.
- No RE version. On the MFlenses forum (June 2016) stevemark listed a 'Tokyo Kogaku RE Topcor 135mm 1:2' and calvin83 replied that it does not exist, pointing to the RE Topcor list; calvin83 also asked anyone who could find a diagram of the R Topcor 13,5cm F2 to post it, and Lightshow noted that 'R 135/2' was among the lenses missing from Topcon Club's page of lens diagrams. Topcon Club asks why Tokyo Kogaku never made an RE version of the lens. A title reading 'RE Topcor 135mm f2' is a mistake or a different lens.
- Dates. Topcon Club dates the lens to 1957, with the Topcon R (announced December 1957), and says in Japanese that it came out a little ahead of the R Topcor 135mm f/3.5 (一足早いデビュー). On the end, the two language versions of Topcon Club's page differ: the Japanese says the lens was still sold after the RE Super came out but production had already virtually stopped; the English version says production ended before the RE Super was put on the market. No end year is set. The lens is not in Paillard Incorporated's mid-1970s US Topcon catalogue, which still lists both R Topcor 300mm lenses; Topcon Club's English text likewise says that, unlike the 135mm f/2, the 300mm f/2.8 was in catalogues into the late 1970s.
- Specifications. Elements, angle of view (18°), aperture range and closest focus are from the Maxifiche's R Topcor table, the only source found that gives them; no group count was found. The 77 mm filter and 'over 1 kg' are Topcon Club's. No exact weight, dimensions or blade count was found.
- R (1957): the Maxifiche says the R's bayonet has no coupling of any kind and the body has no meter. A manual preset lens needs neither, so it works fully, with a hand-held meter. Topcon Club photographs the lens on a Topcon R.
- RII (Automatic R), RIII and RS: these bodies add an internal stop-down lever for the F Auto-Topcors (Maxifiche), which does nothing on a preset lens. The RIII's clip-on selenium meter and the RS's clip-on CdS meter are coupled to the shutter speeds, not to the lens (Maxifiche), so they work with the aperture set by hand.
- RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2: the lens has no meter coupling, so these bodies' TTL meter can only read with the lens stopped down by hand, not at full aperture. No source describes this lens on them; Paillard gives the preset R Topcor 300mm lenses as stop-down metering lenses.
- RE200 and RE300: these keep the RE mount (Topcon Club, Maxifiche). Their instruction book lists the preset R Topcor 300mm f/2.8 with stop-down metering, but not the 135mm f/2, which was probably out of production long before (note ³). The lens has the same kind of preset diaphragm, so stop-down use is expected but not stated; the links are kept.
- Ihagee Exakta bodies: the Maxifiche calls the Topcon R's mount a fully compatible Exakta bayonet, so that Topcon had the whole range of Exakta lenses available from the start. Topcon Club notes that Topcon put its release on the opposite side to Exakta, so lenses worked by an external preset arm lose that function when swapped between the two makes. This lens has no arm, but no source describes it on an Ihagee Exakta.
- ⁰ Price. ¥70,800 is Topcon Club's figure for the launch price (発売価格), a Japanese list price; Topcon Club says it was considerably more than the body, and gives the Topcon R body as ¥56,000. No US price was found.
How to tell them apart
- R Topcor and f/2: no other 135mm f/2 for the Topcon focal-plane SLRs appears in Topcon Club, the Maxifiche or the Paillard catalogue. The R Topcor 135mm f/3.5 (4 elements, per the Maxifiche) is the slow preset lens of the same series; the Auto-Topcor and RE Auto-Topcor 135mm f/3.5 have automatic diaphragms; the Macro Topcor 135mm f/4 is a macro lens; the later RE Topcor 135mm f/2.8 is a different, automatic lens
- Exakta-type bayonet. Not the UV Topcor 135mm f/4 of the leaf-shutter Topcons (UV mount), and not the Topcor 135mm f/3.5 for Leica screw mount
R Topcor 13.5cm f/2 (manual preset, Exakta-type bayonet):
- A very large, heavy 135mm: over 1 kg, with a 77 mm filter thread at the front, narrowing sharply to the small Exakta-type mount at the rear, which looks thinner still because there is no automatic-diaphragm mechanism around it (Topcon Club)
- Manual preset diaphragm, aperture scale f/2 to f/22 (Maxifiche); no automatic-diaphragm arm, pin or meter-coupling finger
- Black barrel in Topcon Club's photographs, one of them on a Topcon R; the low-resolution view of the front ring appears to read 'Topcor' and '13.5cm', in centimetres, as the Maxifiche says R Topcors were marked until about 1970
- R Topcor 13.5cm f/2 (manual preset, Exakta-type bayonet): The one version known. Topcon Club photographs a copy and the Maxifiche illustrates the lens with a Topcon document photograph. Topcon Club's Japanese text says it was still on sale after the RE Super appeared (1963) but that production had already all but stopped, and that the number made is thought to be quite small; no copy engraved 135mm and no automatic RE version is known (notes ¹ and ²). No serial range or production figure was found.
Specifications
- Construction
- 6 elements
- Aperture range
- f/2–f/22
- Min. focus
- 1.5 m
- Filter
- 77 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1957
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- ¥70,800 Japanese list price at launch in 1957, more than the Topcon R body (Topcon Club) (today ¥443,000)
What reviewers say
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History
The R Topcor 13.5cm f/2 was the fast portrait-length lens Tokyo Kogaku offered with its first focal-plane SLR, the Topcon R of 1957. Topcon Club, the Japanese collectors’ site, lists it among the preset R Topcors that came with the camera. It singles out this lens and the 300mm f/2.8 as the range’s two “high-speed lenses”, and says the 135mm f/2 came out a little before the slower R Topcor 135mm f/3.5. It was expensive: Topcon Club gives the launch price as ¥70,800, a Japanese list price and considerably more than the body. It was also big for a 135mm. It weighs well over 1 kg, and the barrel swells from the small Exakta-type mount to a 77 mm filter thread at the front. The French Maxifiche, which illustrates the lens with a Topcon photograph, gives 6 elements, an 18° angle of view, apertures from f/2 to f/22 and closest focus at 1.5 m.
It is a manual preset lens. You set the taking aperture on the preset ring, focus at f/2, and turn the second ring to stop down before the exposure. Nothing in the mount couples to the body, so the lens works the same way on every Topcon focal-plane body: metered by hand on the R, with the clip-on meters of the RIII and RS, and stopped down through the TTL meter of the RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2. It gives no open-aperture metering on any of them. The late RE200 and RE300 keep the RE mount; their instruction book lists the preset R Topcor 300mm f/2.8 with stop-down metering but not this lens, so stop-down use is expected but not stated. The Maxifiche calls the R’s mount a fully compatible Exakta bayonet. Topcon Club warns that lenses with an external preset arm do not work across the two makes, because Topcon put its release on the other side. This lens has no arm, but no source describes it on an Ihagee Exakta. It does not fit the leaf-shutter Topcons (PR, Wink Mirror, Uni, Unirex, IC-1), whose UV-mount lenses are a separate system.
Its life was short. Topcon Club’s Japanese text says it was still on sale after the RE Super appeared in 1963 but production had by then all but stopped, and it thinks the number made is quite small. The English version of the same page says production ended before the RE Super. Either way it is a scarce lens. Unlike the 300mm f/2.8, it is not in Paillard’s mid-1970s US catalogue, and Topcon Club’s English text says the 300mm stayed in catalogues long after the 135mm. No automatic RE version is known: Topcon Club asks why Tokyo Kogaku never made one, and a poster on the MFlenses forum states that an “RE Topcor 135mm f/2” does not exist. Topcon Club rates the lens very sharp, with a little darkening at the corners wide open and a slight yellow cast in colour.
For a buyer, the name and the aperture settle the identity. An f/2 135mm Topcor for the Exakta-type bayonet can only be this lens. The R Topcor, Auto-Topcor and RE Auto-Topcor 135mm f/3.5, the Macro Topcor 135mm f/4, the later RE Topcor 135mm f/2.8, the UV Topcor 135mm f/4 of the leaf-shutter cameras and the Topcor 135mm f/3.5 for Leica screw mount are all different lenses. The Maxifiche says R Topcors were engraved in centimetres until about 1970, and Topcon Club’s photograph of the front ring appears to read 13.5cm. Check that the preset ring holds the chosen stop and that the stopping-down ring closes the blades to the set value. A lens this heavy hangs off a small bayonet, so check the mount for wear and play. No serial ranges or production figures have been published.
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.
Example photos
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