R Topcor 20cm (200mm) f/4

Topcon · Exakta · 1957

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: R Topcor 200mm f/4 · R Topcor 200mm f4 · R Topcor 200mm F4 · R Topcor 20cm f/4 · R Topcor 20cm f4 · R Topcor 20cm F4 · R.Topcor 20cm f4 · R.Topcor 20cm f/4 · R.Topcor 200mm f4 · R.Topcor 200mm f/4 · R-Topcor 200mm f4 · R-Topcor 20cm f4 · R.Topcor 1:4 f=20cm · R Topcor 1:4 20cm · R Topcor 4/200 · R Topcor 4/20cm · Topcon R Topcor 200mm f4 · Topcon R 200mm f4 · Topcon R.Topcor 20cm f4 · Topcon 20cm f4 R.Topcor · Topcon 20cm F4 R.Topcor · Exakta Topcon 20cm F4 R.Topcor · Tokyo Kogaku R Topcor 200mm f4 · Tokyo Kogaku R.Topcor 20cm f4 · Rトプコール 200mm F4 · Rトプコール 20cm F4 · R トプコール 200mm F4 · トプコン Rトプコール 200mm F4 · トプコン R.Topcor 20cm F4

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
R Topcor 20cm f/4 (manual preset)	Exakta	1957	—	—

Engraving. The Maxifiche says R Topcor focal lengths were marked in centimetres until about 1970. The series was offered until 1976 (Maxifiche), so a late copy marked 200mm is possible, but no source shows one and no variant is listed for it. Topcon Club's own text calls the lens 200mm f4.
Launch date. Topcon Club's page on the Topcon R (announced December 1957) lists the 200mm among the preset R Topcors that appeared with the R, and the Maxifiche dates the R Topcor series from 1957. Topcon Club's 200mm test report says Topcon brought out each of its 200mm lenses a little later than its other focal lengths. The year here is 1957 with that conflict open. No end date specific to this lens was found: the Maxifiche gives 1957–1976 for the R Topcor series as a whole, and the lens is absent from Paillard Incorporated's mid-1970s US Topcon catalogue, which still lists both R Topcor 300mm lenses and the RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6.
Specifications. Elements, angle of view (12°), aperture range and closest focus are from the Maxifiche's R Topcor table, the only source found that gives them. No figure for weight, filter size, blade count or dimensions was found in a source that could be checked. Topcon Club says only that the f/4 is heavy and, having a manual diaphragm, has more blades than the automatic 200mm lenses.
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 shot its 200mm test with this lens on a Topcon R.
RII (Automatic R), RIII and RS: these bodies add an internal stop-down lever for the F Auto-Topcors (Topcon Club, 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 the TTL meter of these bodies can only read with the lens stopped down by hand, not at full aperture. Paillard describes the other preset R Topcors in its catalogue (the two 300mm lenses) as designed for stop-down exposure measurement; it does not list this lens. Open-aperture metering at 200mm needs the RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6 or the later RE Topcor N 200mm f/3.3.
RE200 and RE300: Topcon Club says these use the same RE mount as the RE Super, with open-aperture TTL metering. Their instruction book lists the preset R Topcor 300mm f/2.8 with stop-down metering, but not the 200mm f/4. 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 R's mount a fully compatible Exakta bayonet and says Exakta lenses with plain or manual preset diaphragms mount on Topcon bodies without difficulty. 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.

How to tell them apart (expand)

R Topcor, with no AUTO, and f/4. The RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6 is a slimmer automatic lens (chrome, later black) and the RE Topcor N 200mm f/3.3 of 1977 a short, heavy automatic lens; both couple to the RE bodies' open-aperture meter and have no preset ring (Topcon Club)
Not the UV Topcor 200mm f/4. That lens is also an f/4 200mm, but in the UV mount of the leaf-shutter Topcons, with no aperture ring of its own (the aperture is set on the body, Topcon Club), and does not fit the R and RE bodies
Exakta-type bayonet. Not a Topcor for Leica screw mount

R Topcor 20cm f/4 (manual preset):

Named R Topcor, with no AUTO: a manual preset lens with a preset ring and a separate stopping-down ring, the only one of Topcon's three Exakta-bayonet 200mm lenses with a manual diaphragm (Topcon Club)
Black barrel, stouter than the slim chrome RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6 in Topcon Club's photograph of the three 200mm lenses side by side; Topcon Club calls the f/4 a heavy lens
Aperture scale from f/4 to f/22 and closest focus 1.7 m (Maxifiche)
Plain Exakta-type bayonet at the rear with no automatic-diaphragm pin, lever or meter-coupling finger

R Topcor 20cm f/4 (manual preset): The one version known. Topcon Club photographs a black copy beside the RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6 and the RE Topcor N 200mm f/3.3, and shot its 2001 comparison test with a copy on a Topcon R. The Maxifiche says the R Topcor series gave focal lengths in centimetres until about 1970; whether any copy was engraved 200mm is not known (note ¹). No serial range, production figure or engraving close-up was found.

Specifications

Construction: 5 elements
Aperture range: f/4–f/22
Min. focus: 1.7 m
Years manufactured: 1957
Country: Japan

What reviewers say

Topcon Club (test report, all Topcor 200mm lenses) (blog) — Shot on a Topcon R at f/5.6 against the other Topcor 200mm lenses: sharpness and tonal richness beyond reproach, with the railings on a distant roof drawn cleanly, and a soft, pleasing out-of-focus rendering, though the flat subject made bokeh hard to judge. The RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6, shot wide open at the same aperture, came out a step behind it. The tester would name it the best of the group but for the convenience of the RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87–205mm.

History

The R Topcor 20cm f/4 is the 200mm lens Tokyo Kogaku made for its first focal-plane SLR, the Topcon R of 1957. Topcon Club, the Japanese collectors’ site, lists it among the preset R Topcors of 90, 135, 200 and 300mm that came out with the R, and the French Maxifiche on Topcon dates the R Topcor series from 1957. Topcon Club’s own 200mm test report gives a slightly different account: it says Topcon brought out each of its 200mm lenses a little later than its other focal lengths. The Maxifiche gives the only specifications found: five elements, a 12° angle of view, apertures from f/4 to f/22 and focusing to 1.7 m. No weight, filter size or price was found in a source that could be checked. Topcon Club says only that it is a heavy lens.

The diaphragm is a manual preset. You set the taking aperture on one ring, focus at full aperture, and turn a second ring to stop down before the exposure. There is nothing in the mount for a body to work, so the lens behaves the same on every Topcon focal-plane body. On the R, RII, RIII and RS you meter with a hand-held or clip-on meter. On the RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2, the TTL meter can only read with the lens stopped down by hand. The RE200 and RE300 of 1977–78 share 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 and says Exakta preset lenses mount on Topcons without trouble. 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). Their UV Topcor 200mm f/4 is a different lens in a different mount, and sellers list it under the same focal length and aperture.

Topcon never gave the f/4 an automatic diaphragm. For the RE Super system the open-aperture 200mm was a new and slower lens, the RE Auto-Topcor 200mm f/5.6, which Topcon Club says appeared only after the mid-1960s, later than most RE lenses. The RE Topcor N 200mm f/3.3 followed in 1977 with the N series. Topcon Club photographs the three together and asks why Topcon gave up a stop going from the R Topcor to the RE Auto. Its answer for a buyer is plain. The f/5.6 is light and the sharper choice. The f/4 is heavy, but its manual diaphragm has more blades, so its out-of-focus rendering is “mellow and beautiful”. In its comparison test on a Topcon R at f/5.6, the f/4 drew distant roof railings cleanly, with tonal range it calls beyond reproach, and the f/5.6, used wide open at the same aperture, came out a step behind.

The lens is scarce. Topcon Club says that, apart from the RE Auto-Topcor, the Topcor 200mm lenses seldom appear on the used market, and recommends buying the f/4 when one does. It is also missing from Paillard’s mid-1970s US catalogue, which still lists both R Topcor 300mm lenses, so it may have left the range earlier than they did. Expect a 20cm engraving: the Maxifiche notes that R Topcors were marked in centimetres until about 1970. Check that the preset ring clicks at each stop and that the stopping-down ring closes the blades to the preset value and no further. Check the blades for oil and the glass for haze and fungus, as on any lens of this age. Make sure the listing is not the UV Topcor 200mm f/4: the R Topcor has an aperture ring and an Exakta bayonet, while the UV lens has neither.

Expand Collapse

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

More sample photos elsewhere

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a R Topcor 20cm (200mm) f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.