R Topcor 28mm f/2.8 (preset)

Topcon · Exakta · 1957

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: R Topcor 28mm f/2.8 · R Topcor 28mm f2.8 · R Topcor 28mm F2.8 · R Topcor 2.8cm f/2.8 · R Topcor 2.8cm f2.8 · R.Topcor 28mm f2.8 · R.Topcor 28mm f/2.8 · R.Topcor 2.8cm f2.8 · R.Topcor 2.8cm f/2.8 · R-Topcor 28mm f2.8 · R-Topcor 2.8cm f2.8 · R.Topcor 1:2.8 f=2.8cm · R Topcor 1:2.8 28mm · R Topcor 2.8/28 · Topcon R Topcor 28mm f2.8 · Topcon R.Topcor 2.8cm f2.8 · Tokyo Kogaku R Topcor 28mm f2.8 · Rトプコール 28mm F2.8 · Rトプコール 2.8cm F2.8 · R トプコール 28mm F2.8 · トプコン Rトプコール 28mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
R Topcor f/2.8 28mm (manual preset, as listed by the Maxifiche)	Exakta	—	—	—

Existence unconfirmed. The Maxifiche is the only source that lists this lens. Topcon Club's page on the Topcon R names the interchangeable lenses that came with the R as the 35mm and 100mm Auto-Topcors and preset R Topcors of 90, 135, 200 and 300mm (トプコンRの登場とともに現れた交換レンズは、35mm・100mmのオートトプコールと、90mm・135mm・200mm・300mmのプリセット絞りのRトプコール各種である), with no 28mm. Its wide-angle page says the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 came out late, that buyers who wanted something wider than 35mm took the RE Auto-Topcor 25mm instead, and that the 28mm had not appeared by the mid-1960s, when the RE Super sold best (最もREスーパーの売れ行きが好調だった60年代半ばにその姿を現していなかった); its English version says photographers grew tired of waiting for a 28mm. That account is hard to square with a 28mm preset lens on sale from 1957, though it does not mention an R Topcor 28mm either way. Neither of Paillard Incorporated's US Topcon catalogues lists an R Topcor 28mm; both list the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 and both still list the two R Topcor 300mm preset lenses. The Maxifiche's R Topcor table also lists a 50mm f/2.8 that no other source shows. Its R Topcor 28mm may be a planned lens, a lens sold briefly in small numbers, or an error. A photograph of a copy or a period Japanese catalogue would settle it.
Dates. The year 1957 is the Maxifiche's start date for the R Topcor series as a whole ('commercialisés dès 1957'), not a date given for this lens, and the Maxifiche's end date of 1976 is also for the series. No date specific to the 28mm was found; on Topcon Club's account (note ¹) a 1957 date for a 28mm is doubtful.
Specifications. Elements, angle of view, aperture range and closest focus are from the Maxifiche's R Topcor table alone. The Maxifiche gives the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 the same 75° angle but 7 elements and 0.3 m, so the two entries are not a duplicate within that table. No weight, filter size, blade count or dimensions were found.
R (1957): the Maxifiche says the R's bayonet has no coupling of any kind (baïonnette d'objectif sans aucun couplage) and lists no meter for the body. A manual preset lens needs neither, so a lens built as the Maxifiche describes the series would work fully on the R, metered with a hand-held meter.
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: a preset 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's catalogues give stop-down exposure measurement for both preset R Topcors they list (the 300mm f/2.8 and f/5.6); it does not list a 28mm. Open-aperture metering at 28mm needs the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 or, on the RE200 and RE300, the RE Topcor 28mm f/2.8.
RE200 and RE300: Topcon Club says these use the same RE mount as the RE Super, with open-aperture TTL metering. Their own instruction book lists a preset lens, the R Topcor 300mm f/2.8, with stop-down metering, so a preset R Topcor meters stopped down on them; the book does not list a 28mm R Topcor. The links are kept on the same terms as the other R Topcors.
Ihagee Exakta bodies: the Maxifiche calls the R's mount a fully compatible Exakta bayonet and says that, thanks to it, Tokyo Kogaku had the whole Exakta lens range available from the start. Topcon Club notes that Topcon put its release button on the opposite side to the Exakta (on the left, seen from the front), so lenses with a protruding preset arm do not do their job when swapped between Topcon and Exakta bodies. A ring-type preset lens has no such arm, but no source describes an R Topcor on an Ihagee Exakta.

How to tell them apart (expand)

R Topcor, with no AUTO: the R series has a manual preset diaphragm. The RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 (chrome or black barrel per Topcon Club; 49 mm filter and 0.3 m per the Maxifiche) has an automatic diaphragm and couples to the RE bodies' open-aperture meter; the RE Topcor 28mm f/2.8 of 1977 for the RE200 and RE300 is a later automatic lens, designed by Tokyo Kogaku and apparently made by a subcontractor (Topcon Club)
Not the UV Topcor 28mm f/4: that lens takes the UV mount of the leaf-shutter Topcons (released with the Unirex, and listed by Paillard for the IC-1), has no aperture ring of its own (Topcon Club), and is not an Exakta-type bayonet lens
Not the AM Topcor MC 28mm f/2.8, a Pentax K-mount lens for the RM300 (Topcon Club), and not a Topcor for Leica screw mount

R Topcor f/2.8 28mm (manual preset, as listed by the Maxifiche):

Should read R Topcor, with no AUTO, and carry a preset ring beside the aperture ring, as the other R Topcors do; no photograph of this lens has been found, so these points come from the series description, not from a copy (note ¹)
Aperture scale f/2.8 to f/22 and closest focus 0.35 m, against 0.3 m for the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 (Maxifiche)
If it exists as described, a plain Exakta-type bayonet at the rear with no automatic-diaphragm pin, lever or meter-coupling finger

R Topcor f/2.8 28mm (manual preset, as listed by the Maxifiche): Listed only in the R Topcor table of the Club Niépce Lumière's Maxifiche 040 on Topcon: R TOPCOR f/2.8 de 28mm, 6 elements, 75°, f/2.8–22, 0.35 m. The Maxifiche gives no photograph, date, weight, filter size or price for it. No copy, catalogue entry, advertisement or dealer listing has been found, and Topcon Club's account of the lenses sold with the Topcon R does not include a 28mm (note ¹). The variant is kept because a family needs one; treat it as unconfirmed.

Specifications

Construction: 6 elements
Aperture range: f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus: 0.35 m
Country: Japan

What reviewers say

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History

The R Topcor 28mm f/2.8 is a preset wide-angle that the French Maxifiche on Topcon, published by the Club Niépce Lumière, lists in its table of R Topcor lenses for Tokyo Kogaku’s focal-plane SLRs. The Maxifiche describes the R Topcors as manual preset lenses from 28 to 300mm, sold from the Topcon R of 1957 until 1976 and marked in centimetres until about 1970. For the 28mm it gives six elements, a 75° angle of view, apertures from f/2.8 to f/22 and focusing to 0.35 m. That is all it says, and no other source has been found for this lens. No photograph, catalogue entry, price, serial number or dealer listing has turned up.

Other sources make the lens doubtful. Topcon Club, the Japanese collectors’ site, names the interchangeable lenses that came with the Topcon R: the 35mm and 100mm Auto-Topcors and preset R Topcors of 90, 135, 200 and 300mm. It lists no 28mm. Its page on the wide-angles says the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 came out late, after the 25mm. It adds that photographers who wanted something wider than a 35mm bought the 25mm instead, because the 28mm had not appeared by the mid-1960s, when the RE Super sold best. Paillard Incorporated’s US catalogues of the mid-1970s list the RE Auto-Topcor 28mm and still offer two preset R Topcor 300mm lenses, but they list no R Topcor 28mm. The Maxifiche’s table also contains an R Topcor 50mm f/2.8 that no other source shows. Until a copy or a period Tokyo Kogaku catalogue turns up, treat this page as a record of what the Maxifiche says, not proof that the lens was sold.

If the lens exists as described, it would work like the other R Topcors. You set the taking aperture on a preset ring, focus at full aperture, and turn to the preset stop before the exposure. Nothing in the mount couples to the body, so it would behave the same on every Topcon focal-plane body. On the R, RII, RIII and RS you would meter with a hand-held or clip-on meter. On the RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2, the through-the-lens meter would read only with the lens stopped down by hand. On the RE200 and RE300 of 1977–78 it would also meter stopped down: their instruction book lists the preset R Topcor 300mm f/2.8 that way, though not a 28mm. The Topcon bayonet is derived from the Exakta’s. Topcon Club warns that lenses with an external preset arm do not work when swapped between Topcon and Exakta bodies, because Topcon put its release on the other side. A ring-type preset lens has no such arm. The lens would not fit the leaf-shutter Topcons (PR, Wink Mirror, Uni, Unirex, IC-1), which take UV-mount lenses.

For a buyer, the practical point is that almost every Topcon 28mm on the market is something else. The RE Auto-Topcor 28mm f/2.8 has an automatic diaphragm and couples to the RE bodies’ meter. The RE Topcor 28mm f/2.8 of 1977 came out with the RE200. The UV Topcor 28mm f/4 belongs to the leaf-shutter system and has no aperture ring. The AM Topcor MC 28mm f/2.8 is a Pentax K-mount lens. A genuine R Topcor 28mm would be engraved R Topcor with no AUTO, and would probably read 2.8cm if it dates from before about 1970. It would have a preset ring and a plain bayonet with no diaphragm pin or lever. A listing of such a lens, with clear photographs of the engraving, would be the first published evidence that it exists.

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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.

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