Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5

Topcon · Exakta · 1965 · Xenotar type

via machine translation — corrections welcome our own finding

Also known as: RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5 · RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f3.5 · RE Macro Auto Topcor 58mm f3.5 · RE Macro Auto Topcor 58mm f/3.5 · RE.Macro-Auto-Topcor 58mm f3.5 · RE.Macro-Auto-Topcor 1:3.5 f=58mm · RE.Macro-Auto-Topcor f/3.5 58mm · RE Macro Auto-Topcor f/3.5 58mm · RE Macro Auto-Topcor 1:3.5 f=58mm · RE Macro Auto Topcor 1:3.5 58mm · RE Macro Auto-Topcor 3.5/58 · RE Macro Topcor 58mm f3.5 · RE Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5 · RE Macro 58mm f3.5 · RE Macro 58mm f/3.5 · Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f3.5 · Macro Auto Topcor 58mm f3.5 · Macro Auto Topcor 58mm f/3.5 · Topcon RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f3.5 · Topcon RE Macro Auto Topcor 58mm f/3.5 · Topcon RE Macro 58mm f3.5 · Topcon RE Macro 58mm f/3.5 · Topcon 58mm f3.5 RE Macro · Topcon 58mm f/3.5 RE Macro Auto · Topcon 58mm f3.5 Macro Auto Topcor · Topcor RE Macro 58mm f3.5 · Topcor RE Macro Auto 58mm f3.5 · Topcor 58mm f3.5 RE Macro Auto · Topcor RE 3.5/58mm Macro · Topcor RE 3.5/58 Macro · Tokyo Kogaku RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f3.5 · Tokyo Kogaku RE Macro Auto Topcor 58mm · Topcon Macro 58mm f3.5 · Topcor Macro 58mm f3.5 · Beseler Topcon RE Macro 58mm f3.5 · REマクロオートトプコール 58mm F3.5 · RE マクロ オートトプコール 58mm F3.5 · RE マクロオートトプコール 58mm F3.5 · マクロオートトプコール 58mm F3.5 · マクロ オート トプコール 58mm F3.5 · トプコン RE Macro AUTO TOPCOR 58mm F3.5 · トプコン REマクロ 58mm F3.5 · トプコール REマクロ 58mm F3.5 · トプコール マクロ 58mm F3.5 · トプコン マクロ 58mm F3.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5, chrome Exakta — — —
RE MACRO AUTO TOPCOR 1:3.5 f=58mm, black Exakta — — —
  1. Construction and size, from Tokyo Kogaku's own instruction booklet: 'Xenontar type' (as printed; a Xenotar-type design), five elements in four groups, 41°, f/3.5 to f/22, focusing from infinity to 0.26 m (10 in) or 0.5×, 30 mm helicoid extension, 49 mm filter thread with 0.75 mm pitch, 68 mm diameter by 48 mm long, 260 g. Maxifiche gives five elements and 250 g; the Paillard catalogue five elements, 49 mm and 9 oz (260 g); the RE300/RE200 instruction book's lens table 5 elements, 41°, f/3.5–22, 49 mm and 250 g. Photo Thinking adds six aperture blades, a figure not found in a period source, so it is not set here.
  2. Magnification: the lens alone reaches 0.5× (1:2) at 254 mm subject-to-film distance, with a working distance of 13 cm from the front of the barrel. With the 29 mm RE Auto-Ring it covers 0.5× to 1×, the diaphragm still automatic, the lens's own magnification scale read by adding 0.5. Reversed on the Model IV bellows with the 49 mm Reverse-Adapter Ring it covers 1× to 3.6×, with the diaphragm worked semi-automatically through the 9 mm Automatic Extension Tube and a double cable release (instruction booklet; Maxifiche and Paillard agree on 1× and 3.6×). Maxifiche's table footnote names a focusing extension tube for 1×, its text the RE Auto Ring; the booklet and Paillard say the Auto-Ring.
  3. Date: no source gives an introduction year, and the 1965 set on this page is an estimate, neither a launch date nor a firm bound. The instruction booklet names the lens 'for use with the TOPCON RE Super and RE-2 cameras', so that booklet dates from 1965 or later (the RE-2 was released in 1965, per Topcon Club); an earlier booklet or an earlier lens is not ruled out, and as an RE lens it cannot predate the RE Super of 1963. Topcon Club places the whole macro line in the mid-1960s and says this lens came out 'a little later' than the bellows-head Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5. The Beseler Topcon lens catalogue of 1966 (©CBC 1966) lists the bellows-head 58mm and the 135mm f/4 Macro but not this lens.
  4. Overlap with the bellows-head Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5: Topcon Club says the two were sold side by side in the mid-1960s and that the late-1960s Japanese catalogue kept only the RE Macro Auto-Topcor. The Paillard catalogue of the 1970s still lists both in the United States. Both are five-element 58mm f/3.5 lenses with 41° fields (Maxifiche, Paillard), and Topcon Club describes the RE Macro as the bellows head and variable extension tube made into one lens, but no source states that the optics are identical.
  5. The R (1957): Topcon Club states that the R body has no automatic-diaphragm mechanism; the semi-automatic Auto-Topcors of that camera carried it in the lens. This lens fits the R's bayonet, but its diaphragm is closed by a lever in the body, so on the R nothing closes it in normal use. No source describes using it on an R. The Automatic Extension Tube and double cable release that the booklet prescribes for bellows work give semi-automatic action independent of the body, but no source describes them on the R either. The link is kept with that limit.
  6. The Automatic R (RII), RIII and RS (1960–63) have the internal stop-down lever in the body (Topcon Club; Maxifiche), and Topcon Club says many RS bodies are found with RE Auto-Topcors, but none of them meters through the lens: the RII has no meter, and the RIII and RS take clip-on meters coupled to the shutter speeds only (Maxifiche). No source describes this lens on the RII or RIII specifically. The RE-2 (Beseler D-1) meters at full aperture with this lens; the booklet notes that the RE-2 cannot take the waist-level finders or the interchangeable screens it recommends for macro work, only the magnifier and the angle finder. The RE200 and RE300 (1977–78) keep the RE mount, and Topcon Club, describing the RE300's Exakta EDX3 twin, calls it a full-aperture TTL-metering camera no different from the RE300, and the cameras' own instruction book lists the RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5 in its table of Topcor lenses, with automatic diaphragm and full-aperture metering.
  7. Price: the Paillard Incorporated catalogue (Topcon's US distributor) lists the lens with leather case as no. 80660 at US$173.80, against $105.35 for the bellows-head Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5 (no. 80680) and $38.40 for the RE Auto Ring (no. 83520). The catalogue is undated; it includes the Super DM of 1973, so it dates from 1973 or later. These are list prices. No Japanese list price has been found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A short, squat lens with its own focusing helicoid and a magnification scale from 0.1× to 0.5× beside the distance scale; the front element sits deep in the barrel, and Topcon made no hood for it (Topcon Club; Photo Thinking)
  • Fully automatic diaphragm with instant reopening and a diaphragm coupling pin for the Mirror-Meter, like the RE Auto-Topcors, with green aperture and distance index lines (instruction booklet)
  • Engraved RE Macro Auto-Topcor and 1:3.5 f=58mm. The bellows-head Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5 (Kamerastore titles it 5.8cm f3.5 Macro-Topcor) has no focusing ring, no RE or Auto in its name, a semi-automatic diaphragm worked by a double cable release, and weighs about 120–140 g

RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5, chrome:

  • Bright chrome front ring and chrome lower barrel, with a black band between them (Topcon Club's photograph of a chrome example beside a black one, and of the same lens on a chrome body)
  • Front ring engraved with the name, 1:3.5 f=58mm and TOKYO KOGAKU; Topcon Club's small photograph does not show whether the lettering differs from the black lens

RE MACRO AUTO TOPCOR 1:3.5 f=58mm, black:

  • All-black barrel and front ring
  • Front ring engraved RE MACRO AUTO TOPCOR 1:3.5 f=58mm TOKYO KOGAKU, all in capitals (Topcon Club's photograph)

Specifications

Formula
Xenotar type
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Min. focus
0.26 m
Dimensions
68 × 48 mm
Weight
260 g
Filter
49 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Country
Japan
Original price
US$173.80 with leather case (Paillard Incorporated list price, catalogue no. 80660, undated; it lists the Super DM of 1973)

What reviewers say

History

The RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5 is the close-focusing standard lens of Tokyo Kogaku’s RE system. It focuses on its own helicoid from infinity to 0.26 m, where it reproduces the subject at half life size, and it keeps the fully automatic diaphragm and meter coupling of the ordinary RE Auto-Topcors. On an RE Super it is focused and metered wide open, and it closes down only at the moment of exposure. Tokyo Kogaku’s instruction booklet calls it a “Xenontar type” (a Xenotar-type design) of five elements in four groups. It gives f/3.5 to f/22, a 49 mm filter thread, 68 mm by 48 mm and 260 g, and says the lens is designed for close range, best at 0.1×, while equalling the standard 58mm lenses at infinity. Maxifiche, the French collectors’ sheet, gives the same five elements and 250 g. Of the four Macro Topcors, it is the only one with an automatic diaphragm. The bellows-head 58mm f/3.5 and the 135mm f/4 are semi-automatic, and the 30mm f/3.5 has a plain click diaphragm.

Its date is not on record. The booklet names it “for use with the TOPCON RE Super and RE-2 cameras”, and the RE-2 appeared in 1965. Topcon Club, the Japanese collectors’ site, says Topcon had completed its macro line by the mid-1960s. It says this lens arrived a little after the bellows-head Macro Topcor 58mm f/3.5, which pairs with a variable extension tube to do the same job. In effect the RE Macro is that combination made into one lens. The two were sold side by side for a while, and Topcon Club says the late-1960s Japanese catalogue kept only the RE Macro. Beseler’s American lens catalogue of 1966 lists only the bellows head. An undated Paillard catalogue from 1973 or later, which includes the Super DM, lists both, the RE Macro with leather case at US$173.80 against $105.35 for the bellows head. Those are US list prices.

Two finishes are photographed by Topcon Club. The chrome lens has a bright front ring and lower barrel with a black band between them. The black lens is black throughout and engraved RE MACRO AUTO TOPCOR 1:3.5 f=58mm TOKYO KOGAKU in capitals. Neither is dated. Topcon made nearly all its lenses black from the Super D of 1972, and Maxifiche says black RE lenses also existed earlier, more rarely than chrome. One Japanese dealer has listed the chrome lens as “シルバー” (silver). Do not confuse either with the bellows-head Macro Topcor, which has no focusing ring and no “RE” or “Auto” on it, and weighs about half as much (Kamerastore titles one “5.8cm f3.5 Macro-Topcor”). The leaf-shutter Topcons, from the Wink Mirror to the Unirex, take separate UV-mount lenses. Paillard lists an RE Macro Mount Adapter that puts RE lenses, this one included, on the UV-mount IC-1, at the cost of infinity focus.

The booklet’s accessory tables show how the lens was meant to be used. Topcon’s 29 mm RE Auto-Ring carries the automatic diaphragm through and takes the lens from 0.5× to life size. Reversed on the Model IV bellows with a 49 mm reverse ring, the lens covers 1× to 3.6×, and Topcon’s 9 mm Automatic Extension Tube and a double cable release then give semi-automatic stopping down. The booklet advises f/5.6 to f/8 rather than the smallest stops. It also warns that the standard split-image screen blacks out at small apertures and recommends the No. 2, 4 or 6 screens, which the RE-2 cannot take. Maxifiche adds that with slow macro lenses the RE bodies’ cell-on-mirror grid can be faintly seen in the finder, though it does not get in the way of focusing.

The lens fits every Topcon reflex with the Exakta-derived bayonet (not the K-mount RM300 or the UV-mount IC-1), but it works fully only on the RE bodies. On the RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2 it meters at full aperture, and the later RE200 and RE300 keep the same mount. The Automatic R (RII), RIII and RS have a stop-down lever in the body, and Topcon Club says many RS bodies turn up with RE lenses, but none of the three meters through the lens: the RII has no meter, and the RIII and RS take clip-on meters coupled to the shutter speeds. The original R has no diaphragm mechanism in the body, so nothing on it stops this lens down in normal use. Topcon Club notes that Topcon put its release on the opposite side to Exakta’s, and no source describes this lens on an Exakta body. Topcon Club calls it a very high-resolution lens, popular among Topcor collectors and a little dearer than other Topcors for that reason. Photo Thinking’s reviewer, who took the camera and lens photographs for his RE Super review with one, found it rivalled many standard lenses at infinity. When buying, check that the diaphragm snaps shut and reopens when the coupling bar at the rear is worked, and that the long helicoid runs smoothly to the 0.5× end. Ask whether the RE Auto-Ring comes with it, since the lens reaches life size only with that ring.

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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.

Example photos

More sample photos elsewhere

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Sample photo wanted — shot with a RE Macro Auto-Topcor 58mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $300 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $150–$300). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Sources (13)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.