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

RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8 (RE Topcor N series, 1977)

Topcon · Exakta · 1977

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8 · RE Topcor 35mm f2.8 · RE Topcor 35mm F2.8 · RE Topcor 35mm 1:2.8 · RE Topcor 1:2.8 35mm · RE Topcor 1:2.8 f=35mm · RE Topcor 2.8/35 · RE Topcor 35 2.8 · RE.Topcor 35mm f2.8 · RE-Topcor 35mm f2.8 · RE Topcor N 35mm f2.8 · RE Topcor N 35mm f/2.8 · Topcon RE Topcor 35mm f2.8 · Topcon RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8 · Topcon 35mm f2.8 RE Topcor · Topcon 35mm f/2.8 RE Topcor · Tokyo Kogaku RE Topcor 35mm f2.8 · REトプコール 35mm F2.8 · REトプコールN 35mm F2.8 · RE トプコール 35mm F2.8 · トプコン RE Topcor 35mm F2.8 · トプコン REトプコール 35mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8, black Exakta 1977 — —
  1. Specifications. Topcon's RE200/RE300 instruction book lists the lens as 'RE Topcor 35mm F/2.8 (new)': 6 elements, 62° angle of field, automatic diaphragm, full-aperture metering, f/2.8–16, 0.6 m (2 ft), clamp-mount hood, 52 mm filter, 200 g. Kamerastore's reference page agrees on 0.6 m and 52 mm and adds six blades and a size of 61 × 55 mm (it does not say which figure is the diameter), but gives 203 g against the book's 200 g; the book's figure is set. No source consulted gives the number of groups or a launch price.
  2. Optical design. Topcon Club's own Japanese text says the Auto, F Auto and RE Auto-Topcor 35mm f/2.8 share one basic design 'the N series apart' (Nシリーズは別として), which makes the N 35mm a new design; the English version printed beside it on the same page says instead that all of them, 'including the RE Topcor N', share the basic design. Topcon's RE200/RE300 instruction book bears out the Japanese text: it lists the older RE Auto-Topcor 35mm f/2.8 at 7 elements and 63° and this lens, marked 'new', at 6 elements and 62°, with a different filter (52 against 49 mm) and close focus (0.6 against 0.23 m). The Japanese also agrees with Topcon Club's account elsewhere that the 28mm to 200mm lenses were redesigned for the N series (FPslr5). The English sentence is recorded as it stands.
  3. Finish. Kamerastore's text says the lens's metal body was 'available in black and chrome'. Its own photograph shows a black copy, and no chrome copy has been found in a photograph or described by any other source, so no chrome variant is listed.
  4. Maker. Topcon Club's Japanese text says the N series was designed by Tokyo Kogaku and, it appears (ようで), made at the works of a subcontractor, Sima Kogaku (シマ光学), which renamed itself Cima (シィーマ) and launched the Cimko LS-1 after Tokyo Kogaku closed its camera division in 1981, using lenses of the same design; its RE200/RE300 page states the subcontracting without the hedge. The English text printed beside it on the lens page names the maker instead as 'the Shinshu optic Co.', a company it says had been merged into Topcon and became independent as Cima when the camera division closed. Both are recorded. Dealers who call the late lenses Cimko-made are using the later name of the same works.
  5. Badge and mount versions. Topcon Club says copies of the N-series lenses are seen as EXAKTAR, CARENA and QUANTARAY, and that the lens name changed to EXAKTAR when the RE200 and RE300 were sold as the Exakta EDX 2 and EDX 3. No 35mm f/2.8 under any of those names has been found, so no badge variant is listed. Topcon Club also says it believes a K-mount AM Topcor MC 35mm f/2.8 existed but has never been able to confirm one (この他に35mm f2.8が存在すると思われるが…今まで確認できていない).
  6. RE200, RE300, RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2: Topcon Club describes the RE200's mount as the RE mount, Topcon's mount since the RE Super, the Exakta mount with mechanisms added, and calls the RE300 and its Exakta EDX 3 twin open-aperture TTL cameras. The lens was made for the RE200 and RE300. No source describes it on the earlier RE bodies, which share the mount and its meter coupling, so the links are kept without that being confirmed.
  7. RS, RII (Automatic R) and RIII: Topcon Club says the RII of 1960 added full automatic diaphragm and a body stop-down lever, kept on the RIII, and describes the RS as an external-metering body without the RE Super's TTL meter. On these bodies the lens's diaphragm can be closed through its stop-down pin, but exposure has to be set with a separate meter. No source describes the N-series lenses on them.
  8. R (1957): Topcon Club says the R has no automatic-diaphragm mechanism in the body, everything being in its own semi-automatic Auto-Topcors, so on the R nothing in the body closes this lens's diaphragm. No source describes the pairing; the link is kept with that limit.
  9. Exakta bodies: Topcon Club notes that Topcon put its shutter release on the opposite side to Exakta's, so lenses worked by an external preset arm lose that function when swapped between Topcon and Exakta bodies. It says nothing about the RE Topcor N lenses on an Ihagee Exakta, and no other source consulted does either.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved RE Topcor, not RE Auto-Topcor (the older 35mm f/2.8 of 1963 onward, 49 mm filter) and not AM Topcor MC (the K-mount series, which says MC and has a Pentax K bayonet)
  • Topcon's RE bayonet: the Exakta-derived mount with the meter coupling of the RE Super; not the UV mount of the leaf-shutter Topcons, and not the Leica-thread Topcor 3.5cm f/2.8 made for the Leotax

RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8, black:

  • Black barrel with a rubber focusing band of raised square studs; front ring engraved RE TOPCOR and the serial number, with no AUTO (Kamerastore's photograph, serial 7021490)
  • Aperture ring at the rear, 2.8 to 16; distance scale in feet (orange) and metres (white), with a green diamond focusing index and a red dot beside the depth-of-field marks (Kamerastore's photograph)
  • 52 mm filter thread, clamp-on hood and 0.6 m (2 ft) close focus; the older RE Auto-Topcor 35mm f/2.8 takes 49 mm filters and a bayonet hood and focuses to 0.23 m (RE200/RE300 instruction book)
  • No N anywhere on the lens: Topcon Club says the N was only Tokyo Kogaku's in-house label for the new series

Specifications

Construction
6 elements
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/16
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.6 m
Weight
200 g
Filter
52 mm
Years manufactured
1977
Country
Japan
Coating
Blue-dominant, with no MC marking (Topcon Club on the RE Topcor N series as a whole, against the K-mount AM Topcor MC, whose added magenta gives a blue-violet look)

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 Topcor 35mm f/2.8 is the moderate wide-angle of the last lens series Tokyo Kogaku made for its Exakta-derived RE bayonet. Topcon Club, the Japanese collectors’ site, says the 28mm, 35mm, 135mm and 200mm came out with the budget Topcon RE200 in 1977, alongside its new RE Topcor 55mm f/1.7; the 35–100mm zoom that completed the series followed in 1979. Tokyo Kogaku called them the RE Topcor N series, N for New, to tell them from the RE Auto-Topcors, but the N was never engraved on the lenses. Topcon Club says they were designed by Tokyo Kogaku and built for it by a subcontractor, Sima Kogaku (the English version of one page names the Shinshu optical company instead). After Tokyo Kogaku closed its camera division in 1981, Sima renamed itself Cima and used the same designs in its Cimko LS-1 system, which is why dealers sometimes call these lenses Cimko-made.

It is easily confused with the RE Auto-Topcor 35mm f/2.8, the very common wide-angle sold with the RE Super from 1963, and a listing may call either simply a “Topcon 35mm f2.8”. The new lens has a black barrel with a studded rubber focusing grip, and its front ring reads RE TOPCOR, with no AUTO. Topcon’s own instruction book for the RE200 and RE300 lists it as the “new” RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8, with six elements, a 62° angle of field, a 52 mm filter, a clamp-on hood, 0.6 m (2 ft) close focus and 200 g. The older lens has seven elements and a 49 mm filter, and it focuses to 0.23 m. Kamerastore’s reference page gives the same filter and close focus, six blades and 203 g. No source consulted gives the launch price. Topcon Club disagrees with itself on the optics. Its Japanese text says every Topcon 35mm f/2.8 from the R onward shares one basic design except the N series, and the English text beside it says the N lens shares it too. The instruction book’s element counts bear out the Japanese.

Topcon Club rates the lens modestly. It says the N 35mm is not often seen but does not seem especially scarce, that unlike the N 28mm its rendering was never highly regarded, and that it is compact and light and so easy to use. Of the series as a whole, it says the lenses are generally a step down from the RE Auto-Topcors and prone to ghosts and flare against the light, but keep a Topcor-like tonal range once you know their habits. Topcon Club adds that EXAKTAR, CARENA and QUANTARAY copies of the N lenses turn up, since the RE200 and RE300 were also sold as the Exakta EDX 2 and EDX 3. No 35mm under any of those names has been found. Kamerastore’s text says the lens came in black and chrome, but the copy it pictures is black and no chrome one has been found.

The lens was made for the RE200 and RE300, whose open-aperture TTL meters it couples to. Topcon Club calls their mount the RE mount used since the RE Super, so it fits the RE Super, Super D, Super DM and RE-2 as well, though no source describes it on those bodies. The RS, the Automatic R (RII) and the RIII can close the diaphragm through the stop-down pin but have no through-the-lens meter. The original R of 1957 has no diaphragm mechanism in the body at all, so nothing on it closes this lens. The lens does not fit the leaf-shutter Topcons (the Wink Mirror, Uni, Unirex and IC-1), which take UV-mount lenses. It is also a different lens from the Leica-thread Topcor 3.5cm f/2.8 made for the Leotax. When buying, check that the front ring reads RE TOPCOR, and not RE AUTO-TOPCOR or AM TOPCOR MC, which is the K-mount series. Check that the diaphragm closes briskly when the stop-down pin is pressed and that the rubber grip has not perished. Kamerastore’s reference price in November 2026 was €219, a dealer asking figure, and Topcon Club noted in 2015 that long-time Topcon users slight these last lenses, which Tokyo Kogaku did not make itself, and that camera shops tend to offer little for them.

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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

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a RE Topcor 35mm f/2.8 (RE Topcor N series, 1977)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

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

Sources (8)

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.