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

RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7

Topcon · Exakta · 1967

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 · RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · RE Zoom Auto Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · RE. Zoom Auto-Topcor 1:4.7 f=87~205mm · RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 1:4.7 87-205mm · RE Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · RE Auto Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · RE Auto Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 · RE Auto Topcor 87-205mm · RE Topcor 87-205mm · RE Zoom Topcor 87-205mm · Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm · Auto Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 · Topcon 87-205mm f4.7 · Topcon 87-205mm f/4.7 · Topcon 87-205mm 1:4.7 · Topcon 87-205mm · Topcon 87-205 · Topcon Zoom 87-205mm · Topcon Topcor 87-205mm · Topcor 87-205mm f4.7 · Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 · Topcor 87-205mm · Topcor 87-205 · Topcor Zoom 87-205mm · Topcor 4.7/87-205 · Tokyo Kogaku Topcor 87-205mm · Tokyo Kogaku RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm · REズームオートトプコール 87-205mm F4.7 · RE ズーム オートトプコール 87-205mm · ズームオートトプコール 87-205mm · トプコール 87-205mm F4.7 · トプコール 87-205mm · トプコン 87-205mm F4.7 · トプコン 87-205mm · トプコン ズーム 87-205mm · トプコン トプコール 87-205mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, chrome, with tripod collar Exakta — — —
RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, black, with tripod collar Exakta — — —
RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, late model without tripod collar (late 1970s) Exakta — — —
  1. Construction and angle: 13 elements and 28° to 12° in both Maxifiche and the Paillard catalogue; no source gives the number of groups. Aperture f/4.7 to f/22 (Maxifiche). Kamerastore's product page gives six aperture blades; no maker document gives the blade count, so none is set.
  2. Closest focus: 2.5 m per Maxifiche and Kamerastore, 9 ft (about 2.7 m) per Paillard. With the supplied screw-in close-up lens Paillard gives 4½ ft to 8 ft.
  3. Weight: 750 g per Maxifiche, 710 g (1½ lb) per Paillard, 723 g on Kamerastore's product page, 750 g in the RE300/RE200 instruction book's lens table. The 750 g of Maxifiche and Tokyo Kogaku's own book is set. Size 165 × 66 mm (Kamerastore). Filter 58 mm in every source; Topcon Club says it is the only Topcor with a 58 mm thread.
  4. Dates: English Wikipedia says introduced 1967, without a citation attached to that line (the article cites Lea 1993 and Antonetto & Russo, Topcon Story, 1997, generally). Topcon Club says only that it debuted in the mid-1960s. Maxifiche dates the RE Auto-Topcor series 1963–1976, but Topcon Club's collarless model is from the late 1970s, so no end date is set.
  5. Design: Topcon Club writes that the optics were made by Tokyo Kogaku but that the design itself seems to have come from outside, because the same design was sold by Sun Koki as the Sun Zoom 85-210mm f/4.5 (also f/4.8) and by Petri. It adds that the Topcor's coating matches the other Topcors of its day, showing it was Tokyo Kogaku's own production, and that a Photo Technic (Genkosha) 'Telephoto and Zoom' issue tested these lenses side by side and found each drew differently. The site's English summary calls it a joint development with Petri and Sun; the Japanese text is more hedged.
  6. Price: Paillard Incorporated, Topcon's US distributor, lists it as no. 80630 at US$349.15 with built-in hood, close-up lens and leather case (US list price, undated catalogue that lists the Super DM and the IC-1, so about 1974). No launch price in yen or dollars, and no dealer or auction result, was found.
  7. The Topcon R (1957): Topcon Club states that the R body has no automatic-diaphragm mechanism; it lived in the semi-automatic lenses of that camera. The RE Zoom fits the R's Exakta-type bayonet, but its diaphragm is closed by a lever in the body, which the R lacks, so the body cannot work it. No source describes using the lens on an R. The link is kept with that limit.
  8. The Automatic R (RII), RIII and RS (1960–63): from the RII the body has the internal stop-down lever that works the automatic diaphragm (Topcon Club, Maxifiche). None of these bodies meters through the lens, so the lens's meter coupling does nothing on them. Topcon Club notes that many RS bodies are found with RE Auto-Topcors fitted. No source describes the zoom on these bodies specifically.
  9. RE Super, RE-2, Super D and Super DM: open-aperture TTL metering (Maxifiche: every RE Zoom Auto-Topcor and RE Auto-Topcor focuses and meters at full aperture). RE200 and RE300 (1977–78): Topcon Club says they keep the RE mount of the RE Super line, and the cameras' own instruction book lists the RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87–205mm f/4.7 in its table of Topcor lenses, with automatic diaphragm and full-aperture metering.
  10. ⁰ Exakta bodies: Topcon Club says Topcon's release sits on the opposite side to the Exakta's, so lenses with a projecting preset arm lose their function when moved between the two. No source says whether this lens's diaphragm can be worked on an Ihagee Exakta, so this page makes no claim about it.
  11. ¹ Not this lens: the HI Zoom Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 (Paillard: 'Hi Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7', no. 80795) for the UV mount of the IC-1. Topcon Club says it is the same optical design, but with no aperture ring (the IC-1 sets the aperture from the body), no tripod collar, and a rear element too large for the earlier leaf-shutter UV-mount bodies. Topcon Club also records an 80-200mm f/5.6 zoom prototyped in the UV Topcor years, a different design.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved RE. Zoom Auto-Topcor 1:4.7 f=87~205mm (as English Wikipedia transcribes it) with Tokyo Kogaku. The RE prefix marks the Topcon RE bayonet; HI Zoom Topcor is the UV-mount lens for the IC-1
  • 58 mm filter, unique among Topcors (Topcon Club); long and slim, with a telescoping built-in hood
  • Constant f/4.7 through the range, fully automatic diaphragm with an aperture ring. A Sun Zoom 85-210mm or a Petri zoom of the same layout is a different lens with another maker's name

RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, chrome, with tripod collar:

  • Satin-chrome barrel. Topcon Club says this fine sand-blasted chrome finish, matching the body, was the mark of the RE Auto-Topcors until the black Super D of 1972
  • Rotating tripod collar locked by a knob, with click stops for upright and horizontal frames. The barrel turns inside the collar, the same arrangement as the RE Auto-Topcor 500mm
  • Full distance scale; Topcon Club gives the earlier focusing-ring markings as 15 20 30 60 ∞
  • Coating that Topcon Club describes as amber plus magenta on the earlier lenses

RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, black, with tripod collar:

  • Black barrel, with the tripod collar and full distance scale of the chrome lens
  • Topcon Club says that black RE Auto-Topcors existed before 1972, the 28-200mm lenses then with a plated ring at the front, and that from the Super D (1972) barrels were standardised in black (except the 20mm and 25mm), with the front finished black and machined edges showing bare aluminium. It does not show the zoom in either form

RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7, late model without tripod collar (late 1970s):

  • No tripod collar
  • Simplified distance scale: Topcon Club's example is a ring reading 15 30 ∞ where the earlier lens reads 15 20 30 60 ∞
  • Coating amber plus blue, against amber plus magenta on the earlier lenses

Specifications

Construction
13 elements
Aperture range
f/4.7–f/22
Min. focus
2.5 m
Weight
750 g
Filter
58 mm
Years manufactured
1967
Country
Japan
Original price
US$349.15 with built-in hood, close-up lens and leather case in the undated Paillard Incorporated catalogue of about 1974 (US list price). No launch price found.

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

Optical formula

History

The RE Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 is Tokyo Kogaku’s telephoto zoom for the Topcon RE bodies; Maxifiche counts it as the one zoom in the RE Auto-Topcor range, and the only other RE zoom, the RE Zoom Topcor 35-100mm f/3.5-4.3, did not arrive until 1979 (Topcon Club). English Wikipedia dates it to 1967; Topcon Club says only that it came out in the mid-1960s. It is a telephoto zoom with a constant f/4.7 aperture, thirteen elements and an angle of view from 28° to 12° (Maxifiche, Paillard). Its 58 mm filter thread is, Topcon Club notes, the only one of that size among Topcors, and the barrel is long and slim, with the telescoping hood Topcon favoured on its telephotos. Like the RE Auto-Topcor primes, it has a fully automatic diaphragm and couples to the RE bodies’ meter for focusing and metering at full aperture. In the United States, Paillard’s catalogue of about 1974 lists it at $349.15 with its hood, case and a screw-in close-up lens that brings focus down to 4½ ft. That is a list price; no launch price has been found.

Topcon Club writes that the optics were made by Tokyo Kogaku, but that the design itself seems to have come from outside. The same design was sold by Sun Koki as the Sun Zoom 85-210mm f/4.5 (an f/4.8 also exists) and under the Petri name. The author points out that the Topcor’s coating is the same as that of other Topcors of the period, which shows it was Tokyo Kogaku’s own production. He adds that Genkosha’s Photo Technic series tested these lenses side by side in its telephoto and zoom issue, and that each drew differently. The same optics went into the HI Zoom Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7 for the IC-1, which has a UV mount, no aperture ring and no tripod collar. It does not fit Topcon RE bodies and is not this lens.

Three versions can be told apart. The original has a satin-chrome barrel, matching the chrome bodies, and a rotating tripod collar with click stops; the barrel turns inside the collar for upright frames, as on the RE Auto-Topcor 500mm. Topcon Club says black RE Auto-Topcors were offered before 1972 and that black became the standard barrel finish with the Super D that year; Maxifiche calls black the rarer finish. Black collared zooms are reported by collectors and dealers. Topcon Club also pictures a late-1970s model without the collar. Its distance scale is simplified, reading 15 30 ∞ where the earlier lens reads 15 20 30 60 ∞, and its coating is amber and blue rather than amber and magenta. The author says this model shows many signs of cost-cutting.

The lens fits every Topcon RE-bayonet body. It meters at full aperture on the RE Super, RE-2, Super D and Super DM, and on the later RE200 and RE300, which keep the RE mount and whose instruction book lists the zoom with full-aperture metering. The Automatic R (RII), RIII and RS have the body lever that closes an automatic diaphragm, so the lens’s diaphragm should work there, though no source describes the zoom on them, and those cameras have no through-the-lens meter. The original Topcon R has no diaphragm lever in the body, so the body cannot work the lens’s diaphragm; no source describes the lens on an R. No source says whether the diaphragm can be worked on an Ihagee Exakta, whose release sits on the other side.

When buying, check that the diaphragm closes and springs back when the lever at the mount is worked, and that zooming and focusing are smooth with no haze in a thirteen-element lens. On collared lenses, check that the collar knob locks and the barrel turns freely. A complete outfit includes the screw-in close-up lens and the leather case that Paillard lists with it. Make sure the mount is the RE bayonet and the name reads RE Zoom Auto-Topcor, not HI Zoom Topcor.

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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 Zoom Auto-Topcor 87-205mm f/4.7? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $100 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $16–$100). 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 (12)

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.