Simlar and Topcor 5cm f/3.5 (Elmar type)

Variants & identification

1. Formula of the State. Topcon Club says the State, the Simlar and the 1955 Topcor collapsible and early rigid K lens are one four-element Elmar design (four elements in three groups, as Leica Copies Japan reports Topcon Club's view) with the diaphragm just behind the front element. Leica Copies Japan reports Camera-wiki's view that Tokyo Kogaku kept the State name for triplets and notes that the pre-war State was a triplet; it says the evidence seems to support Camera-wiki, but asks whether the name marked three elements or simply a cheaper lens. The family formula follows Topcon Club; no one has published a dismantled State.
2. Leotax K lens types. Leica Copies Japan gives the early rigid lens about 580xxx–584xxx with the number on the front ring and the later one about 584xxx–589xxx with the number under the lens. Leitz Auction 15 lot 388 calls no.580419 'later type'; its photographs show the number on the front ring and a scale ending at 16, which is the early lens by Leica Copies Japan's and Topcon Club's descriptions. The auctioneer may have meant the camera. Near 584xxx the physical check decides.
3. Prices. No price for the lens alone has been found. A 1955 Asahi Camera advertisement reproduced by Leica Copies Japan gives the list price of the Leotax F with the Topcor f/3.5 5cm as ¥38,500, against ¥65,000 with the Topcor f/1.5. The US Department of Commerce booklet The Development of the Japanese Photographic Products Industry, 1954–1958, gives the same ¥38,500 for the Leotax F with the collapsible Topcor f/3.5 at 31 March 1957, and ¥26,000 for the Leotax K with the rigid Topcor; by then both lenses were probably the Tessar type. These are camera-and-lens list prices.
4. Filters. Leica Copies Japan shows a Walz 19 mm screw-in filter, the Leitz Elmar thread, with Simlar no.563494, and says the various collapsible f/3.5 lenses take 36 mm push-on filters; it also writes that, unlike the later Tessar-type Topcor, the earlier one has no outer filter thread. The early rigid K lens has an outer 34 mm and an inner 27 mm thread. No source gives the thread of the State or the first Simlars.
5. Names. Topcon Club dates the change from State to Simlar to the Special D III. Leica Copies Japan finds uncoated Simlars already on the Special D II of 1947. Both were released in 1947, so the difference is a matter of months.
6. The Tessar-type Topcor 5cm f/3.5 of 1955–56, collapsible with a full-size aperture ring and stopping at f/22, and the later rigid Leotax K lens with its glued nameplate, are on their own page. Konishiroku's Hexar 50mm f/3.5, sold on many Leotax T cameras, is a different lens again.

• State 50mm f/3.5 (ステート): The first Tokyo Kogaku lens supplied for the Leotax after the war, replacing the Fujita-made Letana Anastigmat on the last Leotax Specials; a June 1947 advertisement for the Leotax Special, apparently the Special B, names a State f/3.5 (Leica Copies Japan). Topcon Club says it is the same four-element Elmar-type lens as the Simlar under another name. Leica Copies Japan reports Camera-wiki's view that the State name had been kept for three-element lenses, which would make this one a triplet; it finds the evidence leaning that way but asks whether the name marked triplets or simply cheaper lenses (table note ¹).
• Simlar 50mm f/3.5, first type: Leica Copies Japan finds the uncoated Simlar on the Leotax Special D II of 1947, on two Special D IIIs and on three Leotax NR IIIs, before the C.Simlar took over. Topcon Club dates the change of name from State to Simlar to the time of the Special D III instead. Lens no.550623, with this engraving and the f/18 scale, sold alone at Leitz Auction 13 for €300 including premium; the auctioneer called it very rare.
• C.Simlar 50mm f/3.5 (coated): Leica Copies Japan dates the C to the introduction of coating, about 1947, and its removal to the Leotax D IV of 1951, when coating had become universal. Apart from the early C.Simlar 9cm f/4, it knows of no other Tokyo Kogaku lens marked with the C. It also finds the C.Simlar, and the earlier uncoated Simlar, both with the f/18 scale, on the Leotax NR III of about 1949, which Sugiyama says was made in fewer than 50 examples for US forces reporting from Korea; Camera-wiki records an NR III with a 50mm f/3.5 Simlar sold at the 46th Leitz Photographica Auction. Camera-wiki lists the lens as '50/3.5 C Simlar (collapsible)'.
• Simlar 5cm f/3.5, later type: The budget standard lens of the Leotax D IV of 1951 and the Leotax S of 1952, beside the Simlar f/1.5, and still the usual entry lens on early Leotax F cameras of 1954 (Leica Copies Japan; Topcon Club). A Leotax S with lens no.563494 recorded by Leica Copies Japan has a Walz 19 mm screw-in filter, the thread of the Leitz Elmar.
• Topcor 5cm f/3.5 collapsible, Elmar type (前期型沈胴): The standard lens of the Leotax F and Leotax T in 1955, the Simlar renamed (Topcon Club; Leica Copies Japan). Topcon Club says the later collapsible, with an external aperture ring, is a different design and appeared in mid-1955; Leica Copies Japan dates that change to 1956. A Leotax F of 1956 sold at Leitz Auction 45 still carried this lens, so the body's date does not settle the type.
• Topcor 5cm f/3.5 rigid, Leotax K, early type (前期型固定鏡胴): The budget Leotax K of 1955 came with a rigid version of the Elmar-type Topcor, and it is not normally found on other models (Leica Copies Japan). Topcon Club says it shares the optics of the Elmar-type collapsible and that the later K lens, with the same barrel styling, has the Tessar optics instead. Leica Copies Japan finds the change at about camera 5973x and the two types about equally often in its database. Leitz Auction 15 described Leotax K no.57876 as the 'later type' with Topcor no.580419; its photographs show a front-numbered lens, the early type by both sources' descriptions (table note ²).

Specifications

Formula

Elmar type, 4 elements in 3 groups, diaphragm just behind the front element

Construction

4 elements / 3 groups

Aperture range

f/3.5

Filter

36 mm push-on for the collapsibles; a 19 mm screw-in filter of the Elmar type is shown with a later Simlar; early rigid K lens 34 mm outer, 27 mm inner (Leica Copies Japan) (State 50mm f/3.5 (ステート), Simlar 50mm f/3.5, first type, C.Simlar 50mm f/3.5 (coated), Simlar 5cm f/3.5, later type, Topcor 5cm f/3.5 collapsible, Elmar type (前期型沈胴)) · 34 mm outer and 27 mm inner screw-in (Topcor 5cm f/3.5 rigid, Leotax K, early type (前期型固定鏡胴))

Years manufactured

1946–1956

Country

Japan

Coating

Uncoated at first; coated from the C.Simlar of about 1947; magenta-blue on the 1955 Topcors (Topcon Club; Leica Copies Japan)

What reviewers say

• Topcon Club (blog) — Shot at f/8 against the other screw-mount Topcors: an Elmar type like the Simlar, but strong in contrast with bold, heavy lines and deep colour leaning to magenta; coarser than the later Tessar type, and ranked a little behind the best Topcor normals. via machine translation — corrections welcome

History

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Simlar and Topcor 5cm f/3.5 (Elmar type)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

• Tokyo Optical Simlar 3,5/5cm lens Leica Screw Mount — €299.00 · Arsenal Photo
• Leotax D IV #12887, c.1950, Showa Optical Works, MIOJ, Tokyo Simlar 5cm/3.5 #563000, CLA'd 2023, Ex — $495.00 · Igor Camera Exchange
• Leotax D IV #14105, c.1951, Showa Optical Works, Tokyo Optical Simlar 5cm/3.5 #563442, CLA'd 2023, Ex++ — $495.00 · Igor Camera Exchange
• 【美品】Tokyo Optical/东京光学 Simlar 50mm/f3.5 5cm Leica L39螺口银色镜头 #jp28118 — CN¥1,500.00 · Breguet Camera (阿楚影像 / digifan)

Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.