The Topcon RE Super, or Beseler Topcon Super D in USA, was launched by Tokyo Kogaku KK in 1963 and manufactured until 1971, at which point it was upgraded to the ''Super D'' and again to ''Super DM'' the following year. General sale continued for several years. These later models have a shutter release lock lever on the shutter release collar. It is a professional oriented ''

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

'' SLR camera that had a comprehensive range of accessories available. It has a removable

pentaprism A pentaprism is a five-sided reflecting prism used to deviate a beam of light by a constant 90°, even if the entry beam is not at 90° to the prism. The beam reflects inside the prism ''twice'', allowing the transmission of an image through a r ...

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...

and

focusing screen A focusing screen is a flat translucent material, either a ground glass or Fresnel lens, found in a system camera that allows the user of the camera to preview the framed image in a viewfinder. Often, focusing screens are available in variants w ...

. It features the '' Exakta'' bayonet

lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, singl ...

for interchangeable lenses. A special accessory shoe is situated at the base of the rewind knob with a standard PC sync. contact next to it. The release button is placed at the right-hand camera front, but there is no mirror-up facility; this was included on the upgraded versions. The standard lens is the ''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:1.4 f=5.8cm'' or the slightly slower 1:1.8 version. A battery-operated winder could be attached to the camera base. Some common features of ''35mm'' SLR photography were first seen on the ''Topcon RE Super''. Among these is the through-the-lens exposure metering. This enabled improved exposure accuracy, especially in close-up macro photography using bellows or extension rings, and in telephotography with long lenses. In addition to this feature, the metering is at full aperture. For this purpose the RE-lenses have an aperture simulator that relays the preset aperture to the exposure meter at full aperture, retaining a bright viewfinder image while determining the correct exposure, avoiding the stop-down method. The meter also works independently of the pentaprism finder, which allows for different viewfinder configurations. The meter cell is actually incorporated in the camera's reflex finder mirror. This was accomplished by milling narrow slits in the mirror surface letting a fraction of the light through to the

CdS The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

cell placed just behind it. Identifying the different models (elsewhere/USA) * ''Topcon RE Super'' / ''Beseler Topcon Super D'': type 46A, serial no. prefix 46. Prod. period: 1963 to 1971 * ''Topcon Super D'' / ''Beseler Topcon Super D'': type 71A, serial no. prefix 71. Prod. period: 1972 only * ''Topcon Super DM'' / ''Topcon Super DM'': type 72A, serial no. prefix 72. Prod. period: 1973 only All models were available in chrome or black enamel finish. Tokyo Kogaku KK Tokyo Kogaku KK launched their first 35mm SLR camera in 1957, about two years before the

Nikon F The Nikon F camera, introduced in April 1959, was Nikon's first SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many of the concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was revolutionary in that it was the first ...

and the Canonflex. This was the Topcon R, with bayonet lens mount from the Exakta Varex camera from Ihagee in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, successor to the Kine Exakta of 1936. It was also inspired by the Zeiss Ikon

Contax S Contax (stylised as CONTAX in the Kyocera era) began as a German camera model in the Zeiss Ikon line in 1932, and later became a brand name. The early cameras were among the finest in the world, typically featuring high quality Zeiss intercha ...

as well as the Japanese Miranda T—most obviously the body shape by the former, and the detachable finder prism by the latter. However, it was not until 1963 the Topcon name became famous by introducing the Topcon RE Super, an event that took the entire camera industry by surprise: This camera featured through-the-lens ( TTL) exposure metering, at full lens aperture. The RE Super was fully prepared for professional work, supported by a choice of lenses and accessories to complement it. The United States importer was the

Charles Beseler Company Charles Beseler Company is a Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania industrial company addressing four primary markets: public and corporate steel shelving and furniture, iron shelving and storage, shrink wrap packaging and silver halide photography ( film phot ...

and it was sold as the Beseler Topcon Super D. The interchangeable lenses for the RE Super Artaphot DSC06386 Topcon RE and lenses

The following lenses have their own focusing thread: *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:4.0 f= 20mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1969 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:3.5 f= 25mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1965 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:2.8 f= 28mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1971 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:2.8 f= 35mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1963 *''RE. GN Auto-Topcor M 1:1.4 f= 50mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1973 with lens aperture interconnected to distance set on the lens' focusing ring.{{cite book, title=Topcon Story, author=Marco Antonetto, Claudio Russo, publisher=Nassa Watch Gallery Collector camera publishing, year=1997, isbn=88-87161-00-3 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:1.4 f= 58mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1963 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:1.8 f= 58mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1963 *''RE. Macro Auto-Topcor 1:3.5 f=58mm'' 49 mm filter *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:1.8 f= 85mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1973 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:2.8 f= 100mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1965 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:3.5 f= 135mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1963 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:5.6 f= 200mm'' 49 mm filter, introduced 1966 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:5.6 f= 300mm'' 62 mm filter, introduced 1965 *''RE. Auto-Topcor 1:5.6 f= 500mm'', introduced 1969 *''RE. Zoom Auto-Topcor 1:4.7 f= 87~205mm'' 58 mm filter, introduced 1967 In addition, a range of special lenses without focusing thread (to be used with bellows or focusing extension tube) were available for macro work: *''Macro Topcor 1:3.5 f= 30mm'' *''Macro Topcor 1:3.5 f= 58mm'' *''Macro Topcor 1:4 f= 135mm''

References

135 film cameras SLR cameras