Topcon: Staying on Top is Harder Than Getting There

US-market Beseler Topcon Super D (aka Topcon RE Super) w/ the famed 58/1.4 RE Auto-Topcor lens

  Updated Jan. 20, 2023

    1957. A year of events that would reverberate for years to come. Sputnik. The debut of cable TV in the USA. "I Love Lucy" ended production. The Cat in the Hat was published. And a musical duo that would be as influential as anyone on the next two decades' of popular music (the Beach Boys, Beatles, and Bee Gees were only a few among the many that would cite themselves as being significantly impacted by them) had their first #1 hit:

    1957 would also see the introduction of the first 35mm SLR from a relatively small Japanese manufacturer that was to have an outsized influence on the industry that would continue for over thirty years. In that year, TOPCON (Tokyo Kogaku) would find themselves at the leading edge of 35mm SLR technology and they would remain there for the next decade. The 1960s would see them emerge as Nikon's (Nippon Kogaku) most serious competitor in the professional 35mm SLR market. By 1977, however, Topcon's photography division would be a shell of its former self, outsourcing its remaining SLR production and diving right to the bottom of the market. By 1981 (with Nikon owning over 75% of the pro market), Topcon was out of the 35mm business completely, even though they live on to this day in the industrial and medical optics arenas. So, what happened? How did Topcon go from industry leader to also-ran in the space of a generation?  

    Big 4 and Big 5 are terms used ad nauseum in this blog. If you happen to be visiting for the first time, these terms are used out of sheer laziness to label the major Japanese 35mm film SLR manufacturers from the 1960s through 1980s. Initially they were: Asahi Pentax, Canon, Minolta, and Nikon (Big 4) - joined by Olympus in the early 1970's (making 5, according to my sick math skills). Ad nauseum, indeed ;-). This conglomerate dominated sales and played the leading role in the advancement of the SLR as the 35mm camera of choice among serious photographic enthusiasts (and later, even consumers) during the last half of the 20th century. It is thus very easy to fall into the trap of overlooking the contributions of the many bit players in the industry when it came to the evolution of 35mm cameras, including SLRs. Companies such as Chinon, Fujifilm (which became the largest producer of film and paper in Japan), Konica (the original producer of photographic supplies in Japan), Kowa, Mayima, Miranda, Petri, Yashica, and Zunow, among others, made up this group. But we are going to key in on Topcon...the Everly Brothers of the SLR world...    ​

  Where It All Began

    The Tokyo Kogaku Kikai K.K. (Tokyo Optical Company, Ltd.) was founded in 1932 (five and seven years, respectively, before Don and Phil Everly were born) based from the surveying instruments division of K.Hattori & Co., Ltd. and quickly became a favored supplier of optical equipment (primarily surveying optics, binoculars, and cameras) to the Imperial Japanese Army while the older Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K. (Japan Optical Industries Company, Ltd., founded in 1917) was aligned with the Imperial Japanese Navy. Naturally, the competitive spirit between the branches of the armed forces spilled over to their suppliers, and for the next four+ decades, the two companies (which would become familiarly-known in Western markets as Topcon and Nikon) engaged in a spirited battle for photographic supremacy. While both did dip their toes into the civilian market pre-WWII, it would be during the post-war era, with both companies having to turn to civilian production entirely during the American occupation of Japan and beyond, that their rivalry would reach its peak. The 35mm SLR would become the primary point of contention between the two. Topcon also diversified into medical optical instruments starting in 1947, decades before Nikon would do so. They beat Nikon by two years to market with their first SLR and each would continue introducing technical advances over the next few years, culminating with the brilliant RE Super (sold as the Beseler Topcon Super D in the USA; Beseler was the U.S. distributor for Topcon until the early 1970s) of 1963 being chosen by the U.S. Navy as its official 35mm SLR over the Nikon F. The RE Super would be the primary standard that Nikon would measure its F-system against for the next decade-and-a-half, and they would even adopt features found on the RE Super as late as their fourth-generation F4 (1988) a quarter-century later. Before we dig into that delicious comparison, let's review the evolution of the true top-flight Topcon SLRs (using the original Exakta-based R/RE mount) from 1957-77 (we will briefly get into the lower-tier UV Topcor mount later in this article). 

Topcon (Exakta-style Mount) SLR Chronology

• 1957 - Topcon R aka Beseler Topcon B in the USA. Introduced in the same year as Asahi's original Pentax model and Miranda's second-generation A, the R was a very advanced SLR for its time and was the second Japanese pentaprism SLR to feature interchangeable viewfinders (the Orion/Miranda T being the first in 1955). Topcon decided, like Asahi, to adopt a modified version of an existing lens mount (in this case the Exakta bayonet mount introduced by Ihagee of Dresden in 1936) rather than introducing a proprietary mount as Canon, Minolta, and Nikon would within the next couple of years when introducing their first SLRs. The professional and enthusiast (prosumer) Topcons would use this mount for the next two decades. Most Exakta lenses could be used on a Topcon body (with limitations), but most Topcors (Topcon's lens designation; very similar to Nikon's use of Nikkor for their lenses :-)) could not be used with Exakta SLRs due to subtle mount or operational differences. The R, like the Pentax, had an instant-return mirror and separate high- and slow-speed shutter dials (although the R's were both located on the top plate concentric to each other, rather than the high-speed-on-top/low-speed-on-the-front locations with the Pentax). But the R went one-better than the Pentax when it came to: 1) aperture actuation with Auto Topcor lenses, 2) top shutter speed (1/1000 sec. vs. 1/500 sec.), and 3) a ratcheting versus single-stroke 180-degree film advance lever. With the Pentax the user had to manually pre-set the aperture before exposure and then re-open it following the exposure. The Topcon R made this process semi-automatic with Auto Topcor lenses (the "Auto" referred to aperture operation) by utilizing Exakta's Pressure Automatic Diaphragm (basically a button that closed down the aperture and then actuated the shutter release button right behind it in one motion. The Miranda A (the second-generation version of the original Miranda T of 1955) also used this same system, and had a 1/1000 sec. top speed, but it lacked the instant return mirror of the R and the Pentax, so when it came to being the most advanced Japanese SLR in 1957, the Topcon R's combination of all of the above features, along with a split-image rangefinder focusing aid, gave it not just the technological edge, but also made it the most convenient of the three to use. Eight Topcor lenses were available covering focal lengths from 35 - 300mm (three were Auto-Topcors and five were standard pre-set R Topcors).
• 1960 - Topcon RII aka Beseler Topcon C in the USA. This was basically an R updated to internally-coupled, fully automatic aperture actuation versus the semi-automatic, externally-coupled Pressure Automatic Diaphragm system used previously. The lens line grew to nine, with a 200/4 R. Topcor being added. A self-timer was also added, and a Fresnel lens integrated into the focusing screen for improved focusing "snap". This allowed Topcon to keep pace with Nikon's F model introduced in 1959 which also had fully-automatic aperture with Nikkor Auto lenses. The F would also push Topcon to further improvements with their next model...
• 1960 - Topcon RIII aka Beseler Topcon C (Version 2) in the USA. Next on the list for Topcon was to modernize their shutter speed controls. The Nikon F had a single dial with all speeds listed on it and Topcon saw the need to keep up. They also took the opportunity to add a front accessory shoe to enable mounting of an accessory, externally-coupled selenium exposure meter. And that gave an indication of the next big advance that the Japanese SLR makers were targeting: Built-in metering. And it would be there that Topcon would achieve their greatest triumph...
• 1962 - ...which was not the Topcon RS ;-). For those die-hard hand-held meter aficionados, Topcon provided a meterless version of the RE Super to follow. That's all the RS was, no more, no less. The RS was rarely seen in its day and is even more scarce today.
• 1963 - Now we come to the revolutionary Topcon RE Super aka Beseler Topcon Super D in the USA. The internal model code was 46A and thus serial #s began at 4600001. The RE Super was Topcon's top dog SLR from the time of its debut to the demise of the photographic division in 1977. It was so advanced upon its introduction that Topcon only saw fit to give it small updates (with slight name changes) in 1972 & '73. And there is our first inkling of trouble for Topcon...but let's not get ahead of ourselves :-). So what made the RE Super such a gamechanger? To put it succinctly: Internally-coupled, full-aperture, Through-The-Lens (TTL) metering (how's that for a mouthful? ;-)). Translation: The camera took meter readings directly from the light path to the film through the lens and with a nice bright viewfinder for easy focusing because it did so at full (or the maximum) aperture opening of the lens. What this meant in the real world was greater accuracy and speed of metering compared to the then-extant clumsy clip-on external meters that really were, at best, a stop-gap measure. On top (no pun intended) of that, the new RE Topcor lenses automatically indexed the lens aperture to the internal metering system when one was mounted. This was something Nikon wouldn't offer until 1977 (hmm, that year is cropping up a bit ;-)) although they had the full-aperture TTL part down pat by 1965. That was still over two years behind Topcon. It would take until 1966, and Minolta's SRT-101, for another manufacturer to offer the same package of full-aperture TTL metering with fully automatic aperture-indexing. Canon and Pentax would make do with stop-down TTL metering (meaning you had to physically close or stop down the aperture to take a meter reading and then re-open it for focusing, or vice-versa) until 1970 & 1973, respectively. We will dig into what made the RE Super one of the most influential SLRs of all time a little further down the line, but for now let's just say it was the apogee of Topcon's orbit (this was during the Space Race '60s, after all ;-)). In a case of eerie foreshadowing, the Everlys had their final top 10 hit in America that year. 
• 1965 - Topcon RE-2 aka Beseler Topcon D-1 in USA. Model code was 56A and serial #s began at 5600001. Topcon found itself in the same boat as Nikon in the early-'60s when it came to serving SLR enthusiasts other than professionals or those with pudgy pocketbooks: They were a one-pony show. Notwithstanding Nikon's first failed attempt at an enthusiast-targeted body (the ill-fated Nikkorex F of 1962, which was actually a collaboration with Mamiya), by 1965 both companies had a brand-new SLR model that was intended for the advanced amateur or as a less-expensive backup for professionals. This would broaden their market, not only for camera sales, but more importantly - lenses and accessories - which were the bigger profit-makers. Coincidentally or not, the Topcon RE-2 and Nikkormat/Nikomat FT both ended up sporting remarkably similar overall specifications and feature-deletions from their big brothers. To lower production costs from the RE Super, the RE-2 lacked the interchangeable viewfinders and focusing screens, the DOF (depth-of-field) preview lever, the motor-drive compatibility, the top-deck exterior meter display, and the automatic FP/X-sync flash switching capability (instead, it utilized the common twin X and M PC contacts used by most of its competitors) of the RE Super. The viewfinder area coverage dropped from 97% to 93%, and the film winding system dropped the ratcheting multi-stroke advance of the RE Super for a single, 180-degree stroke. Conversely, the RE-2 adopted a vertical-travel Copal Square S shutter (similar to the Nikkormat FT, although the controls differed), which allowed for a 1/125 sec. top x-sync shutter speed versus the 1/60 sec. of the RE Super, and a more convenient OFF/ON switch location on the side of the lens mount versus the bottom of the camera. The shutter speed dial and shutter release locations were also reversed from the RE Super due to the change in configuration from a horizontal- to a vertical-travel shutter. The full-aperture metering system and ISO film-speed range were otherwise-identical to the Super's. Aside from the lack of DOF-preview and its longer film advance stroke, the RE-2 was a clear match for the Nikkormat FT in capability, if not in sales. Lenses for the REs now numbered 14 with nine being RE Auto Topcors. While the Nikkormat quickly boosted Nikon's profile and had a 15-year lifespan in four iterations, the hapless RE-2 was a relatively poor seller and was gone within five years with maybe 50,000 produced. The reasons for its unfortunate demise would be inextricably tied to Topcon's eventual exit from the 35mm SLR market. 1965 also saw the Everly Brothers last top 10 hit in the UK, and there was still further to fall, unfortunately.
• 1972 - Topcon Super D. After a decade on the market, the RE Super was still one of the most capable SLRs on the planet. But with Nikon F sales exploding in the late-'60s (reaching over 100,000 in 1970 alone at their peak) and the brand-new Nikon F2 being introduced in late-1971, Topcon embarked on some long-overdue upgrades to the RE Super. A shutter release lock, mirror lock-up (MLU), a reduction in the winding stroke to 135 degrees, and a more-comfortable, plastic-tipped, winding lever were the biggest changes. Styling was updated as well: The baseplate previously located under the shutter release and self-timer was eliminated, the shutter speed dial and shutter release bezel were both now black (even on chrome models), and there was now a leatherette insert on the back of the standard finder. Somewhat confusingly, Topcon dropped the RE Super tag for the Super D designation heretofore used only in the USA on the Beseler Topcon-branded bodies. The engraving changed from a small-script "SUPER" over a large "D" that could be previously found on either front panel (depending on the year of manufacture) to an in-line "SUPER D" on the shutter release-side front panel. The internal model code changed to 71A and serial #s thus began with 7100001.
• 1973 - Topcon Super DM (aka Supreme). The ultimate incarnation of the original RE Super. The Super DM was the final kick at the can for Topcon. A redesign of the prism housing allowed for the lens aperture setting to be displayed in the viewfinder, the MLU mechanism was refined into a lever-actuated system rather than the less-ergonomic toothed wheel of the Super D of the prior year. And an auto winder joined the Motor Drive as an option for powered film advance. So basically, a refined Super D...which was a refined RE Super. The internal model designation was again changed; now to 72A and so serial #s began with 7200001. Aside from a few ergonomic and functional tweaks, there wasn't much to delineate a '63 from a '73. Lens count had reached 20 of which 16 were RE Auto Topcors. And there we have the best of Topcon. It was all downhill from then on...and oh, the Everlys broke up that year, too.
• 1977 - Topcon RE200/RE300. The end of the line for the RE-mount Topcons, and an inglorious one at that. The RE200/RE300 duo (they were identical but for the RE300's ability to mount an auto winder and its inclusion of a split-image rangefinder focusing aid), was a far cry from the Super DM. Gone were: the Mirror-Meter, MLU, the interchangeable finders and focusing screens, and DOF preview. Viewfinder area coverage dropped from 97% to 91%. Build-quality was an order of magnitude lower as Topcon was desperate to reduce production costs in the AE-1-era. In December 1980, they would shutter their 35mm photography division entirely, as they decided to focus on the far more profitable industrial and medical optics sectors. The RE200 & RE300 were produced by sub-contractor Shima Optical (aka Chimko Kogaku), and would spawn a series of badge-engineered offspring (mostly made with the Pentax K-mount), which sold in very small numbers and faded away by the mid-'80s. Ironically, the RE200/300 only served to emphasize just how good its predecessors were, and on that note, let's take a closer look at the features and foibles of the toast of the Topcons, the true innovator...

  ...the Redoubtable RE Super (...and Super D...and Super DM :-))

​    The RE Super was a revelation in February 1963. It not only took all of the incremental advances (instant-return mirror, fully-automatic aperture, interchangeable viewfinders, to name a few) of the previous decade and put them in a single package, but simultaneously pushed the technological bar farther forward than any other SLR of the 1960s. Think about this for a moment: Out of the Big 4 (Canon, Minolta, Nikon, and Pentax), only Minolta (widely regarded as the most innovative of the group) would close out the decade with an automatic-indexing, full-aperture TTL-metered SLR, and it took them three years longer to get to that point than it did Topcon (not to mention, with considerable "borrowing" from the RE Super's internal meter-coupling design ;-)). And all of this from a company with minuscule sales, comparatively speaking. And while the others would eventually catch up and surpass Topcon, the engineering of RE Super's meter is still impressive to behold.       

RE Super metering cell & mirror

    By the time Topcon introduced the RE Super, it was widely accepted that cadmium sulfide (CdS) cells were the way to go when it came to camera meters. Although they did require a power source (aka battery) for operation, they were far more compact, responsive, and had much greater low-light sensitivity that the selenium cells then-extant. CdS would remain top-of-the-line until the early-'70s and Fujica's introduction of the Silicon Photo Diode (SPD), and would survive well into the 1980s in lower-specced models from many SLR makers. There would be a variety of configurations selected by different manufacturers (some consisting of two or even three cells to improve exposure accuracy), but none were as ambitious as Topcon's. While most CdS cells were of a button-type and around 6mm (1/4") in diameter, Topcon, in collaboration with Toshiba (with whom Topcon had become affiliated in March 1960), developed a single CdS cell that was the nearly the size (26mm x 34mm) of the 35mm film frame and then was sandwiched between the mirror and the mirror backing plate. Not content with just size, they went for sophistication as well. Now, Minolta's two-cell CLC (Contrast Light Compensating) meter (introduced in the SR-T 101 in 1966) is sometimes referred to as the earliest example of a rudimentary "matrix" meter, having two segments that were intended to balance exposures by emphasizing the fore ground versus the (brighter) sky in landscape orientation. However, the Topcon RE Super's metering cell was divided into five basic segments, with four being termed "combs" divided by a central "cross". Last time I checked five is more than two, and Topcon was over three years ahead of Minolta, to boot :-). Topcon's method of compensating for brighter skies in landscape orientation was to make the two upper combs smaller in size than the lower combs which would automatically bias exposure towards the non-sky area. Not content with that, they also made the comb areas with a higher sensitivity to light by concentrating the etched lines in the mirror in a fine diamond pattern over each segment. They balanced this by using a far coarser diamond grid over the central cross segment of the meter for situations where light levels were higher. The internal resistance of the CdS circuits was thus varied and automatically balanced depending on light levels, with camera shifting more towards the central cross as they rose higher. Safe to say, in 1963 (and well into the 1970's, for that matter), there was nothing that came even close to the technical level of the RE Super's meter. There would be a (literal) price to pay for such technical achievement, however, as we will see. ​

---

Illustration of the Mirror Meter from Sept. 1963 Topcon brochure

    ​While somewhat less technologically revolutionary than the metering cell, the method of coupling the meter to the lens and shutter of the RE Super was ingenious. Forgoing all of the previous external levers, arms, or whatever other appendages were used to connect lenses and shutter speed dials to add-on meters, Topcon came up with a clever internal system of gears, pulleys and miniature chains connecting the lens aperture lever, shutter speed/ISO dial, and the meter for a seamless transfer of exposure information between the meter, lens, and shutter. Completely out of sight (except in cutaways in Topcon's marketing materials :-)), this system contributed as much as the TTL meter to the ease and speed of operation of the RE Super. No futzing with twisting aperture rings back-and-forth or pushing levers into slots, etc. Just install the lens and go. The RE super was the easiest SLR to use in 1963 and wouldn't have any serious competition in this segment until the SR-T 101 came along. But, there were other features of the RE Super that the Minolta still couldn't match.

​
​    It is one thing to put all manner of technical sophistication into an SLR (as Minolta proved a few times over the years), but it is quite another to marry that to sturdy reliability with very good overall ergonomics, and top build quality. And here again Topcon excelled with the RE Super (it had one of the smoothest film advances of any SLR of the era, outdoing the Nikon F handily). It was no coincidence that the RE Super was selected in the mid-'60s by the US Navy and many law-enforcement agencies for its combination of ease of use and rugged build. Upon its introduction, no other SLR offered the total package of the RE Super and its RE Topcor lenses. The 58/1.4 and 100/2.8 were some of the finest examples of their ilk ever made (Cosina would go so far as to recreate the 58/1.4 in the early 2000s, available in Nikon F-mount, ironically :-)). A professional would, at least, have to take a good hard look at the Topcon before selecting the Nikon F over it during that time (Nikon still dominated Topcon when it came to overall sales, but we'll get to that soon enough ;-)).

  The RE Super and the Nikon F: Head-to-Head in 1965
​

Specifications

Shutter:


Flash sync:

Viewfinder Area:

Viewfinder Magnification:


​Focusing Screens:

Meter Type:


​
Meter Display:

​
Exposure Range:


ISO Range:

​Aperture Indexing:

Film Winding Stroke:

Film Back:


Motor Drive:


​
Mirror Lock-Up:

DOF Preview:

Self-Timer:

Dimensions (mm LxH): 

Weight (grams):

Topcon RE Super

1 - 1/1000 sec. + Bulb; Rubberized-Silk

1/60 sec. 

97%

0.86x w/ 50mm lens @ infinity

Interchangeable; 6 types

CdS cell located in body; 1.3V 625 battery


Internal/External w/ all Finders
​
EV 2 - 16 @ ISO 100 & f/1.4

25 - 1600

Automatic

180-degree ratcheting

Hinged & removable; 250-frame bulk back available

Yes; up to 3 frames/sec.; 12V Ni-cad; 750 frames per charge
​
No

Yes

5 - 10 sec.

157x99

​​​815g

Nikon Photomic FTn

1 - 1/1000 sec. + Bulb; Titanium

1/60 sec.

virtually 100%

​0.8x w/ 50mm lens @ infinity

Interchangeable; 8 types

CdS cell located in detachable finder; 2 - 1.3V 625 batteries

Internal/External w/ Photomic Viewfinder

EV 2 - 17 @ ISO 100 & F/1.4

6 - 6400

​Manual

135-degree ratcheting

Slide-off removable; 250-frame bulk back available 

Yes; up to 4 frames/sec.; 12V w/ 8 - AA alkalines 


Yes

Yes

3 - 10 sec.

147x102

860g

   
​    Now, for a few things that the specs don't tell us. Just like every other SLR ever created, the RE Super had its drawbacks, which could be categorized from minor nuisances to dealbreakers depending on your perspective. The location of the OFF/ON switch for the meter on the bottom of the camera was probably the most noticeable, particularly if you wanted to mount a motor drive, which impaired access to the switch considerably. This was not an issue for the Nikon F, which had its meter switch integrated with its Photomic viewfinders. Conversely, the Nikon couldn't meter with any of its other interchangeable finders aside from the Photomics, while that was a huge benefit of the in-body meter of the Topcon. Another niggle for the RE Super was the metering display, which lacked clear markings to indicate over or underexposure. Now, this was something that the user would come to understand clearly upon study of the manual, but the catch was that the top deck meter readout displayed the meter reading in reverse of that in the viewfinder. While this was great if you had your RE Super mounted on a microscope or copy stand (and you were thus looking at the top of the camera from the front and pointed down), it made for some cognitive dissonance if you had it at waist-level. There was also a price to be paid for that smooth winding stroke: less torque meant a longer throw (180 degrees) versus the higher-effort, but snappier 135-degree stroke of the Nikon. A side-effect of the etched mirror was that the pattern of lines would become visible in the viewfinder as the aperture was stopped down past f/8 and DOF preview was engaged, which had no effect on the image, obviously, but could be distracting for some users. One other issue that was never addressed by Topcon was the lack of a shutter speed setting display in the viewfinder, which almost all of its competitors had some form of by 1970. 

  The Effect of the RE Super on an Industry

​    A good argument could be made for the RE Super as the most influential Japanese 35mm SLR ever, full-stop. Just how influential? Well, Minolta's very successful SR-T lineup (which also lasted for 15 years on the market, from 1966-81) pinched the line-and-pulley meter-coupling system (substituting nylon strings for the over-built miniature chains of the RE Super). Miranda and Nikon both adopted the behind-the-mirror location of the metering cell in their Sensorex (1966) and F3 (1980) models, respectively. Miranda utilized the etched-lines approach of Topcon, albeit in a different configuration to avoid violating Topcon's patents, and Nikon developed a method for using 50,000 oval-shaped "pinholes" to allow 8% of the incoming light to pass through to the F3's metering cell, which was verrrry close to the Topcon's 7% transmission ;-). Nikon even went further 25 years after the RE Super debuted, when the F4 became the first professional Nikon with a proper slide-in rail system for its interchangeable viewfinders, which Topcon had had from the beginning on its original R model, and which was more secure than the press-in clip latch used on the first three F-generations. But beyond all of the specific instances of competitors "borrowing" features from Topcon, was the general proliferation of TTL meters, and full-aperture ones at that. Now, it's obvious that many of the Japanese SLR manufacturers were busily working on TTL metering as early as 1960 (when Asahi-Pentax revealed the Spot-Matic prototype at Photokina). But once the the RE Super hit the market, there was no going back...it was TTL or go home for any company wanting to be successful long-term in the 35mm SLR market, and the rush was on to get a TTL model on the market from all of the major players. The fact that it took at least two or three years longer for Canon, Minolta, and Nikon to get TTL metering up and running, and eight years more for Canon to get to the full-aperture stage, demonstrated the level of engineering that Topcon was capable of in 1963. Pentax' failure to quickly move to full-aperture TTL did not impact Spotmatic sales in the least during the 1960's (they sold more Spotties within the first few months of release than Topcon would sell of all three iterations of the RE Super in 15 years), but would prove costly to them by the time the '70s rolled around. The technological break, before and after the RE Super, is unmistakable. Even with all of the advances that have been made into the digital era, full-aperture TTL metering is still the standard for interchangeable lens cameras and has even survived the transition to smartphones. How many other features introduced by SLRs nearly six decades ago are still viable or necessary today? Thinking... 

 Oh...The Irony

   For all of that, it's been over four decades since a Topcon 35mm SLR has been sold new, and even longer since a model worthy of the name was available. So what the heck happened? How do you go from being the technological leader of an industry to abandoning the entire enterprise in the space of less than two decades?? Well, here are seven reasons for Topcon's topple:

1. Resting on Their Laurels - Similar to Asahi-Pentax with the Spotmatic, but on a more accelerated scale, Topcon was so far ahead with the RE Super that they failed to push forward with any sort of urgency, letting their rivals reel them in. It took them 10 years to update the RE Super to the Super D and another year into Super DM form, and that was just too long. Now, Nikon hadn't exactly been updating the F, other than the metered finders, on anywhere near a breakneck pace, either. But the Super D's improvements came in areas where the F was already ahead: the shorter winding stroke, MLU (even if the F's mechanism wasted a frame of film, it was still a usable feature), and a shutter release lock. The plastic-tipped wind lever was a response to the brand-new F2, which had pressed Nikon's advantage further with an improved MLU, an even shorter winding stroke of 120 degrees, a new shutter with 1/2000 sec. top speed and 1/80 sec. flash sync., and metered finders that showed both shutter and aperture settings along with the meter reading. In reality, the F2 was much more than a warmed-over F; at its heart it was a new camera, one that Nikon had been developing since 1965. The Super DM, on the other hand, was the opposite, a mild update of an excellent SLR, but providing no further innovation and merely catching up to features introduced by its competitors during the previous decade. 
2. Lenses - Lenses are the greatest single determinant of the overall health and prospects of an interchangeable lens camera ecosystem. Over the lifespan of the RE-series, Topcon expanded their complete Topcor (including non-Auto) lens lineup from 12 (covering 25 - 300mm) to 21 (covering 20 - 500mm) optics. That doesn't sound too bad in isolation...but here's the rub: Over the same time period (1962-77), Minolta introduced two generations of lenses (Auto Rokkor & MC Rokkor), and went from 13 Auto (aperture) Rokkor lenses (covering 28 - 500mm) to 32 MC Rokkors (covering 7.5 - 1600mm). Canon had only six automatic aperture lenses in 1962 (covering 35 - 135 mm), but by 1977, also having introduced two new generations of lenses (FL & FD), they now had 44 lenses (covering 7.5  - 1200mm). Pentax had eight automatic aperture Super Takumars (covering (28 - 135mm) in 1962, which grew to 28 (covering 15 - 1000mm) by the end of M42 production in 1976. They then immediately started with 26 lenses (covering the same range ) in their new bayonet K-mount in 1975). I gave Topcon the benefit of including their non-Auto Topcors while restricting their competitors to Auto-aperture-only, non-MLU (as the original RE lacked MLU) and the discrepancy still stands. And we haven't even gotten to Topcon's chief rival, Nikon, yet. In 1962, Nikon had 15 Auto-Nikkors on tap covering 28 - 1000mm, which was a definite edge, but the Topcor line was still competitive and sported the only 300/2.8 lens on the market. As far as optical quality, the Topcors gave up nothing to the Nikkors (or any other lenses at the time, for that matter). But fast forward only 15 years, and it was no contest...there were 56 Nikkors available (covering 6 - 2000mm). Moreover, it wasn't just the sheer number of lenses and focal lengths available, but the multiple options within focal lengths, that made Nikon (and Canon to a lesser extent) the choice for the majority of pros by 1977. Those multiple options also included wider maximum apertures (by up to 2-stops) in most focal lengths than the equivalent focal length Topcors, which leads us to a third problem for Topcon...
3. The Lens Mount - During the great Japanese SLR boom of the late-1950s, at least a dozen serious manufacturers sprung up. A major decision facing them individually was whether to adopt an existing lens mount from one of the established German manufacturers, or to go ahead with brand-new proprietary mounts. in 1957, Topcon chose the latter, choosing to modify the oldest SLR mount then available: the Exakta. Topcon would cleverly tweak this mount (integrating full-aperture meter coupling without disturbing backwards compatibility with their own lenses) over the next five years into its final iteration in the RE Super, and would run with it until the end of production in 1981. Up until the late-60's, the limitations of Topcon's version of the Exakta mount were largely unnoticeable. But with the push for ever-wider angles of view and ever-larger maximum apertures, advancements in lens design were now pushing beyond the capabilities of a mount that had debuted before WWII. The biggest problem was the diameter of the orifice, 38mm, which resulted in an area that was only 75% of Nikon's newer F-mount (44mm diameter). That placed some serious constraints on the lens designers at Topcon, who were restricted from going any wider than 20mm and only reached f/1.4 with their normal (50 - 58mm) lenses. Nikon was able to stretch their non-fisheye focal length down to 13mm, their maximum aperture down to f/1.2 with the 58mm Noct, and had at least an f/2 option for all of their standard wide angles (24 - 35mm), whereas Topcon couldn't get faster than f/2.8 with theirs. In the days when Kodachrome 64 was viewed as a fast film, every stop of aperture was treasured by pros and enthusiasts alike. In the long run, the choice to modify the Exakta mount served to handicap Topcon's ability to keep pace with Nikon during the pivotal late-'60s to early-'70s period, even though its optical engineers were just as talented. 
4. Cost - Topcon's "no-compromise" approach to the engineering and manufacturing of the RE Super and its accessories engender respect and nostalgia in many a 35mm-lover. But that came at a literal cost...one that severely limited the market for Topcon even during the boom-years of the '60s. The Mirror-Meter is perhaps the greatest example of this: for all of its advantages over its competitors, it cost considerably more to manufacture and assemble. Fully kitted-out with a motor-drive and set of lenses, an RE Super cost more than a comparable Nikon F (which was itself no wilting violet in the price department). Basically, you had to be a pro or sufficiently affluent (cue the doctor and lawyer epithets of those less monetarily-endowed ;-)) to own either camera, back in the day. Sales reflected that reality: While Minolta and Asahi-Pentax sold 3/4s of a million SRT-101s and Spotmatics combined in 1967, the combined sales of Nikon and Topcon of their top four models (the F & Nikkormats, and the RE Super & RE-2) would have been fortunate to crack 200,000 units, with Nikon accounting for at least 80% of that total. That's half-a-million fewer standard lenses to sell...half-a-million fewer wide-angles...you get my drift? The sales ceiling was always going to be lower for the top-end Topcons, which was not the end of the world in itself, but there was another area involving marketing that spelled the end for Topcon as the figurehead of the Japanese 35mm SLR manufacturers...
5. No Joseph E. Ehrenreich - No one individual was more responsible for creating (in his own words) "the Nikon myth" in the United States and globally, than the founder of Ehrenreich Photo-Optical Industries (aka EPOI, the forerunner of Nikon USA), the US distributor for Nikon from 1954-81. Ehrenreich was a marketing genius and made it his mission to create an aura around the Nikon F as the SLR to have or at least covet, by putting it into the hands of the most influential photographers of the mid-20th century: photojournalists. Today, with the overabundance of visual media available and the massive falloff of print media, it can be difficult to appreciate the enormous influence that the photojournalist had in the middle of the 20th century. Television was just entering its teenage years, video was still over a decade away, and the twenty-four hour news cycle was just a twinkle in Walter Cronkite's eye. There was no greater cachet for a photographer, either among one's peers or the ranks of amateurs, than to risk life and limb to bring newsworthy images to the rest of the world. This had begun to take real hold during the Second World War, with photographers being embedded with troops and often seeking out the most dangerous areas of the battlefield in order to capture history (real, perceived, or invented, which is a discussion for another day ;-)). Nevertheless, the ultimate result was the deification of the photojournalist, and as always in a consumer society, what was good for the professional must be even better for the enthusiast that would never feel the whizz of a shell going by. Ehrenreich knew this as well as anyone (and better than most), so he pushed the Nikon F system as the ultimate kit for the photojournalist. He was also not slow about grasping the enormous publicity machine being built around the US space program. Nikon F's were soon, not just recording history in space and Vietnam, but being seen doing so. F sales climbed steadily throughout the '60s, peaking in 1970, with well over 100,000 sold in that year, alone. Unfortunately for Topcon, they did not have anyone of good ol' Uncle Joe's vision and drive to promote the RE Super, even though it was clearly a match for the F-series, at least until the F2 came along. An excellent product + decent marketing versus an excellent product + great marketing is no contest, and so it became with Topcon and Nikon. Beseler, while well-known for their enlargers and other developing equipment, simply could not muster the marketing savvy that Nikon had with EPOI running the show. 
6. Spreading Oneself Too Thin - While Nikon contented themselves for the first two decades of the F-mount with catering to the professional and serious 35mm enthusiast, Topcon wanted to cash in on the middle-to-lower-end SLR market as well. In doing so, they diluted their brand identity by offering a line of lens-shutter SLRs and their accompanying UV Topcor lenses (using a completely different mount than the RE Topcors) which, while decent, were nowhere near the quality of the RE Topcors, and mostly consisted of basic f/3.5 or f/4 designs. The fact that both lines were physically incompatible (Topcon did have adapters, but they only allowed for UV lenses to be mounted on RE bodies, or the RE macro lens to be used on a UV body, neither of which were likely scenarios) also meant that it was harder for the shine of the RE-series to reflect onto the lower-end UV-line. Topcon's low-end line definitely siphoned off resources that could have been used to greater effect for modernizing and expanding the RE SLR & lens lineup.
7. The Oil Crises of 1973-74 & '79 - Japan has been heavily-dependent on oil imports for its modern economic history. Its economy is therefore vulnerable when global shortages occur. The photographic sector was not immune, and in fact, was one of the first to feel the pinch in '73-'74 as a recession quickly set in and inflation, well...inflated. And when a recession comes, the first thing to go is spending on non-essentials (as photography is for most of its practitioners :-)). The whole Japanese camera industry felt the pain and not a few of the non-Big 5 manufacturers succumbed. Canon began a crash program to develop a lower-cost SLR (which turned out to be the AE-1) aimed at consumers. The other Big-5 members quickly followed suit. Topcon's leadership began to lose their enthusiasm for the photographic market, which was also becoming more competitive among the manufacturers themselves. The race to the bottom had begun in earnest. With lower profit margins staring them directly in the face, and unwilling to neither invest more into, nor cheapen the Super DM itself, they simply pulled the plug on the model and made a token stab at the lower end of the market with the RE-200/-300 for a few years. Remember, Topcon had originally started out in the surveying sector and had expanded into medical in 1947. Those two industries were both more stable and lucrative than photography in the aftermath of the first Oil Shock. And with the second Oil Shock (due to the Iranian Revolution) in 1979, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the brass at Topcon simply decided that enough was enough. They couldn't match Nikon's marketing or market-share in professional SLRs, and they couldn't compete with Canon's manufacturing automation and efficiency in the consumer market. And it so it was bye, bye for Topcon's SLR business, less than 25 years from its inception. 

  Legacy

    Outside of a few 35mm enthusiasts, the only recognition of the name Topcon today will come from those in the medical or industrial sectors. The RE Super has cult status in Japan and often lists for anywhere from $350 - $1,000 USD with a lens. But in North America, where brand-recognition for Topcon is somewhat lower, you can sometimes score one for less than $300 USD, particularly if it is badged as a Beseler-Topcon. The typical solutions for dealing with mercury-battery-powered SLR meters all are in play and the usual caveats for buying any vintage SLR apply:

• Be very careful on the big auction site, and I personally recommend buying from someone reputable with a warranty policy.
• Verify that all shutter speeds, the meter, and all other functions are working properly before buying.
• Any mention or visibility of a little fungus or mold is a sign of much worse to come. Run, don't walk, away.
• Be prepared to have a CLA (Clean, Lube, Adjust) done to get your purchase in proper working condition. It may take some doing to find a good technician in your area and remember that your only sources of parts will be other bodies as spare parts are long gone.

   The later Super D and SUPER DM bodies are preferable to some people due to their refinements over the RE Super, but the original is nothing to be sneezed at if you happen to come across one, especially with a 58/1.4 RE Topcor attached. The film winding of the original model (180-degree) is more reliable, with the late bodies (135-degree) requiring more frequent lubrication of their geartrains to prevent excessive wear. The RE-2/D-1 bodies are more of a bargain due to their even greater obscurity than their illustrious forebears and they compare favorably to a Nikkormat FT or FTn .

    If you are looking for something a little less mainstream but just as capable as a Nikon F, and with a larger impact on SLR development, you will be hard pressed to beat the top-flight Topcons. They are truly classics in every sense of the word. The tragic part, as we have seen before, is that being first and/or the best is no guarantee of overall success. Sales of the Nikon F totalled over 862,000 by June 1974. F2 production in just nine years reached 816,000 in June 1980. In December of 1980, the Nikon F3 was just nine months old when Topcon pulled the plug. They exited 35mm camera market and the RE Super/Super D(M)s slid further into obscurity. By September 1992, Nikon had produced 751,000 F3s (which also proved to the longest-lived F-model, lasting until 2001). A bitter pill for Topcon, as the F3 was the first (and, as it turned out, the only) F-Series body to adopt the RE Super's meter-in-the-body configuration. By the time the F3 was discontinued, Nikon had sold close to 2.5 million of the first three F-models. Total production figures for the Topcon RE Super/Super D(M) are not readily available, but Modern Photography noted that the US Navy had ordered several thousand Super Ds by 1974. Serial number analysis (caveat: this is fraught with supposition and thus should never be taken as gospel ;-)) supposes that around 90,000 RE Super/Beseler Super D bodies were produced from 1962-71, maybe 10,000 Super Ds from 1972, and not much more than 25,000 Super DMs from 1973 to the discontinuation of 35mm camera sales in December 1980. Total production, therefore, was very likely south of 150,000 from 1962-77. So yeah...Nikon won the sales competition in a walk, but as far as influence on SLR design, Topcon's contributions with the RE Super belied their small market presence. 

Beautiful exploded view of the RE Super from Phot Argus magazine Nov. 1969 issue

   As irony would have it, only three years after Topcon put the lights out on their camera division, the Everly Brothers reunited and gave us a beautiful rendition of the perfect song to express the feelings of any lover of Topcons. Oh, and it just happened to be originally released in 1962...just a bit more of that foreshadowing thing ;-). 

  References:

    Captain Jack's Early Topcon SLR Pages @ Captain Jack's Exakta Pages
    Various Topcon & Nikon Brochures & Manuals @ Pacific Rim Camera
    Phot Argus Topcon Super D Test, Nov. 1969 @ Pacific Rim Camera
    Modern Photography's Test Report: Topcon Super DM, Mar. 1974 @ PRC
    Various Topcon Manuals @ https://www.butkus.org/chinon/beseler.htm
    The Casual Collector - Super Topcon
    History - TOPCON @ https://global.topcon.com/about/history/
    TOPCON CLUB @ http://www.topgabacho.jp/Topconclub/index.htm
    Debut of Nikon F2 @ https://imaging.nikon.com/history/chronicle/history-f2
    Debut of Nikon F3 @ https://imaging.nikon.com/history/chronicle/history-f3