Pekka Buttler, 03/2024 (Updated 8/2026)
Specifications
The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured, last version of the lens):
| Brand: | Tokyo Kogaku (Topcon) | Lens name | RE. Auto-Topcor 1:1.8 f=5,8cm |
| Focal length(s)1 | 58 mm | Angle-of-view2 | 40,9 ° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/1.8 | In Production | 1963–1973 |
| Lens mount (this lens) | Topcon/Exakta | Generation | RE. Auto-TOPCOR3 |
| Length4 | 37,9 mm | Diameter5 | 63,0 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 49 mm | Weight | 227 grams |
| Lens element count | 6 | Lens group count | 5 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C)6 | 6 S | Focus throw | 270 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance | 45 cms | Maximum magnification | 1:5,6 |
| Has manual aperture ring | YES | Has Manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture mechanism type | Automatic | Aperture click stops 7 | 1.8•2.8•4•5.6•8•11•16•22 |
Further notes:
• In an era when most lenses were uniformly black (and when even silver rings were going out of fashion), Topcon went in the opposite direction in the styling of their Topcon RE. Auto-TOPCOR series of lenses. These lenses were initially matte silver, with black rubber grips giving a contrast. However, after the 1971 introduction of the Super D, Topcon also started offering its lenses in black.
• Alike most Topcon RE. Auto-TOPCOR lenses of its era, this lens sports a chromed bayonet for attaching a lens hood as well as filter threads.
• The filter threads do not rotate on focusing.
• Topcon used to offer a bayonet-mount lens hood, but those were not supplied with every lens and are therefore rather expensive today. Luckily any thread mounted 49 mm standard hood will do the job.
• The aperture ring offers half-stop clicks throughout the range.
Versions and variations
This 58 mm f/1.8 Topcon lens is the nifty fifty for the Topcon RE system and was introduced together with the groundbreaking RE Super in 1963, but is a continuation on the 58mm f/1.8 designs that Topcon had been manufacturing since 1957.
The genealogy of Topcon’s nifty fifty designs can be summarised as follows:
| Focal length & maximum aperture | Generation | Topcon product ID | Serial# starts | Introduced | Optical design | Colours | aperture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “Auto” | 28B | 28nnnn | 1957 | 6e / 4g | black | semi-automatic |
| Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “Auto” | 62B | 62nnnn | 1960 | 6e / 4g | black | automatic |
| F.Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “F.Auto” | 62B | 62nnnn | 1960 | 6e / 4g | black | automatic |
| RE.Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “RE.Auto” | 62B | 62nnnn | 1963 | 6e / 4g | silver | automatic |
| RE.Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “RE.Auto” | 99B | 99nnnnn | 1964 | 6e / 5g | silver | automatic |
| RE.Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 | “RE.Auto” | 116B | 1160nnnn | 1965 | 6e / 5g | silver | automatic |
| RE.Auto Topcor 5.8 cm f/1.8 AND RE.Auto Topcor 58 mm f/1.8 | “RE.Auto” | 129B | 116nnnnn | 1966 | 6e / 5g | silver&black8 | automatic |
| RE GN TOPCOR 50 mm f/1.8 | “RE GN” | 158B | 158nnnnn | 1973 | 6e / 5g | black | automatic |
As is clearly evident from the table, the there are two generations of Topcon nifty fifty lenses that have only one variant (the 1960 F.Auto and the 1973 RE GN), whereas the other two generations (the 1957 ‘Auto’ and the 1963 RE.Auto) had more than one variant of the nifty fifty.
The original 1957 ‘auto’ standard lens was originally a semi-automatic design (it stopped down automatically for taking the picture, but had to be opened up manually for composing and focusing). For the 1960 introduction of the Topcon R II camera the F.Auto version was launched and that design was later also offered as the second generation ‘Auto’ nifty fifty.
When time came for the 1963 launch of the RE Super, Topcon initially focused on camera development (and other new lenses such as the 58/1.4). As a result, some of the F.Auto designs were simply rehoused (allowing the simulated metering), including the 58 mm f/1.8. Hence, for the first months of the new RE Super system, the system’s nifty fifty was actually just a rehoused version of the previous generation lens.
In 1964, a new RE.Auto Topcor 58 mm f/1.8 lens was launched, featuring a new optical design (the front doublet was split) and other improvements. This lens was again modified a bit in 1965, and while the changes were almost imperceptible to the user, the innards changed sufficiently to deserve a new product ID.
1966 saw the launch of the final iteration of the Topcon 58/1.8 and while the optical recipe remained the same (6 elements in 5 groups), many of the lens surfaces were tweaked. This last iteration is the only one of the RE.Auto lenses to also have been available in black. Interestingly, while Topcon gave this final iteration a new product ID, they did not change the serial number prefix. Therefore the serial number prefix ‘116’ refers to both both the 1965-66 variant as well as to the 1966–73 variant. One source indicates that all the samples of the earlier variant have serial numbers starting ‘1160’ whereas samples of the later (more numerous) design start at ‘1161’ and go all the way to ‘1168’, but that source is not always correct.
Which version is ‘RARE’?
Online merchants are quick to proclaim that some subvariant is ‘rare’, in the hope of inflating prices. However the nifty fifty is really the most common of all lenses and roughly 4 out of every 10 RE.Auto Topcor lenses is one of the four variants of the nifty fifty. However not all of the four subvariants (62, 99, 116 and 129) were manufactured in equal numbers.
Going by serial number ranges, there were
• at least 85 000 of the 116 and 129 variants (those with serial numbers starting 116) made,
• ca. 10 000 of the 99-variant9 and
• roughly 5000 of the 62-variant (according to sources, for I have never seen a single sample).
With several Topcon lenses having been made less than 10 000 copies of, I cannot condone calling the 99-subtype ‘rare’, but for the 62-variant, I think the judgment would be more justified.
History of Topcon
Unless you know your camera lore, you might not know that Topcon was once – between 1957 and 1976 – one of the foremost camera companies in the world.
You can read more details in the Topcon company profile.
Adapting
When intending to adapt Topcon/Exakta lenses keep in mind that most Topcon/Exakta lenses have control pins in the lens flange that vanilla Exakta lenses do not have. Hence, there is a theoretical possibility to that some old-time Exakta adapters have been manufactured that do not accommodate these pins. When procuring an adapter, make sure that it explicitly is compatible with Topcon lenses, or visually inspect the adapter regarding whether it makes room for the Topcon control pins.
With that caveat, the following applies to all Topcon/Exakta mount lenses.
This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Topcon RE Super film body or one of the subsequent Topcon cameras with the Topcon Exakta mount. While these were never produced in immense numbers, they seem to have stood the test of time reasonably well, and can still be found in perfectly serviceable condition.
Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable ‘dumb adapter’. Moreover, due to the popularity of the Exakta mount, special adapters (helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters) are readily available.
Using Exakta mount lenses on dSLRs can also be an easy option, depending on the marque of dSLR.
• Canon EF has the shortest flange focal distance among full-frame dSLR’s and Canon’s wide range of dSLRs are able to mount Topcon/Exakta lenses perfectly using a simple adapter ring.
• Minolta / Sony A dSLRs, Pentax K and Nikon F mount dSLRs do not have a short enough flange focal distance to enable reaching infinity focus without an adapter that uses corrective optics.
Footnotes
- Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
- Picture angle is given in degrees (based on manufacturers’ specs) and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
> 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
< 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎ - See more about Topcon lens generations in Topcon Company profile. ↩︎
- Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
- Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
- S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
- Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
- Records inicate, that among the silver versions here, also a special series for the US Navy was manufactured. These can be identified by an extra ‘handle’ on the focus ring and an added letter ‘N’ in the name ring. ↩︎
- ‘Topcon Story’ say that there were only ≈2000 of these, but I’ve seen serial numbers as high as 99010602. ↩︎