This post is about a new camera in the second line of cameras I've decided to concentrate on - a Topcon RE Auto which was also sold as a Topcon Uni. It is one of a set of cameras with a quite complex design for an SLR, because it has a leaf shutter fitted between the lens and the mirror rather than the more usual focal plane shutter after the mirror.
Topcon RE Auto Images
My Topcon RE Auto camera
I said in the introduction that this camera is known by two different names. In fact this camera is in some ways a bit of both models - let me explain.
I saw a Topcon Uni on eBay with a starting bid of £5, but it was a bit of a mess because the top cover had been bashed in at the corner and was creased. Now a crease in any part of the case would be almost impossible to remove and in a corner would be even worse, so I passed it by, but every time I did a search for a Topcon SLR, this unit came up.
So I started to look to see if I could find another one which I could use for parts and when I did a bit of research on the model I found that it had also been sold as the Hanimex RE Auto and I remembered another Topcon which I'd bought in bits with a view to putting it all together again. When I dug that unit out of the box it was sitting in It turned out that it was a Hanimex Topcon RE Auto and the top plate was in pretty good condition, so I put a bid on the Uni and got it for £8.
One thing I have discovered since I decided to concentrate my camera collecting on Miranda and Topcon, is that Topcon models seem to command a higher price than Miranda on eBay - certainly when viewing the 'buy it now' price. I don't yet know if that is also reflected in the auction price for all Topcon models because although I haven't had to pay more than about £30 for any of my Topcon cameras, I've only bought the bottom end of the Topcon range. I guess I'll discover more as I move up the range. However, all that said. I think £8 was a pretty good price for this unit.
The top plate on this camera was easy to remove. There are four screws which hold it in place, the top of the rewind crank needs to unscrew and then unscrew the plastic round tray it sits in, and the film advance lever needs to be removed by peeling off the cover and unscrewing it. Once they are all off the top plate just lifts off.
When I bought the camera, the seller reported is as basically working apart from the meter and the damage to the corner of the top plate. I think that is essentially correct, but I did notice a fair amount of dirt in the viewfinder, and since I had the top plate off the camera I took the opportunity to use a puffer to blow as much of that dirt away as I could. Most of it seemed to come from the sticky material which was used to hold the prism in place, and it took a few gentle puffs to remove it from the focusing screen (be careful if you repeat this since the meter needle is exposed and doesn't like to be blown about too much!).
Once all the muck and debris was all clear I replaced the top plate and re-assembled the camera.
I suspected the meter not working was simply the fact that it is difficult to get a battery. Originally it would have had the PX625A mercury battery fitted, but of course they are not available any more. There are modern replacement available however, and I had one of them, a Varta V625U fitted to my Unirex, so I took that out and tried it in the Uni. Sure enough the meter started to work. The voltage of the modern battery is a little higher than the mercury battery, so I may have to adjust the meter circuit to work properly.
The other small item which seemed to be damaged was the bottom plate of the camera which had a small depression in it. I started to replace that with the one from the camera I bought in bits, only to find that the screws which hold it in place were fitted in a slightly different location, so it wouldn't fit.
So I just pressed the depression out with my fingers and re-fitted the original bottom. The one remaining task is to replace the light seals which are a gooey mess.
Topcon RE Auto Description
So to the camera itself. In many ways this camera is similar to the Topcon Unirex. It has a leaf shutter fitted behind the lens which covers the same range as the Unirex, 1 sec to 1/500sec.
The camera handles exposure with shutter priority auto mode and manual mode, but it doesn't have the switchable averaging and spot metering modes of the Unirex. Instead, the metering is averaged, with the light meter built into the mirror in the same way the Miranda Sensomat works. When you look at the pattern on the mirror which the light sensor makes you would think it would be obvious in the viewfinder, but it's not possible to see it at all.
Speaking of the viewfinder, the display is a simple one by today's standards but shows everything which it was possible for the camera to know about the exposure at the time. There is a centre microprism focusing aid and the lens f-stop the camera will use in auto mode is shown on the left-hand side of the screen, with red areas and the top and bottom indicating over and under exposure. If the camera is being operated in manual mode this value could be transferred to the lens aperture to achieve the correct exposure.
There is a 'cold' accessory shoe and a flash socket which can be switched to X of FP sync with a small switch mounted on the bottom of the lens mount. In a similar fashion to the Unirex the shutter speed adjustment also has a pull-out lever which allows you to set the maximum aperture of the lens fitted for metering purposes.
The shutter release is mounted on the front plate on this camera.
The lens supplied is a Topcor UV 53 mm f/2.0 which, as with all the Topcor UV series has the aperture control mounted on the camera lens mount rather than on the lens itself. This makes for a very odd situation, because when you fit a lens with a different aperture there are 'dead spots' on the aperture control. For example, if I fit a 28 mm f/4.0 lens the aperture control does nothing between f/2.0 to f/4.0.
All in all this seems to be a fairly unsophisticated 'consumer' camera with auto exposure. A bit like today's 'point n shoot' cameras with the ability to change lenses.
Topcon Uni / Hanimex RE Auto Specifications
- Topcon Uni / Hanimex Topcon RE Auto
- Leaf shutter 1 sec to 1/500 + B
- Front shutter release with cable release thread
- Bayonet lens mount
- Exposure averaging via cell printed on mirror
- Auto and Manual exposure
- 10 sec self-timer
- X and M flash sync
- ‘Cold’ accessory shoe with flash sync socket
- UV coated 53mm f/2.0 Topcor lens
- Flash sync (with electronic flash) up to 1/500 sec
- Body Ser No 5409119 (uni) / 54118913 (RE Auto)
- Lens Ser No 5495533
- Manual can be downloaded here
