The Beseler Topcon Super D — A Battle Camera

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Here we have a US Navy Beseler Topcon Super D. If you can find any version of this camera, from the Topcon RE Super to the Topcon Super Dm (last version) at anything resembling a reasonable price, buy it immediately! It doesn't get any better than this!

Beseler Topcon Super D © open-arms, Courtesy Flickr

The Beseler Topcon Super D was the combat camera for the US Navy and the US Airforce from the 1960s to the 1980s after winning a competitive test with the Nikon F and several other Japanese and German cameras. It won for much stouter construction and better ergonomics. The US Army and US Marines went with Leica for silence. It fits to your hand like a perfect weapon, with the front-facing shutter button right under your right forefinger. Also, that huge, 5.8 cm f/1.4 lens is one of the sharpest ever honed and does not vignette, even when shot wide open. At this late date, not even Nikon manages this because it's much too expensive. The case is also real, made of pebble grain leather.

This is the camera to take to the football stadium, especially if one of the teams is Manchester United. It handles very quickly in use, it is a great metal shield you can hide behind when the drunken riot starts or you can beat off attackers with it. If you are small enough, you can even hide inside it. (Hahaha!)

I bought this camera in 1970 at a charity shop in Oxnard, California with six lenses, two extension rings, an extra different focusing screen, an angled critical focus magnifier, the pain in the bum hot shoe fixture, and a huge plug-in-the-wall type flash (went up in flames decades ago) all in a cardboard box for 300 USD. The camera body is engraved "US Navy" on the bottom cover. I have a feeling that the US Navy is still looking for this stuff (except the flash, it was an explosive fire hazard!). The Topcon Super D is THAT good.


This is a review submitted by Community Member herbert-4.

herbert-4 tarafından, 2009-03-27 tarihinde ve #donanım #insanlar #review #camera #sharp #topcon #us-airforcebeseler #combat #usnavy başlığında yazıldı.

32 Yorum

  1. stouf
    stouf ·

    Wow cool looking camera ! nice gallery !

  2. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    They seem to have edited out my specification paragraph so, here's the specifications:
    Shutter: 1/1000s to 1s and B, X-sync @ 1/60s, M-sync @ 1/30s, non-rotating shutter speed dial.
    One of the first coupled TTL light meters, EV2 to EV16 @ ISO 100, and done right! Match needle.
    Interchangeable viewfinders and focusing screens.
    Exacta bayonet lens mount. Lots of old lenses out there, some very weird ond Lomographic.
    Hot shoe and PC socket are by a removable fixture, a pain in the bopbop, but done for indestructability.
    A covered socket for a dedicated motor drive.
    And lastly, chrome plating that would do justice to a 1954 Buick!!
    Enjoy.
    Herb

  3. frankbob
    frankbob ·

    Herb,
    Appreciate the info on the Super D. I have one with the same (close) lens but I have lost the manual somewhere along the way. I would like to know what battery to get for the light meter since mine is missing. I also have a Canon FT SLR that took the old PX-13 mercury battery and they no longer make those so I have to explore some more for a work-around on that camera which is a real winner. I love the TOPCON though, and have taken many great photos with it.
    Hope you can help on the battery.
    Frank

  4. darryl1208
    darryl1208 ·

    the german translation of this article you can find here:
    www.lomography.co.th/magazine/reviews/2010/12/23/die-besele…

  5. simon-hedge
    simon-hedge ·

    I want one!

  6. stickyvinny
    stickyvinny ·

    Great review, Herb! Very kool camera and a very nice gallery too!
    Looks like I have another one to add to the list! Haha

  7. stickyvinny
    stickyvinny ·

    Great review, Herb! Very kool camera and a very nice gallery too!
    Looks like I have another one to add to the list! Haha

  8. gianni50
    gianni50 ·

    i have one for sale message me!

  9. zorki
    zorki ·

    Nice review. I always thought that the Nikon F was the main camera on the battlefield in the 60s.

  10. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @zorki Reporters and combat photographers bought their own Nikon F's, and, over time, the military began to buy them, too. Better marketing by Paillard in US. Beseler US was just too industrially oriented, and eventually got crowded out of market. However, Nikon F's were fragile in the pentaprism, less accurate in light meter and noisy compared to Topcon and never matched that Topcor 5.8cm f/1.4 sharpness, bokeh, and even illumination, even now. Find one of these...

  11. billyfoto
    billyfoto ·

    As a Navy Photographer from 1974 -1986, I had the pleasure of using this camera model. Although by 1977 when I had access to the Super DM we were calling them "Slopcon". Probably due to the loosey-goosey film advance lever and the propensity for prisms to detach without warning. However, I will agree 100% with the evaluation of the metering system and the quality of the lens. It might have been a somewhat unfair nickname for the camera, but they put up with a lot of use over the years and not a lot of tender loving care, except by the camera repair technicians. I also has a very nice Leica RF kit at my disposal, which I preferred. A Tank among 35mm cameras, and as fine a piece of glass that you could put on one. Lucky you for having it. KEH presently has a 87-205 f 4.7 lens available in EX condition for less than $200. Funny set of parameters for a lens in that range, but it probably worked out to the best quality that the engineers could put in a lens like that.

  12. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @billyfoto I was a Corpsman in the Navy from '68 to '72. I never used the Dm, just the Super D and RE Super. They were both very tight, secure and stout in their parts. LSI wouldn't use my photo of the camera because of brown blanket... www.lomography.co.th/homes/herbert-4/albums/103229-old_came… www.lomography.co.th/homes/herbert-4/albums/103229-old_came… My examples are better than than their photo.

  13. swmpykee
    swmpykee ·

    I love this story and review, and the pics. I just happened upon one at a good price, and I can confirm. Holy cow, what a sweet camera.
    Thanks for this.

  14. eepug
    eepug ·

    I bought this camera in 1968 after my Contaflex was stolen. I dragged that Super D through Hong Kong and Maylasia in 1969...including a night in an animal hide in the jungle. got some great shots. I also loved that lens for shooting production shots in the Off Off Broadway theater I worked with in New York...so great in low light and for capturing the moment. Still have it. Loved your piece.

  15. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @eepug Thanks!!

  16. teeh
    teeh ·

    I really like way the last few came out. Very adventuresome

  17. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @teeh Thanks!!

  18. alanlw
    alanlw ·

    I'm old enough to remember the camera a playing around with one in a camera store back in the mid 1970's. While I was unaware at the time of it's selection by military as he winner against the likes of Nikon F and others, I wasn't favorably impressed by it's large size, long advance throw, high noise level. Handling seemed no better and possibly a little worse than other premium cameras possibly because I have small hands making the front shutter release a little problematic. It appears to me that it's best feature was the built-in TTL meter and it's ability to function regardless of accessory finder, something that eluded Nikon until the early 80's with the F3 or mid 70's with the Canon F-1. I found a fairly thorough review from Popular Photography (1969) confirming rather high levels of noise and vibration. The 6 vs 8 tooth sprocket design contributed to it's long 180 degree advance throw. While bokeh was not discussed back then, the 58/1.4 bench testing was a little disappointing and exhibited enough focus shift where refocus stopped down at the shooting aperture was recommended for really critical sharpness. That said, I ultimately defer to those who actually used the camera in the field as it seems to be quite popular among it's fans.

  19. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @alanlw I think the ruggedness of Topcon Super D won out over Nikon F. And my 58 F/1.4 is very sharp. Nikon F's were a bit fragile, especially about the meter prism. The Army used Leicas for silence. That didn't stop a lot of Army photogs from buying their own Nikon F's. Paillard marketed Nikon brilliantly. See ads in Popular Photography and Playboy. I think my Topcon Super D is from around 1965 or so.

  20. alanlw
    alanlw ·

    I agree about the meter housing on the Nikon FT, FTN. It was rather large and I would think the aperture ring double twist coupling and external coupling to the lens would it makes it less desirable under battle conditions. The non-hinged back of the Nikon F was also a bit of a hassle. On these two points I can see why it won the competion by the military back in the 60's.

  21. alanlw
    alanlw ·

    Here's an interesting quote from a Super D user on photo.net. He also makes note of their use of radioactive glass in the RE GN Topcor 50/1.4 which I assume came after the 58/1.4:

    "The RE-Super/Super-D camera bodies were built like tanks. Very durable, although they eventually do need clean/lube/adjust service after 20-30 years. The square corners get dented up easily. Wide selection of focusing screens, which can easily be changed without any exposure compensation. The metering works well, although some claim that by metering at a point that is not in focus (the mirror), the metering pattern is a bit screwy to say the least. My Super-D exposed a lot of Kodachrome 64 quite accurately.

    The camera is heavy. Lots of very strong pot-metal castings. The lenses are mostly 100% aluminum, to make up for the heavy camera.

    The Navy apparently used Super-D's in the Orion sub chaser planes that used to prowl the coasts, especially the Pacific coast. That's why the lenses made for them had infinity locks, you're always flying high enough to focus at infinity. They took a beating in this service, probably being dropped and picked up frequently in the planes. The Navy cameras were marked "U. S. NAVY", and the lenses had an "N" on the front ring.

    The late RE GN Topcor 50/1.4 was indeed a very sharp lens. Unfortunately, they achieved this using radioactive Lanthanum glass, and they are all turning rather brown by now. (I have one I bought new for $99 in 1978, and I recently bought a Geiger counter and made this discovery. Hotter than the radioactive Summicron.)"

  22. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @alanlw I have a very late RE GN Topcor from around 1985 maybe, bought new in box from Cambridge Camera for ~$125. It's not radioactive and not turning yellow. It's lanthanum glass, the right isotope. The early ones are thorium glass in a slightly different optical formula, and are low level alpha emitters, so don't sleep with them. You can heal the yellow discoloration by shining a strong UV light through them for several hours. Sunlight straight through for several days will do it, I think. The Exacta bayonet is great for finding weird lenses for them. See this: www.lomography.co.th/homes/herbert-4/albums/2191551-another… Enjoy.

  23. drdrewhonolulu
    drdrewhonolulu ·

    @herbert-4 Thanks for the very interesting and very personal post. I agree that Topcon lenses are double plus good. I can only imagine having a Super D in the Bay Area in 1970.

  24. mvinall
    mvinall ·

    Apologies if this is the wrong forum but I have a Bessler TopCon Super D Tokyo Kogaku with Topcon 3.5cm, and 58mm lenses as well as a Vivitar Tele-Zoom 75-260mm lens all in good condition. Also have a Quantaray 62mm UV filter, Vivitar Electronic Flash, Vivitar Wireless Triggering Unit, and a Sunpak Auto511 Thyristor as well as a light meter, grip, several mounts, and remote releases. All date from late 1960's maybe early 70's? While I have wonderful memories (and some great photos) it's time this camera and equipment found a new loving home.

  25. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @mvinall You might want to try selling on eBay or Etsy. Here is more for discussing the old cameras and films, and being artsy.

  26. mvinall
    mvinall ·

    @herbert-4 Thanks will do

  27. j-jock
    j-jock ·

    I bought my first Topcon, a new RE, in 1967 and still love the camera and the lenses. In the late 70s, I had the opportunity to buy an ex-Navy Super D, that must have been dropped out of a Neptune patrol aircraft, (just kidding, but it has a lot of little dings).
    I used that camera until I stopped shooting film. I absolutely love the lenses, and have both the 1.4 and the 1.8 lenses. The 1.4 lense is one of my favourite lenses, and I have some Leica lenses, and a Canon .95 to compare it with.
    After finding this review by chance, and reading the article, it has rekindled the fire, I am now going to start shooting film again.
    I had to laugh about the remarks in the article and in the comments regarding the size and the weight. I just thought it was the price that was worth paying to have a superb camera.
    Bob

  28. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @j-jock Thanks!

  29. clementinecrime
    clementinecrime ·

    What battery does this camera use?

  30. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @clementinecrime Wein Cell MRB625 substitute for PX625...

  31. delyon
    delyon ·

    Thanks for this great article and sample photos. I just picked up one of these unique and beautiful cameras. Do you have any recommendations for Topcon repair?

  32. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @delyon You're Welcome... try here... www.camerarepairservice.com

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