arhphotographic

“Congratulations on your choice of the Topcon Wink Mirror S, which has been designed by our engineers and optical scientists to give an ideal camera fulfilling the following basic requirements:-1. Single lens reflex..2. Electric Eye automation..3. Complete lens interchangeability..4. Superior UV lens coating…But besides theses basic requirements, the camera also incorporates…1. Fully automatic instant reopening lens diaphragm..2. Quick as a wink mirror action (and hence its name) ..3. Single stroke film winding..4. Automatic resetting additive exposure counter (what is that?).. 5. Automatic pop up rewind button. And, as an additional bonus..1. Complete electric eye automation ( didn’t we just mention that?) ..2. Special UV coating (and that)..3. Aperture scale visible in finder..4.Manual over-ride…In other words, the camera is the ideal family camera… Topcon Wink Mirror S Manual

With Scientists and engineers at the helm, Tokyo Kogaku clearly felt they had a winner with their early 1960’s SLR offering. This box like camera weighs in at nearly1 3/4 lbs or 800 grams. Despite its heft the camera is very positive and responsive in the hand.

The Wink Mirror S houses a five blade Seikosha SLV leaf shutter that has a top speed of 1/500th down to 1 second and B. They all seem to be accurate, as far as I can tell. The camera can accommodate film speeds from ASA 10 to 400 in auto and coupled metering modes. You’re on your own with manual mode.

In the image above, on the left you can see the front mounted shutter release which also has a thread for a cable release. You can’t miss the central selenium cell ‘eye’ meter matrix.

Placing the shutter release on the front of the camera means that the top plate is uncluttered.

Below is the switch to select flash and V for self timer.

Set to Auto the camera becomes a shutter priority camera where you select the red shutter speeds and the camera responds by setting the correct aperture. To help there is this helpful weather legend, below..

which is used in conjunction with film speed marker below

If you take the camera off Auto and select a shutter speed, the camera shows you in the viewfinder which aperture you need to set manually on the dial to get an accurately exposed image. Nice.

The large viewfinder, not the brightest nor the dullest I’ve encountered, reflected in the quick as you wink return mirror.

On the base of the Topcon you can see the film door lock on the right and the film rewind button on the left.

My Wink Mirror S didn’t come with a lens, I had to buy the UV Topcor 53mm f 2 lens separately

Below you can just make out the aperture mechanism which allows for open aperture metering, behind the lens release lever.

So how do all the features of the Wink Mirror S come together? Click on the image below for a video overview.

The weather has been very overcast of late and all the images below were shot at very low shutter speeds. As a result a few didn’t make the grade as they were blurred.

The 53 mm f2 UV Topcor lens can be a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde affair.

Trying to balance the camera without a tripod wasn’t easy when shooting at 1 second!

I have a wide angle lens that can fit on front of the UV Topcor lens, leading to some …interesting results.

After walking around with the camera for a couple of hours I just started to enjoy myself when the film ran out. Ooooh The meter on my Wink Mirror S was surprisingly accurate..most of the time. As usual I had to perform the usual dust removal and a little sharpening was applied to some of the images.

Would I recommend this camera. No doubt about it ..Yes. It has enough going for it to keep “all the family” happy.😁