S3 2000 Questions???

Gil, the contrast on the 50f1.4 is very good, particularly for black/white. It does not have the elevated contrast of some of the Aspherical lenses from Leica. they can be "harsh" enough to give you problems in the darkroom. It is a very "smooth" rendering lens, nice mid tones and not excessive "blacks". Check Jari's pictures on Flickr or on this Rf site. He shoots a lot for mid-tones and does a good job of it. I am more "punchy blacks" type of guy.
As for the rangefinder patch - dont worry about it too much. As long as you keep your eyes reasonably centered in the ocular, it works fine. You can boost the contrast with Lee gel filters, but on a new S3 it is probably overkill. This mainly applies to older finders that will have deterioated with age. None of my Milleniums would need it and, truth be told, the Nikon Rf is far less prone to desilvering than the M finders.
Go to Flickr and tag "Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Millenium" and there should be some samples of this lens performance.
 
jonmanjiro said:
The Millennium Nikkor-S 50/1.4 seems to work great from f1.4 all the way down to f16. RFF member jsuominen has some shots taken at f11 to f16 with this lens in one of the thread here (sorry, I forgot which one) and the photos look great!
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My Mill.-Nikkor-S 50/1.4 images on Flickr are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsuominen/tags/nikkor50mmf14millenium

I have shot mostly at wide open f/1.4, but some frames are indeed taken at f/11-f/16 (because it was a sunny day and my old Nikon S2 1/1000s and 1/500s speed were not reliable so I used 1/250s). Here are those shots:








 
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Congrats on your purchase. I think you will enjoy it very much.

BTW, I would agree w/Tom's assessment that for most photographic situations, you shouldn't worry about the S3 2000's RF patch. When I referred to the difficulty in seeing the patch in "super low-light conditions" in my previous post, I mean truly dark conditions, e.g., when f/1 & ISO 1600 only gets you 1/8th or 1/15th sec. I happen to shoot in those kinds of conditions quite often (often enough to justify, to myself anyway, owning a Noctilux 😉 ), but I understand that's not the case for most people.

gilpen123 said:
Thank you everyone for filling me up with valuable information on this set. I gave in and sent my order confirmation already to the seller. I am expecting the S3 Y2K to arrive by next week.
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I can't help but comment that as you are ordering a what, $2,000 to $3,000 camera kit you have a lot of basic questions about the camera. I guess you could turn around and sell it if you find it's not your cup of tea..... but isn't that a lot of money to spend without knowing the basics?.... Or are you a dentist? 😱
 
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George S. said:
I can't help but comment that as you are ordering a what, $2,000 to $3,000 camera kit you have a lot of basic questions about the camera. I guess you could turn around and sell it if you find it's not your cup of tea..... but isn't that a lot of money to spend without knowing the basics?.... Or are you a dentist? 😱
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Gil's questions are mainly about the viewfinder and focusing setup i.e. rangefinder specific. I'm sure he has a good idea about the other functions since the camera is basically a Nikon F with a different viewfinder. The problem with the Nikon RFs is that very few stores actually have them, making it pretty darn difficult to drop by one and check a Nikon RF out. The good news is that assuming he buys a Nikon RF at a reasonable price but then decides its not for him, he should be able to sell it fairly easily for little or no loss. But he missed out on the one I had listed in the classifieds here, as that one is off to the US!
 
George S. said:
I can't help but comment that as you are ordering a what, $2,000 to $3,000 camera kit you have a lot of basic questions about the camera. I guess you could turn around and sell it if you find it's not your cup of tea..... but isn't that a lot of money to spend without knowing the basics?.... Or are you a dentist? 😱
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Hi George, 1st I am not sure if those questions are basic cause it turned out some users reseve their replies to someone with more experience using the S3Y2K, I am a long time Nikon user nore than 20 years actually and the draw of the new S3 RF to me is very strong even way back I always planned to get the original SP and S2 but I could not aford them at that time, 3rd I am a newbie RF user and using the R3a as my first RF yielded very good results that's why I am now more confident to grow my RF gears starting with my lust for the new S3, 4th, yes I can buy a more straightforward RF like the ZI, Bessas or Leica but that's not what I want, lastly, I would tend to ask for directions rather tha roam around town looking for an address......well at least there is a GPS now but I will also do some research before I buy. Oh and btw, I just dumped my DSLR for an old mechanical camera design, isn't that great ....
 
The S3 and SP reproductions are very hard to find in the market now, if some stocks do come out for trading, one does not have much time to contemplate. It's either you buy now or lose the opportunity just like the black S3 Jon put in the classifieds and it was gone in a day. That actually made me decide to post an urgent information gathering from this forum cause I have the opportunity to buy one and price is certainly below 2K. Actually I almost bougth an M6 TTL 0.72 but what the heck, I can always find them when I need them.
 
Gil,
Regarding your question about installing a blue gel to increase contrast, I think it is unnecessary as you are getting a new S3.
I was the one who inquired about the procedure at the Nikon Historic Society site because one of my two vintage S3s has a slightly weak patch, and Doug Napier (Dugwerks) explained it to me.
first get a Lee Filter sample book from a photography Pro Shop and test various light blue filter samples by placing them over the viewfinder window and checking the result until you determine the correct gel that gives the happy medium between brightness and contrast
Very simple. You'll need a white towel (good contrast in case you drop a screw and it will keep them from bouncing or rolling off the table), exacto knife, small glass pudding bowl, light blue Lee filter, eyeglass cleaning solution and lintless rag or lens cleaning cloth, and a slotted jewellers screwdriver.
Place the camera face up on the towel and remove the lens. If you can cap the body, so much the better. Unscrew the four screws from the front plate and remove. Place screws in pudding dish.

Unscrew the three screws holding the right-hand window frame and glass in place. Place screws in dish. take glass from frame and place on top of filter. Using it as a template, cut piece of filter to shape. clean glass on both sides if necessary. Return glass to frame. Place filter piece under glass, and re-install glass and frame with the three screws. Re-install outer front piece and screw in place. That's it, that's all.
You undoubtedly won't need to do this with a new S3, but it's good to know how just in case you ever get a vintage one and require the filter. The procedure is identical for the SP.
I hope this information is helpful.
 
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rbsinto said:
Unscrew the three screws holding the right-hand window frame and glass in place. Place screws in dish. take glass from frame and place on top of filter. Using it as a template, cut piece of filter to shape. clean glass on both sides if necessary. Return glass to frame. Place filter piece under glass, and re-install glass and frame with the three screws. Re-install outer front piece and screw in place. That's it, that's all.
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Robert, by "right-hand window frame" you mean the small glass rangefinder window rather than the viewfinder window, correct? I ask because when looking at the camera with it lying on its back, that window would be on the left side. Just want to confirm.
 
Jon,
No.
When camera is lying face-up with the bottom toward you and you can read the word "Nikon", it is the larger window, the viewfinder window, which is the one to the right of the lensmount, underneath the film rewind crank. And it is the frame for this piece of glass that you are unscrewing.
I hope I have cleared this up. It's really simple. Assuming you don't have to crawl around the kitchen floor looking for a screw, the whole thing wil take five minutes, if that.
 
Thank you RBsinto, yes I saw that one in the NHS but the post was not as detailed as what you just posted. So it's the VF window. Question: is the RF alignment niot in danger of being misaligned? Yes, God forbids you lose a screw that will be terrible. I am a clumsy guy when it comes to small items like screw I better lay everything down in a king size comforter Lol......

Yes I might later on buy some vintage SP so it's a valuable information.
 
Thanks for clarifying, Robert. It was the following two statements that confused me. I'm not sure if I've got the teminology correct, but I took the "rangefinder window" in the first statement below to be the small window that provides the light for the focus patch. Although its clear now that you meant the larger viewfinder window.

rbsinto said:
first get a Lee Filter sample book from a photography Pro Shop and test various light blue filter samples by placing them over the rangefinder window
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rbsinto said:
Unscrew the three screws holding the right-hand window frame and glass in place.
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Since the modification is very straightforward, I'd be seriously tempted to perform it anyway regardless of the camera being new, just to see if it makes a middling finder any better. Which also got me thinking about the colour of the gel filter used. I guess it could be any colour - whatever worked best for your eyes. Is there a specific reason why you settled on blue?
 
I can't see how rangefinder alignment could be affected by removing the front plate and viewfinder glass. However, the access holes for adjusting the RF are under the front plate, and if you've got a steady hand its a basic job to adjust them if needed.
 
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