Little-known fact about the Nikon S3

principe azul

principe azul

Ian
Local time
10:32 AM
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
271
Location
London
View My Gallery
In Harrods tonight - I really don't care for the place, but it was the only shop open that had what I needed - and I thought I'd check out their 'photography department' while I was there.

Found myself admiring the Nikon S3 remake they had on display. Assistant - middle-aged, not straight out of school - comes over and says, trying to impress me, "That's the first 35mm camera."

Well, you can't argue with these people, can you? 🙄
 
wyk_penguin said:
Well, Leica's first combined VF/RF camera was denoted M3, so I guess Nikon could do the same. 😉
Click to expand...

Actually that honor was bestowed on the Leica IIIb but if you are talking about doing it with one window then you are correct.
 
f2eyelevel said:
Hmmm... so is the Canon P (launched in March 1958 as was the Nikon S3) but the Canon P has a focus-coupled parallax corrected viewfinder... 🙄
Click to expand...
I stand corrected!

Nice looking camera that Canon P.

CRF%20P%20Blk%2002.jpg
 
Someone probably told the "kid" that it was Nikon's first 35mm rangefinder camera in over 40 years. Some of it stuck.

I just picked up a nice Canon P with a perfect finder. It does make me wonder why Nikon left auto-parallax correction out of the S3 and S4.
 
Maybe the "Assistant" was thinking: "I'd better say something that'll get his attention, no use giving him the correct details" 😉
 
wyk_penguin said:
Well, Leica's first combined VF/RF camera was denoted M3, so I guess Nikon could do the same. 😉
Click to expand...
Funny is the M3 came out in 1954 as Nikon was unveilling the S2....so if you are a Nikoner you would think Leica was trying to up Nikon by one😱

Kiu
 
> Well, Leica's first combined VF/RF camera was denoted M3, so I guess Nikon could do the same.

Leica's first combined RF/VF was the Leica IV, came out before WW-II. I think it never made mass production as Contax owned some patents on it- I do not know the whole story. The FED 2 looks a lot like the Leica IV.
 
The First?

The First?

colyn said:
Actually that honor was bestowed on the Leica IIIb but if you are talking about doing it with one window then you are correct.
Click to expand...

I think we ought look into that one. The IIIb is from 1938. I have a '37 Certo Dollina that has a viewer and a coupled rangefinder, and that model may go back to '35. The Certo also accepted the then new preloaded Kodak 35mm film cassette (can you say Kodachrome?). Certos were probably better in the lens department too. They cost the same as Leicas and had quite a lens selction if you like 50mm. The minus? It's a folder and it wasn't capable of swaping focal lengths in lenses.
 
Contax I (all) had separate VF/RF Windows. The Leica II had a coupled RF, but separate windows for VF and RF. The Contax II was the first 35mm with combined VF/RF window on a coupled rangefinder.

I'm not sure how many Leica IV's were made, but I've seen them written up as long as 30 years ago in Pop Photo. It is said that the M3 was based on many of the features introduced with the Leica IV.
 
I have one of those external finders for my Canon Vt and Canon Vt, with the auto-parallax correction. It is quite nice.

And I agree that the Fed 2 is nicer than the Leica IV- which I suspect was a prototype only. The Fed 2 looks like it was the Leica IV Prototype "done correctly". I need to replace the curtains in my 3 Fed 2's. Good cameras to learn on.
 
The littlest known fact about the Nikon S3 2000 is that it's slowly disappearing from the stock of dealers here in the USA.
B&H has been sold out for quite a while now and the rest have them at quite diffrent prices that USED to be.

There is some stock left in Japan and I still see them sell for reasonable amounts but there are sellers that ask 300,000 yen too, and more of them!

Hmmmm, wonder how long this party would last?

Kiu
 
A Canon P with a Nikon Mount. That would be crossing threads. Too bad the Orion knockoffs are M-Mount only.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom