Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I can certainly appreciate that the cost of manufacture of the repros would be very high, and that Nikon may not be making any money on them, but my question is really based on price rather than cost.
If you try hard, you can find a very nice SP body for about $1000. 50mm f1.4 lenses are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, and more so than equivalent lenses from other manufacturers, seem to wear their age very well. In particular, it is rare to find one with cleaning marks due to the superlative coatings used by Nikon in the 50's. So one could put together a really good condition SP for something like $1300. I have a very good user that cost me about $800 all in. I am no purist, so I have a hard time understanding why so many people were willing to pay thousands more for the repro version, but maybe that's just me. Should I assume that the repro versions are collectors' prizes in their own right, separate from the originals?
Happy New Year!
Dez
If you try hard, you can find a very nice SP body for about $1000. 50mm f1.4 lenses are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, and more so than equivalent lenses from other manufacturers, seem to wear their age very well. In particular, it is rare to find one with cleaning marks due to the superlative coatings used by Nikon in the 50's. So one could put together a really good condition SP for something like $1300. I have a very good user that cost me about $800 all in. I am no purist, so I have a hard time understanding why so many people were willing to pay thousands more for the repro version, but maybe that's just me. Should I assume that the repro versions are collectors' prizes in their own right, separate from the originals?
Happy New Year!
Dez
VinceC
Veteran
For me, it was an opportunity to have a new camera for every day use. Also, bear in mind that the kit lens for an SP-2005 is not a 50/1.4 but a 35/1.8, which is much pricier on the used market.
SP finders don't always age particularly well, and mine was more than showing its age. I used it daily for many years, and its finder always was hard to focus. My original 35/1.8 also needed replacement after years of extensive use. I began looking around for a replacement lens, saw that I would be spending between $650 and $900 to get one, then decided to just take the plunge on a full SP 2005 kit, and the body and lens became my daily user (though I usually pack three to five lenses).
SP finders don't always age particularly well, and mine was more than showing its age. I used it daily for many years, and its finder always was hard to focus. My original 35/1.8 also needed replacement after years of extensive use. I began looking around for a replacement lens, saw that I would be spending between $650 and $900 to get one, then decided to just take the plunge on a full SP 2005 kit, and the body and lens became my daily user (though I usually pack three to five lenses).
enasniearth
Well-known
VinceC
Veteran
Both appear to be related to the SLR version of the 50/1.4, which came out about the same time.
I doubt Nikon would design a whole new lens just for the reissue S3, so my bet is that the Millennium and Olympic optical formulas are essentially the same and any external dimensional differences are just minor cosmetic changes. The optical formulas of neither lens have ever been published and are not ever likely to be, so we'll never know for sure either way.
furcafe
Veteran
My reasoning was similar. In my experience looking 5 or 6 years ago, it was very difficult to find an original SP in good or better condition w/a good RF patch for under $1500. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places or perhaps the market changed (most likely a combination of both), but when jonmanjiro offered to sell a SP 2005 body, I jumped on it. It was still a big purchase, but I got a brand new black paint camera (& certainly no more expensive than a comparable Leica repro would have cost). Later on, when I had more money, I was able to pick up the matching 3.5cm/1.8, also from jonmanjiro.
[Edit: Actually got the lens 1st, then the matching SP 2005 body, but the reasoning was the same.]
[Edit: Actually got the lens 1st, then the matching SP 2005 body, but the reasoning was the same.]