Advice on Nikon S/S2

[WheelieVT]

Hi Friends,

Great forum - looking for some advice - thinking of adding a nikon S or S2 to my camera family. Have very little use of my left hand due to disability. How smooth & easy to use is the focus wheel on top of the Nikon body for the 50mm lens?

Use a Canon VT deluxe with black chrome 50 1.8 lens with focus lever - manage most of the time - but think the nikon might be a shade easier. Speed of shooting not important - results from VT blow me away. Bought a Kiev 4 to try from that auction site but of course the focus wheel is bust! 🙂

Will buy a user as use all my cameras - any advice would be a great help.

Many thanks for great forum - keep up the good work.

John Winfield
(Bristol) UK

 

[Sonnar Brian]

On a properly operating Nikon S series camera, the focus wheel can be used for the normal lens and for wide-angle lenses. Smooth, like butter. One finger operation, no blisters.

On an Improperly operating Nikon S series camera, it is like finger nails across a chalk board. Usually due to some-one oiling the helical as they did not read the repair manual from Nikon.

I would advise you to get a Nikon S2. Not much more money, and a much better operating camera. It's viewfinder is MUCH better than the Nikon S, 1x finder with etched framelines for the 50mm lens over the squinty 0.6x finder for the original Nikons. It also adds a lever advance, and crank rewind. It is lighter. Look to buy one that the seller has used and will vouch for the operation of the Helical and focus wheel.

If you get one that has not been CLA'd in a while, make sure the technician knows how to work on a Nikon RF. Too many have oiled the helical and "slowed it down".

I have a Nikon S2 in beautiful condition that had a "dry Helical". It was difficult to move and was squeeky. Following the repair manual, I removed the focus mount and helical and soaked them in gasoline. Took the helical apart and Used syringe to squirt gas through the mechanism. It is now like butter. I should have let it air out for a day or two before putting onto the camera, but the gas smell went away.

On an SP, I got lazy and set it to "T". I squirted lighter fluid through the back of the helical and sopped up the dirt. It was not bad to begin with, and got really good after flood cleaning.

 

[Meleica]

ditto to what Brian said....a poor operating focus wheel can cut your finger trying to operate it.... a proper operaing one is fast and easy to operate. Having now used the Nikon M,S,S2,S3 and SP I cand tell you that the SP I enjoyed the most, but for the price the S2 is the clear winner....
Dan

 

[VinceC]

S2 is a fantastic user compared to the S (I haven't used an S, mainly because I just never considered them usable compared to the others).

These cameras are very easy to use one-handed. I found that out shortly after I bought my S2 and was taking pictures of wind damage in a forest. I jumped up onto a felled tree, used my left hand to hang onto another tree trunk while focusing and taking pictures with my right hand.

The S2 also has modern shutter speeds and a top speed of 1000.

Wide angles need separate finders, but with practice you can use a 35mm without a finder.

Be warned, however. The shutter on an S2 is not quiet. It has a loud metalic "slap" that's comparable to an older SLR. I personally think it sounds very nice, but it's certainly not a whisper. For whisper quiet, nothing quite beats an older Kiev.

 

[WheelieVT]

On a properly operating Nikon S series camera, the focus wheel can be used for the normal lens and for wide-angle lenses. Smooth, like butter. One finger operation, no blisters.

On an Improperly operating Nikon S series camera, it is like finger nails across a chalk board. Usually due to some-one oiling the helical as they did not read the repair manual from Nikon.

I would advise you to get a Nikon S2. Not much more money, and a much better operating camera. It's viewfinder is MUCH better than the Nikon S, 1x finder with etched framelines for the 50mm lens over the squinty 0.6x finder for the original Nikons. It also adds a lever advance, and crank rewind. It is lighter. Look to buy one that the seller has used and will vouch for the operation of the Helical and focus wheel.

If you get one that has not been CLA'd in a while, make sure the technician knows how to work on a Nikon RF. Too many have oiled the helical and "slowed it down".

I have a Nikon S2 in beautiful condition that had a "dry Helical". It was difficult to move and was squeeky. Following the repair manual, I removed the focus mount and helical and soaked them in gasoline. Took the helical apart and Used syringe to squirt gas through the mechanism. It is now like butter. I should have let it air out for a day or two before putting onto the camera, but the gas smell went away.

On an SP, I got lazy and set it to "T". I squirted lighter fluid through the back of the helical and sopped up the dirt. It was not bad to begin with, and got really good after flood cleaning.

Hello All,

Many thanks - your replies a great help - I will be careful there is a beaten up S on Ebay will a 50 1.2 lens but I don't have anyone in the UK who could help me cla if it needs it so will pass it up & get something from this forum when I have saved again🙂.

Thanks
John

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Just to add the SP that I got from Dan (meleica) is the smoothest Nikon RF that I've used, and the SP that I used the lighter fluid was a "User" condition camera that I got really cheap ($925) that needed some repair. I did the RF alignment and cleaning myself, sent the lens out for a $70 repair.

 

[VinceC]

>>but I don't have anyone in the UK who could help me cla if it needs it so will pass it up <<

These really aren't difficult cameras for an experienced repairman to work on. The lens mount is unusual, but most of the rest of the innards ought to be very familiar to anyone who's worked with an old Leica shutter mechanism. And rangefinder allignment is quite simple. My understanding is that the viewfinder of a Nikon S would be somewhat comparable to your Kiev4, but probably with a dimmer focusing patch. As others have mentioned, the focusing patch on the Nikon S2 has held up remarkably well over the past half century. However, it does not have the distinctive bright gold rectangle outline you see on a Kiev4/Contax. It's more a goldish blob with hazy borders. Still, it's very sharp and accurate.

 

[WheelieVT]

>>but I don't have anyone in the UK who could help me cla if it needs it so will pass it up <<

These really aren't difficult cameras for an experienced repairman to work on. The lens mount is unusual, but most of the rest of the innards ought to be very familiar to anyone who's worked with an old Leica shutter mechanism. And rangefinder allignment is quite simple. My understanding is that the viewfinder of a Nikon S would be somewhat comparable to your Kiev4, but probably with a dimmer focusing patch. As others have mentioned, the focusing patch on the Nikon S2 has held up remarkably well over the past half century. However, it does not have the distinctive bright gold rectangle outline you see on a Kiev4/Contax. It's more a goldish blob with hazy borders. Still, it's very sharp and accurate.

Hi Vince

Many thanks - have a Kiev 4 with bust linkage to the focus wheel but also the shutter speed knob as stiff as heck. Controls on my VT so smooth & easy also has round gold blob not a problem - loves the way the Nikon feels & looks so will just have to save🙂. Decent S2 seems to be double price of S & SP double that - if only I had not bought & hated so many auto everything slrs, I would have full SP kit by now but how many of us could say that🙂. Not that slrs are bad I just don't seem to connect with them. Nearest I came was with a Nikon F - but then I like wind up watches too so there is no help for me🙂.

Thanks a lot for your help

John

 

[VinceC]

I suspect that gasoline trick for fixing focusing helicals would also work on my gummy 2.8cm wide-angle Nikkor. It's always focused fairly stiffly. The lens elements remove easily from the focusing mount. I might give it a shot this weekend. I've read somewhere that auto-starter spray, being mostly ether, is also pretty good at loosening up old gummy parts.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> if only I had not bought & hated so many auto everything slrs,I would have full SP kit by now but how many of us could say that🙂.

I traded a Nikon N8008 (bought new), 28~85 Nikkor-zoom, and 24mm F2.8 for an S4, 5cm F1.4, 3.5cm F2.5, and 10.5cm F2.5. I overheard a gentleman in a pro camera shop wanting to trade it for a (then new) N6006 only to be told his equipment was too old to be considered for a trade. I had never seen a Nikon RF and he thought it was a Nikon S2. Found out a long time later that it was an S4.

 

[Meleica]

Just to add some info.... I got a beautiful S3 off of ebay recently that was just about PERFECT in every way except the RF spot is dim....come to find out - this is fairly common on the S3. Sent the camera to Pete Smith in FL ( expert Nikon repairman ) and the RF spot is better but still not as nice as a clean s2.... Despite a long running love affair with Leica - I think the Nikon RF camera is the best looking classic camera of all time....particualrly the black dial S2 and the SP..

 

[VinceC]

That's just kind of the hard reality of Nikon RFs. The S2's RF patch is much brighter and easier to see than the S3, which is might brighter and easier to see than the SP, which can be downright murky. That's why I actually consider a vintage S3 to be the better compromise -- at least among the versions I own and use, the S3 is much easier to focus in marginal light. So I tend to carry it when I'm shooting with just one body. The SP really shines with long lenses in good light and with the 28mm without an external finder, where focusing isn't critical anyway. I had the SP CLA'd by Essex Camera about 14 years ago and they helped revive the dim RF patch. It needs it again. The opening shutter curtain is a little sticky, so my exposures are uneven at 1/500 and 1/1000. The S2 on the other hand has run like a champ since the day I got it. It's just that I prefer an assortment of lenses, so that's why I'm always reaching for the S3. Some people complain about flare in its big viewfinder, but I've never found that to be a huge problem. I'm also pretty comfortable judging 28mm, 85mm and 135mm lens framing on the S3.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I helped out my user-condition SP by removing the mask behind the RF window. It makes the spot larger, and brighter as the masked area was unused.

The SP that I got from Dan has a very bright spot, as does my Shintaro-painted Black SP. I believe that the later SP's with the Titanium Foil curtain may have improved the prism coatings, or they are just newer. But for whatever reason, the two titanium foil SP's also have bright spots compared to my older SP and S3's.

 

[BillBingham2]

Another thing to think about

Another thing to think about

There is another thing to think about, film loading. While I have yet to get my first Nikon (an S2 out to Stephen Gandy for CLA), I do have a couple of Kiev bodies and have to say, I love the dial. I had Oleg do CLA on both and they are smooooth.

The loading on any Nikon RF, the entire back comes off. Not as hard as a Leica M (read that would be impossible IMHO), but not as easy as say a Bessa R2s (recently discountinued, but available). Not sure about how the old Canon loads, but take a look an a Nikon F and try loading the film on it. If you can, you will have no problems with the Nikon Rangefinder.

You might look to CV lenses as a more accessable (from a price perspective) alternative to Nikkor lenses for RF. Keep it in mind, they too are discontinued.

Take a look at www.cameraquest.com for CV stuff.

Hope this helps.

B2 (;->

 

[VinceC]

With removable backs, I do sometimes get really wide-eyed looks from people who think my camera just broke in half.