Emperor Akihito's camera - what is it?

[jonmanjiro]

This is Prince Akihito of Japan (the current Emperor) on holiday at Yellowstone Park in 1954. Can anyone make out what his cameras is? I'm inclined to think its a Nikon S...

 

[Mackinaw]

That was my first guess too but now I'm not so sure. The focusing wheel part of the front plate is raised on the S (adjacent to the rangefinder window). On the photo, it looks like the front plate is flat. The camera may be something else.

Jim B.

 

[ampguy]

Yashica 35?

 

[MaxElmar]

It sure looks like an "S"... Is this an official photo? Perhaps some light retouching was done to obscure the brand? Were the emperor's PR people preserving the feelings of Canon fans everywhere?

 

[johannielscom]

Think I can clearly see that the far edge of the camera is closer to his hand, then the raised bit starts, and has two screws in it.

Also, the case has the correct shape:

Image copied from http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/RF-Nikkor/RF-Accessories/Cases/

So I'd say this definitely is a Nikon S.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Yep, definitely looks like a Nikon S:

 

[Monochrom]

yep, due to the large RF base i was to say contax...but wasnñt that wrong! 😉

 

[thirtyfivefifty]

My first guess was a Nikon S.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

The car is a caddy...

 

[xayraa33]

I say it is a Nikon S or its un-synced version the M or I

Nothing else looks like that, not even the supposed Nikon Rf camera look a like, the Melcon II.

 

[shadowfox]

The viewfinder looks bigger than the RF window, doesn't that make it an S2 ?

 

[xayraa33]

The viewfinder looks bigger than the RF window, doesn't that make it an S2 ?

Although the picture is distorted, the film rewind is a knob of the S not the folded crank of the S2.