New forum for Nikon rangefinder

Maybe this is where I should be. I have my grandfather's Nikon camera. I don't think he ever took it out of the box after buying it. Even the box looks brand new. The camera has the initials "SP" on it. The three extra lenses are a little dusty. What should I do with it? :angel: :angel:
 
Wayne,
You should load it with film and use it.

Any questions, be sure to ask. Does it have the manual in that box? If not, I have one.

BTW: The camera does not have "SP" written anywhere on it, but the box does. It is in big letters on the box, hard to miss. The SP cameras have serial numbers that start with "62". But you do not have to look there, the long window gives it away. The other Nikons look a lot alike. I got an S4 and an S3 that the shops both both mistook for S2's.

Here's a Shot with my SP and 8.5cm f2 at the beach:
 
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Thanks for opening up this forum! I have an S2, an S# 2000 and a nice old SP. It will be great to shoot the breeze a little about these terrific cameras!

Take care,

Kent
 
Could the initials have been EP in a diamond, rather than SP on the camera?

Bob
 
I had an S2, but got lazier and lazier until I... just (gasp) NEEDED (phew!) a meter.

I'm better now. Since the MP...

Still want an SP though. Even got a couple lenses for it.
 
Bob,

It is an SP with cloth shutter. My S2 is actually an "EP" version, bought by some lucky guy at a PX I believe :)

Kent
 
Kent

Sorry, I should have addressed it to Wayne. The S2 I have is marked EP. Sure looks like Brian will not be all alone.

Bob
 
I confess: I have Nikon RFs -- Or: After the Fall

I confess: I have Nikon RFs -- Or: After the Fall

backalley photo said:
ok, sound off, who has a nikon rf?

joe
Click to expand...


For years I would not look at Nikon RFs. "SP--bah humbug. Not a Leica! S3 2000: Chuckle, cluckle. Jurassic Park camera without the park; a primitive version of the Canon P. The little Contax wheel? You gotta be kidding. And if I bought an SP what about lenses? I want 21s, 25s, 28s and there are all old and too expensive."

Once I picked up and held a Nikon S2 ($300.00) at a sale at Palo Alto's K&S. A chap next to me nearly broke down and cried because he thought I was going to buy it. I handed it to him, saying, "Take it. I'm a Leica man." That's exactly what I said. Which goes to show you what I was made of in the late 1980s. And I kept my "Leica man" stance all through the 1990s.

"I am not going to spend money on another RF system that is duplicating my Leica system (such as it is)," I vowed. "I'd never use a bloody Nikon RF. Why should I when I have Leicas! What am I, some collector who keeps perfectly good worker bee cameras in glass cases? Not I! Not sweet little me!" :angel: :angel:

Then Cosina created the SC lens series and the Contax/Nikon R2s. Then my Contax II broke down after I bought it that niffty Voiglander 25/4. Then there was Tom Abrahamsson and his SPs. Then there was the Nikon Historical Society.

All right. I admit it. I fell. I gave in to temptation. Both on time (thanks to Cosina) and too late. While I was strutting my "Leica man" stuff all those years, the Nikon RFs I suddenly wanted desperately had gone up in price.


I got the deal of the century on a Nilon S3 2000 in Osaka (new, camera and lens for less than a used Leica M6 TTL body) I felt weird as any true bluel Leica man would. And then I put the 25/4 on it and fell in love with the little focusing wheel (which I could never love on the old Contax II for some reason). Then came a 105/2.5 with which I took one of my best street sequences (It's in PN Gallery, exactly backwards). Then came the NHS conference in Tokyo. By that time I was hooked!

I wrote about the S3 2000 in the NHS journal. I published photos from the Tokyo conference there. In the last issue I published an article about Nikon / Contaxt adapters for Leica RF cameras. (These adapters brought my Canon 7s back to life Recently they revitalized my Bessa R2.) This is a story in itself. Recently I bought an SP.

Why am I so fond of Nikon RFs? I do not know. I have few excuses. The SP has frames for 85 and 105 (but so do the cheaper Canon 7 and 7s. The Nikkor 135/3.5 is outstanding and fairly cheap (but it was also made in Leica thread mount). I can focus with one hand thanks to the little wheel when I am holding on to a strap on a crowded train (but so can any autofocus camera). I am not letting a lot of good lenses go to waste (but I not using other good lenses in the process). Their complex focusing mechanisms are mechanical wonders to behold (but compared to Leica Ms any cameras with Contax / Nikon mounts look like they were invented by Rube Goldberg).

Okay, I use Nikon RFs and I am glad. So there.

PS: You cannot fully appriciate a Canon 7s until you have put a Nikon S mount on it. It's amazing! You can change lenses quickly! You can switch from Leica thread to Nikon and back again!
 
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I'm a player. S and S2 -- SP sold, but use the S2 regularly. Both purchased many long years ago.

Alex, great article in NHS! Enjoyed it very much.

Dusty
 
Oscar,
Someday you will own a Nikon SP and an M3.

Alex, it's because the Nikon RF's are great cameras. Kind of funny, I never thought I would buy and use a Leica. I bought an M3 about two years ago and can understand why people love their Leica's. I added a 2nd M3, an M2, and a Little CL along with the IIIf that I picked up for $50 in a Grab-Bag at a used camera store.
 
I want one

I want one

An S2, that is. On the other hand, a used Summicron is good condition is about the same price, and I have an M3. What should I do? :bang:
 
Hey, gang:

This isn't a "reply" to anyone in particular. Its an "inquiry", embroidered with a bunch of personal comments.

I'm tempted by - and I am seriously considering purchasing - either an S2 or an SP rangefinder Nikon, either one with an f/1.5, an f/1.8 or an f/2.0 50mm lens and, if I could find them, a 28mm to 35mm wide angle and an 85mm semi-telephoto cohorts. All of these must be in (near) mint condition and (near) perfect working order. I plan to "use" this equipment regularly for serious personal work, not "display" it: I collect "other stuff"!

Does anyone out there have - or know of anyone who has - such beasts? If you own any of these and can contemplate parting with them, please contact me with a full description - some pictures would be nice - along with what you consider reasonable prices, and perhaps we can dance.

My first "serious camera" was an S2, purchased in the early fifties, followed by an SP. I remember using both of these with delight. I subsequently fell in love with the first model in Nikon's F series, and sold the S2 to help finance my first one. I never should have done that! I've regretted selling the S2 ever since. I kept and used the SP for a very long time, passing it on, in 1981 - along with my circa 1958 Rolex - to my first born son on his 21st birthday. He still has, uses and treasures both of these, and wouldn't part with either one "at any price", he assures me. He's got his eye on my pre-WWII wristwatch collection now!

In all that time, I've owned a number of Nikon Fs, up to and including an F5, currently. I suppose that that could be considered being a "Nikon Loyalist". But then again, in the interim, I've been hard pressed to find better and/or more reliable professional 35mm SLR equipment. Of course, my wife insists that her Canons are better than my Nikons, and swears by them. Ours is, as you can imagine, an "interesting" photographic household! I do have to admit that Canon currently owns the dSLR field. But then again, that's another "ball game" altogether.

In any event, I've got this "rangefinder itch" currently. Please help me scratch it.

almontriv
 
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