Nikon S2 first impressions

Welcome, Jarle.

Enjoyed your site and your write-up of the S2.

I bought mine more than 16 years ago and it changed my photographic world forever. Your picture of the S2 next to the modern digital SLR tells the whole story -- the camera is one-third the size of its modern SLR counterpart and, as you figured out, takes photographs of at least the same quality.

Beware using 400 ISO film. The "ASA" reminder dial on the baseplate only goes up to 200! 🙂
 
Welcome Jarle! I'm glad you found our Nikon Forum.

I enjoyed the write-up on the S2. It's neat to see it along side of some of the most rare cameras produced by Nikon.

For those that have not visited his site, Jarle is researching the history of Nikon's entry into Digital and has reviewed these early cameras. He is also responsible for me getting the Nikon E3 that I use to post shots of my cameras here at RFF. Unlike the D1 and other "D" series, the E3 is full-frame and works with my SB29. I use a Nikkor 50mm F1.4 AIS lens on it with a frozen aperture. How many cameras can you think of with a built in secondary aperture that does not rely on the one in the lens?

I think Jarle's S2 is later, and the reminder goes to 400.
 
>>I think Jarle's S2 is later, and the reminder goes to 400<<


Mine has a fairly late 617XXXX serial number and the 200 ASA reminder dial. I'll make an educated guess and say the "black dial" S2s probably incorporated the same 400 ASA dial used on the SP.

Rotolini's book on Nikon RFs says the S2s started around 613XXXX and switched to black dials around 618XXXX when the SP was introduced in 1957. About 15,000 black-dial cameras and somewhat less than 45,000 older chrome-dial cameras. This dates mine to probably 1956.

I tried to take a gander at the serial number on Jarle's camera by blowing up a photo on his Web site. But he wisely left that part of it out of focus, realizing its ultimate unimportance to the fine photographs the camera takes.
 
I'll check my S2's. I have a 6179xxx Chrome Dial which has the flash sync of the later black dials. The flash only fires when the shutter releases, not every time the release is pressed like the early S2's. I'm pretty sure it's remonder goes to "400". I remember thinking how odd the "6135xxx" was going to 200 and having the matching serial number engraved in the back.

S2 SN's start at 6135xxx. They left room for an extra 5000 Nikon S cameras, which got to 6129xxx.
 
Jarle

Nice article and enjoyable reading. I have a plain jane chrome dial S2 and enjoy using it for the same reasons as you. The serial number is 6138XXX and the asa reminder dial goes to 200.

Bob
 
No Plain Jane S2's! That 6138xxx means it is early, and at a time when Nikon was trying out different body coverings. Also look at the back, and you will see the matching Serial Number engraved like the Nikon S. Nikon had to do this on the S (and I and M) as the back had to be adjusted with the removable film gate. They kept on doing it for the S2's until someone said "Guys, why are we doing this?"
 
Hi everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Yes, I'm having a great time with this old thing! Eventually, I'll probably get another body and a few more lenses as well.

Brian - you're correct: My camera is number 6171xxx and the ASA reminder goes to 400.

Best regards,
Jarle
 
Interesting. I've got a serial # 6170XXX with a 200 film reminder. Must be the last of its slower-paced breed (or else someone switched backs at some point the 35 years before I owned it).
 
Brian

Yep, the back is serial numbered to the body. I guess it is early if the serial numbers started at 6135XXX but still a rather plain jane that does a good job.

Bob
 
Just to narrow it a little, 6160xxx goes to 400 and no SN on back. 6140xxx goes to 200 and has the SN on the back. Nikon was infamous for finding unused batches of older parts and using them out-of-order. Would not surprise me to find little things like dials used on later cameras.

Vince, look for a SN on the back, to the left of the pressure plate. If there is none, it could well be the original back with the dial used from an older batch. Both my S2's that have the 200 dial have the SN on the back.
 
Now I've checked the S2. SN# 61708XX, 200 ASA.

The back doesn't appear to have a serial number. It has two six-digit numbers that are probably patent numbers. "NO 178,669". Below that is "U.M. " and below that is "NO 370,163"

It's probably, as you said, a dial from an older batch. This was near the end of the chrome dial run ... they might've even been using up parts before switching over to the black dial.
 
As Bob Rotoloni stated in "Nikon Rangefinder", the S2 has many varients. I do not think any of the change-overs were complete, and little changes show up. To me, it makes collecting them fun as cameras built within months of each other have odd little changes. At least it helps justifying having more than one of each!
 
VinceC said:
>>I think Jarle's S2 is later, and the reminder goes to 400<<


Mine has a fairly late 617XXXX serial number and the 200 ASA reminder dial. I'll make an educated guess and say the "black dial" S2s probably incorporated the same 400 ASA dial used on the SP.

Rotolini's book on Nikon RFs says the S2s started around 613XXXX and switched to black dials around 618XXXX when the SP was introduced in 1957. About 15,000 black-dial cameras and somewhat less than 45,000 older chrome-dial cameras. This dates mine to probably 1956.

I tried to take a gander at the serial number on Jarle's camera by blowing up a photo on his Web site. But he wisely left that part of it out of focus, realizing its ultimate unimportance to the fine photographs the camera takes.
Click to expand...

I just obtained a S2 and the serial number is 618xxxx which then suggests that it is a late run model. The ASA reminder goes to 400 and then there is an "E" setting. Anyone know what that is for?

Also, opposite the ASA numbers (which are white) are red numerals (i.e. 10, 16, 25 and 32). Are these extremely slow speed film reminders? I've never seen anything under 50 ASA/DIN.

Now the "dumb" question. Does this dial actually adjust any camera settings or is it just a "reminder" for those of us who encounter increasingly frequent "senior moments"? :bang:

George
 
copake_ham said:
Also, opposite the ASA numbers (which are white) are red numerals (i.e. 10, 16, 25 and 32). Are these extremely slow speed film reminders? I've never seen anything under 50 ASA/DIN.

Now the "dumb" question. Does this dial actually adjust any camera settings or is it just a "reminder" for those of us who encounter increasingly frequent "senior moments"?
Click to expand...
Just a handy reminder, George, the modern improvement on that being the holder for the box end. My old Leica M2 and Pentax H3 both have similar reminder dials that also key to whether it's black & white or color film.

The smaller numbers are DIN (German Industry Standard) numbers, in contrast to what was then ASA (American Standards Ass'n) which are these days ISO (International Standards Organization). The USSR used a different film sensitivity system called GOST. 400 ASA/ISO is the same as 28°DIN
 
I'm not sure. Those lower numbers include 25 and 32, which correspond to old slow emulsions. I woudn't be surprised if those were for your slide films, which were really, really slow in the 1950s (that's the reason really, really fast lenses got popular).
 
The original Kodachrome Daylight was ASA 10; Type A Kodachrome for indoor floodlight (or clear flashbulb) was ASA 16; Panatomix-X was ASA 32.

Many people bought the Type A Kodachrome and used a filter over it for Daylight use. Explains the many type A conversion filters found with these old cameras.

The 618xxxx block of the Nikon S2 is from the "Black Dial" batch. It was concurrent with the Nikon SP. About 1/5th of the S2's are Black Dials.

And "E" on that little dial, which always stood for "E"xcellent in my Book, in this case means "E"mpty. (Okay, who knows where I lifted that from)
 
copake_ham said:
Also, opposite the ASA numbers (which are white) are red numerals (i.e. 10, 16, 25 and 32). Are these extremely slow speed film reminders? I've never seen anything under 50 ASA/DIN./QUOTE]If these smaller numbers are shown in sequence with the larger ones, then they would be for slow ASA film ratings... And if they're shown in parallel with larger numbers, for instance where you have a 1000 matched to a 32, then that's ASA and DIN. This last is how my M2's reminder appears (ranging from ASA 4 to 1000 and DIN 8 to 32), but your Nikon may show only ASA numbers.... sorry I can't speak from Nikon experience! 🙁
Click to expand...
 
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