Nikon S2 VF

R

ray_g

Guest
A question for the Nikon gurus:

Is the entire VF area equivalent to the 35mm frameline, ie is a 35mm lens usable without an external finder? I am assuming it has the same 1:1 finder as the S3 - is that correct?
 
Kiu or Vince might know. Let me get off my lazy butt and see what I can find out up stairs (an S2 sits in my room, along with a few other things to compare). More in a bit.

B2 (;->
 
There's an S2 and 35 f/2.5 fs for $800 at a shop in the Bay area, if anyone is interested. A few tiny dings, but very clean overall and super bright finder.
 
lol, thanks, but i am in no hurry Bill. The camera is not even here yet!
 
Not even close. Here's what I did, now remember, your S2 might vary. I look through the S2 finder and lined up two points. Then I looked through my M6. The M6 at 50mm was slightly wider than the S2 50mm frames. The 35mm frames were wider still than the edges, IMHO too much wider. I tried a cheep Nikon Zoom (35-75) on a F2 body and found the S2 frame edges not even close to what was marked 35mm. The zoom came back as about 55mms to where the S2 frame lines were the same. Then I tried a new CV metal 35mm finder and it too was winder than the edges of my S2.

IMHO, not close enough to use.

B2 (;->
 
You must not want the S2 anymore Ray, let me relieve you of it on Saturday.:angel:
 
Hmm... thanks for the effort, Bill.

Nice try, Rover. Actually, I thought of you as I hit that paypal "pay now" button. ;)
 
"now remember, your S2 might vary"

The construction on the S2s (and all Nikons) was pretty consistent.

The problem here is that the edges of the S2 finder are inexact. Also, how you use the finder depends on whether or not you use eyeglasses.

I just now compared an S2 finder with an S3 finder, a CV minifinder, an SP finder and a 35mm lens mounted on a Nikon F (100 percent field of view). My judgement has always been that the S2 finder fairly well approximates a 35mm field of view, but that it's easier to do this if you shoot with both eyes open (Leica folks can stop reading here), easy to do with the 1:1 finder. In the test I just conducted, I found that, if I removed my eyeglasses and scrunched up against the S2 finder, its entire field of view is very close to the field shown by the Nikon F, but I still had so kind of roll my eye around to see the whole field. (I was using bookcases). All the finders generally agreed on the framing of 35mm lenses ... the F, as expected, showed a bit more field than the RF framelines.

The S3 finder is considerably larger than the S2 finder. It shows (in 1:1 magnification, mind you) a full field of view approximating 25mm. If I didn't wear eyeglasses, I'd be in heaven. Cosina needs a 0.5:1 mag to show 25mm framelines in its upcoming Bessa R4. The main finder on the SP is actually pretty close in size to the S2 finder. For years, I have guestimated 35mm with the S2. And when I'm doing critical shooting with a 35mm lens on the SP, I'll often keep my eye on the main finder and use its entire field of view instead of switching to the tiny minifinder.

An S3 really helps all around. It shows the 50 and 35mm and 105mm framellines together in 1:1 size. I've shot so many rolls of film at this point that I've got a fairly accurate mental picture of the relationship between these lenses. In fact, I find it very easy to mentally imagine a 28mm frame in the S3, which is comparable to imagining a 35mm frame in the S2.

People who switch between camera systems, and those who use less than lifesize finders, will probably have a harder time. About a year ago I got a CV minifinder for my S2, because my main lenses these days are a 28/50 combo, and the minifinder makes shooting the 28 a breeze.
 
Nice summary Vince! With glasses I can only just see the 50mm framline, not much outside of it. But with the 1:1 finder Ray, you won't care. It kicks butt.
 
I'd say "no," as well. It's a 1:1 finder, and the 35mm frame would have made that front glass huge.

That floating 50mm frame (keep both eyes open) has only a touch around the edges. I'd say 45mm field of view. It's tight.

I got a turret finder from my Kievs, which worked fine, with the J-12 (which also, worked fine.)

Then I got an SP and stopped worrying about a separate finder. :)
 
With glasses, I'm lucky to see the whole 50mm frameline of the S2. And it has a particularly nasty viewfinder that badly scratches my eyeglasses. That's one of the reasons I don't use it so much.
 
VinceC said:
With glasses, I'm lucky to see the whole 50mm frameline of the S2. And it has a particularly nasty viewfinder that badly scratches my eyeglasses. That's one of the reasons I don't use it so much.
Click to expand...

I'll post a photo of the right lens in my eyeglasses later. It's not pretty. Luckily our brains have a remarkable ability to adjust! I can almost shave with the viewfinder ring:)
 
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