Photos of Nikon users

[MikeL]

In anticipation of May, which is Nikon Rangefinder Month, I thought I'd post a photo of a Nikon rangefinder user. Please add more when you have time.🙂

 

[jonmanjiro]

Here's a photo of Che's BD S2 .... if anyone has a photo of Che using it, PLEASE post it! 😀

 

[ZivcoPhoto]

The one "Eisie" is holding looks just like mine?????

 

[xayraa33]

here is my fave, Tito of course.

 

[MikeL]

Here's a photo of Che's BD S2 .... if anyone has a photo of Che using it, PLEASE post it! 😀

No problemo.

 

[Bryce]

Gads, I read the thread title and portaits of Jane Goodall came to mind...

 

[jonmanjiro]

No problemo.

Great photos 😎😎😎

Muchos gracias 😀

 

[dave lackey]

Okay...maybe I'm in the minority here, but outside of Che, I do not recognize the others.:bang:

When posting photos, could you please state the identity of the person? That way, I can at least keep up with this thread from the office without spending a lot of time trying to research a face...😱

Thanks in advance because these photos are really nice! The photos of Che are telling aren't they? Sort of brings home the real life aspect of a famous figure...

 

[Mafufo Acilu]

Nikon RF's surely have a more "illuster" history than Leica .... great pictures certainly beats the s*** out of the 34.897th photo of HCB with his M*

I have seriously been contemplating getting a Nikon RF, I currently use leicas, these photos add to my "need"

 

[VinceC]

>>I do not recognize the others<<

Alfred Eisenstaedt was one of the original Life Magazine photographers and had more than 90 covers. He is considered a definitive people photographer and continued taking photographs for the magazine well into his 90s. His work include:

The sailor kissing the nurse on Times Square on VJ-Day;
Churchill giving the V-for-Victory sign with his fingers;
The definitively creepy picture of Joseph Goebbels.
Plus some of the most memorable portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Ernest Hemingway.

Josip Broz Tito was the longtime leader of Yugoslavia.

Of the three, Che is the least accomplished and is chiefly known because of a Leica photograph taken OF him. (EDIT: I originally wrote "Nikon photo" of Che then did a bit of research and saw that Alfredo Kordo took the iconic photo with an unspecified Leica).
Try Googling them, especially Eisenstaedt.

 

[dave lackey]

Thanks, Vince!😎

That is certainly helpful...as an engineer for the past 36 years, I have spent little time in historical pursuits of any kind let alone photographers. But as my hectic life has slowed a bit since I quit teaching, I find this information really interesting!

Keep 'em coming folks!🙂

 

[xayraa33]

The one "Eisie" is holding looks just like mine?????

that is Leonard McCombe holding the SP, a photo taken by " Eisie" with a Leica M3 most possibly.

 

[Pablito]

Of the three, Che is the least accomplished and is chiefly known because of a Nikon photograph taken OF him.
Try Googling them, especially Eisenstaedt.

Che may be the least accomplished PHOTOGRAPHER but he has attained an iconic status as a revolutionary all over the world and thus actually may be the most famous. Check out the movie, "Motorcyle Diaries." It's true that Korda's photo of Che has helped to popularize him. I've seen T-shirts with this image for sale in such places as Toronto, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and even Siem Riep, Cambodia.

 

[VinceC]

The users of Nikon rangefinder cameras were mainstream photojournalists ... the SP started to be widely adopted beginning in 1957, and, for example, National Geographic issued its staff SPs with 35 and 105 lenses for several years. But the F was introduced in 1959, and mainstream photographers quickly switched to the F over the next few years (just as today's mainsteam photojournalists keep up-to-date with current cameras and techology ... they tend not be be overly nostalgic).

So Nikon RFs had a very short working life of about 5 years between the introduction of the S2 (circa 1954) and the F (1959).

 

[VinceC]

I made a mistake in an earlier post. Alberto Korda used a Leica to photograph Che Guevara.

I think Guevara became more widely known and respected after his death than during his life, in large part because of the photograph. It was widely distributed in 1967-69 and was symbollic of the counter-culture revolutionary movement.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Che is <snip> chiefly known because of a Nikon photograph taken OF him.

Ummm, as much as I wish it was taken with a Nikon, I think Alberto Korda took his photo with a Leica 😱 :bang:

 

[VinceC]

You're correct. See my post above yours. I'd better correct my original post as well.

 

[ZivcoPhoto]

Sorry...I saw the receding hairline...and assumed it was a younger Eisenstaedt.

 

[VinceC]

My 1953 Leica Manual has an interesting article on photojournalism by Eisenstaedt. At that time, he said his camera was a Leica, predominantly with a 35mm/3.5 Leitz lens, which he was he used for nearly all of his photographs. So it's interesting that the above photo has him with a 50mm Nikkor lens.

 

[VinceC]

Fred, Eisenstaedt's knees were able to bend, which resulted in low angles. LIFE pioneered the use of 35mm cameras in magazines, including covers. The shot was taken at 1/125 and f/5.6, Eisenstaedt recalled. If he used those settings on a medium-format TLR, it wouldn't have had the depth of field and prespective of a 35mm lens on a camera shooting 35mm film, which is what the frame shows.

"In Times Square on V-J Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight," he [Eisenstaedt] recalled. "Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make any difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder. But none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse." Eisenstaedt snapped six quick pictures. The next morning, Eisenstaedt said, the photo editor at Life said to him, "What a great picture you have." Eisenstaedt had to ask which one.

http://www.americainwwii.com/stories/thekissers.htm

http://www.life.com/Life/eisie/eisiebio.html