What's your favorite Nikon RF camera?

What's your favorite Nikon RF camera?

  • Total voters
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Thanks!

Here you can get the best french fried in Utrecht.

Nikon S2/All Black Nikkor 50mm f/1.4/TMY400-2/IlfordMGFB

Erik.

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For years, I knew I would eventually get a Nikon or a Leica 35mm rangefinder. The Nikon SP was on the top of my Nikon list. The Leica M2 or MP or M6 was on the top of my Leica list.

I ended up getting an M6. I very satisfied with my M6 and would not trade it.
 
Erik van Straten said:
Yes, it is unique with a reason: impossible to use. I am joking of course, maybe you can get used to it if you don't use other cameras.

I prefer an S2 with a separate 35mm finder.
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That's what I've also settled on, an S2 with external 35mm vf, after having several of the S3s and SPs for many years.

What would really be cool would be an S3 with just the 35 and 50 frames. :) They had an S4 without the 35s, they should have had an S5 without the 105.
 
splitimageview said:
That's what I've also settled on, an S2 with external 35mm vf, after having several of the S3s and SPs for many years.

What would really be cool would be an S3 with just the 35 and 50 frames. :) They had an S4 without the 35s, they should have had an S5 without the 105.
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Yes, but the more frames in the finder, the more lenses they sell.

NikonS2/NikkorH-50mmf2/TMY400-2/AdoxMCC110

Erik.

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My first Nikon RF, a black-dial S2 with a black Nikkor 50/1.4, arrived from Japan two days ago. It’s a beautiful thing, in very good condition, and the shutter speeds sound on. Will run my first roll of film through it this weekend. I’m hoping the Biogon 35/2.8 in Contax RF mount will focus properly with it.
 
Pretty new to film (<2 months) and just got a brand new S3 Y2K on eBay. I upgraded from a Canon AE-1. Too soon to upgrade? Probably. I'm a pretty simple man, though. Won't be surprised if this is the only camera I use for the next 50 years.

Ended up getting a 35mm/2.5 Voigtlander lens with it from CameraQuest.
 
splitimageview said:
Congrats!


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Thanks! I'm glad I found this board. Leading up to this bid I was doing research like a madman and looking at Ken Rockwell's page about these cameras and just hoping when everything delivers, everything fits as it should.

I also got a screw mount shutter release cable and a B+W 43mm UV filter. Hopefully that filter screws on without issue as I typically go without a cap on my cameras.
 
I voted for the 2005 black SP limited re-issue simply because it's so sexy.

However, what I have and use is this nice S2.
 

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My black SP is #45 with cloth shutter bought in Washington DC in 1968 for $150.
It has been well used mostly with the 35mm f=1.8 lens and has a Dymo label "Tri X' on the back, although I have never used any other film in it.
It is still as smooth as the day I bought it.
Cheers
Philip
 
I just purchased a Nikon SP chrome with a black 50mm 1.4 lens, so far after
I cleaned it up a little bit ,it's a real nice camera. I like the large 1:1 viewfinder
and it's pretty smooth, a lot different from the Leica M2 I got that I haven't
really used much since I got it, I don't know what happened between me and Leica's
But it is what it is, could be the prices now for the lenses not which are out of this
world now that could be turning me off or other stuff.
 
Range-rover said:
I just purchased a Nikon SP chrome with a black 50mm 1.4 lens, so far after
I cleaned it up a little bit ,it's a real nice camera. I like the large 1:1 viewfinder
and it's pretty smooth, a lot different from the Leica M2 I got that I haven't
really used much since I got it, I don't know what happened between me and Leica's
But it is what it is, could be the prices now for the lenses not which are out of this
world now that could be turning me off or other stuff.
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Well, sometimes even if the gear is nice, we don't relate to it and don't really use it. I love Rolleiflexes but never managed to get a picture really right with it. With my 500C, which is harder to use handheld, clunkier, heavier, etc, no problem. Go figure...

And you are right, the prices of Leica gear, and its non availability :eek:. I paid the price for my early M3 and M4 5-10 years ago, I had them thoroughly worked on with new parts, I could sell them for all I have sinked into them and more, no problem. The lenses must have doubled or tripled in price :eek:. Summilux 50 v1, Summilux 35 canada, Summicron 90 LTM : I could not buy those today. I feel strange and self-conscious lugging around 3-5k worth of gear.

Re: Nikon, on paper my favourite would be the S3, the 35-50-105 frames are the most useful imho. I don't like separated RF/VF for wides so the SP is meh, the S2 may be very nice but really plays second fiddle compared to an M3. I will see in real life how the unique S3 finder (in the Nikon RF world) compares to the M4...
 
S.H. said:
I will see in real life how the unique S3 finder (in the Nikon RF world) compares to the M4...
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It doesn't compare. The M4 viewfinder is 100ft over the S3 finder if you take it obviously (visibility of the framelines, contrast, resistance to flare, rangefinder patch general usability, automatic framelines display).

But, as you wrote yourself, you can realize that you won't take as good pictures with a camera which you don't either like or get related to.

I had an M4 and then re-sold it, because I much preferred the Nikon, for personal taste reasons (the smaller and lighter body, the way you load film, the all ball-bearings made shutter, the way you can see through the (fuzzy, true) rangefinder patch for very, very accurate focusing, the incredible feeling of reliability which the camera provides). The Nikon S3 is the camera I now use almost all the time (I have an S2 and an SP too, but as very much as I like them this is the S3 which has become my 24/24 carry around camera - alongside with my Rollei 35 as for 135 film format).

Mine is the classic one made in the 1950s. I had the 2000 re-issue too but re-sold it. Its finder was not better than the classic one.

I have to wear glasses too, so the S3 built-in 35mm framelines are quite out of sight. I can live with that because I have the tiny Cosina-Voigtländer 28-35 external minifinder which is mandatory for using the W-Nikkor-C 28mm f/3.5 anyway, and which I leave on the camera all the time. With 35mm lenses it's either quickly removing my glasses to see the entire built-in 35mm frames for framing just before depressing the shutter, or more quietly using the 35mm frames of the minifinder. Both techniques work well for me. I don't find 28-35 external or secondary minifinders to be meh.
 
S.H. and Highway 61, I agree with what you're saying. I really went for the
SP because it went for a great price on eBay, way less than $1000 dollars
I see them for. It was rated as fair condition but when I received it and
cleaned it up it looks a lot nicer than that. The one problem it had was the
large viewfinder window had lots of haze in it and I was able to take it apart
and clean it all out and it's really clear now. Like S.H. when I took the Leica
M2 outside to take picture it started feeling like a chore - I didn't enjoy it like
I used too, maybe too many other cameras have gone though these fingers
that I needed something different, if it's the SP that's the one then.
 
As far as I know, the S2 is the only Nikon rangefinder camera for which viewfinder correction lenses are available. These are for me very important.


Erik.
 
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