maryland_fotos
Well-known
Nice mix of SP vs. F, very interesting scenes.
And what a collection of black paint gear!
And what a collection of black paint gear!
Who is rallying the flag for Nikon RF these days?
- Thread starter Vickko
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maryland_fotos
Well-known
JeffS7444
Well-known
I wasn't expecting to join the Nikon RF owner's club in 2017, but a Christmas Day offer by a fellow RFF member fixed that:
Only thing obviously amiss is the beam splitter mirror. I'll look into getting that replaced at some point. Otherwise I guess there's no reason not to use it as-is in the meantime.
Does anyone know how tricky it is to DIY? Though I've been performing some of my own camera repairs, I have zero experience with Nikon RF to date and was thinking I'd defer the work to someone more experienced than I, and to do my learning on rougher-looking examples.
Only thing obviously amiss is the beam splitter mirror. I'll look into getting that replaced at some point. Otherwise I guess there's no reason not to use it as-is in the meantime.
Does anyone know how tricky it is to DIY? Though I've been performing some of my own camera repairs, I have zero experience with Nikon RF to date and was thinking I'd defer the work to someone more experienced than I, and to do my learning on rougher-looking examples.
alfredian
Well-known
The delicate heart of the beast
The delicate heart of the beast
The split-image prism is probably the most delicate, fragile, sensitive part of the whole apparatus. Once they develop any internal (between the two glass elements) hazing, discoloring, separation - they have to be replaced. With enough cement, re-silvering set-up & experience it might be a "project" but crazy-expensive. Perhaps the issue is exterior-surface haze/discoloration which is mainly a cleaning job that results in clearing & brightening.
Get in touch with Y. Ye and see what he can do. Maybe shopping around for a "parts camera" with a good-to-okay prism is the best route.
Of the dozen+ S2 I own, all have good-to-excellent prisms, with varying degrees of brightness & contrast.
I've seen photo-series of how-to dismantle the top-deck of an S-model, with reference to surface-cleaning the optical first-surfaces, then re-aligning them so you can actually focus again. Search around this Forum and you'll find the articles &/or their links to the how-to series. Good luck - I just picked up another 50/1.4 for mine & the handling rivals Leicas and the film-loading is tons easier & more reliable (no *#&*@*! "tulip" to deal with).-alfredian
The delicate heart of the beast
The split-image prism is probably the most delicate, fragile, sensitive part of the whole apparatus. Once they develop any internal (between the two glass elements) hazing, discoloring, separation - they have to be replaced. With enough cement, re-silvering set-up & experience it might be a "project" but crazy-expensive. Perhaps the issue is exterior-surface haze/discoloration which is mainly a cleaning job that results in clearing & brightening.
Get in touch with Y. Ye and see what he can do. Maybe shopping around for a "parts camera" with a good-to-okay prism is the best route.
Of the dozen+ S2 I own, all have good-to-excellent prisms, with varying degrees of brightness & contrast.
I've seen photo-series of how-to dismantle the top-deck of an S-model, with reference to surface-cleaning the optical first-surfaces, then re-aligning them so you can actually focus again. Search around this Forum and you'll find the articles &/or their links to the how-to series. Good luck - I just picked up another 50/1.4 for mine & the handling rivals Leicas and the film-loading is tons easier & more reliable (no *#&*@*! "tulip" to deal with).-alfredian
steveyork
Well-known
I've started shooting a pair of Nikon S2, and I've been impressed with the 50mm Nikkors (both f/2 and f/1.4).
menos
Veteran
Thanks and yes, the gear is wonderful.
I wanted a black Nikon F with plain prism for much, much longer than I had heard about rangefinder cameras and picked up my first Leica years ago but never got an F all these years.
Now with my Nikon RF virus in full effect there was no better time to finally get the F I always wanted - a spur in the moment eBay purchase from Japan turned out to be a real jackpot and I couldn't be happier.
The plain prism F fits PERFECTLY to be used alongside a Nikon SP and S3 - identical controls, identical loading, just perfection. I only fear now that I will get infected by the AI glass virus. I hope to resist.
Wonderful! The 8.5cm is such a real gem, rendering like that. It is far too little used - both here on the forum and by myself. I hope to take mine out more often in 2018. It is simple perfection on a Nikon SP body with it's fantastic finder, not even a Leica M3 or a latest .85 finder M7 can touch that old Nikon SP with this short tele.
If this is the cosmetically very beautiful, yet due to delivering prism very low priced body recently offered here on RFF, there is not much apart a transplant from a donor body that can be done I am afraid.
I remember looking at the ad (and tempted by the low price as well) but the seller mentioned that the body went to DAG for inspection of the issue and came back unchanged and even lower priced after that (so DAG presumably could not economically bring it back to life).
This body is best treated as a wide angle body - put on a 21mm or 28mm with external finder and use it for that with scale focussing.
It might also work nice as a landscape camera with scale and infinity focussing if the SPs beautiful frame lines are still working.
A repair or transplant really doesn't sound economical except you could get a free donor body with excellent RF optics (rare combination to find and even more rare for little or no money) and do the work yourself or if a certain body is of certain value and high repair costs are still feasible.
The SP finder is supposedly the most complicated construction of it's kind and not an easy beast to tame, even Nikon's engineers had to take their time and great effort when they planned to re-manufacture the re-issue Nikon SP 2005 and commented about the difficulty of the very complicated finder system.
Congrats! The more people find out about the wonderful Nikon RF gear, the better ;-)
I am not sure that SP actually went to DAG, just that the seller was contemplating it.
Seller can clear this up.
If it didn’t DAG would be my first choice.
Seller can clear this up.
If it didn’t DAG would be my first choice.
menos
Veteran
Yes, only the seller (good guy, I have dealt with him before and received beautiful items) can clear this up.
The ad went up twice, the first time describing the dim RF patch and the plan of shipping it to DAG for inspection after a few days of waiting for ad response.
The second ad went up some time later and the defect was more precisely described with likely cause of a dime patch being de-silvering.
I only assumed this was a result of a first inspection of DAG, no definite inside info of course ;-)
I would be very interested too how these old finder optics could be renewed nowadays. Old Leica M3 finders can be extensively repaired by a hand full of specialists including re cementing, re-silvering, even re-grinding completely new prisms.
It would be interesting to know if this could be done with faded Nikon RF bodies as well.
The ad went up twice, the first time describing the dim RF patch and the plan of shipping it to DAG for inspection after a few days of waiting for ad response.
The second ad went up some time later and the defect was more precisely described with likely cause of a dime patch being de-silvering.
I only assumed this was a result of a first inspection of DAG, no definite inside info of course ;-)
I would be very interested too how these old finder optics could be renewed nowadays. Old Leica M3 finders can be extensively repaired by a hand full of specialists including re cementing, re-silvering, even re-grinding completely new prisms.
It would be interesting to know if this could be done with faded Nikon RF bodies as well.
There was only a week between the original and the revised listing, Dec 18 and Dec 25. Doubtful there was enough time to send to DAG and back.
JeffS7444
Well-known
Good ideas! I've sent off an inquiry to the seller to see if any camera techs have already examined the camera - no point in my duplicating his efforts.
At the moment, this is what it looks like when viewed from the rangefinder window:
At the moment, this is what it looks like when viewed from the rangefinder window:
enasniearth
Well-known
nikon sp
nikon sp
the camera was sold as a parts camera here for $250 on rff
it is useable in bright light but as described in the ad the gold reflective surface in the main prism has deteriorated ,
the camera is quite nice looking , my suggestion in the ad was to use it as a dedicated wide angle camera for the 2.8cm f3.5 that the sp has the finder for ,or the biogon 21 in contax mount ,
I examined the optics with a bright light and magnification and was able to see the deterioration in the spot . this was stated in the ad .
I had it listed as $400 the first time and deleted the ad when I determined the cause of the dim rf spot
I had several people who wanted it as a parts camera .
no need to send to dag probably more a job for focal point to repair
as always if the buyer is not happy they can send it back , just have to pay shipping both ways .
I like to leave the ad active until the buyer receives the camera , however lately the moderators have been deleting ads as soon as the item is sold
nikon sp
the camera was sold as a parts camera here for $250 on rff
it is useable in bright light but as described in the ad the gold reflective surface in the main prism has deteriorated ,
the camera is quite nice looking , my suggestion in the ad was to use it as a dedicated wide angle camera for the 2.8cm f3.5 that the sp has the finder for ,or the biogon 21 in contax mount ,
I examined the optics with a bright light and magnification and was able to see the deterioration in the spot . this was stated in the ad .
I had it listed as $400 the first time and deleted the ad when I determined the cause of the dim rf spot
I had several people who wanted it as a parts camera .
no need to send to dag probably more a job for focal point to repair
as always if the buyer is not happy they can send it back , just have to pay shipping both ways .
I like to leave the ad active until the buyer receives the camera , however lately the moderators have been deleting ads as soon as the item is sold
enasniearth
Well-known
nikon repair
nikon repair
its difficult to find someone to work on an sp finder
Pete smith has passed now (he refused to work on the wide angle part of the finder) but did most other work .
ken ruth has retired - he worked on my nikons for many years .ken repaired the finder on an s2 that several other repairpeople stated was only a source of parts (I had purchased it in 1975 from a Korean War vet in my hometown so sentimental value )
dag is perhaps the best left , I asked him several years ago about re cementing the rear prism in my black sp that has a series of black separation spots , he told me that he has fixtures and tools to recement the leica prisms that keep the finder system in alignment . he has nothing set up for the nikon
nikon repair
its difficult to find someone to work on an sp finder
Pete smith has passed now (he refused to work on the wide angle part of the finder) but did most other work .
ken ruth has retired - he worked on my nikons for many years .ken repaired the finder on an s2 that several other repairpeople stated was only a source of parts (I had purchased it in 1975 from a Korean War vet in my hometown so sentimental value )
dag is perhaps the best left , I asked him several years ago about re cementing the rear prism in my black sp that has a series of black separation spots , he told me that he has fixtures and tools to recement the leica prisms that keep the finder system in alignment . he has nothing set up for the nikon
Focal Point closed as of the end of last year.
Perhaps Alan Starkie could tackle this. He fixes failed prisms from Leica M.
Perhaps Alan Starkie could tackle this. He fixes failed prisms from Leica M.
JeffS7444
Well-known
OK that's good info enasniearth thanks.
[Lest there be any doubt, nope, I'm not returning it!]
If I don't find someone in the USA able to take on the job, sending it to Japan is an option, and Kiitos looks like an especially interesting possibility:
https://richardhaw.com/2017/11/14/report-nikon-repair-gods-kiitos/
[Lest there be any doubt, nope, I'm not returning it!]
If I don't find someone in the USA able to take on the job, sending it to Japan is an option, and Kiitos looks like an especially interesting possibility:
https://richardhaw.com/2017/11/14/report-nikon-repair-gods-kiitos/
You might drop Alan a note at camerworks-uk.com. He's doing some pretty unique and innovative stuff, including a titanium shutter for Leica Ms, and replacement frameline masks. He fixes failed M prisms and definitely has the skill, if it can be done.
Al, your ads were marked as "SOLD" so no longer displayed on the top page, but they weren't deleted. You can toggle between "SOLD" and "RELIST IT" in the Product Options list at the top right corner of the ad.
FWIW, while they can do some pretty amazing things, I'm pretty sure Kiitos cannot repair your particular SP finder problem. Also, they don't accept overseas repairs because they don't want to deal with overseas payments and shipping.
menos
Veteran
Does Kanto Camera in Japan work on Nikon rangefinders?
http://www.kantocamera.com/english/index_english.html
I have seen and handled several Leica M3 bodies that had failed rangefinder optics which they have rebuilt and the results were astonishingly good (think better then new).
Apparently they go so far as grinding their own optical elements, re-silvering surfaces, etc.
One particluar black repainted M3 finder was impressive it had complete clarity, the brightest view I had ever seen in a rangefinder viewfinder.
I know that they do deal with over seas customers and do communicate by email in English.
Their main business seems to be repair and customization of Leica gear. Prices are expensive (think Leica Wetzlar prices) but quality of work is exceptional.
http://www.kantocamera.com/english/index_english.html
I have seen and handled several Leica M3 bodies that had failed rangefinder optics which they have rebuilt and the results were astonishingly good (think better then new).
Apparently they go so far as grinding their own optical elements, re-silvering surfaces, etc.
One particluar black repainted M3 finder was impressive it had complete clarity, the brightest view I had ever seen in a rangefinder viewfinder.
I know that they do deal with over seas customers and do communicate by email in English.
Their main business seems to be repair and customization of Leica gear. Prices are expensive (think Leica Wetzlar prices) but quality of work is exceptional.
Yes they do. Definitely worth asking them if they can help. No problem with inquiries in English and international shipping either.
JeffS7444
Well-known
Upon closer inspection, I think I'd like to turn my attention to the rangefinder condensor lenses - maybe they need cleaning and re-cementing (from a tiny diagram that I found posted, it appears to be a pair of lenses, presumably cemented together with canada balsam). Main prism with 45-degree reflective spot don't look perfect, but to my eyes that still looks pretty good. Will be curious to see how accessible the lenses are - or aren't.
If it was me, even if it looks ok, the very first thing I would clean is the 45 degree surface of the split prism. I've cleaned that before on an SP finder and the focus patch went from unusable to really good. Just by cleaning that surface alone.
This is a photo of an S2 split prism, but it shows the surface that has to be cleaned.
This is a photo of an SP finder. There is no condenser in the light path from split prism to main finder.
Nikon SP rangefinder assembly by Jon, on Flickr
This is a photo of an S2 split prism, but it shows the surface that has to be cleaned.
This is a photo of an SP finder. There is no condenser in the light path from split prism to main finder.
Nikon SP rangefinder assembly by Jon, on Flickr
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