View Full Version : Nikon SP 2005
I just saw this posted at PN.
http://www.nikon-image.com/jpn/products/camera/film/range/sp/index.htm
Here is the Japanese Nikon site
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/image_dir/nikonsmall.jpg
Here is the PN thread
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00AllT
Just beautiful, but quoted price of $6,700
:(
Here is the direct Nikon.jp web page:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/image_dir/nikon.jpg
JT edited the post and added this picture.
http://www.nikon-image.com/jpn/products/camera/film/range/sp/index.htm
...and here is the Nikon pdf blurb with pics:
http://www.nikon-image.com/jpn/products/camera/film/range/sp/catalogue/cata_sp.pdf
Looks great, but really for that kind of money....???
Brian Sweeney
01-14-2005, 02:03
It's about time. This is the camera that they should have brought out 5 years ago. I saved a bunch for the S3-2000 and bought a Nikon SP and original S3 for the same money. My Shintaro Painted SP is like a new camera -functional and cosmetically-.
Maybe I will look for an S3-2000 with the multicoated F1.4 lens. I suspect a lot of collectors will dump them to save money for this one.
Considering that collectors have paid $25,000 for a near mint Black Nikon SP, BODY ONLY, this one will sell at even that price. If Nikon turns out enough of them the price will drop to $4,000 or so within two years.
NOW if only Leica would re-issue a REAL M3.
Pherdinand
01-14-2005, 03:12
2005 or not - it's still just a contax copy
:):P
Brian Sweeney
01-14-2005, 03:34
Now that is what we NEED! Contax to come out with the Contax IV!
Pherdi, The Nikon 1x viewfinder and 60mm RF baselength rangefinder is SO nice compared with my IIIa that I modified an S2 to take the Sonnar and other "C"ontax lenses.
Pherdinand
01-14-2005, 03:53
i was just teasing you, Brian:)
wlewisiii
01-14-2005, 05:39
I keep wishing for a Contax IV or Keiv 6 to come out:
Metal chromed body based on the II with removable back so that a Digital back that slides in and needs no more room than the film back could be made. Perhaps only one lock key and a fixed takeup spool. Little details like a lever advance and a crank on the rewind and a film reminder window. The longer II/III rangefinder base. TTL metering. Switchable brightlines for 21,28,35,50,85,135...
I could go on, but I doubt that Zeiss or Zavod Arsenal are listening...
William
Too bad they're not offering the reissue in chrome.
Pherdinand
01-14-2005, 06:50
william, having a finder that is wide enuff for a 21mm would make the 135mm brightlines unuseable, i think.
Of course - it could be a variable magnification built-in finder - no big deal in 2005 i guess:)
ddimaria
01-14-2005, 12:38
$6700?... Does it have a TTL metering?
Brian Sweeney
01-14-2005, 12:45
The wide-angle finder is separate from the 1x finder. It has brightlines for 35mm and the full frame for 28mm. The 2.1cm finder is an external finder. The main finder has projected lines for 5cm, 8.5cm, 10.5cm, 13.5cm. It is bright, but not as good as an M3. It is closer to a Canon 7 finder.
The original did not have a meter, I bet this one does not either. The Nikon SPx had TTL metering, was based on a Nikon F chassis, and looked like an oversized S3 with its zoom-finder. I am very happy that Nikon did not re-issue it. If Canon had left the Selenium meter off of the Canon 7 they would sell for twice what they do now. The SP clip on meter links with the shutter speed dial like the Nikon F clip on meter. It is super-ugly.
I read somewhere that the top-deck was inspired by a Navy cruiser. That is why it looks so sleek.
Another interesting thing: it is shown with the Nikkor 3.5cm F1.8 and OLD-Style ever-ready case. The lens is very sought after and original ones easily fetch $1K. I doubt that Nikon will sell them separately; they never sold the 50mm f1.4 multi-coated lens separate. I doubt you will see them in chrome, it would cut the re-sell in half and no one would shell out over $5K for them.
I feel like one of photo.net users who said: "I wonder how many of these SPs will ever see film inside them?".....:confused:
Now when will Canon re-manufacture the P?!
I can read your mind Joe! :D
SolaresLarrave
01-14-2005, 15:15
At that price, the TTL metering should be the matrix kind...
Too bad they came up with the announcement now... I just ordered some German glass (used, of course!!) so my funds are depleted. Otherwise...
Francisco, this camera is $7,000!!!! I assume you mean that you ordered German glass for every window in your house.:)
I keep wishing for a Contax IV or Keiv 6 to come out
William if we put them in order of appearance maybe the Kiev 6 could be that Kiev TTL that appears on Princelle's 2nd ed. Nice beast but they added an extra 2cm or so to the top plate to fit the electronic gizmos and the result was not as elegant as the original Kiev...
Now when will Canon re-manufacture the P?!
Probably I couldn't afford that either, I bet that even a modern Canonet would set you about $300... OTH that's already being paid for some black models :rolleyes:
Originally posted by SolaresLarrave
At that price, the TTL metering should be the matrix kind...
Too bad they came up with the announcement now... I just ordered some German glass (used, of course!!) so my funds are depleted. Otherwise...
:eek: !!!
90 ? 135 ? Inquiring minds Inquiring minds... ;)
SolaresLarrave
01-14-2005, 15:29
rover, if I ever sank that much money in a camera... I should also get myself a one-way ticket to Timbuktu. Heck! If I could afford it, life wouldn't be fun!! :)
So, be at ease, buen amigo. Nothing of that sort here... Just that I ended up purchasing a much used 'cron 90/2 (the lens can tell stories) from a fellow who had posted an ad in PN in October. A few days ago, I e-mailed him and it turns out he still had it... and then he lowered the price so much I told myself I better take it this time.
So, Oscar, I went for the 90mm glass. It's a very used black 'cron, identical to Todd's (the one stolen with his M6), which means it's a hefty looking monster with tripod mount.
But it's a fast lens! :eek: :) ;) !!
As long as it's not a car or a lady... :D
SolaresLarrave
01-14-2005, 15:35
A while ago (maybe rover remembers this), in the infamous "In Praise of the Canonet" thread in PopPhoto, a guy said that Canon should reissue the Canonet. My first reaction: I imagined a couple in a Walmart store, looking at cameras:
"What about this?" she says.
"Hmmm... Nah. Too heavy."
"But it looks cute"
"Yeah, but I need something fast. See this thing?" he fiddles with the focusing lever "It's to focus the lens. Do you think we have time to focus?"
"Focus? What's focus?" says the old lady who's been eavesdropping their conversation.
"And where's the screen?" demands a kid, who's toying with the little digital HPs and Fujis. "What kind of camera is that one with no screen?"
There you go! :)
I keep thinking that if Canon were to redo the P (or 7 would be more likely I think), I bet they would do it at a more reasonable price and make more of an attempt to actually sell some cameras. New Leicas are for an elite few, these Nikon redos are for the cream of that crop, the ZI, well, we will see in May, it should do well. Production delays like what is happening with the lenses can be a real setback though.
Somebody try to sell a bunch of cameras to us, please. $1,000, long baselength finder, solid metal body, simple finder with 3 or 4 (28, 35, 50 and pick one other if you wish) framelines, good accurate sensitive meter, with or without AE, you can choose.
Sound like an M6 huh?
Congrats Francisco, I look forward to seeing your work (can you call it that?) with this lens.
SolaresLarrave
01-14-2005, 15:42
Rover, Amen, brother!
Originally posted by SolaresLarrave
A while ago (maybe rover remembers this), in the infamous "In Praise of the Canonet" thread in PopPhoto, a guy said that Canon should reissue the Canonet.
That may have been me.
back alley
01-14-2005, 15:55
I can read your mind Joe!
a canon p might be do-able if they had some ftb bodies hanging around some old warehouse.
it 's a pretty simple camera.
i have to admit that my 2nd p is pretty prime so i kinda feel like i have a new one.
joe
Honu-Hugger
01-14-2005, 16:20
I had a reissue Strat once; it was a nice guitar but I never thought of it as anything more than a "fake" (albeit a nice fake:)). I'm afraid that I would feel the same way about any reissue camera. I prefer to find a nice original and go with restoration, if necessary. Long live Henry Scherer, eBay, and Contaxes!:D :D :D
D2
wlewisiii
01-14-2005, 16:20
Originally posted by rover
Sound like an M6 huh?
Well, I realized a long time ago that the best option for me is a Bessa R2C because it would have all the modern convieniances while still letting me use my Zeiss/FSU glass.
Still, with modern electronics, it would be very easy to build a "modern" Contax or Kiev without changing the profile other than for the lever and crank. And the removable back would be primo for an addon digital back... :D
William
Brian Sweeney
01-14-2005, 17:46
> "I wonder how many of these SPs will ever see film inside them?".....
My SP's are all currently loaded... and one S3... but not the S4... Why don't more people use these cameras? Can't figure it out myself! It isn't because they take lousy pictures or are hard to use!
The SP got to go to the beach, but the S3 went on a hayride...
Nikon S3 with 5cm F1.4
See what y'all think of my theory about these Nikon reissues:
It's not so much that Nikon is building these things to cash in on the collector market.
Rather, I think that even though most of their product line now is electronic cameras built on automated assembly lines, they still need to keep a core group of expert technicians and assemblers to handle spare-parts runs for older cameras, exotic and custom work, etc.
So, in between special runs, how do you amortize the cost of the machinery and keep and those highly-skilled techs happy and motivated? Well, one way would be to build limited editions of cool, prestigious stuff, such as S3s and SPs, no?
I know that if I were a camera-factory shop rat, I'd be pretty charged up about working on a project like that.
The implication here is that probably not a lot of other camera companies have, or need to have, a cluster of old-school skilled workers and the associated equipment, so they wouldn't necessarily have either the capability or the interest Nikon has in doing these things.
PS -- Yes, it's expensive, but if I had the money, I'd buy one like a shot. And yes, I'd run film through it!
Brian Sweeney
01-14-2005, 17:53
JLW, ME TOO!
I will be looking for some S3-2000's to be getting sold by collectors wanting an SP-2005!
Funny Story: about a year after I bought my SP from a local dealer, I brought a roll of film from it to a camera show that he was at. He owned many Nikon RF's, and sold even more. He had never seen pictures from one. His comment was "pretty good pictures! No wonder people like them" Kind of sad when such fine instruments are worth more as an investment than performing their intended function. The dealer always gave me first shot and better prices on his gear as he liked the fact that they would get used.
back alley
01-14-2005, 18:56
unless i win the lottery there isn't any hope that i could afford one of these cameras but if i could i would love to own one.
i would use it too.
not much sense in owning something just to look at it.
joe
I WANT AN SP!!!!!
K. I'll get one. Someday. I just hope there are lenses available. I didn't like the fact that the S3 was rereleased, but with only a lens that wasn't sold separately, and worse, no other new ones were released.
Now that CV has quit making lenses in Nikon/Contax mount, lenses are going to be tight.
I just hope that they make more lenses. I want one. Always wanted an SP. I'd even put up with the shutter noise... The reason I got rid of my S2. My KIEV'S were quieter and felt far more substantial. Took "nice enough" pictures, but was lots of money wrapped up in a camera that was no more reliable than an Oleg tuned Kiev, and took no better pictures than the chrome CZJ coated f/1.5 Sonnar (Now, Voigtlander Prominent Nokton f/1.5)
I want the SP because of high quality finder- better in the ways important to me than the Leicas I've owned... Especially important with the wide angle finder and the hard-selectable frame-lines (and the 1:1 finder, of course)
They just GOTTA make that 50 f/1.1 again!
Brian Sweeney
01-15-2005, 03:15
JD: Lenses may be old, but I have never had a problem getting lenses. I have paid as little as $43 for a user 13.5cm F3.5 that has been used here to a high of $300 for an 8.5cm F2. I also have the 10.5cm F2.5, 3.5cm F2.5, and 5cm F1.4 and F2. They go for less than the same lens in LTM.
The F1.1 is a monster with 9 elements and a T-number that cries for multi-coating. It is no sharper than the 50mm F0.95 Canon and sells for almost 10 times as much money. The maligned Nikkor 55mm F1.2 multicoated version is sharper and has a faster T-stop.
Is there a 55 f/1.2 for the "S-mount?"
Heck, I liked the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 I had, so it's not that big a deal for another 1/2 stop.
Brian Sweeney
01-15-2005, 12:09
The 55mm F1.2 is f-mount only.
Originally posted by backalley photo
not much sense in owning something just to look at it.joe
Hey ! Absolutely right ! Just now I'm trashing my TV ! :mad:
:p
Originally posted by Brian Sweeney
The 55mm F1.2 is f-mount only.
In some time I'll probably go for one of those for Brian's F2 as well...
Congrats Francisco !!! Now that's a piece of glass ! :D
Agree that the Canon 7 is a very useable beast, that idea about relaunching it has been also discussed some times on PN.
Now I'm thinking that we could in fact create a brand name and design our 'perfect' RF, then find a suitable popular SLR body to start with (FM3a?) and suggest that to some big fish.
An hybrid shutter rangefinder fm3a type, long RF base, nice finder, M mount with Nikon S adapter... :rolleyes:
Originally posted by taffer
Now I'm thinking that we could in fact create a brand name and design our 'perfect' RF, then find a suitable popular SLR body to start with (FM3a?) and suggest that to some big fish.
An hybrid shutter rangefinder fm3a type, long RF base, nice finder, M mount with Nikon S adapter... :rolleyes:
Not a bad idea, Oscar.
Please add weather sealing up to the standard of EOS 1v, QL film loading, leaf shutter noise level and 1:1 finder!
:D
Brian Sweeney
01-15-2005, 14:36
The FM/FE chassis is almost the same size as the SP. The SP fits right into the case made for the FE2. It would be nice, but I doubt that it will happen. I am thankful that the SP is in production again. Just the thought of a 1957 camera (my Birth) being put back into production is great. Maybe I will save for one for my 50th Birthday. May not take it to the beach like I do my "regular SP", but I will use it.
If this one does have a cloth shutter in favor of the Titanium, it is to make the shutter quieter. The cloth shutter is not as loud as the metal one.
It's of course out of my reach but I'd probably get this one over a Leica 'a la carte'...
I've just printed a glossy paper copy of a nice photo I found on the internet on my trusty Epson 440 and it's indeed a beauty, would hang it on the wall with the legend 'that's what you're working for' :D
Nikon Bob
01-15-2005, 15:48
Nice camera and glad someone is doing it, but for me it is too pricey for a cup of ersatz coffee.
Bob
SolaresLarrave
01-16-2005, 03:15
I've always liked the looks of these cameras... but my metering abilities are pretty low (I'm always half a stop off in either direction). At one time I pondered about a used body, but for some reason I never kept looking.
Now, at this price... there must be a market, and we're simply not it... Oh, well...
Originally posted by Nikon Bob
Nice camera and glad someone is doing it, but for me it is too pricey for a cup of ersatz coffee.
Bob
I realize that "real coffee" can be had cheaper, but it's really difficult to find!
As a professional graphic designer, I also like the fact that apparently Nikon is reproducing the super-cool '50s graphics of the promotion materials and box.
Now I just have to hope that someone will do a nice fully illustrated article on the NHS website, the way they did with the repro S3, so I can vicariously enjoy the experience.
Nikon Bob
01-16-2005, 20:37
jlw
Half the fun is in the finding.
Bob
If two things were added I just would start saving on this most elegant beauty: TTL-metering, and (gasp) M-bayonet... :-)
Hm, start saving anyway, waiting for a black Zeiss-Ikon...
NIKON KIU
08-08-2007, 15:33
I just saw this posted at PN.
http://www.nikon-image.com/jpn/products/camera/film/range/sp/index.htm
Here is the Japanese Nikon site
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/image_dir/nikonsmall.jpg
Here is the PN thread
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00AllT
Just beautiful, but quoted price of $6,700
:(
Sooooo Rover,
It's been 2 and half years, prices were down to under $4000 for awhile...now creeping up.
Ebay sellers ask around $5000
None to be found on Yahoo Japan!!
Are you gonna get one? Before it's too late!!:eek: I know how;)
Kiu
Kiu, no.
Actually, I think the S3 2000 is a very good kit price given the body and lens quality that you get compared to an MP. I won't say that either is better than the other, both are great, but the S3 and new 50/1.4 is a very attractive package.
The SP also is, but is selling for more. Price, value, bargains are all subjective things related to our own situations.
No, actually I am very satisfied with my kit and really not looking to buy anything right now.
Funny to see old threads like this pop up. Reading my original post, I probably a not much different in my thoughts now, though I do appreciate more what Nikon has offered with their two modern kits.
BillBingham2
08-08-2007, 16:53
My S3-2000 has film in it and loves it!
B2 (;->
jonmanjiro
08-08-2007, 16:54
See what y'all think of my theory about these Nikon reissues:
It's not so much that Nikon is building these things to cash in on the collector market.
Rather, I think that even though most of their product line now is electronic cameras built on automated assembly lines, they still need to keep a core group of expert technicians and assemblers to handle spare-parts runs for older cameras, exotic and custom work, etc.
So, in between special runs, how do you amortize the cost of the machinery and keep and those highly-skilled techs happy and motivated? Well, one way would be to build limited editions of cool, prestigious stuff, such as S3s and SPs, no?
I know that if I were a camera-factory shop rat, I'd be pretty charged up about working on a project like that.
The implication here is that probably not a lot of other camera companies have, or need to have, a cluster of old-school skilled workers and the associated equipment, so they wouldn't necessarily have either the capability or the interest Nikon has in doing these things.
PS -- Yes, it's expensive, but if I had the money, I'd buy one like a shot. And yes, I'd run film through it!
Your theory is pretty much spot on! Not so much for the spare parts (Nikon isn't selling any for the vintage cameras) but instead to keep the skill levels there and pass on those skills to the next generation. Even Nikon has now said that it was one of the main reasons for undertaking the project. And yep, the camera-factory shop rats at Mito Nikon were pretty charged about it.
Most SP 2005s probably don't see film, but mine does ;)
dreamsandart
08-08-2007, 16:58
I was in Osaka a couple weeks ago and was very surprised to see 3!! Nikon SP 2500 sets in the display case of one shop after not seeing any for a few months.
A week later I was maybe just as surprised to see two of the SP sets were gone and the last priced in the $5,000 range, and one used S3 2000 set at the now it seems going higher price ( all other NEW S3 sets I've seen are shops selling them at the unchanged $3,500 - $4,000 price of a few years ago when first introduced ) . As has been noted prices are going up and limited availability of the 'limited edition' Nikons seems to be the trend.
Stopped into my friend's camera shop after and he still had a S3 set in the box on the top shelf off to the back it seemed so no one would see it. I thought "why not" with prices going up and picked it up to resell at some point ( I'm happy with my SP and S2 and really don't need another camera myself for sure! ). If anyone is interested in a new S3/50 set let me know.
jonmanjiro
08-08-2007, 17:05
One of my favourite shops in Tokyo had maybe as many as 15 SP 2005 sets in January, but when I checked last weekend they were down to three sets. They're priced to sell so probably won't last long. Haven't seen any new S3 2000 sets for sale in Tokyo for a while.
dreamsandart
08-08-2007, 17:10
Can't imagine 15! SP sets boxed all in a row, must be like going to heaven and seeing 'S'aint 'P'eter at the pearly Nikon gates :angel:
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