But though I never owned an SP until recently, I harboured an ongoing lust for one. When one stops being appropriate for my needs I move on. Though I was too poor to afford one even as I began my career as a photojournalist in the mid-1960’s while new SPs were still in production, the Nikon SP was my idea of the perfect camera, what Stephen Gandy has called the quintessential photojournalists camera.
#Nikon s2 rangefinder reproduction box professional#
With the exception of the Leica M series dynasty, rangefinders lost popularity among both professional and amateur photographers.īut for many, myself included, the Nikon SP was the holy grail – the ultimate rangefinder Nikon, and some have even said the ultimate Nikon. Though less expensive and lower speced Nikon S3 and S4 rangefinder models were subsequently made, they too eventually went out of production. The Nikon SP turned out to be that company’s ultimate rangefinder camera, and when the original Nikon F SLR came out just two years after the SP’s introduction, rangefinder cameras started a rapid decline in popularity. The SP was designed to compete with and indeed surpass the Leica M3, the first of the "M" series, which had been released in 1954, and which still continues today with the latest M8digital. Only some 22,000 cameras of this model were ever made between 19.
It was expensive, ( about $2,500 with 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor, in today’s dollars – ($415 then)) and aimed at the professional photographer. In that year Nikon introduced the Nikon SP, a now legendary rangefinder camera. In November, 1957, a half century ago, I was 13 years old and just beginning my involvement with photography.