Nikon has just announced the much rumored "new" rangefinder.

It's an S3 with a 50 1.4 lens. No detailed specs or price have been announced at this time. Currently the only info is available in Japenese at the web page: http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/jpn/whatsnew/2000/s32000_00.htm.

For those who are curious about the S3, it's basically an SP with a simpler (i.e. cheaper) viewfinder. They entered the market in 1958. The success of the Nikon F SLR led to the end of the rangefinders in the mid 1960s. There's a really nice picture of an S3 at: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/htmls/nikons3.htm.

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@nauticom.net), February 23, 2000

Answers

Hmmm!

It looks disappointingly "retro". Another new collectors' camera by the look of it. Still, I'll reserve judgment until I've seen the real thing and know the price.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 24, 2000.

For a fabulous view of the new Nikon S3, go here: http://www.nik on.co.jp/press/2000/image/s3_s.jpg

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), February 24, 2000.

Oh, Stephen Gandy's Cameraquest website has info on the new S3 in English: http://www.cameraquest.com /rfren.htm

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), February 24, 2000.

Oh joy, 500,000 yen ($4500) for the S3 + 50mm 1.4 lens. The collectors will, no doubt, remove them from their presentation boxes every 6 monthes to lightly polish them.

-- Barry Schmetter (bschmett@my-deja.com), February 24, 2000.

So Nikon still has the tooling to make a 45 year old design. Wonder how much warehouse fees they paid to keep the rusty assumbly line intact all these years. Now we know why Nikon Silent wave lenses is at a premium compare to Canon. :-) I was hoping for a new camera in the vein of Contax G2. But alas, Nikon chooses to relive past glory instead of looking ahead. Maybe they will bring out a Nikkormat 2001 next year.

-- chuck fan (CHAOHUI@MSN.COM), February 24, 2000.

On the Nikon user's mailing list, Shin Sugiyama posted at translation of Nikon's press release. Part of it goes as follows:
"The planned S3/2000 is a close-as-possible reproduction of the S3 sold from 1958. It will be sold as as a set with the Nikkor S 50 mm F1.4. Although it is a reproduction, it will be manufactured using present day production technology and quality control. Price, sales date, fine specifications, and production number are not yet determined."

There have also been some reports that the "new" S3 looks rounder than the original and the chrome has a different finish.

The latest Nikon rangefinders (the SP, S3, S3M and S4) shared many of the same components. Hopefully, Nikon will be recoup some of the development costs and create trly new Nikon rangefinder.

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@nauticom.net), February 25, 2000.

Well, I'm fairly pleased that Nikon didn't announce a guess-focus rangefinder a la Contax. I'm certainly not excited about it being a collector's fantasy piece, but it's a step.

Hopefully we'll be able to have Nikon vs. Leica vs. Konica vs. Contax debates soon.

-- John O'Connell (joconnell@adelphia.net), February 26, 2000.

If I had, say, Bill Gates kind of money, I'd buy up all the SPs, S2s and S3s, G2s and their ilk, and give them to real photographers who'd promise to use them 'til they were a bucket of dents and the cogs fell out.

There, I feel better after that little rant.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 29, 2000.

can anyone tell me the filter size of the new 50mm f1.4 optic supplied with the s3? thanks p.s. i assume it's the same as the olympic 50mm f1.4.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), May 30, 2001.