Where are you located? My repair technician completed a CLA on my S2 shortly after I bought it in only a few days. I know that he gave the rangefinder mechanism special attention.
Nikon RF
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I wholeheartedly recommend Ken Toda at HueMaxx camera in High-Point, NC. If your S2 doesn't come back awesome, I think he's one to try. I'm in Greensboro, so it's a short drive for me, but I find his work to be excellent.
This is funny. I had listed my S2 here and on ebay just a few days ago. No takers. I decided I just couldn't part with it so ended the listings. It is such a beautiful camera. Looks and operates as if it just came out of the box.
Oh, I wanted it - but I don't have PayPal.
Just ordered a chrome body, chrome dial S2 from KEH. Inevitable. Heh. I don't even have a lens for it yet.
So, David, what's the news on yours?
I bet David just returned his, and you bought it. Just pure speculation...
I thought his camera was on its way back to DAG...
Anyway, KEH tells me they have more than one S2, so I'll see what I get. If there's an issue, I can exchange it.
Got your S2's father. In any case, RF patch is bright on my S. One tidbit - you don't have to use the focusing wheel. If you unlock the infinity lock, then hold the lens by the collar just behind the aperture ring and rotate it, it works as a focusing ring. Have a roll of Portra 400 loaded in mine. Should be fine for the somewhat cloudy days forecast for the rest of the week, after Wednesday.
-J
I got the S2 back today. It was sent back to DAG to check out the patch and to double check the alignment. While I admit it does seem to look better I still have a problem focusing with it but maybe with a bit of practice get use to the way it is.
I'll tr shooting a roll in a day or two to see how well I did. The lens looks beautiful.
I'll tr shooting a roll in a day or two to see how well I did. The lens looks beautiful.
Your 50/1.4 Nikkor-SC looks just like the one on Cameraquest,
https://www.cameraquest.com/nfs2al50.htm
and appears to have two rings. Stephen Gandy says the focusing heliacal is built into the body, not the lens. Does this mean you're forced to use the little sawtooth dial on the camera to focus? On the silver lens, can you turn a ring to focus?
My silver dial S2 should arrive tomorrow.
I use both the sawtooth dial and the lens body to focus when I have to move quickly. I hope your experience is really rewarding!
For what it's worth, and maybe everyone already knows this, but gripping the camera the way Nikon designed it to be gripped, and using the focusing wheel the way they intended it to be used, has some real advantages once you start doing it that way. The natural instinct when coming from another camera is to use the index finger for the focus wheel, then move it to the shutter release. This isn't so great. The correct technique, as shown in the manual, is to use the thumb, ring and little fingers to solidly grip the body, use your middle finger on the focus ring, and your index finger for the shutter release. Camera is solidly held, and no finger ever has to move from one place to another, always exactly in position for either focusing or shutter release.
It is a technique which is both secure and very fast. Much cleaner than moving your hands around on the body to focus using the lens body, then reset your hands before depressing the shutter.
It is a technique which is both secure and very fast. Much cleaner than moving your hands around on the body to focus using the lens body, then reset your hands before depressing the shutter.
+1
Once you get the hang of it, it will work great for you. Give it a try.
But it does take some time to get used to.
I have no problem with the functions of this camera and it works as intended. My one problem area is the rf patch. I'm having a difficult time getting use to it and find focus difficult in most situations I've tried. Perhaps it's my eyes and the way they see color. I'm not color blind, never have been but I've noticed the "movable" image in the rangefinder is a little orange or amber color while the static part of the subject is normal. You'd think that would be easy to distinguish and make focus simple...it doesn't. I'm trying to finish the first roll of film today as I've been anxious to see the resultant negative to see if what I've read about this lens is true in this case.
Going back and forth between ordinary SLR split image focus screens, Leica M patch and then the Nikon patch is a big difference...at least for me.
Going back and forth between ordinary SLR split image focus screens, Leica M patch and then the Nikon patch is a big difference...at least for me.
I don't know, everybody's different. Just have to find what one likes and use that. For me, the S2 is no harder to focus than my Leica, or my Contax IIa. I love it, actually. Quick and easy. On the other hand, the general consensus seems to be that the Zeiss Ikon has a better viewfinder than any Leica, and I sold mine, because I found focusing with it more difficult than any of the others, the only one I ever had the slightest trouble with. Better for most people, apparently, but not for me, and I have no idea why, though I do get tempted now and then to try another one, since everyone says I must be wrong
I've read and have heard here and there about parallax. I've never had a camera that didn't have parallax correction so, I don't know what to expect from the S2. I have noticed up close, say 4-5 feet focusing on a coffee can if I focus on the top word "Maxwell House", the words below are out of focus. I thought that rather strange since they're on the same plane
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That tends to happen when your eye is not truly alligned with the viewfinder/rf patch. If your eye is just slightly above or below, there will be some apparent misallignment. Just tilt the camera body toward or away to verify what I mean. Once you get used to where your eye needs to be, it's not an issue.
My issue with sawtooth focus dials on the S2 and other cameras is that I don't like how they feel: the teeth are too small and sharp.
I'm still awaiting delivery of mine today.
The Leica M3 and M6 rangefinder patches, which is what I'm most familiar with, are bright, contrasty, and well defined. I've never seen better. So far, those on the Retina IIa are the worst, even in a CLA'd camera (I have two). Those on Canonets and my Fuji GW690III are mediocre.
On cameras I don't own, one Contax IIIa and a Nikon SP had reasonably good patches; a Leica IIIg's was surprisingly good.
I'm still awaiting delivery of mine today.
The Leica M3 and M6 rangefinder patches, which is what I'm most familiar with, are bright, contrasty, and well defined. I've never seen better. So far, those on the Retina IIa are the worst, even in a CLA'd camera (I have two). Those on Canonets and my Fuji GW690III are mediocre.
On cameras I don't own, one Contax IIIa and a Nikon SP had reasonably good patches; a Leica IIIg's was surprisingly good.
I found I have tilt the camera down a bit to get everything sharp. Otherwise, it looks like the rf is not in proper alignment. By the time you go through all those gyrations of tilting it up or down your subject could be gone. Maybe I should just put it in classifieds.
The Bronica RF-645 has an excellent view finder and patch!! It's a joy to use.
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