News Archive 2002

December/November 2002

Stephen Gandy has the new Voigtlander Nikon Rangefinder Mount Bessa R2S in stock (he also has the Contax model). Look for a review in the next issue of the print Nikon Journal, now is the time to join if you are not already an NHS member!

The NHS has yet another new message board. In an effort to fight message board spammers, you must register to post. (UPDATE: you may post without registering)

October 2002

(Courtesy of a CameraQuest spy at Photokina 10/19) "A few minutes ago I (Stephen Gandy) learned of some rather amazing things about the new Voigtlander SL lens lineup. The widest lens available for a Nikon F mount SLR is the 13mm Nikkor. The widest Nikon classic RF lens was 21. Next year Voigtlander will be marketing the 12/5.6 and 15/4.5 in Nikon F mount, for mirror lock up.

I am told these lenses will fit the Nikon F, F2, F3, and F4. A special finder will be made to replace the pentaprism on the F or F2. Scale focus. Voigtlander will make an adapter to mount the F mount 12's and 15's on Nikon Rangefinders (and classic Contax RF's too, since they have the same outside mount and back focus)! The amazing news is, the same adapter can be used to mount ANY Nikon F mount lens on Nikon or Contax rangefinders -- scale focusing, no RF coupling. If you buy the Voigtlander R2S or R2C, you will be able to use any of these lenses with TTL metering."

(September 22) — Eastman Kodak Co. is expected to unveil on Wednesday the DCS Pro 14n, an SLR camera that captures images with 13.8 million pixels. Nikon has custom-manufactured the camera body components for Kodak Professional. While the DCS Pro 14n does share features and components with some of Nikon's own cameras, this particular body is custom-manufactured for Kodak. Estimated street price is around $4000 USD.

September 2002

Nikon Rangefinder Mount Bessa R2S
Contax Rangefinder Mount Bessa R2C

(Stephen Gandy NHS member) Traditional wheel focusing for normal and wide lenses. The first production cameras in either mount with TTL metering and optional trigger winders. By far the brightest VF and RF ever offered in either mount. Stephen expects a 28/3.5, 50/2.5, and 90/3.5 APO, which will go along with the already released 21/4, 25/4, and 35/2.5. Update 9/21 — 28/3.5, 50/2.5, and 85/3.5 APO will go on sale in November.

(Posted on www.Slashdot.com 9/11) "PC Magazine just confirmed that Canon mistakenly announced a new 11-Megapixel digital camera that wasn't supposed to be announced for another two weeks. This caused quite a stir on the digital photography message boards, where Canon apparently tried to have all links to the press release taken down. The PC Magazine article is here. The original press release can be found here." A Nikon rep at Mac World in NYC implied to me that I should watch for an announcement at PMA regarding digital lenses and their APS-size format, I wonder now if that was not a suggestion of something more, perhaps a full frame pro digital?

"What a revolting development this is" — a line made famous by the 1950s TV series "The Life of Riley." Then there is this, some things you can't describe, you just have to see them on eBay! OK, one more.

(Takashi Nakamura) Last Saturday, I received a brochure from Vienna. I found an interesting photo on it. It said a Nikon S3-M black with an original box will be placed  in an auction, held by WestLicht. www.westlicht-auction.com Auction date is 15th, Nov.,2002. Preview: 30th Sept. to 3rd Nov. (reservation needed) 14:00 to 19:00, 4th to 14th, Nov.,2002. It will also be held in Tokyo late Oct.

KAMERALEDER was producing a hard leather case for the Nikon S2, but sadly they seem to be closing for an undermined time ("6 - 8 weeks, maybe longer"). Currently they have limited stock on their S2 case. It is unclear if Nikon will supply the case for the New S3 as a part.

August 2002

(8/22) A new chrome Nikon S3 2k sold for 2500 USD, yesterday, on eBay, setting a new low. The seller wrote me stating it was from a store liquidation, so they wanted to let the market set the price. (I personally think there will be a lot of bargains in the future, too many cameras in speculator's hands means low prices)

A very reliable source says that Leica has discontinued the M6, leaving the Bessa as the only classic mechanical rangefinder design still in production! The unproven M7 has only 2 mechanical speeds, 1/60th and 1/125th. No mention by our source about the continued private and commemorative production of the M6. Leica lost 1.5 million Euro in the last fiscal year, although they expect a profitable future from their digital line.

After over 50 years Wall Street Camera has closed its doors as of 8/16. Always a favorite for collectors visiting NYC, I personally bought two SP motors and 3 or four black Nikons SPs from them over the years. They had been struggling for several years after the original partners split up, but 9/11, and the resulting weak economy in Lower Manhattan, did them in.

(From NHS member Stephen Gandy) "A rumor reported on my CVUG list is that Voigtlander will bring out a Nikon Rangefinder mount version of the R2." (updated Aug 30) Cosina may be introducing new NIKON and CONTAX rangefinder mount versions of its Voigtlander Bessa R2, probably for Photokina in Sep. Predictions are the metal R2 body, with a modified R2 rangefinder / VF showing parallax corrected 35, 50, and 85 framelines. If true, these would be the first production TTL metering Nikon and Contax mount RFs. The R2 RF/VF is far brighter and easier to use than any classic Nikon or Contax. More Voigtlander info at Cosina or CameraQuest.

July 2002

During a visit to Macworld NY, your webmaster was told to "watch the next PMA" for important digital lens developments. Nikon currently does not make any lenses designed specifically for the smaller image area in their digitals. The smaller format is here to stay for the near future. Contax seemed unable to release their full 35mm frame model the N Digital, but Wall St. Camera says "now available in small numbers." Nikon claims yields on the larger chips are very low.

June 2002

(From reader Tadashi Mabuchi)
"I bought the reproduced Nikon S3 black recently. I checked the painting and concluded that the body is painted directly on Brass not on Chrome. Because a small part of the body lacked the painting and brass was confirmed through a loupe."

NHS Journal 76 includes an article on Canon Imperial Navy Models by famous Canon author Peter Dechert. It has been some time since collectors have been fortunate enough to read such a great article from THE Canon authority. We will reproduce the entire article, in about one month, here on the web site (NHS members see it first).

The Voigtlander  21/4, 25/4, and 35/2.5 SC-Skopars are being sold out quickly, and there may not be another batch beyond the initial 1000 produced in Nikon mount. Both the 21 and 25 are reported (Tadashi Mabuchi) to be available in Japan.

May 2002

(Nikon becomes more "Chinese", Nikon PR) "Nikon Corporation decided to establish the new production facility in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, to enhance the cost competitiveness and production capacity of digital cameras and other products of their Imaging products business. Two major production facilities, with this new production facility added to Nikon (Thailand) Co., Ltd., will constitute the axe (sic) of overseas production for Nikon imaging products business".

It's been a long time since we've seen articles by Dr. Burton Rubin, of Shutterbug fame. His articles for Shutterbug were the best that have appeared in any publication regarding camera collecting!

Black Nikon S3, finally! (thanks to Stephen Gandy) Nikon sets the production number at 2000 units, first shipments began in June. Japanese market only. Estimated price is the same as the chrome model.

Previous

New Collector Alert:
Nikon rangefinder repaints, they are easy to spot when seen in person, since many painters do a quick one-day job, but eBay is now a much more slippery slope for new collectors. There have always been repaints out there, but they are getting better. Painters in Japan all seem to be painting chrome cameras black. More...

Almost 300,000 vistors have been to your webmaster's site to look at my photos from the hours and weeks after 9/11/01.