Nikon SP Questions

<p>I just found this camera at a church sale. I am 99% sure that it is a Nikon SP but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. It appears to be in excellent condition and has what looks to be the original leather case as well as the hot shoe mounted meter and a 50mm f1.4 lens. It also came with a 135mm f3.5 lens in its leather case. Does anyone have any ideas about what this set is worth and anything that I should know about it?</p>

<p><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4676453963_7f1c803b97.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4677082252_b614c4032b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4677082252_b614c4032b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4676453791_2f486ddf71_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4676453791_2f486ddf71_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/4676453747_4e6abfe899_b.jpg">http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/4676453747_4e6abfe899_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4677082034_291ae14c91_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4677082034_291ae14c91_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/4677081986_3e16deb1ef_b.jpg">http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/4677081986_3e16deb1ef_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4677081936_6a269d4557_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4677081936_6a269d4557_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4677081862_ff297c7c4e_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4677081862_ff297c7c4e_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4677081786_7f50438c3d_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4677081786_7f50438c3d_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4676454053_1bfaa4fa0b_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4676454053_1bfaa4fa0b_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4677082534_500262d453_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4677082534_500262d453_b.jpg</a><br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4677082440_f8032a6232_b.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4677082440_f8032a6232_b.jpg</a><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4677081936_6a269d4557_b.jpg"></a></p>

<p>I believe it's worth a king's ransom.</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://www.cameraquest.com/usingthe.htm">Stephen Gandy</a>, its serial number appears to fall in the range of the SP (6200000 to 6232200). According to the <a href="http://www.keh.com/Camera/format-Collectibles/system-Nikon-Rangefinder/category-Camera-Bodies?s=1&bcode=NR&ccode=2&cc=79316&r=WG&f">prices at KEH</a> and to what Gandy says about prices for cloth vs. titanium shutter curtain, it seems it should be worth $800-$1000 or so.<br>

Mind you, I've never touched a Nikon rangefinder, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I was merely intrigued at the idea of finding a priceless camera on the $5 table at a church sale and couldn't resist doing a little research.</p>

 

<p>Wow, what a find! Would love to know what you paid for it. The best I've ever done in a camera buy and sell for profit was a Bronica SQ kit that I paid $450 for and sold two weeks later for $900. I felt good about that deal. You may do much better than that on this find. Personally I'd keep it. Prices are always going to go up for a camera in that condition.</p>

<p>If I were you, next time I was in church I'd say a prayer of thanksgiving and be extra generous when the offering plate came around.<br>

You scored bigtime, fella.</p>

<p>Holy cow. Yes it's an SP. I've never even seen the shoe mounted meter. It is absolutely gorgeous. Don't know the value, but sold my Nikon M for a pretty penny. Bought it for $25 and sold it to a "Japanese client".</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the responses. I paid $50 for it (it was my church and I was helping out so I had the first chance at it I also got an old Polaroid with some film and flash cubes so that should be fun.) I was pretty excited to find it, I have been collecting cameras for a while but mostly just the ones that you can pick up for a few bucks. As soon as I saw this one I knew that I wanted it. If I do sell it do you think that it would be worth more as a set or in pieces? (I hate to sell it because I love cameras and like to think that I will get around to using it, but If I could buy a lens for my dslr or a new point and shoot with the money it seems a little more practical, but old cameras are just so much better to look at...</p>

Jen, one minor nit-picking point about your description of the camera: I doubt it has a hot shoe (one with an electrical contact in the middle of it). That camera probably has an old-fashioned accessory shoe, which looks very much like a hot shoe.

<p>That's a beauty. I'd have already grabbed a couple rolls of Kodak B&W+ and run 'em through a minilab by now. Let us know when you post some pix to Flickr - I'd like to see 'em.</p>

<p>You might check with Stephen Gandy regarding whether there's any particular collectible value in keeping the set together. Unless it was part of some standard set supplied by the factory or vendor for a particular purpose, it probably won't hurt to split up the telephoto and accessory mount meter.</p>

<p>Personally, I'd take off the accessory mount meter and stick with a compact incident meter. Usually more foolproof and we seldom really need to meter for every shot anyway unless light conditions are actually changing between shots. With my compact 35mm rangefinders, medium format folders and TLRs, I tend to check the incident meter only once before shooting and not again until the light changes or I move to a different location.</p>

<p>Will - Yeah, I think you're right, I thought I just put "shoe" in there but I guess I typed "hot" too. <br>

Lex - I have a ton of B&W film left from school but I don't have anywhere to process it now. I wish I did. I want to use up all of the random film that I have accumulated... 35mm, 16mm(or is it 8mm for my subminiature?), 120, 126...</p>

<p>Oh, too pretty! I can't look without feeling envious - well done that man.</p>

I've always dreamed of finding a camera like that at a forgotten flea market.

<p>The main difference between an S3 and an SP is that the S3 shows 3 focal length brightlines at once in the finder, which is a bit irritating, whereas the SP has a focal length selector.<br>

What a buy; I've been looking for a good SP for ages!</p>

<p>If you do sell it, sell the camera with case and strap with the lens and meter as a set, and the 13.5cm lens and case in a separate auction. You should be able to net more than $1000 easily. And maybe give your church a 10% kickback in the offering plate as a thank you (I sure would). With that money you should be able to buy a couple very nice lenses for your DSLR. Bravo on your find!</p>

<p>I think you should take a deep breath and don't think in tems of dumping it quickly to get new lenses. The longer the wait, the better the buyer.<br>

The Nikon SP was favored by many photojournalists who found them to be excellent quality, at a price far under the coveted Leica.</p>

 

<p>I think that I have decided to keep it for a while and try it out. I cleaned it up today (not that it needed too much) and found the manual online so I can get familiar with it. The meter seems to work. I haven't used a rangefinder before so it will be fun. I will post some pictures if I get any good ones. Do any of you send B&W film to be processed? If so, where?</p>

<p>The quickest way to get joy would be to shoot some low ISO, say 100 color negative, and get prints or disk at you local Walmart or Walgreens. </p>

<p>Okay, I will just do that. I know that at one time they made that BW film for color processing, was that film any good?</p>

Yes, Jen, it is very good and decent film... in fact, I use it a lot with my meterless Leicas.

 

Congratulations on your find! Just recently, I managed to find a Nikon S2 with a 50mm lens like yours and I'm enjoying it a lot... even though I also shoot a Nikon D700. Rangefinders are so much more fun...

<p>That is such a beautiful camera, you're very fortunate to have found it. The meter is an interesting find as well. When I was shooting B&W but not able to process my own, I shot Kodak T400CN (C-41 process), but they discontinued that - it worked well for both scanning and traditional B&W prints. Now Kodak sells BW400CN, while Ilford has XP2-Super and I think Fuji discontinued its C-41 B&W film. If it were me, I'd keep it, but I fell in love with rangefinders a long time ago.</p>