C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →rangefinder-35mm
The Nikon S (1951-1954) was Nippon Kogaku's inaugural rangefinder camera with an interchangeable lens mount. Developed in the years following World War II, it drew directly on the Contax RF mechanical tradition - adopting a bayonet mount dimensionally compatible with Contax lenses - while establishing a distinctly Japanese engineering identity. The S was paired at launch with the Nikkor-H 50mm f/2, a lens that quickly earned a reputation among American photographers who encountered it during the Korean War era.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
Japan's answer to the Contax RF: Nippon Kogaku's first interchangeable-lens rangefinder, introduced in 1951 with a Contax-compatible mount.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Nikon S bayonet (Contax-compatible) |
| Years | 1951-1954 |
| Shutter | 1s - 1/500s + B, horizontal cloth curtain |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Battery | None |
Nippon Kogaku (Nikon's corporate predecessor) had manufactured optical instruments and lenses through World War II, supplying the Japanese military. After the war, the occupation-era economy and American demand for quality optics created an opening. The company's first camera, the Nikon I (1948), used a non-standard 24x32mm frame and a different mount; the S corrected both issues, adopting the full 24x36mm frame and a Contax-compatible bayonet that allowed access to the existing Zeiss and Jupiter lens library.
Production ran from 1951 to 1954, when the significantly improved Nikon S2 superseded it. The S was produced in relatively small numbers and is today the rarest of the Nikon RF bodies.
The Nikon S is the foundation of what became one of the most important camera systems in photojournalism history. David Douglas Duncan's photographs from the Korean War - shot on early Nikkor lenses - are among the first pieces of evidence that Japanese optics had caught and in some cases exceeded the German standard. Life magazine's use of Nikkor glass in the early 1950s established Nikon's international reputation before the brand was widely known in the West.
The S itself is a historical artifact rather than a practical shooter by modern standards - superseded quickly by the S2 - but it marks the beginning of the Nikon rangefinder system that would culminate in the SP (1957) before Nikon pivoted to the F SLR in 1959.
Nikon S bayonet mount. Lenses mount via the same bayonet used on all subsequent Nikon S-series bodies through the SP and S3. The mount is dimensionally compatible with Contax RF bayonet glass (Kiev and Stuttgart-era), though lens registration and coverage require verification on a per-lens basis.
Key Nikkor lenses available at launch or shortly after:
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →Nikon S
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