Nikon SP1957

History

Introduced in 1957 as the direct successor to the S2, the SP was Nikon's top-of-line rangefinder for seven years. Its development ran parallel to the Leica M3 (1954) and represented Nippon Kogaku's most ambitious engineering effort in the rangefinder category. The six-frame-line finder surpassed the M3's frame line count and matched its magnification.

Production overlapped with the introduction of the Nikon F SLR in 1959. As the F gained traction with professionals, the SP's sales declined. Nikon discontinued the SP in 1964, by which point the SLR had largely supplanted the rangefinder in professional photojournalism workflows.

In 2005, Nikon released a limited black-paint reissue of the SP (and S3), approximately 2,500 units, paired with reproduced 35mm f/1.8 Nikkors. These reissue bodies are highly collectible.

Why It Matters

The SP represents the highest expression of the Nikon rangefinder system and, more broadly, of the Japanese challenge to German optical industry dominance in the 1950s. By the time the SP shipped, Nikon had demonstrated that Japanese manufacturing could produce cameras and lenses at or above the standard set by Leitz and Zeiss Ikon. The SP's six-frame-line finder was a specific technical rebuke to the M3, and its adoption by professional photographers working in Asia and beyond confirmed the shift.

Historically, the SP marks the end of rangefinder primacy in professional photography. The Nikon F, introduced two years later, drew most of the professional market toward SLRs. The SP is thus both a peak achievement and a coda.

Lenses & Accessories

Nikon S bayonet mount. The SP is compatible with the full range of Nikkor S-mount glass:

• Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 and Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 - standard lenses
• Nikkor-W 35mm f/1.8 - wide angle, a particularly fast option for its era
• Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 - ultrawide (uses the secondary optical finder on the SP body front)
• Nikkor 85mm f/2 - portrait telephoto
• Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 - a landmark lens in Nikkor history, considered one of the finest portrait telephotos ever made
• Nikkor 135mm f/3.5 - telephoto

Contax RF bayonet lenses are dimensionally compatible; verify registration per lens.

The SP's front-mounted supplemental finder accepts external optical viewfinders for focal lengths outside the main finder's frame line coverage.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used by professional photojournalists working in Asia through the late 1950s and early 1960s, a period when the Nikon RF system was the dominant tool for wire photographers in the region.
• The SP-era Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens became one of the most reproduced lens designs in photography history; the optical formula was carried into the Nikon F system and produced for decades.
• The 2005 black-paint SP reissue was paired with a reproduced 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor; both are considered collector centerpieces of the Nikon rangefinder line.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Nikon SP
• Wikipedia: Nikon rangefinder system