Nikon Rangefinder Camera Bodies: The "S2" Body

The Nikon Type One S2 Type One Body (Later Type Two had Black Distance Bezel and Black Shutter Speed Dial):

The S2, introduced in December of 1954 with onset SN6135001, was Nippon Kogaku's first body offering that had the conventional 24mm by 36mm format opening. Other important included advancements comprised: a rapid single stroke hollow handle film advance lever, a fold out film rewind crank, a single thumb turn lever back/base open lock release, a settable film reminder dial, a much improved and brighter life size viewfinder window (suitable for two eyed photography), 1/50 sec X-sync and 17ms travel time FP shutter, 1/1000 second maximum (minimum) shutter exposure speed, and a tougher and more grip able plastic body cover replaced the easily damaged leather covering of the original S. This type plastic covering remained essentially unchanged until part way through the F2 cycle.

The flash system also received a set of meaningful updates. The two contact flash connector of the S

gave way to the more modern PC connector and a "HOT" live contact in front of the accessory/flash shoe. Something that should really be seen as a predecessor of the modern "hot Shoe".

The "SYNCHRO" to the left of the shoe points to another fragment of pioneering sophistication that the S2 had in flash photography (an area that was to become a long time strength of NK/Nikon). Because the FP shutter was constrained to 1/50 second or slower exposures there were complications such as "ghosts". More conventional, for that time, flash bulbs which had a brief "warm up time delay" suffered no such limitation once up to temperature. The "SYNCHRO" wheel allowed the photographer fire the flash in advance of the FP shutter event such that a maximal even exposure was achieved during the 17+ millisecond exposure event. This gave conventional flash bulbs a real advantage over electronic flash for those skilled in that art at the time.

The S2 was introduced with a chrome shutter speed dial as shown and almost 42,000 of this variety were produced. The last approximately 15,000 had a black dial with white characters for increased readability.