HELP! I purchased a new Nikon S2 in the early fifties [50's] at the factory in Tokyo. Had 5th Air Force Press Credentials but could not wait for "special order" black S2! So much for impatience! However, I picked up a chrome dialed model #6146898 with chrome Nikkor S.C lens #364742

First, can someone explain the S.C designation on the lens? Obviously did not learn my lesson from the Black S2 fiasco.

Second, on my re-wind dial is the designation ? Always thought this designated EXPORT. Hey . . . I've already establshed a lack of street smarts. Then someone mentioned this stood for POST EXCHANGE? As we know the Japanese read backwards . . . so EP could stand for Post Exchange. Since I was in the military, and even though I had access to the factory I could have been sold [as a service man] a model set aside for the Post Exchange or PX.

Seriously . . . can someone offer some factual clarity.

Thanks,

Steele Morris

-- Steele Morris (acamerabuff@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001

Answers

I can explain the lens markings, but I don't even know what post exchange stands for in English!

All early Nikkor lenses were marked with a designation for the number of elements, based on the Latin for the numbers 1 to 10.
1=unus, 2=duus, 3=tertius, etc.
'S' stands for septus, or 7. The 'C' simply stands for coated. So, your lens is a seven element coated job.

Nikon gave up this Latin designation when zooms became common. They then had to have designations like DQ for 14 elements (Decus = 10). It's still useful knowledge to the collector or user. You can tell an early and crappy 4 element Nikkor Q 300mm from the much improved 5 element Nikkor P 300mm at a glance.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 28, 2001.

Hi Steele,

The designation "EP" in a diamond-shaped box on the rewind knob stands for "Exported Permitted" and was needed for a unit that was to be sold to US service personnel at the PX.

As Pete says, the S means that the lens has seven elements. Nikon used a polyglot way of counting lens elements, because the Latin for 5 and 6 began with the same letters as the Latin for 4 and 7: unus, bini, tres, quattuor, pente, hexa, septem, octo, novem, decem.

Also as Pete says, the C stands for "Coated". That's really little more than a marketing term, 'cos ALL Nikkor lenses for Nikon rangefinders and SLRs are coated. But in 1946, when the first lenses for the Nikon rangefinder were being designed, single coating, or "blooming", was the lastest thing. Nikon dropped the "C" suffix for rangefinder lenses in about 1957 -- everybody's lenses were single-coated by then -- and reinstated it for SLR lenses in about 1970 to denote their first version of multicoating -- dropping it in about 1977 when everybody's lenses were multicoated.

Serial numbers. Production of the S2 began in December 1954 with number 6135000 and continued for 40 months at about 1500 cameras a month. That would date 6146898 to about August 1955, right? This sounds reasonable, since the black S2 you didn't wait for went on sale to the public in October 1955.

The serial number for your lens makes it sound like a chrome Nikkor-S.C 1:1.4 f=5cm, also from 1955.

Later,

Dr Owl

-- John Owlett (owl@postmaster.co.uk), February 28, 2001.

John,

Wow . . . what do you gentlemen do for a living. Work for, or were previously employeed, by Nikon?

Regardless, I'm impressed and please accept my appreciation. Also, I hope this ends up where I want it to display. I'm new at this and to old [67] to be doing it. Having a lot of trouble getting up to speed.

Your information regarding the differences in S2 re-wind dials is most enlightning! Can we document the text "Exported Permitted" or "export permitted?" Your explanation is the closest to my original [1955] understanding of the "EP" marking. It has been my understanding from the beginning that EP did relate to export laws and post war rules of military occupation.

First, as you know far better than I, Asian type reads from Right to Left vs European Left to Right. So from a Left to Right text EP could represent EXPORT PAID and thus Duty Free. Conversely, from Right to Left could represent EXCHANGE POST and also be Duty Free. Military personnel and their dependents did NOT have to pass through Customes. So indeed we are on the correct path of discovery.

What is known . . . is that special "EP" re-wind dials were manufactured and installed to indicate "non duty status."

First, I am determined to document the exact meaning of the initials EP. Second, to find out how many EP dials were installed on the S2's. The ratio of "plain" rewind dials vs. "EP" dials which the factory would have had to keep records of for at least "duty" purposes?

Someone is still alive in Japan who knows the answers to these questions. In my opinion it is most important to find out now . . . rather than have future generations attempting to speculate.

Special EP dialed S2 are unique and as different as black dialed, all black, plain chromed dialed S2's and so on. In my own personal experiences . . . most S2's which I have run across over some 46 years have been "plain" dialed. Obviously, both dials have the re-wind directional arrow.

I know there are individuals out there like you and Pete that can help provide the answeres.

Speaking of answeres. Excuse me! You were quick to point out the year and month I obtained my beloved S2. Big deal! How about the exact day, time of day, and weather conditions on that memorable occasion? Also what was my mental and physical state during this ceromony? Yes . . . Chrome Nikkor-S.C 1:1/4 f=5cm. Body and lens picked up same day. Saw two "special order" black bodied S2's also. Obviously set aside for previous orders. Factory was most unresponsive and reluctant to even discuss Black bodied S2's. Rather than push my luck further I grabbed my loot and got out of the factory . . . before they decided to take it away from me.

As you know a black bodied S2 #614 4669 is featured in http://cameraquest,com/ article. Lower than my #614 6898! So some orders were being worked on. I saw them.

I am axiously awaiting your comments on EP dials. Any additional thoughts or referral contacts would be appreciated.

Thank you so much for a wealth of valuable informaiton.

Steele Morris

-- Steele Morris (acamerabuff@hotmail.com), February 28, 2001.

Steele,

"As we know the Japanese read backwards . . . so EP could stand for Post Exchange."

This is the looniest thing I've ever seen. First, the Japanese do not read from right to left. They read either from left to right or from top to bottom (with the next line starting on the left). Second, even if they did read from right to left, they wouldn't apply the same style to foreign writing by reversing the letters in a word or acronym.

-- William Ju (wju@mediaone.net), March 02, 2001.

Subject: Response to William Ju

William,

Thanks for the clarity. Yes I am getting loony over this puzzle. Do you own a S2? If so . . . does it have an factory engraved diamond outline, with the letters EP, on the top of the re-wind knob?

Do you know of someone who has this particular S2 model? Please have them contact me.

Can you, in the meantime, provide factual information on what the letters EP stand for on the Nikon S2?

Any and all documented information regarding this specific S2 EP marking . . . would be welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you,

Steele

-- Steele Morris (acamerabuff@hotmail.com), March 03, 2001.

Hi Steele, according to this, EP is an abbrevation for "EXPORT".

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), March 04, 2001.

Damn! The URL to "this" is http://www.romdog .com/messages/238623283.html

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), March 04, 2001.

Hoyin.

Thank you for taking the time to do a search. Very much appreciated.

Several contributors have also suggested that "EP" is an abbreviation for EXPORT? Many from icons in the Nikon society.

Here is a portion of the romdog.com posting which Hoyin is referring to.

Question: "The re-wind knob on my S2 has an EP marking inside a diamond. I was "TOLD"(?) that this donates a Nikon sold in the U.S. military PX?"

Response: "The EP designation stands for EXPORT, and was put on merchandise headed for military exchanges. Had to do with tax and export rules."

Dan Lindsay

So . . . even the experts are still speculating on what in fact PE stands for? Regardless of how well intended, speculation is unlikely to solve the riddle?

Clearly, for historical reasons, we need to continue to search for factual and documented evidence.

Again my appreciation to all contributors . . . for their unselfish efforts. In the meantime a lot of important information has come forth.

Steele

-- Steele Morris (acamerabuff@hotmail.com), March 05, 2001.

I was told that the first 2 digits of the serial number of the camera referred to the year of manufacture of the body. Is that true ? Has that changed recently ? I have an old Nikon F where the first 2 digits are 67 but I bought a Nikon N80 does recently that does not seem to follow that scheme.

Thanks

Nik

-- N Murthy (nikmurthy@hotmail.com), May 22, 2001.

Sorry, Nik, no go.

The very first Nikon camera serial numbers began 609xxxx, referring to September 1946. These cameras first went on sale in 1948 (!), and things haven't got any simpler since.

By the time the Nikon F was launched in 1959, serial numbers had reached 64xxxxx. The Nikon F was such a success that the serial number overtook the date and the last Nikon F cameras, made in late 1972, have 74xxxxx serial numbers. (And may, coincidentally, have been sold in 1974!)

For the F and the F2 the first two numbers are batch numbers, and Nikon buffs talk about a "67" Nikon F or whatever. But the batch numbers only coincidentally match the date of manufacture or sale. For other Nikon models, there is rarely any match at all.

Later,

Dr Owl

-- John Owlett (owl@postmaster.co.uk), May 22, 2001.

By the way, Nik, the 67 batch of Nikon F cameras, from which your camera comes, is closely linked with the Photomic T viewfinder. There will, of course, be 67 Nikon F cameras with un-metered eyelevel finders; but most 67 bodies were sold with Photomic T finders and most Photomic T finders were sold with 67 bodies.

The Photomic T finder had Nikon's first through-the-lens meter, a CdS meter which averaged the light hitting the whole frame: centre-weighted metering came in with the follow-up Photomic Tn finder. The Photomic T went on sale in September 1965 and was superseded by the Photomic Tn in April 1967. During the run, in September 1966, Nikon stopped putting "Nippon Kogaku" on the camera body -- presumably because the Nikon brand name had become so much better known than the Nippon Kogaku company name.

So if your 67 Nikon F has no Nippon Kogaku mark, it may well have originally been bought in 1967.

Later,

Dr Owl

-- John Owlett (owl@postmaster.co.uk), May 23, 2001.

I always thought that the "EP" stood for "Ehrenrich Photoptical", the sole authorized US importer for Nikon and "Nippon Kogaku" equipment.

-- Joe Shupienis (shupienis@parkwaywest.org), January 05, 2002.