Rangefinder News

So you thought your Z7 was expensive?

This looks like a crummy beat-up old camera, but in fact you're looking at the most expensive Nikon ever sold. Let's just say if you wanted to trade your house for it, you'd better live in a pretty nice house. Two customers connected by phone to the Wetzlar Camera Auction (WCA) at the Wetzlar Hotel Bürgerhof on October 10th got into "an exciting bidding war," and the hammer fell on this old Nikon L, an early prototype rangefinder from 1947–48, at a stunning-to-normal-folks price of 397,900 euros. Come on! Who's the no-cash-having piker who lost that contest? Nikon at the time was working out whether to go with the Zeiss Contax bayonet mount or the Leica M39 screw mount (it went with the former). More generally, collectible cameras, mostly Leicas, have reportedly been doing very well lately.

Mike

[CORRECTION: I am having a bad day! An earlier version of this post discussed a rumor that turned out to be very old—I forgot to check the date on the article. Wiping egg off face! Very sorry for the rookie error, which has been removed. —Mike the Not-So-Good Ed.]

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

xf mj: "Do rumors ever stop being rumors if they never come true? I'd like to think not. I'm more than happy to keep hoping and wishing for an RD-2."

Mike replies: And the funny thing was, as I was typing that up, I was thinking wow, just like before. I actually remembered back to when the rumor was new.

Comments

[Jeff]

That Leica Rumors link is ten years old.

[Hishimaru]

Oh Mike.. teasing us like that with a rumor from 2010 is plain cruel I tell ya!

[Kodachromeguy]

Mike, the link took me to a 2010 rumour about a revived RD-1. Is there a newer hint about the camera?

[Scott Kirkpatrick]

>>>Nikon at the time was working out whether to go with the Zeiss Contax bayonet mount or the Leica M39 screw mount (it went with the latter).<<<

I think they went with the former. The resulting lenses are often described as Nikon/Contax lenses, although they turn out not to be QUITE interchangeable. I remember trying one back in the day, but its price was way out of my range. I settled for a Miranda.

[Trevor Johnson]

Excellent news about a possible Epson M mount camera!

Currently, the cost of a new Leica M is simply ridiculous: either £6.5k for the M10-D, or £7.2k for the M10-R. I would like to use my M lenses on an M body: I can afford a new M body, no problem, but it is the comparative lack of value/worth that stops me. And add another £500 if you want Leitz Wetzlar on the top plate - to me, the final straw!

[JohnW]

Mike - small error.

"Nikon at the time was working out whether to go with the Zeiss Contax bayonet mount or the Leica M39 screw mount (it went with the latter)." They actually went with the Contax mount, not the Leica.

In the early 63, I bought a used SP with the 50/1.4 and instantly loved it. In 64 while I worked for the local Nikon distributor I came across a brand new 135mm in their warehouse and managed to buy it ... probably the most awkward and difficult lens to use on that camera.

If there's one camera I wish I had hung on to it's that lovely SP and those lenses.

[Sorry! Fixed now. And thanks. --Mike]

[V.I. Voltz]

>Nikon at the time was working out whether to go with the Zeiss Contax
>bayonet mount or the Leica M39 screw mount (it went with the latter).

They went with the former (Contax) mount, not the latter (Leica). There is even a huge body of technical literature on the small differences between the Contax and Nikon mounts.

Voltz

[hugh crawford]

Gee, it isn't even full-frame. It's 24 x 34.5 mm. 7 perf vs. standard 8 perf. Nikon thought that getting a 37th frame (Why does that ring a bell?)* would be a selling point for frugal photographers.

It's also funny that the Nikon L was auctioned with a Canon lens when at the time it was made Canons came with Nikon lenses. Nikon getting into the camera biz prompted Canon to get into the lens biz.

*actually it would be 41 not 37 frames, but I couldn't resist the inside joke.

[Michael Potter]

I didn't see the earlier version of this post regarding an old rumor about an Epson RD-2. But oh, how I wish that had happened! I was so looking forward to Epson releasing such a camera. Just like I have kept hoping/wishing Voigtlander would release a digital version of their Bessa R3/R4. *sigh*

[JL Williams]

For either of those two guys who were bidding, 397,900 euros probably represents about five seconds' worth of income — it's difficult for us lower orders to get our heads around just HOW impossibly rich the ultra-rich are nowadays. The “losing” bidder probably just decided at the last moment that he'd rather spend this week's pocket money on a new McLaren 675LT Spider (379,000 euros) plus a new outfit for his mistress...

[Carl Bohne]

How does this effect the value of the original Zice Icon Contact? I have one of these.