*** SOLD ***
Nikon S4 s/n 6501161
Nikkor-P.C 105mm/2.5 s/n 812840
Many long time Nikon collectors have never seen an S4, much less owned it. The S4 is one of the hardest to find Nikon Rangefinders -- it was never officially exported out of Japan. Being so hard to find, it is one of the "key" Nikon RF in terms of collectibility.
The S4 is actually the S3 with a few features removed for cost cutting in order to lower the Nikon entry threshold level for budget minded Japanese photogs. Interesting, the S4 body casting and shutter mechanism are identical to the SP and S3. If you had the know how and the right parts, you could actually sit down with an SP, a S3, and an S4, and turn all of them into a different model! The fastest way to tell a S4 from an S3 is the lack of a self timer.
The last known number reported to the Nikon Historical Society is 6505928. Note the 65xxxxx serial block. About 5900 cameras were produced, apparently all in chrome.
Specifically, the S4 has the same body casting and as the SP and S3, but without the S3's self timer, 35 mm frameline, without the motor lug for the motor drive (although the lug could be added), and with a manually set film counter instead of an automatic film exposure counter. The S4 finder itself is the same as the S3, with the 50 and 105 framelines, but without the 35 frame on the outer edges. Neither cameras had parallax correction for the framelines. The S4 was produced only with cloth shutter curtains. I have never seen titanium curtains in an S4, though SP Titanium curtains could be installed by a repairman. The SP/S3 exposure meter will also fit the S4.
The camera had a short production run from 1958 to 1960 which makes it quite rare compared to the other Nikon rangefinders.
