Nikon Camera Serial Numbers

Posted on 04-03-2021 by admin

Much more numerous, less expensive younger brother of the Nikon One and Nikon M

The second most numerous Nikon rangefinder with over 36,700 made, the S sells for a small fraction of the M, and a very small fraction indeed of the Nikon One -- making it the least expensive Nikon Rangefinder. It was Nikon's first big sales success, with over NINE times the sales of the earlier Nikon One and Nikon M combined. A big part of this was the marketing success of Joe Ehrenreich and his Ehrenreich Photo Optical Industries -- the American importer of Nikon. The S was the first Nikon to be officially imported into the US. Like the One and M before it, the S is built like a tank, in fact much heavier built than the S2, SP, S3, S4, S3M that followed.

Nikon S serial numbers range from 6094001 to 6129600. All four early Nikon cameras share the same layout and can easily be mistaken for each other at a quick glance. See separate profiles: Unsynced M, Synced M, S.
Camera, because of its durability and versatility. Serial numbers of the Nikon FM started at 2100001.
All cameras sold with this feature are considered a Nikon S by the factory, even if marked M. Despite its shortcomings, the Nikon S sold well, and became the first Nikon on the US market. By chance, a number of Nikon S cameras have one more serial number digit, known as the 8-digit Nikon S.

If you are Nikon user, there are at least two ways to check the serial number of your camera. First, you can figure it out by reading the metadata of the photos taken with the associated camera. Second, you can check the serial number of your Nikon camera via the SnapBridge app. How to check the serial number of a Nikon camera from metadata.

Today the S is noticeably the less expensive Nikon Rangefinder, due in part to its slow working knob wind and rewind. Before dismissing it, take a second look. There is something quite nice about the S's high level of metal craftsmanship, though the leather often wears easily. The finder may not be quite as nice as the S2 or SP, but it's better so far as I am concerned than the flare prone S3/S4 and quite comparable to its still popular competition, the screw mount Leica IIIf.

The secret to being very happy shooting your S is the Variframe 35-135 finder. Most of these finders, a half century after the fact, are missing the all important chain and metal cap. Many Nikon collectors have never paid much notice to those chains and caps, many have never seen them -- most chains have broke off and get themselves lost. So why am I making such a big deal about them ? Because that stupid metal cap contains a magnifier. It fits over the RF/VF, providing about a 2x magnification. The idea is use the high magnifier RF to focus, and to then use the auxiliary viewfinder to view. In practice it works quite well, though it take a bit of getting used to it. No other RF has used the idea since, 2001 might be a good year to revisit it. Nikon even made a separate magnifier attachment which fit into the shoe, allowing other viewfinders to benefit of this idea besides the 35-135 Variframe. Unfortunately, I don't think these wonderful gizmos were exported out of Japan.

Presumably the S stands for 'Synchronized' for flash--i.e.. flash bulbs. The S is pretty much the same as the M in form and function, which is described elsewhere on this site in detail. Serial numbers range from about 6094001 to 6129600. Production ran from 1951 to 1955.

Nikon F6 Camera Serial Numbers

A slow working camera with knob advance and rewind and a double lock detachable back, the S still has the advantage of a relatively bright rangefinder image. Compared to the earlier M, the S has smaller advance and rewind knobs, but a larger shutter guard. Strangely, both share the a non-standard 24x34mm format. To its credit, the S is noticeably better made than the earlier M or Nikon One. The S continued the Nikon tradition of having a serial number on the inside of the back, as well as on the top plate. Make sure they match up when you are buying one, as mis-matches reduce the value considerably.

Hello, everyone. I'm having a difficult time with verifying that my Nikon D4S is a USA model. I have the camera on eBay now (trying to upgrade to the D5) and a user questioned the region of my camera. I purchased the D4S from Amazon in February of 2014 and have the receipt to prove that. And on the Nikon box, my model number is listed as 'D4S(U)' which, based on my research, means it's a USA model. The serial number sticker on the box matches the one on the camera. Based on me living in Pennsylvania and purchasing it from Amazon.com in the USA, I know it's a USA region camera.

But in light of other grey market cameras out there, how is a person to know if it's a true USA model? This would be handy for my listing on eBay.

I did some additional research and found the Nikon 'code' for regions (2=Japan, 3=USA, etc.) but I also found that this code doesn't apply to Nikon's top end cameras like the D4S. My serial number starts with a 2.

I contacted Nikon and they are being ridiculous in my opinion. They said they have no way of verifying the serial number without a physical inspection of the camera. So they're basically asking me to pay to ship it to them (shipping plus insurance), pay for a 'repair', and then pay to ship it back. They keep stating that the tech would need to 'physically examine' the camera. I made it very clear that I didn't want any testing, cleaning, adjustments, etc. to the camera AT ALL. I would gladly pay say a $20 fee to verify this online or over the phone, but requiring me to physically send this in to repair is ridiculous!

Nikon Camera Serial Number Lookup

Any thoughts on how this can be done WITHOUT having to ship my camera somewhere?

Thank you!