E2 Owners of the World - Unite!

Discuss Nikon E2, E3 (incl. Fujix DS-505, 515 and 56x models), the original Nikon D1 and other discontinued Nikon DSLRs. Ask questions, post general comments, anecdotes, reviews and user tips.
Stan Disbrow
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E2 Owners of the World - Unite!

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

E2? What's an E2? One of the droids in Episode-III? Hmmm. I think it's the enemy droid that R2D2 cuts a hole in to spill all the lube oil! :)

But, no. It is, of course, the ancient Nikon *full-frame* DSLR that predated the D1 (sorry, I just had to point out that full-frame part).

Well, actually, Nikon had a prototype of the E2 at the 1994 Photokina, as I recall (wetware warning 'on' here) that was labelled 'D1'. I have a photo of the thing in one of my Nikon System guidebooks.

What I think happened, is that these things were originally labelled 'D' for Digital, and wound up renamed 'E' for Electronic about the time of the second development pass.

Hence, the 'D1' at the show was really the 'E1' which was improved to make the 'E2' as it was originally produced and later updated to the 'E2N' and 'E3' before being phased out.

Later on, as the camera we all know and love as the 'D1' was being developed, they decided to revert back to the 'D' for Digital moniker and call the thing the D1 as opposed to the logical progression of 'E4'.

Since the E series had the ROS, and the D series did not, that makes a lot of marketing sense to this development engineer. I can easily see why Nikon marketing would not want to saddle the D1 with the heritage of the E2/E3 and start from scratch with a new model number scheme.

I actually still make use of my E2. My wife runs a screenprinting business (you know, T-shirts, hats, tote bags, banners, signs and the like). I use the E2 for product shots for our website. It's perfect for this, since the aspect ratio matches most computer displays (at this point. I know that they are slowly changing from 4:3 to 16:9) and the resolution is good for the super-sized 'radio button'. :)

I use it with very old Non-AI primes, the E series being the only elctronically controlled body that allows this. It has no mechanincal coupling for the lens at all. Heck, it even skips using the aperture blades altogehter. It holds the main lens aperture wide open and sets the shooting aperture via another iris inside the body, which is located with the ROS optics. So, one can even use those old lenses that have sticky aperture blades - it matters not! :)

I bought the E2 back in December 1999. It was my very first digital camera of any sort. I had both an FE and an FA film body along with a bag full of AI'd, AI and AIS lenses. What I wanted was a digital version of the FA - not that I got it, mind you! The E2 is h-u-g-e compared to an FA!

I also quickly discovered that my usual ISO 200 135 film was equal to more like 10 MP than 1 MP worth of digital imager resolution. So, the E2 became what I like to refer to as an 'educational device'. :P

In other words I soon figured out that I would have been much better off to skip the used stuff on eBay and go out and pay that $5k US for a D1. This is exactly what I did in April of 2000, just five months after shelling out $750 for the E2. Fortunately, I figured out that I could leave the E2 over at the screenprinting shop as a dedicated website shot unit, so the money I spent on it was not wasted. :)
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E2N

Post by NikonWeb »

The E2N was my first 'vintage DSLR', bought on eBay for $380, including a working battery, charger, card reader, AC adapter, 40MB PCMCIA memory card, SCSI cable, a SB-27 flash and manuals. All in mint condition. Considering everything I think it was a great buy!

A very cool camera, even if it's practically useless for any serious work :)

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NIKON E Series collecting

Post by NIKON KIU »

I think the E series will become a collectors item of great value one day!
Think about it,twenty years from now,these vintage digital SLR's will be the forrunner of anything digital,and twenty years from now everything that has to do with imaging will be digital.
On the other hand I see the kodak digital backs on F3's,F4's,F5's,N series cameras and even the pronea 6i,but to me all those are mainly digital backs and are not real digital cameras!!!
You can not take the back off a E2 and put film in it.
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Re: NIKON E Series collecting

Post by NikonWeb »

NIKON KIU wrote:On the other hand I see the kodak digital backs on F3's,F4's,F5's,N series cameras and even the pronea 6i,but to me all those are mainly digital backs and are not real digital cameras!!!
You can not take the back off a E2 and put film in it.
Good point - never thought of that. The E-cameras are 'more digital' than the early Kodak DCS models (using unmodified film bodies).

That being said, I'd love to see a 3-6 megapixel digital back for my Nikon F4 (not everybody likes it, but I think the F4 is one of the greatest cameras ever made). Many people were expecting to see 'digital film' in the mid/late 1990's, but it never happened. I guess the early DCS cameras were the closest thing.

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Post by Brian Sweeney »

I suppose that you guys are going to try to convince me that Nikon did not come out with the MF-20 as a Film back for the DCS200!

What I find amazing about the DCS series is how well the digital back integrates with the camera body. All important information regarding exposure, ISO settings, and status are passed through the data-back contacts. Camera and Back "know" about each other. And these days, many people are buying the DCS420 to use the N90s that comes with it. It can often be bought for less than the price of the N90s alone, and requires an MF25 for film and a battery pack.

I will probably be looking for a Nikon E series, blaming you guys. The optics are interesting and as pointed out, it uses my Non-AI lenses.

I suspect that these cameras will make an interesting footnote in history. In 20 years, I suspect most will not operate. That is the way of old electronics. They are already in the "service discontinued" category, so we are on our own to keep them operating. Battery packs do not bother me, open up an old one and put in AA Nimh cells. The DCS200 uses rechargeable AA batteries in a pack, unlike the DCS4xx series which uses a non-removable pack. The E series looks like 6 AA cells in an enclosed pack.

But when the CCD arrays or other electronics fail, it will be a scavenger hunt. I like the idea of using them now, while they work and introduce new users into DSLR's while they are cheap.
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Post by NikonWeb »

Brian Sweeney wrote:What I find amazing about the DCS series is how well the digital back integrates with the camera body.
The reason is that all the data is made available for Nikon's own 'data back'. Wish I could replace the MF-23 'Multi-Control' back on my F4 with a digital one. If Kodak could make such a back for various Nikon bodies, why couldn't Nikon do it themselves? (The reason, obviously, is that they'd rather sell new digital bodies, but I'll keep dreaming..)

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Post by NikonWeb »

Brian Sweeney wrote:I will probably be looking for a Nikon E series, blaming you guys. The optics are interesting and as pointed out, it uses my Non-AI lenses.
Just do it! :D

If you haven't already seen it, I've written a 'review' (kind of) at http://www.nikonweb.com/e2n/

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow »

Brian Sweeney wrote:In 20 years, I suspect most will not operate. That is the way of old electronics.
Actually, I think that there is a very good chance that the electronics in these things will work for a very long time. Once you get past the early era of transistors, things have a tendency to work for far longer than one would want it to.

One reason, of course, is heat. The early bipolar transistors made quite a bit of heat and the heating/cooling cycles tended to crack the gold bonding wires (what connects the silicon itself to the leads on the package). When that happened, one needed a new part.

Another reason is voltage. Early transistors used higher voltages, and there is a factor where various insulators break down and cause problems. This is usually in capacitors, but also can affect other components.

Well, by the time 1980 rolled around, things used a fairly low voltage and didn't produce much in the way of heat. So, these things tend to keep on working. I have many such things, like Atari 800, Apple-II, IBM PC's, and the like that continue to operate every time I plug them in and switch on.

I suspect that these old DSLRs will be the same. The one area that will need working on is the battery pack. The cells can't survive for long, such is the chemical nature of the fool things. Heck, both the packs for my E2 are gone at this point. I use mine on the battery eliminator and charger/adapter (which I unplug when I'm not actively using the camera).

Personally, I rather expect my E2 to still be working 20 years from now. Mainly because I don't use it that much. I'd be more concerned about the mechanical parts, but those should also survive given the low usage rate.

Later!

Stan
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NIKON E2

Post by Guest »

The more I think about it the more I see the E's as collectibles!
Its like a digital Nikon I :roll:
odd frame size(pc card),very low production,...
I am gonna buy everone I can find cheap :twisted:
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Re: NIKON E2

Post by NikonWeb »

Anonymous wrote:I am gonna buy everone I can find cheap
Oh, no!

I should have kept quiet for a few more years :D

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Brian Sweeney
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Post by Brian Sweeney »

Not sure about it being a Nikon I, but I am going after one just the same.

I am a hopeless Nikon Fanatic, and the E3 has interesting optics.

A few months ago I walked into a Nikon M unsync at a local antique store, priced as a Nikon S. I can live with that being as close to a Nikon I as I will get!

I should add that my Xerox 820-II that I bought in 1980 still works, but my Zenith 386/16 blew an MFM controller and wiped out my Hard Drives. I have one DCS200ci that is a hopeless wreck with a bad main board.
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Post by Brian Sweeney »

Okay, I bit. Went for an E3 with the faster optics. I figure it will be the wide-angle camera with a 28mm F2. I am very impressionable. But I AM NOT going to collect every varient, so you guys can blast away at EBay now(Thankyou Kiu for the cease-fire)! I will be writing my Raw convertors and taking pictures. I still can't believe that Kodak cropped the image from 1536x1024 Usable pixels to 1524x1012... Maybe this E3 has more pixels in it...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7517585696

I should just add... It has less pixels than my even older DCS200, does not do infrared, has less dynamic range than my $75 DCS420 with 12-bit a/d's, BUT it does say NIKON and it has the Little Red Stripe!!!
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Congratulations!

Post by NikonWeb »

Brian Sweeney wrote:Okay, I bit. Went for an E3 with the faster optics.
Congratulations Brian!

So that was you? I was very tempted to bid myself, but shipping to Norway would have been $160 (I checked) plus an additional 25% value added tax (yes, even for used equipment). I decided to save the money this time (after all, I just got my DS-565 a couple of days ago). It's nice to know you got it :D

(I instead bought a $14.99 320 MB ATA flash card for my DCS 420 and future Kodaks)

Enjoy!

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Post by NIKON KIU »

I am very impressionable. But I AM NOT going to collect every varient, so you guys can blast away at EBay now(Thankyou Kiu for the cease-fire)!


Hi Brian,
I am happy for you,you got a great deal!! and the instruction book!!
you will be awed when that beast arrives and you hold it in your hands.
It's one of those few cameras that has a special characterIMHO.
Kiu
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Nikon E series

Post by NIKON KIU »

After all, it inspired the webmaster to start this forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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