As surely as a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, Nikon's journey to become one of the premier camera manufacturers had to start with one camera.  Released in 1957 and widely regarded as the first professional camera produced by Nikon, the Nikon SP is a fantastic example of what technology and engineering the 1950s had to offer photographers. 

The list of firsts that accompanied the Nikon SP is long: it had a parallax corrected viewfinder and frame-lines for 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, and 135mm focal length lenses; there were non-corrected frame-lines for 28mm and 35mm focal length lenses; the Nikon SP was the first rangefinder camera with a single shutter speed dial for all fast and slow speeds; during its production run, the Nikon SP was built with a titanium shutter that resisted mildew and cracking.  It's safe to say, the Nikon SP was easily the most advanced rangefinder camera of its day.

Even with its technological advancements, the pricing was aimed more at the advanced amateur.  At roughly 75% of the price of Leica's flagship camera the M3, the Nikon SP presented itself as a realistic option for an aspiring photographer to get a top-quality rangefinder camera that used Nikkor's outstanding glass. 

While many of the features on the SP were groundbreaking and copied by other camera manufacturers, some were cumbersome and short-lived.  Easily the most frustrating part of the Nikon SP is changing film.  Whereas the Leicas required sliding the film leader into a small gap and onto the take-up spool, the entire back of the Nikon SP slid off to reveal the interior of the camera.  Even as it made loading film easier, getting the film caught up on the pressure plate or even dropping the camera back entirely was always a worry.

In 1959, Nikon produced its first Single Lens Reflex camera, the Nikon F.  As its base, Nikon used much of the technology of the Nikon SP and even a casual look at the top plates of the cameras shows the similarities.  Despite the entry of the Nikon F, the SP stayed in production until 1962.  Any question of how much "coolness" factor is contained in the SP is answered by a look at the cover of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisted."  Featured behind Bob Dylan is Dylan's friend Bob Neuwirth holding a Nikon SP.

Ultimately, a little more than 22,000 SPs were produced in its three year run, but the little rangefinder was reborn in 2005 when Nikon manufactured 2,500 Nikon SP cameras in a special run.  The demand was so high that a lottery was created to prevent a run on the camera stores.  It seems that many decades after its first steps, Nikon's journey had somehow been brought back to the beginning.

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