> Hi, I have three S2, two plain S2 and one S2b. The first S2 was bought new in 1994, it is a 18*** serial No. It cost me near 900 Euro. The second S2 and the S2b were bought in april and may, 2004, respectively as a backup for my S2 and for collecting and sentimental reasons. I have only seen two S2b for sale in Ebay in the two years. One that finished for 725 Euro, absolutely mint, with no use (according to the seller, but the flash plate spring was missing) -I have to say I lost that auction-, and another one, whoch fihished for 660 EURO, which was the one I won, boxed with documents, and is mint, too.
The plain S2 was bought for 560 Euros, was much perfect and in better sahpe in every way than my original S2, except for a very very little dent in the back door. That dent has been removed.
Both S2 haven't been used yet (all the punishment is being taken by the original). But are regularly fired once a month to keep them fit. The original S2 is in for a service (a spring in the wind lever broke) so my Aria now was called for service in place.
The S2 is a great camera but has some flaws, all of them purely cosmetic. -1st. The leatherette covering. made of very fragile vinyl which simply breaks away. Luckily there are suppliers over the net (as cameraleather.com) which do retrim kits. So if the leatherette is peeling, it may have had a hard life. -2nd. The wind lever delvelops a tiny amount of play, as the rewind one. Not very acceptable on a camera of this price tag and status (nikon's FM2 and FM3a don't have this play).
-The spot metering is realli "spot" only the circle in focusing screen. It takes a bit to get used to, but then you won't like anything else.
-It's a bit loud when the shutter is fired (but who cares?) But, the silky smooth shutter, the titanium finish, the mirror lock up facility when used with together with the self timer, the "feel" in your hands, and the overall reliability make of this a perfect camera.
Right now there's one in Ebay in very very good shape, leatherette original with no peeling, and with a "buy it now" for 550 Euro. That's a good bargain. Good luck and best regards, and note that S2b is as rare as hen's teeth (and getting rarer as Kyocera discontinued all camera production, son the mechanical cameras from Contax are going to appreciate in value even more as parts for the electronic models become scarce)
Robert
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