My good experience with the Nikon L35 AF

[Ian Rance]

Hi,

 

My first post here on the Nikon forum - and not a question!

 

I thought I would share a positive experience with my Nikon - a L35 AF

compact. I have had several other branded compacts in the past and all have

been OK, but with the L35 I have been extremely pleased.

 

I am sure that I am preaching to the converted, but I cannot work out why this

camera is not more frequently mentioned in these forums. The build quality,

design and operation are in my opinion, pretty much as good as a compact

camera can get. Initially I noted that the camera is quite 'loud' with it's

operations, but the sound is smooth, not grating. After many rolls, it is

operating peas when I first acquired it - from a charity shop for ?1

(including case). It does look ?dated?, but the clean lines and uncluttered

controls look better than a lot of the bulky ?silver wonders? from the late

90?s. Another bonus is that it gets 39 shots from a 36 roll ? and leaves the

end of the leader sticking out when the film has rewound.

 

The picture quality is in my opinion, outstanding. I have seen plenty of

photos from my fathers Contax T2, but they still fall short of the L35. The

contrast, sharpness, colour and distortion are all in the top league - only a

little vignetting on blue skies is evident. The auto focus is the best I have

used - even SLR's struggle to do as well - and it beats the T2 hands down. The

filter thread is useful and with the metering cell near the lens I can hold a

polariser over the front and know I am getting correct exposure.

 

Last week I tried some of the latest compact cameras, and the slow lens, cheap

build along with a cheap mechanism meant they are not on my wish list.

 

I now have acquired a couple more L35's to ensure that I can enjoy using this

excellent camera well into the future (or until film becomes obsolete) and

both of these worked perfectly as well - most compacts from the 80's are well

and truly dead by now so Nikon must have pulled out all the stops with the

internal components.

 

I use an SLR as well, but I am leaving this at home more and more in favour of

the L35 as it has acquitted itself so well and the image quality knocks spots

of my expensive SLR zoom lens.

 

Here is a link to a couple of photos taken with my L35 (negatives scanned) and

I think they speak for themselves in terms of quality (forgiving scanner

limitations).

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/4517905

 

and

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/4517899

 

Anyone else get on really well with their L35?

 

Regards,

 

Ian

[michaelschrag]

FYI

 

In this digital age and for those of us (myself included) who have no idea about what Ian is talking about, see:

 

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/htmls/compact.htm

 

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/compact-images/L35AFcompact.jpg

[ramon_v__california_]

very nice camera. i have one that i take along on bike rides and beach walks. excellent indoor camera also. good move on buying a couple for reserve and maybe for parts.

[walterh]

Thanks for sharing Ian. Do you or someone else know if the underwater model from this series, the Nikon L35AW AF shares all positive aspects? I am looking for a cheap body to use in Fog- and Rainforests. Would this be a good choice? What is the macro capability, especially for the AW model? Can diopters be used? What is the principle of the AF measurment?

[Ian Rance]

Walter,

 

The AW AF version hs the same features as the L35, but includes manual focus as well (sounds useful).

 

the quality optics are the same BUT there is a protective glass in front of the lens that is not easily replaceable, so check it is unmarked and has no 'crud' behind it.

 

The focus goes down to 0.9 metres, and no dioptres are available - at least from Nikon. I am not 100% sure what focusing method is used, but it has an infa-red led to assist in low light (or even total darkness).

 

It would be an ideal camera to use in fog/wet as long as the seals are OK - remember, this camera is from 1986 - 20 years ago, and seals may be not 100% on heavily used examples.

 

Having said all that, prices for the AW AF are buoyant on eBay, so they must be in short supply.

 

Hope I have helped,

 

Ian

[photo5]

My sister used the Nikon L135AF, which was the cheaper f3.5 version of the f2.8 L35AF. She got it new in 1984 and used it until she lost it in Italy on a trip in 2003. She had it repaired about two or three times but it just took such incredible photos that she wanted it more than a new camera.

 

I bought a Nikon One Touch AF Macro in 1990 used and shot with it for a while. It had great macro focus! I could photograph down to one foot or less I remember. I later sold it to get a Yashica T4 with that famous Tessar T* lens which I loved.

 

Dave

[CharlesBecker-Toronto]

The L35AF is a great camera! I had one for 10 years or more (I think) and only got rid of it last year. It was so good in fact that I was able to shoot slide film with it and slide film, as you know, has a lot less exposure latitude than print film. I wanted to see if the camera was as good as I thought it was so I put a roll of Kodachrome in and tried it out-they were all properly exposed; I doubt there were many point and shoots you could do that with! regards, cb

[CharlesBecker-Toronto]

make that 20 years! cb

[www.antiquecameras.net]

I have both the <a href="http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/epic.htm">Olympus Stylus Epic</a>and the Nikon L35AF2 and while I agree they both have very good lenses, the Nikon has a flaw that cant be overcome...it has ( as far as I can tell ) three aperture settings....the first is wide open, the second: long triangle, the third a small turned square...the first two stops will ALWAYS cause vignetting in the extreme corners...nothin you can do about it...In very bright light, close up flash or using very high speed film - if the camera stops all the way down to its smallest aperture, there is no vignetting...but that wont happen in most cases<p>On the other hand, the Epic does not vignette at any stop....its a small, but annoying issue that make the nikon sit while I take the Epic everywhere....

[CharlesBecker-Toronto]

I can't comment on the L35AF2 as I didn't have one but I can tell you that I never had vignetting with the L35AF. I should have kept it as a souvenir but I got rid of all my film based equiment-silly me!

[www.antiquecameras.net]

Charles - the AF2 is just an updated version of the AF - but same lens. I can guarantee you have had vignetting on some shots...its not always noticeable.... if you take a continous toned object in lower light or with slow film....you'll see vignetting....this is a physical design issue of the aperture shape....Best, Dan

[CharlesBecker-Toronto]

Hi Dan-you might be right but I don't actually recall seeing any. I guess if it was there but not noticeable, I'll settle for that. regards! cb

[www.antiquecameras.net]

Charles and others - dont get me wrong, its a fine camera and I got mine off of ebay for $ 15....but it does vignette much of the time which *can* be a pain when its noticeable....however, take a look at the quality you can get...shot taken with Kodak 400UC film, and flash, outdoors on a gloomy day<p>

<CENTER><img src="http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/cb1.jpg"></CENTER>

[michaelging]

Dan, that is a very nice photo of the marionette, it looks so life like. :)

[praveen murthy]

I got an L35 AF QD back in 1983 when I was 14; the camera I had before that was a kodak 110 film-based model. My parents still have the L35 and use it too. The thing I found was that when some older cousins of mine got a Yashica SLR in 1987 or so, the L35 simply could not compare to the color, sharpness, and contrast of that SLR + whatever cheap 50mm Yashica lens they had on it.

 

The camera has worked reliably well for 23 years going now, but after 1987 I got permanent SLR envy and never looked back. I even have the tele and wide attachements to it, but those really suck. I always liked the fact that I could manually set the ASA on it; sometimes I would use 400 asa film and set the dial to 100 to force it to use longer exposures.

[dawid_burger1]

Hi

 

I recently bought a second hand Nikon L 35 AF but are somewhat perplexed with some of the functions - eg the flash pops up with a orange light at the back that comes on but the shutter doesn't want to fire ? Also, what is the button next to the lens for ? It sounds that you are quite familiar with the camera - i think an instruction manual would probably be the most helpful if anyone out there has one and would be kind enough to scan it, otherwise, any help would be appreciated a lot !

 

Cheers

Dawid

[mateusz_broughton]

<p><em>"The AW AF version hs the same features as the L35, but includes manual focus as well (sounds useful).</em><br /> <em>the quality optics are the same"</em><br /> <em><br /></em>Not true. Nikon L35AF uses the 35mm f/2.8 "Pikaichi" 5 elements in 3 groups lens and the L35AW aka Action Touch uses 35mm f/2.8 Tessar type lens, 4 elements in 3 groups.</p>