While I’ve been busy in the typosphere and socialising with fellow typospherians in the virtual world of the internet, I’ve recently come upon an opportune chance to purchase a Nikon F2 - and I managed to negotiate a good price for it. After looking at my previous entry posts, I realised I didn’t post anything about one of my Nikon cameras, the titanium-clad Nikon 35Ti. Hence, the opportune moment arises for me to actually review the photos that I had taken quite some time ago and had full intent to post… but eventually forgot to do. Let’s start with a few photos to get the ions working.
Now you’ve got to take a minute to admire the sheer craft and technical sophistication that is unsurprisingly of Nikon. First off, a round of applause is well-deserved. The Nikon 35Ti has mostly been sparred against the Contaxt T2/T3 as both have just the same number of advanced options available on a point-and-shoot camera. Now, I don’t have enough money to purchase a Contax T2 or T3 so I cannot allude to their performance. But I don’t doubt all the wonderful things I’ve heard about the Contax T series in general. I do own a Contax G1 rangefinder camera and it was my main go-to for a couple of years before I started to explore other cameras. Let’s go back to the Nikon 35Ti. While some people may not be the biggest fan of its boxy look, it is still a beautiful gem to behold. From the looks alone, you can tell the premium build that this camera has been given. It is solid and reassuring to hold. The leatherette covering makes it feel steady and safe to hold for those with sweaty palms. No more broken film cameras from a lack of a strong grip! I have only just run a couple of rolls on this camera, but I think I have enough experience with the Nikon 35Ti to give my initial thoughts on – the goods and the bads.
Without going too technical here, there’s a quite few neat and especially impressive features that makes this camera such a overachiever for all the good reasons. While not a fully fleshed-out one, this camera has Nikon’s 3D matrix metering system. What this means is that it measures exposure instead of light. The Nikon 35Ti also has one of the most insanely sharp lenses on a compact point-and-shoot camera. I don’t recall any of my photos being out-of-focus. In fact, the autofocus was spot-on every single time. The camera didn’t struggle with it. I believe you can shoot manual focus, but I don’t even think why I’d bother with manual focus when the autofocus works so well - too well! One of the most unique features that this camera has – and I think one of its strongest selling points but the usability of it is still questionable – is the beautiful analog display system at the top of the camera. It’s like looking at an Omega Seamaster dial that’s been slapped onto a Nikon camera. While some may think it’s not as practical because of the fact that you’d have to take yourself away from the viewfinder just to look at what the settings are, but I do like it for its functionality as an advanced compact camera. I think it would be handy for night photography and I’ve some beautiful shots taken with this camera. The analog display system shows you everything you need to know in a very clear and concise manner and I like it a lot.
My only gripe with this camera is the tiny button for a flash that I have to press and hold down every time I want to stop the flash from firing. There are instructions on how to disable the flash by inputting some sort of binary code but I don’t know if this resets every time I turn the camera off and on again. I have pretty small fingers but I find it quite cumbersome to have to hold down that iddy bitty button every single time. I normally don’t use flash in a lot of my photography so I’m not too pleased about this. Had they made a bigger button or made it a toggle on/off situation, it will tick the boxes of a lot more people. Another little thing which doesn’t really bother me but may bother others who like their quieter cameras is how the lens noisily extends and retracts via electric motors. It’s a tad bit clunky for such a small thing.
The Nikon 35Ti matrix metering system, crazily sharp lens, titanium build, and unique analog display system makes it one of the finest choices for an advanced/premium/top-quality/top-of-the-line/insanely-priced-but-for-good reason point-and-shoot camera. It’s an expensive camera and you will definitely be able to get cheaper alternatives that may not necessarily have all the whistles and bells like this one does but will still give you some damn good performances. It is sort of like a middle-man between a very basic point-and-shoot and a manual SLR camera. Whether you need that in-between option is entirely up you. It’s a fantastic camera and heads will be turning because of that beautiful analog display.
