Nikon L35AF Camera

Product Information

Let’s jump right in – the lens isn’t that prone to flare I’ve found, still I use a (cheap & cheerful) screw-in hood most of the time – because it just looks cool and also protects the lens – I like to avoid UV filters if possible. The L35AF was Nikon's first compact camera with autofocus. It was released in 1983, a few years after Nikon's competitors had opened up the point and shoot market. It was therefore also the first in the L series. It was an immediate hit thanks to its robust design and excellent specifications. It has subsequently become a cult classic among collectors.

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In this review, I’ll outline all of its key features/quirks and share a few tips on how to take better photos with this camera. If you find these on the used market in faulty condition most of the time it’s that switch. It just isn’t made as sturdy as it should be. I should point out that although it was released in my lifetime, the Nikon L35af hit the market in 1983, which was actually the year I was born, so funnily enough I don’t remember how the market felt about the camera compared to its rivals in the same way as I remember the digital D3. Reading bits here and there online about the Nikon L35af though, whats clear is that when Nikon launched the it, they took similarly high levels of pride in it, to the extent in fact that they called it ‘Pikaichi’, which apparently means ‘top notch’. I have no idea if this is right, I don’t speak Japanese, but handling and using this ‘Pikaichi’ camera I can tell that one thing is true, Nikon put a lot of effort into making this camera something a little more than its competitors.

Bas, you are correct that they moved to a tessar, but like Ed I understood there was a run of L35AF2s with the Sonnar. I might go and do some refreshed detective work and look at clarifying in the article. That said, I hate the shutter button of the L35AF, as I find it too “mushy”. My favorite shutter button of all compacts I tried during the years, as of now, is the one of the original Olympus XA. It was a real hair-trigger! Really useful for catching the right moment.

Nikon L35AF - a mini review - by Giacomo Zema - 35mmc

I have to change batteries a lot though – because I’m stupid, and forget to turn off the camera, but also the Pikaichi has got a rather strong motor to advance the film. It does has a fair amount of 80’s charm to the design. though. It is perhaps a little more conservative than the Ricoh ff90 for example – though I guess it wasn’t until the post transformers late 80’s that industrial design got quite as hard and as angular. Of course, like many 80’s cameras it has the standard flash of red that made everything in the 1980’s look cool. I personally really like the way it looks, to me, perhaps because of when I was born, this camera is what I think cameras should look like – a little like the Ford Escort mkiii looks like what cars should look like to me. Handling I wasn’t even looking for one of these (honest) when I came across it, randomly scrolling fb marketplace I bought a bunch of untested/sold as seen cameras on a whim and lurking at the bottom of the pile was this Nikon L35AF – to the untrained eye I guess it looked like one of those throw away consumer holiday cameras that are ten a penny, but I knew better!

In terms of the upgrades, it now supported DX encoding, which meant that the film speed did not have to be manually set. The range of film speeds increased to as high as ISO 1600 compared to 400 or 1000 in the original model. Loading film was easier as you no longer had to thread the leader into the takeup spool. Simply load the cassette and pull the leader to a line indicated in the film compartment, close the door, and the camera does the rest. The body had a slightly larger hand grip on the photographer’s right side and the body was covered with a grippier rubberized material making it easier to use one handed. Finally, there was an integrated lens cap that would protect the lens when the camera was not in use.

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James Tocchio of Casual Photophile has written a very enjoyable review in Nikon L35AF – Japan’s Pikaichi Point and Shoot. The L35AF was Nikon's first compact camera with autofocus. It was released in 1983, a few years after Nikon's competitors had opened up the point and shoot market. It was therefore also the first in the L series. It was an immediate hit thanks to its robust design and excellent specification. It has subsequently become a cult classic among collectors. Compared to the Nikon, the Canon’s viewfinder is just awful. With Nikon’s point-and-shoot, the focus indicator intelligently actuates with a half-press of the shutter release button. In this way it’s possible for the photographer to see if the camera’s focused where it’s supposed to be focused before committing to the shot. With Canon’s camera, the focus indication happens on full shutter release, after the photograph has been taken. That’s just silly.

Another pleasing feature of the lens is the position of the light meter. The camera will accept a filter, and since the light meter sensor is inside the area covered by the meter, any filters added to the camera will have the relevant affect on the meter.

Nikon L35AF - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

To change the ISO there is a small ring around the lens which you have to rotate, you will see the ISO number change in a small window as you rotate it, some L35AFs go to 400 and some go to 1000, the 1000 ISO camera is slightly more desirable. To load the Nikon L35AF with film

With the Nikon L35af, the attraction seems a little less obvious to me. Yes it is a camera with a wonderfully simple level of function that does indeed make you wonder what else you co I love the way it looks — it’s extremely functional, and no one will mistake it for a modern retro-chic digital camera. This thing is clearly analog. That initial impression is enhanced with a giant red stripe down the front of the camera. I mentioned earlier that this was the third fully automatic point and shoot camera I owned. One of those other two cameras, the Canon AF35M from 1979 was one of it’s direct competitors. To be completely fair though, the AF35M pictured to the left is 8 years older than the Nikon. A more fair comparison would be between either a later variant of the Canon and the original Nikon L35AF from 1983. Since I don’t have those two exact models to compare, I’ll just say that despite their age gap, the two cameras still share a lot in common. Much like the later AF3 functions are somewhat limited. There is a grand total of 5 controllable features on this camera, but just like when using the AF3, sometimes it makes you wonder just what else you could possibly need from a point & shoot. The shutter