My dad is a Nikon shooter. The first “proper” camera I ever used was his Nikon D3100 in 2011. I had no idea what I was doing and left the camera on auto. What I do remember from that time so long ago is that the images that came out of that DSLR were very nice to my very new, very untrained eye. I remember him telling me something along the lines of “its one of the better cameras for the price point”. I don’t know how true that is or was for that time. But what I do know is true is that me running around our property with that hunk of plastic and glass is what started my photography journey all those years ago.
Fast forward to 2016, I’m a second year freshman in college and I picked up a photojournalism class for an elective. I didn’t have a camera at the time and everyone else either had a Cannon or a Nikon of their own. I was one of the very few that did not have a camera. So again, I was handed a Nikon from the school’s collection. This would be the second Nikon I’ve ever used.
This is just a VERY long way to say, I don’t know shit about Nikons. I am an Olympus and Sony shooter these days. But what I do know is that this bricked shaped hunk of plastic known as the Nikon L35AF2 is quite honestly one of the best film point and shoots I have used. This is the camera I grab when I actually do not want to use my brain and the most I do is give a half assed try at composition. It is also the 3rd Nikon I have ever used and the first I have ever owned.
This is a camera?
I managed to find this camera local to me within a lot of others that did not sell during an estate sale. With the transaction of $75 I got a Rollie Super8, Kodak Retina Automatic IIa and this L35AF2. The Rollie does not work as one of the springs for the batteries broke off and I sold off the Kodak a few months after. I had been looking at picking up a point and shoot for a few months at this point and after looking at the Mjus, Big Minis and the likes on eBay I wanted to try my luck on Facebook Marketplace.
So now we’re here. We have a black brick. And I LOVE it. As the model name hints to. This is the second rendition of the legendary L35 line from 1983. Not a whole lot changed between the first generation Pikaichi and this one. The lens is still f2.8 35mm, my preferred focal length, consisting of 4 elements in 3 groups. Nikon ditched the 46mm filter threads in favor of push on filters and DX code reading rather than setting the ISO manually. If you want to run filters, there are plenty of 3D print files for this camera that allow for that. As well as the infamous battery door fix. More on that later.
Nikon put the light meter directly below the glass element on the Nikon L35AF2, so that means if you do decide to put a filter on, it will, in theory, expose correctly. The flash will pop up if it detects that there isn’t enough light but you can manually over ride it by pushing it back down if you don’t want it. The auto focus is handled by a half press of the shutter button and a needle moves between 0.7m to infinity for focus range. The viewfinder does have the standard person, 2 people, group of people and mountains to give you a general idea of where it has landed for focus, they also included parallax correction!
My Nikon L35AF2 is branded as ‘One Touch’ and it is not joking. There are NO controls on this camera. You turn it on by opening the lens cover with a switch on the bottom of the lens and turn it off the same way. There is a self timer lever on the front and that’s it. ISO is set from the DX code from 50 to 1600. Non DX coded cans are set to ISO 100. No exposure comp, no back light comp, nothing. What you see is what you get and what you get is fantastic.
The Nikon L35AF2 lens is sharp, performing well in almost every condition I have put this thing through. When I said I turned my brain off with this thing I meant it. I have sent over 20 rolls of Ultramax and a handful of Gold through this little Nikon and aside from missing focus on the rare occasion, the camera does all the work. The most I do is find what I want to snap and away I go. My only gripe with this camera is the damn battery door.
Now about that battery door. Nikon made the base plate out of plastic, that’s fine, but the strip of plastic between the battery door and the edge of the camera is very thin and has a tendency to crack and break from the door itself being another piece of plastic. With the pressure of two AA batteries pushing against it and the age of the camera, finding one without this problem is very rare. Thankfully, the film community and by extension, the 3D printing community have created a solution. It’s more elegant than taping the door shut. If you have been wondering what that hunk of plastic slipped over the entire side of the camera is, it’s the fix for the battery door.
Ok, Cool, But what is it like to use?
I’m glad you asked! The Nikon L35AF2 a delight! Although it is not nearly as small as my Minox I wrote about, I can comfortably throw this thing in my cross body bag and not notice it. Weighing in at only 320 grams without batteries, its light for its size. There is a sizable grip on the right hand side and a set of strap loops. I opted to use a Wiimote wrist strap for mine just for extra insurance. Film loading and advancement is fully automatic. Just pull the leader to the right, close the door, “take” a picture and it advances the take up spool 3 times and your counter is set to 1 and you are ready to go.
The cool thing about the automatic film advance is that Nikon put a window with an indication to show you the take up spool is actually moving so you know for sure. It’s not a quiet camera, it is from 1985 after all, you will know when the picture is taken and when the advance has moved. Rewinding it can take a moment and the cacophony of sound it makes while doing it is something.
I did bring it along with me to Seattle as a partner to my Minox. I used 3 rolls of Gold and one of Ultramax. It has produced some of my favorite images and I dread the day the 80s era electronics bite the dust. Around Seattle it was quick to deploy and grabbed a lot of the candids. One day it did rain, so I took it out and shot around the property of our AirBnB and actually put thought into what I was taking pictures of. They came out very moody and are some of my favorite shots. As a travel camera it’s wonderful to have in a bag. In my Minox review I said the Minox is one of my favorite cameras, this is another one. I tend to lean more toward the Nikon if I am bringing a point and shoot because it just works.
Cost
Now the elephant in the room. If you go on eBay and look for any of the L35AF cameras you will find they are going for around $150-$300 depending on condition and where they are coming from. These cameras have gained a cult following much like the Olympus Mjus, Canon Auto Boys, Konica Big Mini, and others from around this era. It’s up to you on if spending that kind of money on a camera from the 80s or 90s is worth it. Like many of the cameras we love, they are getting old and are bound to die at some point. You can find good deals on these things though. You just have to be patient. I was fortunate to have paid $75 for a fully working excellent condition example (battery door issue notwithstanding) and I believe I have gotten $75 dollars worth out of it. But at the end of the day, we are left with permanent memories in the form of a roll of negatives and scans that we can look back on whenever we want, and to me, that far out weighs the cost of any camera.
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