Nikon AF600

Featured image of the finished lens conversion

Lens Conversion – Nikon AF600 to LTM/L39 with a ‘Rod’s Gear’ Housing – By Andreas Mass

When I was looking for a potential lens or rather a nice broken camera to retrieve a good lens from I stumbled on some articles here covering the Nikon AF600 (also known as Lite Touch). In fact I reached out to Hamish after finishing this little project to thank him for the site and the articles that featured the camera. He then asked me if I would be interested in sharing this project on the site… so here we are.

5 Frames with a Nikon AF600 & Fuji C200 in Venezia and Burano (Italy) – By Gregoire MBV

That isn’t really what this article was supposed to be titled.  If things had gone differently it would have been “Last of the Kodachrome”.

My life with 35mm photography began in HS in the mid 80’s with a class taken the spring of my junior year.  My first camera, one I still own and shoot with is a Petri 2.8.  You can read about it here.  It was a 1960’s era hand me down and I shot exclusively with it for a year and a half.  During this time, I found room for a bathroom darkroom with a Beseler 35.

The next big gear acquisition was when I graduated from HS.  My family of aunts and uncles knew what I wanted and indeed had been helping me with my passion since I got started.  Everyone pooled their collective monetary congratulations and I was able to purchase my first 35mm SLR.

Nikon Lite*Touch AF600

5 Frames in the Pandemic Autumn with a Nikon Lite Touch AF600 – By Nick Sweeney

As the brief pandemic summer ended and plans to ease restrictions were put on hold, I masked up and headed to a small-town thrift store that rarely has cameras but when it does, they’re typically good ones.

Being able to look up model numbers on a phone after you find something on those chaotic shelves still feels like cheating, like sneaking to the loo during a pub quiz for a quick bit of research. Most of the time it confirms your intuition about name and build quality and how it fits into its period, especially if you spend a lot of time on this website. Not this one: the name checked out, the camera itself was in good condition, but it didn’t have the heft of its more desirable early-90s peers, let alone the previous generation where leading makers threw so much talent and innovation into compacts.

It was a Nikon AF600, known in the US as the Lite Touch AF 28mm 1:3.5 Macro. I’m sure a lot of work went into that catchy name. It was certainly light to the touch.

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