Experience & Review: Nikon L35AF

Right now, Shanghai has been treating us to some lovely weather, and we’re treating you wonderful people to another compact camera review. This time, the focus (pun intended) will be on the Nikon L35af. It might well be the size and shape of a VHS tape, but this beautiful 80’s box has one outstanding lens.

The Nikon L35af was Nikon’s first compact (feel free to roll your eyes here) camera with autofocus. It was released in 1983, a few years after the rest of it’s competitors had been cashing in on the compact, auto-focus market. It’s highly regarded, because it’s robust, ergonomically and aesthetically wonderful. The lens was an updated version of the sonnar designed by Koichi Wakamiya, and had a wonderful nickname, that I can’t pronounce correctly, the ‘Pikaichi’. I love what this lens can do, but don’t be expecting to go shooting like you’re at the range, because the auto-focus is slower than a Shanghai subway escalator. Another thing to take note of, is the fact the flash is an absolute Bazooka. It's not great. To sum it all up, the only thing I would trade this camera for is the ISO1000 model.

Much like our video with the XA, we hit Xing Guang, loaded up some C200, and went for a stroll in the drizzle to see what we could see.

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*China Camera Style is dedicated to giving an honest, open review of all the cameras that are currently sat on your eBay watch list, or in your Taobao cart right now. Each camera is loaded with a roll of Fujifilm c200, rain or shine. It is always shot in one day, by the same nerd. It’s taken to the same lab, scanned with the same scanner and posted onto the site, as is received (via. Email).