Nikon 28Ti

image by Dries van den Elzen (Image rights)

The Nikon 28Ti was released in 1994. The name refers to the 28mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens and the titanium camera body. Its most distinguishing feature is the analog display on top. Four needle-style dials indicate focusing distance, aperture, frame number and exposure correction.

Origins

The 28Ti had been preceded by the 1993 35Ti. Both are 135 film autofocus cameras with wide angle prime lenses. Nikon aimed at producing a easy to transport premium offering with a single focal length for photography enthusiasts. In 1998, however, due to poor sales, Nikon decided to discontinue both cameras.

The Analog Display

image by Dries van den Elzen (Image rights)

This watch-like display enables the user to operate the camera from the waist. It clearly displays the focusing distance and aperture. Two smaller dials show exposure compensation (plus or minus two stops) and the number of shots taken. The latter dial doubles as a self-timer.

Lens and shutter

The Nikon 28Ti has a 28mm Nikkor lens. Earlier Nikon compacts had had Nikon-branded lenses to indicate their lesser status. All seven elements (in five groups) of the Nikkor are coated using Nikon's Integrated Coating and ED (extra low dispersion) glass. Less-appreciated is the fact that these lenses are also prime lenses not compromised by a retrofocus design.

This results in a superior lens with high contrast, very good optical corrections, and a lens fundamentally similar in quality to a Contax or Leica rangefinder lens of that era.

The shutter and aperture control are placed between the lenses. The shutter is a seven element blade shutter giving an almost circular aperture. The speeds range from 2s to 1/500s. The shutter speeds cannot be selected manually, but chosen by one of the auto-exposure modes. This selected speed is visible in the viewfinder.

Viewfinder information

The viewfinder shows the autofocus dot in the center and three sets of parallax correction lines. In the infinity focus mode, the entire frame is used, the other framelines are for medium range (.4 to 1.2m), close (.4 to 10.5m) and panoramic. The bottom of the viewfinder shows the shutter speed, exposure compensation and a flash indicator.