analog distance dial on the Nikon 35ti 28ti

[Evan Bedford]

After having read numerous threads and reviews, I'm still hazy on this thing. Does the needle settle on the distance immediately after you half press the shutter for AF? And does the needle stay there after you lift your finger? (with or without hitting the shutter and exposing a frame). It seems like that whole analog feature would be better if it was somehow visible from the viewfinder.

 

[Fixcinater]

I pulled my 35TI out to check this, and it shows the focus distance when half-pressed as it confirms focus and then resets after a few seconds, roughly 3.5sec. There's a bit of lag as it attains focus but it's not bad for a P&S.

EDIT: Yes, having some reflection of the dials on the analog display inside the VF would be ideal but in practice if you are using Av mode, you check your aperture while setting it and the VF displays your shutter speed so you know mostly what's going on. I've found the AF good enough to rely on without checking the distance dial except when dealing with very close up images so that's pretty rare for me and not much of a hassle to confirm it before taking the shot.

 

[Evan Bedford]

So its main function is so that the user can 1) half press shutter, 2) glance at dial to make sure that distance seems roughly correct, and then 3) re-focus on initial spot with some semblance of assurance that focus is accurate?

Edit: I see from another thread that the analog dial is helpful for zone focusing.

 

[Fixcinater]

Yes, what you said plus it looks cool. As many reviews state, it's a tad gimmicky. Also, just to clarify, you don't need to re-focus, you can hold it down half-pressed and maintain the focus and be ready to shoot if that's what you want to do.

The upside to the gimmicky display that is the only cameras that I have used that have drawn as much attention from non-photographers (in a good way) are TLRs or a 4x5 press camera.

I have a buddy who has a Contax T3, I prefer the overall layout of the Nikon or my Contax T2. The T2 can't be forced easily to using f/2.8 but it does have a neat manual focus method so it's a compromise any which way you go about it.