My Mysterious 35ti

[Creagerj]

Some of you may remember that I got an obscenely good deal on a 35ti a while back at a local Goodwill. Well, my relationship with the camera has been a bit of a love hate relationship. I love it when it works, and hate it when it mysteriously refuses to function.

It has a very odd quark where sometimes, and there is now telling when, the shutter just won't fire. The camera powers up fine, and even focuses fine. However, when I fully depress the shutter release, the shutter will make an odd clicking noise and won't fire. I can see it trying to fire, but it just seems to be hung up.

At first I figured it was a one time fluke, but it kept happening so I said screw it and left it on my shelf. Then GAS hit me. The truth is, I love point and shoots. No one gives a point and shoot a second thought. I feel pretty self conscious if I'm in a privately owned public place like a store or a mall and I want to snap a picture of something that amuses me if I'm carrying my M2 or DSLR.

I suddenly found myself lusting for a decent point and shoot that I could count on. Of course finding the 35ti was just luck. I couldn't really afford one if I bought it on ebay or KEH at the price they typically go for, nor could I afford a Contax T2, a Konica Hexar AF or a Yashica T4.

I thought maybe I might get a L35F (I might) since those seem to go for a reasonable price. Well, I got pretty into the idea of getting myself a shiny used P&S, but then I thought, why don't I try the 35ti one last time.

I pulled it from the shelf, and alas the shutter would not fire. Then I thought, what the heck, its obviously broken, why not see if a little tough love will help. So I gave the lens a hearty flick and Viola! The shutter works. So far flicking the lens seems to fix the issue.

I guess as long as a little tough love makes the 35ti work, I'm back to loving it. I wish I knew what caused the problem. Of course I wouldn't really be able to fix it, but it would be nice to know.

Maybe I'll look into getting an L35AF anyway, just in case I need a backup.

 

[NickTrop]

I agree about point-n-shoots. They're "more Barnack than Barnack" (but don't tell anyone around here...) I went on a bit of a binge lately. I also have 35Ti lust - such a cool camera. However, I simply don't want to spend what the typical asking price is for these and don't think it's necessary. There are plenty cheap-o's that are fine if you're okay without controls... and I am! There are lots of good ones out there. I don't have the One Touch Nikon you mentioned - but I looked at it. Canon has one that has a 1.9 lens. A couple weeks ago I got a Yashica T3. Got my first roll back this weekend. I got - I think, a great deal on it for $34. It is an awesome picture taker. There are a ton of great point and shooters... I got a Minolta Hi Matic AF2 on its way for like $5.00 plus ship, couldn't resist. Looks to have a nice Rokkor F2.8 lens 38mm lens... pics I've seen seem sharp with nice color rendition. What I like about these early autofocus ones is that they have a manual film advance. This is more discrete than a noisy motor winder on all later point and shoots... Plus, the motor is what always goes on these things... They should last a lot longer. Also nice and compact to carry around and you have control of the flash... Although it only meters to 400, I read the manual and it says you can use 1000 speed film, just set it to 400. Smart of Minolta - print film, a stop won't matter...

And I have an old Vivitar k-mount SLR that jams once a decade or so that is fixed with a nice "thwack"!

 

[rxmd]

Although it only meters to 400, I read the manual and it says you can use 1000 speed film, just set it to 400. Smart of Minolta - print film, a stop won't matter...

Very original. Not that it gets you anything over just using 400 speed film though

 

[Creagerj]

Very original. Not that it gets you anything over just using 400 speed film though

That's why I like the L35AF, you can trick the camera to EV comp because it has a knob to adjust form ISO50-1000. I also like that it has a threaded lens barrel.

The 35ti is great. Is it $500 great? That I'm not so sure of.

I wish there was a perfect point and shoot, but there isn't.

In a perfect world one could pick up an AF P&S that has:
-Manual film advance
-A lightweight anodized aluminum body
-An f/2 lens
-Manually adjustable shutter speeds (on a knob) from 8s to 1/2000
-Aperture priority
-An aperture ring on the lens
-A manually collapsible lens
-Manually set ISO
-A waistlevel finder (like the T4s)
-Finally and accessory shoe and PC socket

Basically everything that P&S designers tried to avoid.

 

[NickTrop]

That's why I like the L35AF, you can trick the camera to EV comp because it has a knob to adjust form ISO50-1000. I also like that it has a threaded lens barrel.

The 35ti is great. Is it $500 great? That I'm not so sure of.

I wish there was a perfect point and shoot, but there isn't.

In a perfect world one could pick up an AF P&S that has:
-Manual film advance
-A lightweight anodized aluminum body
-An f/2 lens
-Manually adjustable shutter speeds (on a knob) from 8s to 1/2000
-Aperture priority
-An aperture ring on the lens
-A manually collapsible lens
-Manually set ISO
-A waistlevel finder (like the T4s)
-Finally and accessory shoe and PC socket

Basically everything that P&S designers tried to avoid.

Nah - that's the beauty of a point and shoot. Point. Shoot. The camera gets it right 90% of the time. Sounds to me you're wanting an Oly XA. And I used to be in the "though shalt not own a camera or lens slower than f2.0..." camp. Truth be told, I was missing out on a lot of fine gear and a lot of the "fast" consumer-level stuff was too soft and too flare-prone wide-open. They give them to you - sure. But they're not working apertures. I don't think the lens design on a compact point and shoot could be made faster than 2.8, and you didn't see that speed very often in later point-n-shooter's. Oh - yeah, that's right, you did! On cameras like the Nikon 35Ti when manufacturers wised up and realized you could charge a premium for a 2.8 lens to "pros". And they were offering that speed on their down-market (though their list price was over $200 US back then... about the same cost of a higher end digital pns today...) stuff like the Hi Matics - giving it away.

Betchya if you sprung for $20 for a Konica 35 AF or the Hi Matic AF it would give you 90% of what you need.

 

[rxmd]

This looks like just another case for 90/10 solutions - getting 90% of what you think you need for 10% the price, and in the end you find that those 90% are actually more than sufficient.

 

[rxmd]

In a perfect world one could pick up an AF P&S that has:
-Manual film advance
-A lightweight anodized aluminum body
-An f/2 lens
-Manually adjustable shutter speeds (on a knob) from 8s to 1/2000
-Aperture priority
-An aperture ring on the lens
-A manually collapsible lens
-Manually set ISO
-A waistlevel finder (like the T4s)
-Finally and accessory shoe and PC socket

I find the beauty of point & shoots is in their simplicity. A Nikon L35AF, Canon AF35M, Yashica T4 on the cheaper side, or a Ricoh GR, Contax T3 on the more expensive side. You point it, you shoot it. That's it.

For the kind of high-end-featured, fast-lens, fine-grained-control camera that you seem to want you'd be more in the ballpark of a Contax G, it has much of what you want and you get interchangeable high-class lenses, too.

 

[Creagerj]

I find the beauty of point & shoots is in their simplicity. A Nikon L35AF, Canon AF35M, Yashica T4 on the cheaper side, or a Ricoh GR, Contax T3 on the more expensive side. You point it, you shoot it. That's it.

For the kind of high-end-featured, fast-lens, fine-grained-control camera that you seem to want you'd be more in the ballpark of a Contax G, it has much of what you want and you get interchangeable high-class lenses, too.

I don't really want it bad enough to spend the money on something like a G2 (although I would love to have a Konica Hexar AF). I've got an M2, and I think it is awesome. It is also very compact.

I guess the reason that I would like to see those features on an AF P&S is because those are all of the things I love about RFs and SLRs. I another other reason is having manual controls is because many automatic features seem pointless. What the heck is the point of automatic film advance on a P&S? It seems like it would be cheaper to omit that feature. The other thing I see as being unbelievably pointless is the auto expanding/collapsing lens. What inspired such an idea? Why would anyone need that? As for not having an accessory shoe, why omit something that opens the door for a healthy return on your investment from an accessory line?

Well like I said, those are just features my dream P&S would have.

 

[Guest]

The electronic shutter is broken, NIKON has no more spare's, same problem as mine has.
Next time get a Leica M series, they still have a service system in that company.