Nikon 28Ti Point and Shoot Film Camera Review

Nikon 28Ti Point and Shoot Film Camera Review

2200 1238 James Tocchio

The Nikon 28Ti isn’t the best point and shoot film camera that I’ve ever used. But it might be the most enticing. It’s got a wide and fast lens. It’s made out of titanium. It’s got a panorama switch, exposure compensation, and just enough user controls to be interesting. To the delight of many, it has a set of analog dials on top that were designed by Seiko, the famed Japanese watch-makers. Finally (and this last point will be important for Nikon fans), it’s the only premium point and shoot with a wide angle lens that has the name Nikon stamped onto it.

All of these uncommon features and upscale buzzwords noted, there exist a few other premium point and shoot cameras that I’d choose to use over the 28Ti. The Ricoh GR1 series offers everything that this Nikon does, but it’s significantly smaller. The same can be said about the Minolta TC-1. The Fuji Natura Black F1.9 has a significantly faster and slightly wider lens. Most surprisingly, each of these apparently better cameras costs less than the Nikon does today!

That’s not to say that the Nikon isn’t a great choice for the point and shoot enthusiast that’s looking for a fast, wide, premium compact camera. It’s a fantastic photographic tool and I adored using it during a recent family vacation. It’s a dream camera for many film photographers, and rightfully so. But in the end, it’s not my first choice.

Specifications of the Nikon 28Ti

  • Camera Type : Premium point and shoot for 35mm film
  • Image Area : Full frame 24 x 36mm in normal mode; 13 x 36mm in panorama mode
  • Lens : Nikon Nikkor 28mm F/2.8 made of 7 elements in 5 groups
  • Shutter : Programmed electronic shutter with available aperture-priority semi-automatic mode; speeds from 1/500th of a second to 2 seconds; long exposure mode up to 10 minutes
  • ISO Range : DX-code reader for ISO 25 to ISO 5000 films set automatically; non DX-coded films automatically set to ISO 100
  • Auto Exposure Range : EV2 to EV17 at ISO 100
  • Exposure Compensation : + or – 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
  • Flash : Built-in flash, automatic for low light and backlit scenes; Anytime Flash and Flash Cancel modes available; Red Eye Reduction mode available
  • Viewfinder : Illuminated optical viewfinder with 0.35x magnification; coverage 82%
  • Viewfinder Information Display : Shutter speed (or aperture dependent on mode), flash ready light, exposure compensation active indicator, image area frame lines, parallax compensation frame lines, autofocus spot
  • Analogue Needle Display : Shows focus distance for each shot, aperture, frame counter, film rewind, self-timer and exposure compensation data, and counts seconds for long exposure times
  • Top LCD Display : Shows imprint data, frame counter, and battery status
  • Focusing Tech : Autofocus; Infinity focus preset mode; Focus lock. Minimum focus distance 0.4 meters (1.3 feet)
  • Additional Features : Automatic lens cover; self-timer; illuminated viewfinder in low light; illuminated analogue needle display; data imprint functionality
  • Battery : 3V lithium battery (DL123A or CR123A type)
  • Dimensions : 119 x 66 x 36mm
  • Weight : 310 grams (without battery)

Feel and Finish

I don’t buy a vintage camera unless I can convince myself that I’m buying it on the day that it shipped from the factory. The Nikon 28Ti had been on my film camera bucket list for seven years before I finally bought one, and when I did, I made no deviation from my habit. I made sure to buy one in like-new condition, barely used, with its original box, packaging, paperwork, etcetera. In instances such as this, in which the camera that I’m buying is decades old, finding one in the required condition can be a challenge. But I overcame the challenge. Doing so was easy. All it took was opening my wallet rather wider than I’m accustomed.

As I awaited arrival of my like-new, (nearly) thirty-year-old premium point and shoot Nikon, I considered my expectations. I expected that the 28Ti would be finely crafted and precise. The mechanisms would whirr and hiss and snap with electro-mechanical surety. For the price that I paid, the fit and finish would be top shelf. And when it arrived these expectations were mostly satisfied.

I say mostly satisfied because while the Nikon 28Ti is indeed a premium point and shoot camera, let’s face it, it’s a point and shoot camera.

From the day that they were conceived, premium point and shoot cameras were hyped and marketed as more than they really were by teams of smarties working in the highfalutin-est camera companies of Europe and Japan. The Contax T series, the Leica Minilux and its predecessor, the Leica CM, Minolta’s TC-1 are all examples; camera companies learned quickly that if they pulled their standard point and shoot camera tech out of its plastic shell and stuffed the same into a titanium one, that people would pay a lot more money than they would on, say, the average Canon Sure Shot. But all of these premium point and shoots truthfully aren’t as special as they’d have had us think, and they’re not really very premium, either. Not really.

By this I mean that there’s simply no comparison between what I consider to be an actual premium camera (something like a new Leica M or a Nikon SP or a Hasselblad or Rolleiflex) and a ‘premium’ point and shoot. I’ve owned and used (without hyperbole) every premium point and shoot that a person can own and shoot, and not one of these was as awe-inspiring as the zeitgeist asserts.

The body panels don’t line up perfectly. The film doors feel flimsy, or the battery covers do. The screws that hold things in place are usually proud of the body, rather than being flush or recessed. The viewfinders are weak. The knobs are connected internally via plastic, creating wiggle in their actuation. Under that titanium shell, all of these premium point and shoot cameras are simply point and shoot cameras with fancy clothes and improved lenses (and only some of them have improved lenses).

People on the internet mostly talk or write about premium point and shoot cameras in histrionic exclamations or hushed reverence. They’re titanium wonder-boxes with other-worldly lenses that will change your photography and your life. But they won’t. What they will do is cost you a month or more of disposable income and give similar photos to a $100 Pentax IQ Zoom.

Now that I’ve removed our collective rose-tinted glasses, dropped them onto the ground, steam-rolled them, gathered the dust into a vacuum sealed canister and launched that canister out of our atmosphere, through space, and into the fusion reactions occurring at the core of our Sun, let’s talk about the Nikon 28Ti directly.

It’s pretty nice. The brick-like little device is as solid as any other premium point and shoot. The paint (this model only appears in black painted titanium) has a gorgeous satin sheen which is perfect for my taste. The Leather (is it leatherette?) grip material is beautifully textured, and while it doesn’t fit perfectly against the elevated edging which surrounds it, it looks good. The lens looks gorgeous and the automatic lens cover flicks open with wonderful rapidity. The Nikon logo is nice. I like Nikon. The analogue gauges… I’ll get to them.

But the various body panels don’t fit flawlessly against one another. There are little edges here or there which are proud from their mating edges. The On/Off switch doesn’t click solidly like a metal mechanical switch would, which leads me to believe that the innards are plastic. The same can be said about the control dial, which feels wiggly and light. The film door, true to form, worries me; it flips open loosely and doesn’t feel very solid. The battery cover seals well, but it feels too similar to the many plastic point and shoot battery covers that I’ve used and which have inevitably become stripped in time.

Don’t be scandalized by my scrutiny of the Nikon. All of these complaints are coming from the brain of a microscopically observant camera freak, and they can be equally leveled against any premium point and shoot film camera. Other camera-likers don’t tend to say these things, possibly because they don’t want to admit to themselves that they spent $1,200 on a point and shoot? But I don’t mind. As far as point and shoots go, this one is as nice as it gets. Just don’t expect it (or any premium point and shoot) to feel like a Leica M.

The Nikon 28Ti in the Real (and Disney) World

When testing cameras, it’s important to push them to their limits. We’re looking for weaknesses which are often exposed by stress; challenging environments, difficult lighting, pressure and fatigue. All the better if the photographer doing the testing happens also to be suffering. In my experience, there’s no better place to test a camera than Walt Disney World. Which is where I used the Nikon 28Ti over the course of four days and nights.

Practical use of the 28Ti will be familiar to anyone who has used a point and shoot film camera. We load the film, turn it on, point, and shoot. Where the 28Ti differentiates itself from a lot of other cheaper point and shoots, is in the amount of creative control that it gives. This most obviously presents through the camera’s aperture priority methodology. By setting the mode dial to A, we can now adjust our aperture via the control wheel. Open the aperture for lower light shooting or to create subject isolation, or close the aperture to increase depth of field. This happens to be my preferred shooting mode in any camera, point and shoot or otherwise, and it works as effectively on the 28Ti as it does elsewhere. Just don’t expect bokeh, even wide open.

We also have access to an exposure compensation mode. This adjustment isn’t as effortless as the aperture adjustment, as it requires us to press the exposure compensation dial on the top of the camera, but it works well enough, especially in instances where we may want to over- or under-expose and entire roll of film (say, in the name of push/pull processing or when we’re shooting expired film and want to over-expose).

In addition to these options to adjust our exposure, we have access to focus and flash adjustment.

The AF button on the top of the camera allows us to set our focus mode. We can leave the camera in auto-focus mode, which most of us will do, or we can lock the focus to infinity (useful for landscape or touristy shots). We can also use manual focus. When in this mode, scrolling the wheel will adjust our focus from infinity to minimum focus distance. The set focus distance is then displayed on one of the two larger analogue gauge needles on the top of the camera. This is useful for scale focusing, or to minimize time needed to take a shot in situations such as street photography, or in instances in which the AF system might struggle, such as low light photography or when shooting through highly reflective surfaces. On paper, great stuff. In actual use? Eh. I used manual focus once or twice. The rest of the time it’s auto-focus for me.

The flash adjustment is located on the front of the camera, and pleasantly, it is a hard switch. This means that the camera will not reset its flash mode every time that the camera’s turned off and then on, a common annoyance with point and shoots. Set the switch to Flash Off, and it’ll stay off. From there we can set the flash to automatic, or to red-eye reduction mode. These work as expected. People who dislike the aesthetic of direct point and shoot flash will find no comfort here. Of course, this also means that people who love the look of a 1990s direct-flash portrait will enjoy the Nikon.

The analogue gauges on the top of the camera are neat looking. If you enjoy mechanical watches you’ll likely enjoy that they were designed by Seiko, and that the needles click mechanically between increments. They display critical information that “lesser” point and shoots display with uncivilized LCDs and lights. How many shots we’ve taken, our set aperture and focus distance, whether or not we’re using exposure compensation, and the time we’ve been exposing long exposures; all of that (and a little more) is shown in glorious needle displays.

But they’re not that great. They’re kind of hard to decipher for the first few days, and never really become first nature. They do the job, but they’re needlessly complicated and possibly a liability. Who, I ask, can possibly fix these when they break?

The viewfinder is fine. Nothing special. Small, but it illuminates in low light and there’s enough information displayed to be useful at the decisive moment.

Shooting the Nikon 28Ti as its designers likely intended, as a point and shoot, there’s virtually no effort involved. If we believe all of those premium point and shoot marketers from thirty years ago (and the YouTubers and bloggers of today), this zero effort experience will give us shots that rival any of those made by the Canon EOS1v and an L lens (or a Fuji X Pro 3 in film simulation mode).

With the Nikon 28Ti and its Nikon Nikkor 28mm F/2.8 fast prime lens, the claim is generally true if we’re working within the camera’s capabilities. The Nikkor is a great lens, and combined with the Nikon’s capable metering system and relatively well-specced shutter, it makes images that are punchy and sharp and beautiful. In generally easy shooting scenarios (bright, soft light with the right film loaded), the camera is an excellent one.

But this premium point and shoot also struggles, and it does so in all of the same scenarios in which far less expensive point and shoot cameras also struggle. When the light gets low, it has a hard time making sharp, well-exposed photos. It fails to freeze fast-moving subjects. The auto-focus system is pretty basic. The lens vignettes. The flash is direct and lacks subtlety, and it’s sensitive to proper subject distance.

Final Thoughts

Despite the camera’s available aperture-priority mode, its exposure compensation adjustment, its user-selectable flash modes, and its analogue gauges, the Nikon 28Ti didn’t blow my mind. Its wide angle lens is somewhat uncommon in the class, and yes, it’s as premium as a point and shoot camera gets. But it’s still just a point and shoot.

At the end of the day, the 28Ti didn’t give me anything that a Nikon AF600 or a Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 70W couldn’t at a quarter the price (that last one, by the way, is a total sleeper right now). Stretch the budget a bit more, to around $600, and we could have the Ricoh GR1 or Fuji Natura Black, which are actually my favorite wide angle prime lens point and shoots. That’s a lot less than the 28Ti costs.

Don’t mistake my realism for negativism. I’m not claiming that the Nikon 28Ti isn’t a great camera. It really is very good, and luxurious, and fancy, and beautiful and quirky. It’s just not earth-shaking, and buying one takes a lot of money. And sadly, nothing that I experienced while using it convinced me that the 28Ti is worth more the many less expensive point and shoots that I’ve mentioned a few times now. Which is too bad. Because I’m a Nikon collector, and I really wanted to keep this one.

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James Tocchio

James Tocchio is a writer and photographer, and the founder of Casual Photophile. He’s spent years researching, collecting, and shooting classic and collectible cameras. In addition to his work here, he’s also the founder of the online camera shop Fstopcameras.com.

All stories by:James Tocchio
12 comments
  • James,
    Thank you for being real with this one. These cameras are easy to hype but you’re right, they are fancy PnS cameras with a titanium outfit. I was really interested in the 28ti both for the wide lens and black body vs the 35ti’s champagne color. Eventually got the 35ti based on budget – it’s a lot less and according to Ken Rockwell, a much sharper lens than the 28mm. I too wanted to love it – that swiss watch instrument panel, the star wars looking red backlit frame lines in the finder when it’s too dark, and of course an incredible matrix metering system. But, similar to the brick like form of the Rollei 35, the corners just never felt great in hand – and I dreaded the day it got bumped too hard or some other event lead one of the complications of the camera to fail. That said, it exposed slide film perfectly, had every feature I will ever need on a film camera, and one of the best lenses I’ve ever passed light through. If I had an unlimited camera budget, I would have the 35ti AND the 28ti in my collection and shoot them until they became parts cameras. Great article and beautiful shots sir!

  • What I see in your photographs, or at least I see this too in my film photographs, is that memories are more vivid or solid, maybe because in the end is just light hitting a plane of film, the advanced technology inside has more a purpose of exposure; or maybe the small camera allows to be more playful and natural. SLR’s are without doubt more useful, faster and easier to set than film point and shoots, but still is nice to get the developed photographs and see that they are less forgettable than with the cellphone, and indeed some look like coming from the big SLRs. The light leaks, the sharper look, the sometimes focus that jumped from the person to the landscape in the background, all that is a bit like part of what the 90’s was.

  • This is one camera I have and I keep.
    Your is in better shape than mine 😉
    I wanted to buy a great 28mm for my Leica M system, mainly the M3, I dont use the others Leica M now. I should have an external finder, but this is not a problem. I can’t get better on 28mm than my Nikon 28TI.
    In fact, there are many Youtube reviews about his camera, and most of them are more positive. Like me, they say : when this camera is well used, this is a gem. And this is the point for this point and shoot. The philosophy of Nikon that time, great serious Japanese brand with real work and RD costs, was to provide a small top camera for people who are pro or who love photography, reason why they gave a great NIKKOR lens which is difficult to beat in the 28mm world, with a matrix metering, program, normal, AF, but possibility to adjust a lot of thing by ourself.
    So, like every camera there are lower points. But the best points when we know how to use them, permit to have great images. So how to do :
    1. Full battery, or 50 % all the time,
    2. Good films : Ektar, ProImage, Cinestill, Ektachrome, Portra, JCH StreetPan, TriX, Tmax, Fugo JCH, …
    3. This is not the fastest PS, we must understand that, I know that, I accept that, so with my Nikon 28TI I dont ask it to react fast,
    4. Focus well, or pre-focus for street photography at 5 meter for aperture enter 5.6 and 8, where the lens is the best, and press the shooter quietly in auto.
    5. Keep the camera strongly and dont move, wait enter each image.
    6. Sometimes use a tripod and timer for landscape or architecture.

    Now, Leica M3, Leica M6, Leica M7 which is the best with a 50mm or with a 50 mm?
    Some will say the M7 because we can go faster. Yess, but when it works ! I dont use my M7 anymore because when there is an electronic leak, you miss your image. Why Leica stop to produce it ? Despite so great !!!
    M6, yes this a great camera ! But I miss pictures because I focus on metering.
    M3 you why it is very good : film is better flat and plan in the M3. So, with same lens, on a tripod, same film, images from M3 are better … why ? Better made !!! But slower camera for sure.
    The Nikon 28 TI is this kind of beast.
    The lens is exceptional when the camera is set very well. If not, exactly it will not be better than a 20 $ camera, but if it is, it will be really awesome.
    So for me, not only a beautiful camera with analog pins, but an incredibly well made camera, one more time Ken Rockwell gives best advices. Certainly the 35 TI is a little bit better, but not so far.
    Your images by the way are very great like every time.

  • Merlin Marquardt June 29, 2022 at 8:58 am

    Great revelations.

  • An other revelation :
    By the way, se speak about the great Ken Rockwell that I quote from his website today “Updated: LEICA M6 & M6 TTL Review.

    The only big change is the price. Back when I first suggested the M6 TTL as a great way to get into LEICA photography in 2009 it sold used for about $1,000. Today it sells for $3,000 used.

    Laugh all you want, but as we know, LEICA prices only go UP, so if you had gotten some back then, you would have had great cameras and tripled your money even if all you did was leave it sitting in your safe deposit box for the past 13 years. Better than real estate, there are no property taxes, utility bills, homeowner’s associations or any of that.” (https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/00-new-today.htm)
    You will never get that from made in China …
    By the way, look at the price of a Nikon 28 TI, good well made camera are really valuable. But here we have for taking pictures.

  • Point and shoots are great fun! Perfect for when you wanna shoot film but don’t want to get caught up in the act of it. I love my lil point and shoot for parties or hanging out with friends. It’s also something I spent $20 on and not a dollar more.

    I’m not saying no one should ever spend good money on a point and shoot but for me personally considering the availability and cost of repair, the actual results these cameras are able to deliver, and the sort of settings I’m likely to use a point and shoot in it just doesn’t make sense for me to spend north of $100 for one.

    They’re fun and convenient, but they put a real emphasis on the transitory nature of goods and I’d rather put the money toward film or another lens for my FM3A.

  • The Nikon 28Ti is also the Hasselblad Xpan of poor, because it has a panoramic mode (not a real one, but it is like one), without the stratospheric prices of the Hasselblad Xpan 😉

  • The camera does look nice but I’ll stick to my Nikon L35AF. For the 28Ti’s price you’d think they’d put in stepless AF like in their Tele-Touch (L35TWAF), instead of the 541 step AF that it has. Also it should be corrected that it’s the only P&S Nikon that has Nikkor stamped on it. All their lesser P&S Nikons have the Nikon name stamped on their lenses.

  • Samsung made a digital “homage” to the Nikon ti called the “NV9”, complete with the two analogue dials on the top!

    The Samsung is equally pretty, is tiny and very pocketable, and given the rapid “obsolescence” of digicams, makes a great thrift store find!

  • Man, I love my 28ti. quirky? Maybe. But it also has some handling features that I’ve never seen in other P&S cams. The program shift feature alone is the brilliant – allowing for quick adjustments to the exposure program that the camera selects using the aperture dial. I use this feature quite a bit when the camera selects a slower shutter speed (which is does often) but I need something faster to stop a bit of action.

    Took this cam as my only 35mm format camera on a euro vacation and it was nearly flawless – so many print worthy images.

  • Well, the Nikon 28Ti might not be the camera that changes your life, but it sure looks stylish while taking your money! It’s like the Lamborghini of point and shoots, but just remember, it won’t turn your snapshots into works of art. So, if you’re looking for a fancy titanium paperweight, this one’s for you!

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James Tocchio

James Tocchio is a writer and photographer, and the founder of Casual Photophile. He’s spent years researching, collecting, and shooting classic and collectible cameras. In addition to his work here, he’s also the founder of the online camera shop Fstopcameras.com.

All stories by:James Tocchio