Nikon28Ti

The Nikon 28Ti is a product of a period when Contax, Nikon and Minolta were trading punches over who could put the best fixed lens in the smallest body — a premium compact paired with a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8. Some backstory: has four tiny analog needles on the top plate — pure watchmaker poetry.

Format

35mm

Year

1994

Lens

Nikkor 28mm f/2.8

Min. focus

0.4 m

Flash

Built-in

Battery

1× CR123A

The Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 is the everyday-light specialist — not a low-light hero, but contrasty, sharp and honest at every aperture. Film supply is a non-issue: any 35mm cassette from any lab works. A single CR123A lithium cell powers everything including the motor; still cheap and stocked at most camera shops. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 0.4 m — unusually close for a compact of this era and a genuine advantage over rivals that stop at 0.7 m or 1 m. You can fill the frame with a coffee cup, a flower, or a face without stepping back. Something that catches new owners off guard: Nikon's answer to the Contax T2; the 28mm cousin to the rarer 35Ti. Best for street, travel and group shots — 28mm is the reportage classic, close enough to feel in the scene without distortion.

Quietly underrated, the Nikon 28Ti is the kind of camera people brag about owning five years from now and ten times the price. File away for later: made in limited numbers; finding a clean one is a small miracle.

• §1Has four tiny analog needles on the top plate — pure watchmaker poetry.
• §2Nikon's answer to the Contax T2; the 28mm cousin to the rarer 35Ti.
• §3Made in limited numbers; finding a clean one is a small miracle.