NikonAF600 (Lite Touch)
Wide-angle Compact
The story
The Nikon AF600 (Lite Touch) 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 wide-angle compact paired with a Nikon 28mm f/3.5. Some backstory: sold as Nikon Mini 28Ti / Lite Touch in different markets.
Specifications
- Format
- 35mm
- Year
- 1993
- Lens
- Nikon 28mm f/3.5
- Min. focus
- 0.35 m
- Flash
- Built-in
- Battery
- 1× CR123A
Notable features
- True 28mm wide lens
- Tiny pocketable body
- Panorama mode
Shooting it today
The Nikon 28mm f/3.5 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 0.35 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: extremely sharp little 28 — a modern cult favorite. Best for street, travel and group shots — 28mm is the reportage classic, close enough to feel in the scene without distortion.
Who it's for · Verdict
Quietly underrated, the Nikon AF600 (Lite Touch) is the kind of camera people brag about owning five years from now and ten times the price.
Fun facts
- §1Sold as Nikon Mini 28Ti / Lite Touch in different markets.
- §2Extremely sharp little 28 — a modern cult favorite.
Field note
A ferry, a rented scooter, an unfamiliar coastline, and the AF600 (Lite Touch) rattling in the bottom of my backpack. That 28mm view on the AF600 (Lite Touch) kept dragging in more than I meant to photograph — the street, the sky, the row it started. Focusing the AF600 (Lite Touch) down to 0.35 m, I filled the frame with a sleeping cat's whiskers — few compacts get that close. For something built in 1993, the AF600 (Lite Touch) asked for nothing and gave back a roll I'd shoot again tomorrow.
Creative field note — inspired by this camera's character, not based on real events.
Find one
Most copies turn up second-hand on eBay. We've linked a saved search so you can see current listings.
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