NikonTW Zoom

The Nikon TW Zoom is a product of the peak of bubble-economy Japanese design, when every brand had a flagship compact and the engineering budgets to match — a autofocus compact paired with a Nikon 35–70mm f/3.5–6.7. Some backstory: sold as the Zoom-Touch 400 in North America.

Format

35mm

Year

1988

Lens

Nikon 35–70mm f/3.5–6.7

Min. focus

0.8 m

Flash

Built-in auto

Battery

2× CR123A

The Nikon 35–70mm f/3.5–6.7 covers wide-to-short-tele in one barrel — one lens, no decisions, point and shoot. 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 0.8 m, close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. Something that catches new owners off guard: one of Nikon's earliest dual-focal 'Tele/Wide' compacts before true zoom point-and-shoots took over. Built for family events, holidays and anything where you'd rather reframe than walk.

Quietly underrated, the Nikon TW Zoom is the kind of camera people brag about owning five years from now and ten times the price.

• §1Sold as the Zoom-Touch 400 in North America.
• §2One of Nikon's earliest dual-focal 'Tele/Wide' compacts before true zoom point-and-shoots took over.