Basic Operation

The Nikon Lite Touch AF (I’ll call it the AF 600 from now on, if you don’t mind) is, at first glance, similar to the Olympus Stylus Epic. They both have fast, non-zoom lenses, DX coding, active autofocus, and are about the same size. There are a couple of subtle differences.

• The Nikon shutter covers from 1/4 sec to 1/250th second. The Olympus covers an impressive 4 seconds to 1/1000th second, putting the Olympus on par with contemporary SLRs.
• The Nikon stops down to f/3.5, whereas the Olympus beats it by 2/3 stop, at f/2.8. That means the Olympus can gather 2/3s more light than the Nikon at their respective widest apertures.
• The Nikon wins at focal length – the Nikon has a wide 28mm lens, the Olympus comes in a bit shy at 35mm.

 

Auto Focus

The Nikon autofocus appears to be a single point active AF. To focus on a subject that’s off-center, you pick a spot and pre-focus, then re-compose the picture and shoot. An AF assist lamp lights to help in low light situations. There’s an infinity lock as well, for shooting distant subjects without waiting for auto-focus.

 

Features

The Nikon has a couple of interesting features. The self-timer has a 2-shot mode, with one shot at 10 seconds and another 10 seconds afterwards. Helpful if you want to get a second shot or not look out of breath from running into the shot. It also has a panorama mode, which I’m anxious to try out. I’ve tried panorama mode on cheap plastic cameras, want to try it with a “real” camera.

Viewfinder

The camera viewfinder has framelines for parallax adjustment and panoramic framelines.

 

Flash

As with many point & shoot cameras, once you turn it on the flash is in “Auto” mode and ready to be used if the meter warrants it. You can easily turn this off with the middle button on the top of the camera. The Nikon offers slow sync and red-eye reduction modes.

Macro mode?

The Nikon and the Olympus can focus as close as 14 inches. With the slightly longer lens of the Olympus, you might get a little more “reach” with a macro shot.

 

Nikon AF600 Specs

Production date	1993
Camera type	35mm autofocus lens-shutter camera
Picture format	Normal 24mm x 36mm, Panorama 13mm x 36mm
Lens type	Nikon 28mm f/3.5, 3 elements in 3groups
Lens cover	Opens/closes automatically with power button ON/OFF
Shutter	Programmed electronic shutter; also serves as diaphragm blades
Max aperture	f/3.5
Min aperture	f/16
Min shutter speed	1/4 sec.
Max shutter speed	1/25th sec.
Shooting distance	0.35m – infinity (1.1 feet – infinity)
Film speed	DX-coded film automatically set to ISO 100, 200, 400 or 1000
Focusing	Active autofocus system. Infinity Focus – locks focus at infinity
Auto focus lock	Yes.
Autofocus confirmation	Yes, red.
Hot shoe or pc sync	No.
Self timer	One or two self timer shots at 10 second intervals.
Viewfinder	Real-image viewfinder; 0.28X magnification; finder coverage (at 3m) approx. 82%
Viewfinder display	Normal/panorama format, frame lines.
LCD display	Flash, frame counter, low battery indicator, timer, infinity focus
Film loading	Auto
Auto rewind	Yes, with mid roll override.
Rewind time (24 exp)	n/a
Auto shut off	Yes. ~ 3 minutes
Metering system	?
Exposure compensation	No.
Built in flash	Yes, GN 7 (ISO 100 in meters). Auto-flash, red eye, slow sync
Flash recycle time	~ 3 seconds
Tripod socket	Yes
Ergonomics	Fair
Shutter lag	Fair
Battery	One 3V (CR123A)
Est. battery life	Approx 23 roll of 24 exp., 18 rolls of 36 exp.
Body construction	Plastic
Filter ring	No
Dimensions	(W) 108mm x (H) 62mm x (D) 32mm
Weight	155g

Nikon AF600 Manual