Maybe only a P&S, but Nikon question

[murrayatuptown]

Hello:

I found a Nikon RD (1987) at a thrift shop & ran a roll thru it intending to give it to my 11 year old kid.

I am unable to tell with confidence if it is fixed focus or auto-focus, or whether it has variable shutter speed/iris. I imagine it can't run wide open all the time, so perhaps BOTH are auto. Description on front says 35 mm f/3.5.

Looks like Nikon re-used the model name now for a digital one, making it harder to search for info on the old one.

Thanks

Murray

[Brian Sweeney]

Does it have red glass over some of the windows near the viewfinder? Nikon typically covered its AF sensor. I will check my big book of Nikon tonight. I suspect it is AF with the F3.5 lens. Nikon made some "Focus-Free" models, but I think they were shorter focal length lenses.

[pshinkaw]

Several models of the RD fiom camera are described here:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/

click on the "compacts" button.

-Paul

[VinceC]

The three RD models shown on the MIR site do all appear to have autofocus, to include a close focus of two to three feet, depending on model. A nonfocus 35mm f/3.5 lens would have a really crummy ability to focus closer than say eight feet. That's why disposables are typically f/11 or so.

You might want to run a test roll to make sure it focuses and to see just how close it will go (my experience with young folks handling cameras in the digital age is that they're ready to push the camera right up to less than a foot from the subject, clearly outside the abilties of a basic film point-and-shoot.

[murrayatuptown]

Thanks all.

1) There is a lined white grid over one thing/sensor and the other might be red (I'm not there right now). I suspected the white thing might have been a diffuser over a photodiode.

2) I was pretty surprised how well things came out. The only thing blurry was a handheld self-portrait I don't even remember taking. I take some pretty poor pics, so th efact that I was impressed with the first roll was a good sign.

3) Yeah, I've been warning my daughter for years to back off from her subjects. She cut someone's head off with an SLR (in the photo!). Maybe the friend wouldn't sit still...or she gets it from Grandma, who can't take a photo WITHOUT a head and arm cut off.

Thanks for the link & replies.

Murray

Thanks for the link.