A study of silver, chromium, stainless-steel, and indium thin films prepared by subnanosecond laser deposition in vacuum is reported. We compare the laser ablation in vacuum at the weak- and tight-focusing conditions of a Ti:sapphire laser beam and analyze the nanoparticles synthesized in the latter case using absorption spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Our results show that the nanoparticle formation can be accomplished using long laser pulses under tight-focusing conditions.