A Legend In Our Own Time!
Written: Jan 12 '05 (Updated Jan 14 '05)
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Pros: Speed, custom features, OUTSTANDING metering! Incredibly versatile!
Cons: Weight, initial cost to purchase.
The Bottom Line: When you want the best from your film SLR, the Nikon F5 is the closest thing to perfection available!
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| colonialpara's Full Review: Nikon F5 35mm Film Camera |
The already legendary Nikon F5, the film SLR flagship is a 35 mm film camera without peer. Designed by Nikon engineers to be the standard bearer for the company before digital SLRs became so advanced and prolific, this 35 mm masterpiece is now just a single part of the total Nikon imaging family.
For a discussion on Nikon's corporate philosophy and its methodology for its total family of imaging products, read Howard Creech's exceptional review of this same camera here at epinions.
SOME BRIEF HISTORY:
The F5 is only Nikon's second professional autofocus camera body (the first being the F4 and its various derivations). While Nikon is known as an evolutionary rather than a "revolutionary" camera/lens manufacturer, the company's engineers built on lessons learned with the F4, improved what needed improving and then, in what many would consider unusual for them, stepped up to the plate and added many new state of the art technologies and capabilities that professionals and advanced enthusiasts would need, want and find incredibly useful.
The Nikon F5, announced in June 1996, ended the eight year reign at the top of the company line for the F4 and the new camera was an instant success. Smaller in overall size than its predecessor, it is still a massive body and without lenses or batteries, the camera weighs in at 47 ounces.
NOTE: In October 2004, this magnificently versatile camera was superceded by the newly introduced F6.
FEATURES OF NOTE:
Perhaps the two most significant developments that set the F5 apart from the F4 are the speed of its autofocus (much faster than the F4) and its incredible 1005 pixel red/green/blue metering system. The Nikon F5 is the first SLR from any company to be able to read the "color" of a scene and meter accordingly, allowing for incredibly exposure accuracy. The red, green, blue pixel sensors actually read and measure those colors. While most meters previously only measured brightness, the F5 was the first SLR to measure colors as well and at the same time. Because this metering was so accurate and acclaimed, Nikon carried it over and uses it in the company's higher end digital (read pro) SLRs, too. The metering system is carried over in the F6, the D1X, the D2H and the about-to-be introduced D2X. It has also been incorporated into the entry level dSLR, the D70.
The Center Weighted metering systems can be manually modified by the user as well. With this feature, the user can vary the size of the metered area, selecting 8 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm or 20 mm. The 12 mm circle is Nikon's factory default setting.
In the camera's viewfinder, the auto-focus sensors (5 of them)also function as spot meters when selected by the user. This applies to single shots as well as when employed as part of Dynamic AF function, where the user can pre-select a sensor to capture the subject as it enters the viewfinder and while it moves across it.
Higher end Nikon cameras all include three metering systems and the F5 is no different. These systems include spot, center-weighted and 3D matrix metering. The last system is magnified to an almost unchallengeable degree of accuracy by the aforementioned 1005 pixel RGB sensors.
As HOWARD CREECH mentions in his exemplary review of this camera, the F5 is the only pro-level SLR with changeable viewfinders. This means one does not have to settle for a normal finder; one can purchase additional finders for waist level shots, 90 degree copy work as well as a large variety of focusing screens for use inside the finder.
At its introduction, the F5 was the fastest film SLR on the planet with a max firing rate of 8 fps. Although the Canon EOS-1V HS (for high speed, claimed 10 fps, that was ONLY possible AFTER buying and adding the 'optional' battery pack/high speed motor drive). The Nikon body achieved 8 fps using the motor drive included within the camera body.
The F5 also contains a self-diagnosing shutter correction system. Guaranteed for at least 150,000 shutter cycles, should the shutter start to vary from its specifications while in operation, the camera's on-board computer will make necessary corrections to insure the correct shutter speed/aperture ratio for the shot.
LENS COMPATIBILITY:
Like all Nikon AF film bodies, the F5 benefited from its ability to use virtually every lens introduced by the company since 1959. Because it is an AF body, certain metering functions may be lost with older AI and AIS lenses, but the owner of such lenses can still focus manually and obtain meter readings using a hand-held spot or incident meter to determine correct exposure values.
With the introduction of 'digital only lenses' using DX nomenclatures, developed for use with Nikon digital bodies with smaller sized CCD sensors, Nikon warns against using them on film bodies. The reason, not readily apparent, becomes obvious once you receive your prints or slides. Using DX lenses with the F5, F100, N80, N75, N65 and other film bodies will result in severe vignetting on the developed print or slide. While the lenses 'technically work on film bodies,' the tell-tale results will either ruin your photos or, provide them with some 'interesting' framing.
My recommendations concerning the above: stick with lenses designed for FILM camera bodies.
To be sure, this is a fairly large, but equally capable camera body. First released in the mid-1990s, it held its place for eight years as the best film SLR currently available. Nikon surprised everyone by releasing its successor, the even more capable F6 in October 2004. In an era when digital seems to have all but supplanted film, the F5 and F6 are still premier film cameras for users of the 35 mm format.
The F5 new is still approximately $1,800 and many pristine examples are available sightly used at eBay. This is NOT a camera for the average "snap shooter." This is a camera for the pro (many of whom have migrated to hi-end digital Nikon SLRs) or the enthusiast who knows exactly what he/she needs to achieve their vision for imaging.
I get to use this camera quite frequently, even though I don't own one. I have access to one through the Air National Guard and use it frequently to photographically document the events of my unit. It is a camera built for use and abuse and it has never failed me. It is a workhorse, but an incredibly viable one, even as digital continues to grow in effectiveness and in the number of folks who use it.
As I write this (1/12/05), I have no idea if Nikon has already ceased production of the F5. Their current full-line products catalog still shows the F5 in their product offerings and it appears immediately after the entry for the new flagship, the F6. Stores like B&H Video and Photo in NYC still have new ones for sale. I have seen quite a few pristine examples for sale at Ebay. The prices for these mostly private sale cameras have proven to be quite reasonable, most well below $1,000.
If you can get a slightly used one, that may have been a pro's back-up F5 body and the price is right, BUY IT! These are technical marvels that produce incredible images.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2,000
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
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colonialpara
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