Nikon F5–7 Reasons you Want One in your Bag
Like your Nikon D810? Perhaps you have a bunch of quality lenses like the Nikon 14–24 f2.8, 24–70mm f2.8, 70–200mm f/2.8, and a couple of primes like the 50mm f1.4G and 85mm f1.4G for those bokeh-tastic portraits.
You may have left the world of film cameras behind a long time ago, but found yourself salivating at the price of film equipment recently? Have a look on eBay at the used prices of the Nikon F5
The F5 is a pro body, built like a tank which can shoot film at 8 FPS. Yes 8 frames per second. This camera is so fast it can be used to make motion pictures (see below).
The F5 It was released in 1996 and sold until 2004. Sure it may be a 20 year old camera, but I recently sent my F100 back to Nikon to have the autofocus recalibrated, and that’s a lot more than you’ll get out of Fujifilm, Contax, Pentax etc.
When brand new, the Nikon F5 chimed in at a heart stopping $3200, which is about the same price as a D810 nowadays. You can pick up a good clean example of a Nikon F5 for about 1/10th of the original price. It will also take all of the lenses which work on your FX DSLR, so you can get a roll or two of FujiPRO400H, set the F5’s excellent 8 segment 3D colour matrix metering to +2 stops exposure compensation, and shoot away knowing you’re going to get some special results. Weddings, portraits, pictures of the family the young ones and the dog. Those special moments that you want captured on the magic medium, get yourself a film camera and snap away.
The Nikon F5 (click here for Nikon Brochure) was camera of the year in 1997. It was such a prodigious performer that you could even use it to shoot sports with if you wanted to, load up a roll of Ilford HP5+, push it 2–3 and maybe even 4 stops and you’ve got yourself an 800, 1600, 3200 and 6400 speed film. If you want to shoot black and white, you are into the zone system, and you’ll need a spot meter (your camera’s meter will do) or you can use your Sekonic L758D’s spot meter, and a grey card.
Nail your metering by having your grey card in the same light as your subject prior to metering. Some people use their hand to meter, and adjust based upon how light their skin is. If you are caucasian, your skin might be Zone 6, or maybe even Zone 7 if you are really creamy. In which case you can meter off your hand and increase your exposure by one stop or two stops respectively (just as if you were metering a too bright scene like snow, you overexpose to stop the camera from taking into account the bright parts and underexposing the image).
Outstanding Things about the Nikon F5 are the headline figures:
- A professional body with typical handling of all Pro nikon Bodies. If you can drive a D800, D700, D4 the F5 will feel natural to you to shoot.
- Works perfect with all Nikon Lenses — All AF-D, AF-G, AF-I, AF-S and AF VR Nikkor lenses provide full AF and metering operation. Older non AI lenses mean the F5 loses its colour matrix metering capability, but Nikon can tweak the camera so that this works too. Newer lenses work great, and provide plenty sharp images on the negative or slide film of your choice. If you’re not sure, have a look at what’s available.
- Weather sealing and solid build quality. It’s a pro-grade body. The F5 feels tough, and it is tough. It’s not light, weighing in at twice the F100, but even though people criticise the F5, those who know still go out and buy it over cheaper alternatives. Jon Canlas recommends the F100 to new film shooters in his book Film Is Not Dead, and yet even he shoots two F5 bodies for his wedding receptions and details.
- Metering: the F5 sports the most sophisticated metering system on any film camera. It is an 8 Segment 3D colour metering scene. It’s not infallible, but it’s as good as your film camera metering is going to get, so as long as you understand the conditions under which in-camera metering falls down, youshould get a well metered good shot. The database has over 30,000 scenes of actual shooting data to evaluate colour, brightness, and overall composition.
- It’s the only purchase that you make that is likely to go up in price. Your digital gear goes out of date so fast, that your ‘investment’s’ value will drop like a stone. But they’re not making many film cameras anymore. Nikon will still fix it and carry spare parts, not bad for a 20 year old camera. Say what you like about Nikon, but they have been around for a while, and they will hopefully be around for a fair while longer.
- It has interchangeable viewfinders. Seriously. Check it out.
- Auto focus: 5-Area Cross Array Auto focus system for fluid composition, includes 3 Cross Type AF sensors. Focus Tracking with Lock On to 8 fps regardless of subject direction or movement.
Professional handling, solid build quality and professional results for the cost of an off camera flash? It’s hard to say no.
If you have a F5, or you’re interested in more detail about how they work, you can see the Nikon F5 User Manual Here
