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This review will be also be a comparison of the F5 against the F100, F4 and the F6, I still own and use all of these. Googling around will give you LOTS of good in-detail reviews. —SPEED— F5 is still the fastest film body to me: it feels kind of brutal the way it handles screw driven AF lenses; I can almost feel the camera momentum twitching as it spins and stops the AF motor! The F6 is much more smooth. The F4 is slower. And 8 frames per second for the F5 with auto focusing in-between is fast! —SIZE— Yes, it weighs A LOT; even with aluminium-alloy housing with the detachable viewer in titanium; 1240g But; compare that to an F100 + motor and you're talking the same weight. If you need smaller in size; F100,it comes with about 80% of the F5 features (F6 is heavier than an F100). —ELECTRONICS— It’s big in the electronics department as well; 5 CPU's (3x16bit, 1x8bit and 1x4 bit), 4 coreless motors, a self-diagnostic shutter designed for at least 150.000 operations… 8 AA batteries is a lot, and the camera is very power hungry with these strong motors inside (AF, film rewind,…) —AUTOFOCUS— There are only five available auto focus points, fine for me; few people need 30 view finding cluttering AF points… The Multi-Cam 1300 used on the F5 and F100 has three cross sensors (left, centre, and right) so the F5 does very well at off-centre low-light focusing. What very few people know; you can turn off the two non-cross-hatched sensors in the F5 via Photo Secretary. — (MINUS department) — Sadly NO matrix metering with manual focus lenses, you will need the F4 or F6 for that. My F4, uses red for the two out of focus arrows and green for the centre dot, I find this much more intuitive. Loading a film gives me trouble sometimes, F4/F6 is better. Buttons are OK, but I somehow wish they would be at least a bit bigger. You have to like the failsafe double locking on many buttons, it tends to hold me back a bit when wanting to operate the camera fast. The F4 uses this sytem but I find it easier to cope with and the F6 finally did away with that. It’s the only pro F series where the motor is not detachable so you can have a useable smaller size camera. — (PLUS department) — The F5 is quieter than the D3 or the F4 (not the F6; as mentioned this is a “refined gentleman’s” camera) F5 easily can make timed manual exposures out to 30 minutes. The F5 is really the perfect action photography tool, better than the F4 or F6. —PRICE— A used F5 sells for roughly the same price as an F100 make your choice. In 2012 around $200 to $500. There is a F5 50th anniversary edition (3000 units made), this tends to sell for +$1000. Nice if you want a new camera; sadly no one tends to use this collector’s item for taking pictures. —WOULD I USE ONE?— · Doing fast action photography – YESx2 · Doing portrait or street photography – NO (too big/obvious) · Any studio/tripod work – YES · Going on a 2 week trip – YES (if someone else carries the camera equipment in between shots J otherwise F100; don’t forget we will not only take this plastic 50mm 1.8 lens!) · Going on a 1 year trip – NO (size/power consumption/8 batteries) · Going on a 5 year trip – YES (indestructible camera) · Using manual focus lenses – NO (use the F4, maybe F6) that about sums it up for me. thanks for reading! please leave a rating. happy photo hunting!Read full review
I have been using an F5 for over 30 years. It's build quality is stunning. It is heavy due to the extreme strength and all metal chassis and body work and thick rubberised outer skin. As for the shutter and overall speed of focus, accuracy reading light and custom options , considering it's age it is still the Rolls Royce of cameras. This camera just cannot be faulted. That is all there is to say really.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Years ago l had my first F5 and like an idiot l sold it when l went digital (l now use Nikon D3's, D3, and a D700) so when a local camera store was going out of business l bought another F5 boxed mint for £200 from them as they were desperate for the cash, this one is not going to be sold that's for sure!! l use this one now for Black & White and colour transparency film normally with a 28/f 3.5 PC Nikkor for architectural shots where you need to keep the verticals dead straight using manual metering as the 28/3.5 is a preset lens with no links to the camera body, l also use a lot of Nikons AF-G lenses and one that l use a lot is the fabulous 24-70/2.8 which is my go anywhere lens used on my digital bodies and my F5 and it's little brother the F100(same metering system) this is when the matrix metering on the F5 (and the F100) come into play and l get fantastic results and l often wish digital had never been invented although l love using digital as well so if you get the chance to buy an F5 in good (amateur use) condition and at a fair price take the plunge and go for it you won't regret it, it's built like a tank and will take the majority of Nikon and third party Nikon fit manual and auto focus lenses for as long as film is being manufacturedRead full review
Verified purchase: No
The Nikon F5 is the last of the most awesomely produced film camera's ever made, and it is quite possibly the best ever film camera in the world, no other manufacturer comes close, not Canon,Olympus,Pentax, No-one. a real workhorse, a professionals professional tool made to withstand the daily rigours of extreme weathers and environmental abuse. Nikon had gone to the very extreme as far as precision engineering can go,and there were no more 'newer' add on's to increase any imaginable technical wizardry to it's existing arsenal to improve any already present in this last ever (apart from the NikonF6,which was a scaled down version) truly amazing Camera.will they ever re-introduce this as a special tribute limited edition at a later stage i wonder ?
Verified purchase: Yes
The F6 was the one I was watching out eagerly for, expecting an even more 'pro' camera than the F5, even though digital was destroying the film market. What appeared, though technically more 'superior', was a complete backward step- the F6 filling a gap between the F100 and the F5! No interchangeable viewfinder, etc - my F5 was safe. The F6, being newer, holds it's used price quite well, whereas the F5 prices have dropped through the floor, even though it is a way better camera than the F6. Therefore fantastic bargains are to be had. A superb one can be obtained for around 20% of it's new price from the '90's. Beautiful, purposeful Giorgio Giugario styling, lovely action and sound make it so good to use. It is also one of the only cameras to purport fast AF/winding rates with NO bolt on boosters, battery packs, etc. It is fast out of the box, although heavy. It also is a superb system camera, with a great lens range, etc. It is my favourite film camera. I have one competely mint one I bought in 1998, one almost mint ebay unit, and a well used 'workhorse' for general use. Utterly brilliant- truly the best 35mm film slr created.Read full review
