F3 upgrade or F5?

dugrant153 · May 28, 2012

Well, I went to Glazer's Camera and wow... They have a lot of nice cameras there! Not cheapest but they seem to have good stock!

After testing F3 w/ MD4 and the F5... I actually ended up with an F4s (with the MB21?) and a databack!

The F3 with MD4 was loud with motor drive on. No surprise there. Love the sound tho. The good thing is that I could put the motor drive into "L" (lock it) and the F3 could fire without motor drive. Good if I needs the quiet but there was still a pretty loud "clack" from F3 mirror.

The F5 was nice but it was starting to push out of my tight budget. Also it wasn't as quiet as I thought it would be. This thing was built for the really fast frames but not a silent machine.

The F4s actually just came in so was surprised to see it. It's not super silent but it was pretty stealthy. The Cs mode won me over! Thunk!-clickclickclick.

My own subjective rating of "loudness" would be:
Nikon F3 w/ MD4 on (loudest)
Nikon F3 w/ MD4 off
Nikon F5
Nikon F4 on Cs mode (softest)

Uncle Bill · May 28, 2012

My choice is the F3.

Pumalite · May 28, 2012

Mine too.

marcmarc · May 30, 2012

I would have gone with the F5. I've had nothing but unbelievably bad luck with used Nikon F series bodies. I have two F2's and two F3's and to be honest every single one has problems. The F2's I've given up hope for so that's why I've went up to the F3. Now I have two F3's that aren't reliable. In my mind, a used F5 will have a lot less heavy use then these older F2's and F3's thereby saving one the headache of trying to get them serviced and loosing one roll after another.

dugrant153 · Jun 1, 2012

Sorry to hear that. My Nikon F3 has been pretty flawless for the most part. Mostly user error. Guess I've been pretty blessed with working units (so far). The F5 I tried in the shop was pretty beat up (of course, it was the cheapest one). Despite being newer, I don't think that would've lasted long before a service was required. I could "feel" the wear in my hands with buttons and things not as tight as they should be.

Chan Tran · Jun 1, 2012

I had different experience. My brand new F3HP bought in 83 had problem with the ready light in the viewfinder. I didn't find out until a year later when I bought the flash so I had to pay $120 for Nikon to repair it (it was high price because the brand new F3HP was bought for $460). I sold that camera a few years later. I bought a brand new F5 in 2002 paying near $2000 for it and the metering system didn't work well for both flash and ambient light. I sent it back to Nikon under warranty twice before it reasonably good. I bought a used F3HP in 2004 and it worked fine but the shutter speeds aren't all that great. It was my fault trying to adjust shutter tension and damage the shutter so I junk it. I bought another one used in 2008 and while the shutter is great the meter didn't work. I had to pay $125 to repair it and it works fine now.

John_Nikon_F · Jun 3, 2012

The OP made the right choice. F4s is very quiet compared to both...

In my case, instead of souping up my old F3P, I bought an F2AS. Sold the F3P. The F2AS is the ultimate MF Nikon SLR, bar none. Now have two. Both black bodies, one that's pretty clean, one that's fairly beat, but with a decent looking DP-12 on it. Last handbuilt Nikon body, btw.

-J

benjiboy · Jun 4, 2012

John_Nikon_F said:
The OP made the right choice. F4s is very quiet compared to both...

In my case, instead of souping up my old F3P, I bought an F2AS. Sold the F3P. The F2AS is the ultimate MF Nikon SLR, bar none. Now have two. Both black bodies, one that's pretty clean, one that's fairly beat, but with a decent looking DP-12 on it. Last handbuilt Nikon body, btw.

-J

If it's "the last hand built body", were the subsequent ones made by monkeys ?

eclarke · Jun 4, 2012

Contax G2 ( and I loved my F5)

John_Nikon_F · Jun 4, 2012

lol

Nah, by feet. Actually, they automated the process.

-J

Shootar401 · Jun 6, 2012

With the F5 you can use it as a hammer to build a house, then afterwards take a picture of it.

djacobox372 · Jun 10, 2012

Leigh B said:
The F3 is the ONLY choice for 35mm film Nikons.

An absolute classic that will outlive all of us.

- Leigh

Wrong, that first gen lcd wont outlast anyone, half are already dead or so dim they're worthless.

F3 upgrade or F5?

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