Nikon F5 Lenses

derelict · Oct 18, 2019

I have been using my F4 a lot. It is a great body but the AF speed and accuracy is not quite there. I have been shooting a lot more action (mountain bike races) and found that the F4 struggles a bit to get the shot. I also use a D610 at the same time. I am considering selling the F4 (superb condition, late serial number) and a few of my D lenses to source an F5 and upgrade to the faster focusing modern lenses. My question though is which lenses are compatible with the F5? The D610 will run just about any lenses that I care to use (AF-D and later) but the compatibility charts that I see for the F5 are a little limited.

I think that G lenses are perfectly safe to use and will work with both metering and focusing. What about the later 'E', or whatever letter spaghetti Nikon uses, lenses? Anyone have any first hand knowledge?

Paul Howell · Oct 18, 2019

I think that the F5 will work D and G but not the newer E lens, not even the F6 will work with E lens, in terms of best buy D lens?

StepheKoontz · Oct 18, 2019

And I can say lenses like my 70-200 f2.8G VRII focus just as insanely fast on my F5 as they do on my D4. Obviously the D4 has an improved AF system but the lens focus speed doesn't seem affected.

derelict · Oct 18, 2019

Excellent. This is what I was looking for. I will see if I can find the G versions. I have, and use, the 80-200 AF-D lotsoletters lens. It focuses decently fast on my D610 but gets smoked by the 70-200 G lens on the same body.

LiamG · Oct 18, 2019

derelict said:
Excellent. This is what I was looking for. I will see if I can find the G versions. I have, and use, the 80-200 AF-D lotsoletters lens. It focuses decently fast on my D610 but gets smoked by the 70-200 G lens on the same body.

If that's the "two ring" 80-200 af-d rather than the "push-pull" version, I'd try it on the F5 before I dropped ~$1000 US on a 70-200 G VR of either vintage. The F5 will push that lens around a lot faster than the F4 and the D610, and I think it should be fast enough for bike racing.

derelict · Oct 18, 2019

LiamG said:
If that's the "two ring" 80-200 af-d rather than the "push-pull" version, I'd try it on the F5 before I dropped ~$1000 US on a 70-200 G VR of either vintage. The F5 will push that lens around a lot faster than the F4 and the D610, and I think it should be fast enough for bike racing.

It is a "two touch" version. I really do like that lens a lot. I would be pretty bummed to sell it on.

adelorenzo · Oct 18, 2019

One reason not to use G lenses on your F5 is if you want to use them on older Nikon bodies as they don't have an aperture ring. I stick to the D lenses so I can also use them on my F3.

I don't have a tele zoom but the 17-35 D lens focuses crazy fast on my F5. Like others have suggested I'd try your current lenses on the F5 body first.

film_man · Oct 18, 2019

E lenses won't work. AF-S are obviously fast to focues but don't get rid of your AFD lenses just yet, the F5 will focus them much faster than anything else.

Paul Howell · Oct 18, 2019

Side question, will the lasters Tamron 70 to 200 2.8 G2 and last version of the Sigma Sports 70 to 200 work with Nikon film bodies, or are they based on the E system?

LiamG · Oct 18, 2019

Paul Howell said:
Side question, will the lasters Tamron 70 to 200 2.8 G2 and last version of the Sigma Sports 70 to 200 work with Nikon film bodies, or are they based on the E system?

The latest versions of these lenses have both gone to the electronic aperture system- it likely reduces costs due to more shared parts between Nikon/Canon versions. Alas- but I really think money is better spent on older Nikon glass anyway, a lightly used 70-200 VR II is likely about the same price as these lenses new, and will work with the F5/F6/F100, plus F4 in program mode.

Bronson Dugnutt · Oct 18, 2019

The F5 is an ideal film companion to Nikon DSLRs due to its compatibility with 'D' and 'G'-series Nikkor glass. Perhaps most importantly, VR lenses function when attached to the F5 since the stabilization is lens based.

derelict · Oct 18, 2019

adelorenzo said:
One reason not to use G lenses on your F5 is if you want to use them on older Nikon bodies as they don't have an aperture ring. I stick to the D lenses so I can also use them on my F3.

I don't have a tele zoom but the 17-35 D lens focuses crazy fast on my F5. Like others have suggested I'd try your current lenses on the F5 body first.

With the exception of the F4, my other 35mm film stuff is Pentax so there is no cross over there. I will be selling the F4 to fund the F5 more than likely.

I would like to get a 24-70/ 2.8 G lens in addition to the 18-35 D and 80-200 D I already have.

derelict · Oct 18, 2019

Paul Howell said:
Side question, will the lasters Tamron 70 to 200 2.8 G2 and last version of the Sigma Sports 70 to 200 work with Nikon film bodies, or are they based on the E system?

I am glad that you asked that question. The new Tamron is a fantastic lens and is really well priced. Bummer that it cannot work.

What is the difference between the first and second gen of that lens? Might the first gen work?

drkhalsa · Oct 18, 2019

I don't own these 2 lenses now, but the 24-70 and 70-200 af-s g lenses that I had focused really fast with my F5. I was very pleased with them.

LiamG · Oct 18, 2019

derelict said:
I am glad that you asked that question. The new Tamron is a fantastic lens and is really well priced. Bummer that it cannot work.

What is the difference between the first and second gen of that lens? Might the first gen work?

A quick check is to see if there's an aperture stop-down lever built into the mount, the new lenses don't have this, just electrical contacts.

Paul Howell · Oct 18, 2019

derelict said:
With the exception of the F4, my other 35mm film stuff is Pentax so there is no cross over there. I will be selling the F4 to fund the F5 more than likely.

I would like to get a 24-70/ 2.8 G lens in addition to the 18-35 D and 80-200 D I already have.

Well, if you not wedded to Nikon, for sports, the Canon 1V with sports grip, up to 9FPS, almost all Canon L lens will work on the 1V, although not in production Canon will support until 2014. Canon made a both VR and non VR lens, used Canon non VR 70 to 200 2.8 can be had for around $700, so while the Canon 1V may cost more than a F5 the cost of lens will bring the total cost down. In the day the 1V was the action camera. At the moment I'm invested in Minolta/Sony, but I regret not going with Canon.

ic-racer · Oct 18, 2019

Paul Howell said:
... not even the F6 will work with E lens, ...

F6 manual indicates this:

neeksgeek · Oct 18, 2019

ic-racer said:
F6 manual indicates this:
View attachment 233139

There’s two different types of “E” lenses from Nikon: the late 70s manual focus Series E, and the very recent generation of fully-electronic aperture autofocus lenses. Those latter are not even compatible with some of the early digital SLRs.

Paul Howell · Oct 18, 2019

The AI-s or AL type Nikkor series E are manual focus. Unless Nikon has updated the F6 manual in the past couple of years the E lens had been released.

derelict · Oct 21, 2019

LiamG said:
A quick check is to see if there's an aperture stop-down lever built into the mount, the new lenses don't have this, just electrical contacts.

Good tip. Thanks for that. I am officially on the hunt for an F5.

Paul Howell said:
Well, if you not wedded to Nikon, for sports, the Canon 1V with sports grip, up to 9FPS, almost all Canon L lens will work on the 1V, although not in production Canon will support until 2014. Canon made a both VR and non VR lens, used Canon non VR 70 to 200 2.8 can be had for around $700, so while the Canon 1V may cost more than a F5 the cost of lens will bring the total cost down. In the day the 1V was the action camera. At the moment I'm invested in Minolta/Sony, but I regret not going with Canon.

I would not call myself wedded but I have a few lenses and am not really interested in switching. I would call it more laziness than anything.

Bikerider · Oct 21, 2019

Just what extra speed do you want with focussing? The F4 is as good as AF can be from the era it was made and will still outsmart and outpace your personal reflex action all the time, everytime. Why waste money on an F5 which is one of Nikon's obese monstrosities, whilst a gem with technology it has long been acclaimed as to heavy to carry comfortably. (my opinion also). The metering is almost perfect especially with flash, really it seems a no-brainer to me.

I have used an F4 over many years, but that too got to heavy to lug around when walking, so splashed out and bought a used F6 which is much more comfortable to use.

derelict · Oct 21, 2019

Bikerider said:
Just what extra speed do you want with focussing? The F4 is as good as AF can be from the era it was made and will still outsmart and outpace your personal reflex action all the time, everytime. Why waste money on an F5 which is one of Nikon's obese monstrosities, whilst a gem with technology it has long been acclaimed as to heavy to carry comfortably. (my opinion also). The metering is almost perfect especially with flash, really it seems a no-brainer to me.

I have used an F4 over many years, but that too got to heavy to lug around when walking, so splashed out and bought a used F6 which is much more comfortable to use.

I am not going to argue that the F5 is not heavy. Even with Lithium batteries, it will be on the heavy side. It will not be as heavy as the D4 or D5, for example, but I have a good, comfortable bag to lug it and a lens or two around in so I will be okay. I am also not going to argue that the F4 is not a great camera. It is. It is a phenomenal camera. My problem with its AF is being able to keep up with odd angles. I have been undertaking a personal project lately, and that has been photographing downhill mountain biking using film. I am a big rider and watching DH racing is a ton of fun. It is awe inducing on both a human and technological scale. Where the F4 is struggling to keep up is the ability maintain focus at odd angles. A downhill track goes up and down and swoops in different directions. Then, there is the rider who takes different lines on the same bit of track creating more randomness. The F4 simply cannot maintain focus fast enough. It cannot rotate the lens fast enough.

Example: lines up but rear wheel hit a rock and stepped out leaving just the front number plate relatively in focus. The focus point was on the body:

Another. Panning with the subject going further away towards the end of the pan. Plenty of contrast and light there. It was trying but it just could not keep up. In the end, only his bum is in focus. Yes, the negative is dirty. I know this.

I have a Gitzo Adventury. When I head out to a race, I regularly carry the F4, the D610, 80-200/ 2.8 D, 18-35D, 50/ 1.4D, 60/ 2.8 macro, film, and a few other things like water and a jacket. Adding a pound really will not harm me. I also regularly carry my Bronica ETR/ ETRSI and about 5 different lenses and a couple backs at times when I am out hiking to do landscape stuff. That bag is really quite comfortable, and balances very nicely the weight inside.

I should also add that the F5 will not be my 'walk around' camera. It is a camera with a purpose. Shooting biking. My walk around 35mm is, and always will be, my Pentax MX.

Bikerider · Oct 21, 2019

A good explanation indeed. Good luck

PS I know a good Gym to do body building

derelict · Oct 21, 2019

Bikerider said:
A good explanation indeed. Good luck

PS I know a good Gym to do body building

I am glad it made sense. I love my F4. It is a great camera. Since I very rarely have the opportunity to do a side profile panning shot in the woods, having a body that can rip to focus is a pretty huge plus due to a limited area for me to stand in.

Eat my spinach and do my nightly push ups...then head out and shoot!

PGillin · Oct 21, 2019

Good luck!
As others have said, try the 80-200 on the F5 before selling it. Mine is very useable for most sports on a D700, 750, and F100. Sluggish on the F4, and sometimes hunts.
My experience with it was shooting university sports multiple times per week for about two years, always from the sidelines. That was about a year and a half back. During that time I also used comparable Canon gear, a newer 70-200 as a rental, and some longer teles. The 80-200 was a workhorse and bagged some of the best shots. Obviously MTB is demanding, but aside from the elevation changes it is more or less linear (subject moves towards and then away from camera) whereas something like figure skating or basketball is a little more erratic. One would expect a good AF system to track linear action fairly well.
Please let us know how it goes! I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Nikon F5 Lenses

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