Serious F5 love

anfenglin · Jul 29, 2018

Evening all,

I‘d like to share my love and admiration of the Nikon F5. I shot a roll of Adox Silvermax today while out with the family and I thought, why would I ever need another camera?
Sure, I have others, among them a lovely F3/T, but for a serious shooting machine „in the field“ with moving targets and changing light situations the F5 is unrivaled.
I have owned mine for about two months now, I own an AF-S 1.4/50, an AF-S 17-35 2.8 ED, a Zeiss Planar 1,4/85 ZF.2 and others in AI-S and especially with wide angles the matrix metering is so so nice!

The only thing is, it appears to be one of the first with a serial number of 3006959, I hope it holds out.
But then again, single digit Fs are not what you would call unreliable.
Does somebody here have problems with an F5?
Cheers

Sirius Glass · Jul 29, 2018

Do not worry about problems. Enjoy the camera. [I have a N75 and F100.]

NB23 · Jul 29, 2018

I loooooved mine, except for one single glitch: the selected AF squares aren’t illuminated. I had to switch to the F100, which I loved, too.

The F5 is just so extremely solid, what a powerful camera.

NB23 · Jul 29, 2018

I still own a F6, a camera that I can’t bond with at all.

Just goes to show how supreme the F5 is (except for the non-illuminated AF squares).

Dennis-B · Jul 29, 2018

NB23 said:
I still own a F6, a camera that I can’t bond with at all.

Just goes to show how supreme the F5 is (except for the non-illuminated AF squares).

A couple of months back, I traded my F6 for a Hasselblad C/M. I just never warmed up to the F6. Last month, I got a screaming deal on a F5. While much heavier and not as advanced as the F6, it's a favorite camera, again. I foolishly let another F5 go about two years ago.

Eric Rose · Jul 29, 2018

I love my F5. I had a friend who would have given me his F6. I used it for a couple of weeks and gave it back to him. I much preferred the F5. Sure it's a tank but what the heck just think of it as a workout aid.

Sirius Glass · Jul 29, 2018

Dennis-B said:
A couple of months back, I traded my F6 for a Hasselblad C/M. I just never warmed up to the F6. Last month, I got a screaming deal on a F5. While much heavier and not as advanced as the F6, it's a favorite camera, again. I foolishly let another F5 go about two years ago.

A move in the right direction. I have Nikons, Hasselblads, Graflex and Speed Graphic. The Nikons are for light weight work and when I do not have time to spend on photography. The Hasselblads are for serious work. The 4"x5"s are for playing around.

Chan Tran · Jul 29, 2018

I bought my F5 new in 2002. The matrix meter sucks for color negative film. TTL flash also sucks if the flash is the primary light source.

Sirius Glass · Jul 29, 2018

Chan Tran said:
I bought my F5 new in 2002. The matrix meter sucks for color negative film. TTL flash also sucks if the flash is the primary light source.

I bought my F100 used and the matrix meter works for extremely well for color and black & white negatives. The TTL flash with the SB800 is nothing short of wonderful. Maybe you should look into buying a F100.

anfenglin · Jul 30, 2018

I never liked the finder of the F100. I borrowed one froma friend once and it was so small compared to what I was being used to.
I used a Pentax ME and an Olympus OM-2n before, those finders are really great, but being a guy wearing glasses, I immediately fell for the F3's finder.
The F5 finder is similar, I also like the AF squares in grey, IMHO the red ones get in the way of composition.
I trust the F5's focusing abilities, also with the new AF-S lenses, I can focus manually with almost the same feel of a manual focus lens.
This applies especially for subjects behind glass or wire or some such.
Wonderful!

Chan Tran · Jul 30, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
I bought my F100 used and the matrix meter works for extremely well for color and black & white negatives. The TTL flash with the SB800 is nothing short of wonderful. Maybe you should look into buying a F100.

No thanks for the F100.

Ste_S · Jul 30, 2018

One of the more annoying things in consumer cameras was the push for smaller finders to drive down costs and differentiate between pro models.
Stuff like the Nikkormats and Nikon FE/M series are much nicer than their af equivalents.

Ap507b · Jul 30, 2018

I had part of the LCD panel in the finder die on my F5 a few years ago. Wound up buying another finder .same thing happened to my F4 with the same cure.

As good as the F5 is,I am happier shooting with an F2.

GarageBoy · Jul 30, 2018

Would like to pick one up, will probably outlast the Nikon af-s lenses (the afs motors are not confidence inspiring)

Would make a great "last 35mm" camera I buy with some Zeiss zf lenses

Arthurwg · Jul 30, 2018

NB23 said:
I still own a F6, a camera that I can’t bond with at all.

Just curious, but what's the problem with the F6? I've thought about getting one. I've been using my F100 lately after years of disuse and it seems to work perfectly. Had an F4 back in the day but it was much too heavy. Built like a tank.

NB23 · Jul 30, 2018

It’s too damped. I just cannot feel it. I’m disconnected from the act of taking a photograph.

The best example I can give is a sports car, with all the high performance potential, that feels like a Rolls Royce. Losing the feel of the road and of the engine will kill any sports car.

And that’s why I loved the F100: its agressive AF, and agressive film winding action, I was totally feeling it. The F5’s winding action was a bit more damped. On the F6 I almost don’t know if I took the shot.

Theo Sulphate · Jul 30, 2018

NB23 said:
It’s too damped. I just cannot feel it. I’m disconnected from the act of taking a photograph.

The best example I can give is a sports car, with all the high performance potential, that feels like a Rolls Royce. Losing the feel of the road and of the engine will kill any sports car.

And that’s why I loved the F100: its agressive AF, and agressive film winding action, I was totally feeling it. The F5’s winding action was a bit more damped. On the F6 I almost don’t know if I took the shot.

An eloquent description.

This is why my pro Nikons stop with the F4s and its dedicated external controls.

Drew B. · Jul 30, 2018

No mention of the F4 ...! The best NIkon had to offer!

anfenglin · Jul 30, 2018

Yeah, that’s because I was talking about the F5, the F4 has seen lots of love already.
It is not a quiet camera, I also like the dancing rewind knob after each exposure.
But I also would not go as far as calling it loud or even brutish.

pentaxuser · Jul 30, 2018

Chan Tran said:
I bought my F5 new in 2002. The matrix meter sucks for color negative film. TTL flash also sucks if the flash is the primary light source.

I recall someone saying that the matrix meter was designed for slide film and not negative film, hence it's alleged poor exposure performance for colour negative. Was that you? I note the you are similarly unimpressed with the F100 metering. Is that due to the same fault? How are both models with B&W neg including Ilford's monochromatic C41 film, XP2Plus?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Drew B. · Jul 30, 2018

anfenglin said:
But I also would not go as far as calling it loud or even brutish.

It is heavy...but at least it helps build up your neck muscles

pentaxuser · Jul 30, 2018

anfenglin said:
I also like the dancing rewind knob after each exposure.
.

Is the dancing rewind knob on the F4 or F5 and how does it dance after each exposure?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Chan Tran · Jul 30, 2018

pentaxuser said:
I recall someone saying that the matrix meter was designed for slide film and not negative film, hence it's alleged poor exposure performance for colour negative. Was that you? I note the you are similarly unimpressed with the F100 metering. Is that due to the same fault? How are both models with B&W neg including Ilford's monochromatic C41 film, XP2Plus?

Thanks

pentaxuser

That was me! I decided that the matrix meter is very good for slides but not for color negative (I guess it's the same for B&W but I don't shoot B&W). I compare the reading of the F5 with my Nikon Df and both show very close readings. But the readings that is great for digital and also for slides is not good for color negative film. Similar problem with TTL flash. It's excellent for fill in flash but not good if the flash is the main light source. If the flash is the main light source the F3 does a much better job.

Chan Tran · Jul 30, 2018

pentaxuser said:
Is the dancing rewind knob on the F4 or F5 and how does it dance after each exposure?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Both of my F4 and F5 rewind knob does the dancing after each exposure but so does the F3 with motor drive.

Sirius Glass · Jul 30, 2018

Drew B. said:
No mention of the F4 ...! The best NIkon had to offer!

No the F100 is better. It came later and improved the F4 without the weight and trying to turn it into a digital camera.

Serious F5 love

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