Nikon F5 35mm Film Camera

NIKON F5?The finest SLR on the planet

Product review by Frank Van Riper
Professional photographer, author, and photography columnist of The Washington Post

Engineered from the ground up to go against its competitors in the professional and serious amateur market the top-of-the-line Nikon F5 holds schizophrenic honors for being nothing at all like its illustrious predecessors, yet being so easy to use that it might well be a friendly old Nikon F2.
For my money, this is the finest single lens reflex on the planet.

With an admittedly hefty list price (body only) of more than three thousand dollars, the camera can be had on the street for much less. The F5?s innovations include color-sensitive metering (the first of its kind anywhere, taking into account the reflectance of red, green and blue, as well as overall brightness, to better gauge exposure), incredibly fast autofocus and an ergonomic design that makes the camera feel like an extension of your hand.
But the feature that hooked me when I got this baby to review was the Shutter Monitor.
Oh, how I wish I had this feature three years ago when, to my horror, the shutter of my (until then) trusty Nikon 80008 blew out during a wedding shoot. Unbeknownst to me, a tiny bolt on the middle shutter blade gave way, ruining literally hundreds of pictures?even as the camera sounded as if it were operating normally.
The F5?s unique shutter monitor will flash an ?error? message if the shutter ever fails. Not only that, it checks the shutter every time it is released and, if the monitor detects any shift from calibrated speed, automatically compensates to maintain accurate exposure. Should temperature extremes or other conditions ever force the shutter so far out of whack that it can?t be adjusted internally, the camera will emit a warning signal.
This may be a little thing to some, but not to anyone who photographs seriously and who has blithely gone through a shoot with a blown or defective shutter. This feature alone makes the F5 a standout.
But frankly, with so high a list price, the F5 had better be a gem.
Typically, Nikon took its own sweet time to get things right, literally waiting years to unveil the successor to its popular previous top-of-the-line F4. But, as it has done so often in the past, with the F5, Nikon has leapfrogged its competition?most notably Canon and Minolta?and produced a camera that will take Nikon into the new millennium as the industry leader.
[I should note that the even newer F100 Nikon?a seeming hybrid that combines many F5 features with those of the popular N90S?seems to be a way for Nikon to hold onto buyers who balk at the high price of the F5, yet who still want to trade up. More on this new camera in later reviews.]
When I got the F5 to field test, it came with a nifty 20-35mm D-series autofocus lens. The D-series lenses, in addition, to being electronically compatible with Nikon?s storied SB-series portable flashes, autofocuses as fast as any lenses on the market?if not faster.
With the lens in place I put the F5 in manual mode and began fiddling with the thumb-activated shutter speed dial. As expected the changes came up on the LCD readout. Nothing unusual there, but what delighted me was seeing shutter speeds change in 1/3-stop increments, allowing for much more finely tuned bracketing. (For example: between 1/30 of a second and 1/60, there are speeds of 1/40 and 1/50.)
Such a seemingly minor feature will pay huge dividends when you want to stick to a particular aperture for aesthetic effect.
As I continued to get to know this camera, I rotated the lens aperture ring, as I have for decades, to change the lens opening.
Nothing.
I had forgotten that this Nikon, unlike predecessors like the F3 and F4, features a ?sub-command? dial that changes lens openings with the flick of one?s index finger while the camera is at eye level?again in much-desired 1/3-stop increments. Anyone who ever has tried to bracket by third stops manually will appreciate the ease and precision of this terrific feature. [In fairness, this is one feature that Canon, for example, has had for a while. It?s about time Nikon followed suit.]
Nikon also is ballyhooing its lightning-fast eight frames per second motor drive?and it is impressive to run through a whole roll of film in just over four seconds. But, really, unless you?re a sports photographer, this feature will just gobble up your ektachrome. The camera also rewinds at an incredibly fast four seconds?though Nikon has wisely included a manual rewind crank for those times when the need for silence, or the presence of static electricity in air, makes slower better. Over the years Nikon has consistently retained the best of its previous cameras, like the manual rewind crank and its venerable F-series lens-mount, allowing you to use older Nikon lenses even on its newest cameras. The F5 is no exception.
Given its huge price tag, the biggest question about the F5 is: Is it worth it?
My answer is simple. If you make your living in 35mm photography, especially under conditions that require the bells and whistles I?ve described, the F5 may well be a wise investment that will pay for itself in the ecstatic reactions of clients to your photographs. If you are a serious amateur who uses Nikons, you are limited only by your budget, though, happily, Nikon offers less-costly, though still wonderful, options in the N90s and F-100.

[Check out Frank Van Riper's latest book: Down East Maine/A World Apart.]

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