Nikon F5
Released in 1996, the Nikon F5 was the penultimate professional 35mm film SLR produced by Nikon. If you could sum it up in one word that word would be: speed. As the successor to the Nikon F4, the F5 offered an incredibly fast and new autofocus system, improved drive motors for faster film advance (up to 8fps) and rewind, a state-of-the art 3D color matrix metering system for faster and more accurate exposures and a shift to a modern control scheme that was a big departure from the manual dials of the F4. If you want to test just how fast a Nikon F5 is, load it up with a roll of 36 exposure film, set it to continuous fire and hold that shutter button down. Your little demonstration will be concluded in less than 5 seconds... not that we recommend burning through a roll of good film like this, but it is an impressive way to quantify the speed of this camera.
The new matrix metering system in the F5 is worth taking a moment to unpack. Nikon added a 1005 cell CCD to the prism activates during matrix metering and is highly accurate at reading colors in the scene and communicating that information to the meter for consideration. This technology allows the camera's meter from becoming skewed when viewing certain colors in the scene, such as a predominance of yellows which can cause some meters to underexpose. This provides even more accurate metering across a vast array of scenes, whether you are using color or B&W film, and is quite helpful when shooting slide film with its limited latitude (slide film was still popularly favored by many pro photographers and photojournalists at the time of the F5's release). In addition to reading the colors of the scene, the matrix metering also takes into account subject positioning, scene contrast and overall scene brightness. In other words, there is a lot less that can fool the matrix meter of the Nikon F5.
Other features of the F5 include an interchangeable viewfinder (the standard is the DP-30 which offers 100% view of the focusing screen), a self-testing and self-correcting shutter with speeds from 30s up to 1/8000th that can be adjusted in 1/3 stop increments, the usual PSAM (Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual) exposure modes, single or continuous firing, excellent TTL flash capabilities, AE and AF lock buttons, 24 custom functions built into the camera (plus another 17 with additional computer software) for dialing in the camera's various behaviors, and center weighted and spot metering modes to complement the matrix metering mode.
Eventually the Nikon F5 was succeeded by the Nikon F6. While the F6 did offer a number of functional improvements, as well as a smaller and lighter camera, the F6 was produced in much smaller quantities which makes it harder to find and more expensive to buy these days. All of this is to say that many consider the Nikon F5 to be the best of the professional line of Nikon 35mm SLR cameras. It is big, it is heavy, but it is also built incredibly well and still to this day has impressive features - particularly that autofocus.
Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc
- sales@bluemooncamera.com
- (503) 978-0333
- (503) 978-0370
-
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203
All rights reserved ©2025, Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc