Nikon F5 dilemma

[Uranus]

To buy, or not to buy?

Advice from SLR shooters, please. Seeing as I started out with a DSLR, is there any real value in getting an F5,and mucking about with film? I was offered one for ? 275, which doesn’t seem all too bad but, considering my limited experience, would it be worth it?

Any words of warning/wisdom for when I ignore everyone’s advice and get one anyway? 😛

[linguine]

I had a slr and then got a dslr and I dont think Ive used my slr since. For me being someone who just plays around with the camera and farktography being the only regular thing I shoot for digital is just a lot easier to process being able to download and process a handful of pictures quickly rather than having to go get them developed somewhere.

[sleeping]

Film is fun! Personally, I use my DSLR less than half the time since I started shooting film 😯

That does sound like a decent deal, too, although I don’t know what the going rate for things is in Europe. On the other hand, though, I’m not sure an F5 is the best choice for a beginning 35mm camera. I decided to upgrade my old N8008s (AF 35mm SLR) a few weeks ago, and seriously considered an F5, but in the end I bought an F100 instead (for a bit over $200US).

The thing about the F5 is that it’s gigantic and *heavy*. Some of that weight comes from it being built like a tank, but an awful lot if it comes from the fact that the 8 AA battery vertical grip is a permanent fixture on the camera. That’s convenient if you want to be able to shoot 8 frames per second all the time, but isn’t neccesarily all that useful if you don’t.

The F100 is basically 90% of the F5 at 50% of the weight. Aside from the lower frame rate (3-4 fps without the battery grip) it has fewer matrix sensors in its metering system, and won’t focus quite as fast with big/heavy lenses. Also, the F100 has better ergonomics by most accounts (e.g. the handy red indicator on the selected focus sensor that the F5 doesn’t have). So far I am very pleased with mine.

[Uranus]

hmm…helpful stuff, considering my spidery fingers and girly wrists,the weight is indeed an issue. Also, they just about give away F70, F90 & F100’s here, because digitals are ludicrously cheap (D40 kit – ?380). Worth looking into.

Any real advantages to film, though? Any nasty pitfalls?

[sleeping]

Any real advantages to film, though? Any nasty pitfalls?

My take on this:

– Negative film still has way more exposure latitude than any digicam (slides not so much).

– Film retains highlight detail better (the latest generation of dslrs are closing this gap, though)

– The results on film look and feel different than digital. This may be something you prefer or not.

– Shooting film can wean you away from looking at your LCD after every shot, and force you to think more about exposure vs guessing and correcting.

– Film equipment can be had at ridiculously low prices, unless you want a Leica or an F6, etc.

On the other hand:

– With film, unless you process your own, your results are partially dependent on who does your processing. Finding a good lab where you are may be difficult (or not, and there’s always mail order).

– If you’re strictly talking about 35mm film vs. an entry/mid level DSLR, then the DSLR probably wins on pure resoultion/sharpness (except maybe with low speed film and either a very high end scanner or tradiitional optical printing on an enlarger).

– Digital wins out on pure convenience and ongoing costs.

– For color especially, High-ISO performance on even the current entry level DSLRs (never mind a D3 or whatever…) is significantly better than film.

[XenPix]

hmm…helpful stuff, considering my spidery fingers and girly wrists,the weight is indeed an issue. Also, they just about give away F70, F90 & F100’s here, because digitals are ludicrously cheap (D40 kit – ?380). Worth looking into.

Any real advantages to film, though? Any nasty pitfalls?

Send me your 40D, plskthx.

😀

[staplermofo]

Send me your 40D, plskthx.

😀

DUDE, SHE WANTS YOUR camera BODY!

[Uranus]

Send me your 40D, plskthx.

😀

its a teeny d40, not a bigass 40D.

i’ll go check my spam to see if anyone can help me with my size problem 😛

[Author]

Posts