Nikon F5

Guess its out of date now, but to match it in the digital world is a lot of money.

The best camera body in the world, for amateur or professional it is a revelation-buy and enjoy!

After having a fully manual SLR for three years and mastering the basics of photography, I decided to get one of these second hand. After three months of getting used to the functions and handling, the camera has been a bit of a disappointment. The action and landscape photos are very clear with good colour modulation, this is helped by the spot on metering and autofocus, but the camera is bit disappointing in areas where the lighting is distorted or where there are lots of shades. The camera is also heavy to use but comfortable once you've broken it in. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other then stationary work (using a tripod in particular), as the weight and awkward handling can cause bad results.

The nikon f5 was my first camera. Now after one year of usage and spending over 15,000 U.S. dollars, I feel like a million dollars when I look at the shots I have taken.

I get respect when I show up at an event with my F5, F100, SB28, AF ED f2.8 / 80 200 and my AFS 300 f28. And of course, my nikon jacket and my shaved black head. No, I am not a pro, just a nikon man.

I purchased this camera two years ago. This is a well-built Nikon. Auto focus is very fast and accurate.

This camera has 3D-color matrix metering for examine scene color also for perfect exposure.

But metering of F-5 and N90S works same for me. If you will purchase this camera remember that you are paying for build quality and features.

F5 is one of my belove cameras. The RGB metering is very accurate -I almost never bracket at all (unless night shot). The selective AF control is one of the great design. The MLU shouldn't be a good point -in fact. Every camera at this price should have, unless it's a rangefinder.

The bad points were said before. The grey (dark) AF is not a good idea for low-light. The spider-webbing was mentioned when it first came out, but my recent F5 also had. That's not a serious problem because what you see will not appear on film -but it's very annoying. What I really hate is the weight. Many people likes the heavy camera, but not for me (and many too, otherwise, rangefinder wouldn't be in market). What is the good point to have great camera but the best shot will not far from your car more than 100 feet?

I have owned this camera for about 3 months and have burned a lot of film in this time. The flash system is almost fool proof as is the 3D Matrix metering. It is a somewhat complex camera so a thorough reading of the manual is required as are frequent consulations with the manual when one forgets how a certain function works. This model is almost bulletproof and is much better in my opinion than the F4 and F3 both of which I owned prior to this camera. If I could rate this camera realistically, I would have to give all 10+ even on the value. It is worth every penny!