Compare NikonF4 and F5

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I have been using NikonF4 for several years and thinking of getting F5. How do you compare between these two cameras in all aspects like price, features, humid registance, etc? Thanks for your help

-- Kim Dan (Kim98vn@yahoo.com), March 05, 1999

Answers

Kim, one of the best sites to find out the capabilities and features of the F5 is at Moose Peterson's. The address is: http://www.moose395.net/index2.html

-- John Fisher (jfisher@ionet.net), March 05, 1999.

Kim, I dont think there is any comparison. The F5 is so much faster focusing, more accurate, much better meter, better feel, and the price difference is closing fast, especially with the release of the F100. On that note, I would recomend the F100 over the F4 now as it has almost all of the features of the F5 except for the RGB meter (bummer) and is slightly faster yet! Nikon is sending me an F100 to test in a week or so and I will be posting my results and feeling on my website, Wildlight.com, at http://www.wildlight.com Check it out and let me know what you all think. I am also going to be doing a revue of all of the new slide films released at the PMA'99 from Fuji, Kodak, and Agfa.... Thanks

Cory Kittle Wildlight.com http://www.wildlight.com

-- Cory Kittle (Cory@wildlight.com), March 06, 1999.


You won't be able to use the Matrix meter on the F5 with older lenses that don't have a microchip like you could with the F4. If you have these lenses and use Matrix metering, then you may want to consider sticking with the F4.

-- Hugh Tran (htran@hotbot.com), March 08, 1999.

The F5 is an incredible camera -- the best 35mm camera made right now, no question.

But the F4 is also a wonderful camera that may fit your needs just as well as or even better than the F5. Remember that millions of incredible photos have been taken with the F4.

The issue is always what kind of photography you need or want to do and which piece of gear will get the job done. If you are not a sports photographer you may not need the faster AF, for example.

The F100 is an attractive alternative that is also a great camera. But you may value the 100% viewfinder and MLU that the F4 includes among its features. You may have lots of manual lenses and value the flexibility of the F4 in using manual lenses.

You may want to consult the F4 FAQ to help you understand the F4 and its capabilities. See

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/j/jnweg/html/f4faq.htm

-- John Wall (john_wall@ncsu.edu), March 08, 1999.


I believe Hugh to be wrong, using non "D" AF lenses on the F5 you will still get matrix metering but you don't get 3-D color matrix metering.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), June 08, 1999.


Ellis, Hugh is correct--with lenses that don't have a CPU, you don't get Matrix metering of any sort on the F5. This includes all manual focus lenses except the P-lenses. All AF Nikkors, whether D or not, have the CPU. The F4 provides Matrix with all lenses, but it's a much less sophisticated Matrix than on the F5.

-- Danny Weber (danny_weber@compuserve.com), June 08, 1999.

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