Buying a Nikon F5: Any Advice?

[Blighty]

Maybe I'm being a little unkind to Duracells. It's been some time since I used them, perhaps they improved.

[copake_ham]

Maybe I'm being a little unkind to Duracells. It's been some time since I used them, perhaps they improved.

Hard to say. There also could be a difference in the quality of the brand as sold in UK?

Also, I do favor those "digital" ones over the "Ultras" as they do seem to have the longer-life that Duracell touts as an "improved" feature.

What I'm curious about - has anyone here had any experience with that expensive rechargeable pack Nikon makes for the F5?

[PhotoJim]

Thanks, all. I have an EX-rated F5 body in a box on a FedEx plane on its way from Atlanta. It should be here sometime tomorrow. KEH-grade EX is close enough to mint for me. My F3HP was BGN and it's really quite nice.

[MartinB]

Jim,

I have an F5 I bought from auction 5 yrs ago. It was "well" used and had significant wear (black anodizing rubbed off on all corners, dings in the metal, etc) but it has never had a problem! It is one tough camera - I stuff it in my unpadded backpack skiing at Lake Louise all the time. I don't think you will have any issues with yours working. The rubber covering on mine is coming off but I don't worry about it.
Mine had the AA battery tray - I though about getting the expensive Nikon rechargeable but get good life out of AA NiMH batteries (Costco Calgary has a great Sanyo charger/batteries set) so never bought Nikon's. I found instructions for adding a 9th batteryto the AA tray (there is just room to stuff another battery and some wires to add it in series to the existing 8 in the tray ) that will boost it to full voltage. I jury rigged it and it worked but I was OK with performance of 8 NiMH batteries so did not make it permanent. The 8 NiMH work fine even when out all day in -30 C weather so should be OK in Regina!
I find the autofocus is great - it tracks World Cup downhill skiers at 120 kph - and the matrix metering rarely misses even with transparencies. Best metering in any camera I have owned. Also works well with manual focus lenses (centerweighted only) and provides focus confirmation with manual lens.
Handles well too although I think that is mostly personal preference.
Hope you enjoy the one you ordered!

Martin

[PhotoJim]

My F5 arrived last night. KEH EX-graded. It's really in excellent condition. I see little evidence of usage, other than some marks from a tripod on the bottom. I'm very happy.

Unfortunately the 135mm lens I got with it has a bad diaphragm, but that's ok. It was only forty bucks and was really just a tag-along part of the purchase.

I think I'll really enjoy the F5. The user interface is more different from the F100 than I expected, but it's still pretty similar. I think those two cameras will go together exceptionally well.

I may end up using my F100 without the vertical grip a lot more, since I imagine I'll use the F5 when I want to use a camera with a full vertical grip.