| The
controls - the handling in detail
The
F5 has quite a number of controls. Counting all the switches,
buttons and dials I end up with some 34 controls in all. Several
of these may be reprogrammed using the Custom Settings.
On top of that you have two external, backlit LCD's, one internal,
two external and twelve internal LED's. Three connectors give
the F5 the chance to communicate with peripheral equipment,
such as flashes and a PC.
| |
A
"Butterfly bush" (Sorry Carl v. Linné
- don't have the Latin name at hand).
August 1999. Nikon F5, Nikkor AF 80-200/2.8D at some
80mm on Fujichrome Velvia
|
A
short note on custom settings (CS)
- more follows further below in the review.
The CS are used for adjusting the default behavior of the
F5. This mainly relates to the visible controls on the body.
There are a total of 24 different functions in the CS which
can be modified directly on the camera. An additional 17 CS
functions can be modified using a PC program called "Nikon
Photo Secretary for F5". I won't discuss these additional
17 functions for now. The 24 standard functions are numbered
1...24 (#1...#24). There are two sets of identical custom
settings, i.e. two "memory banks" or "register
banks". Of course only one bank is the active one and
you can easily switch back and forth between the two. Below
I refer to several of the custom settings as "CS".
A custom setting with the menu number 6 would simply be referred
to as CS #6.
The
number of controls may look scary at a first glance, but it's
not that bad. In fact, you will likely not use all of them
and nearly all are logically located.
First,
let's have a short overview of the controls:
| Right
hand side
On
the front
| 1. |
Sub-command
dial (SCD) |
| 2. |
Depth-of-field
preview push button |
| 3. |
Mirror
lockup lever |
|
|
| On
the standard finder DP-30 |
| 1. |
Diopter
adjustment knob (-3...+1 dpt) |
| 2. |
Metering
system selector (3D Matrix/Center/Spot) |
| 3. |
Eyelet
for camera strap |
| .
On the lower short side |
| 4. |
Lock
lever for vertical shutter release button |
| 5. |
Vertical-shooting
shutter release button |
|
|
|
Left
hand side
On
the front:
| 1. |
Sync
terminal |
| 2. |
Self-timer
indicator red LED |
| 3. |
Lens
release button |
| 4 |
Focus
mode selector [S/C/M] |
|
|
On
the top
| 1. |
Rotating
power and illumination switch lock |
| 2. |
Rotating
power and illumination switch |
| 3. |
Shutter release button |
| 4. |
Multiple
exposure button |
| 5. |
Exposure
compensation button
[+/-] |
| 6. |
Top
(main) LCD panel |
| 7. |
Exposure
mode push button [mode] |
| 8. |
AF
area mode push button [+] |
| 9. |
Film
plane indicator |
| 10 |
Film advance mode/self-timer selector [S/Cl/Ch/Cs/Timer] |
11. |
Manual
film rewind knob |
| 12. |
Manual
film rewind knob crank |
| 13. |
Manual
film rewind knob release |
| 14. |
Film
advance mode selector lock release |
|
|
On
the back
1.
Rewind lever [2<<] and rewind button [1<<]
2. Five small push buttons hidden behind a vertical magnetic-lock
door:
[ISO] Film speed, Flash sync, [BKT] Bracketing, [L] Lock and
[CSM] Custom Setting Menu.
3. Rear LCD panel
4. Auto exposure/Autofocus lock button [AE-L AF-L]
5. Two Autofocus On buttons [AF-ON], one for horizontal and
one for vertical use
6. Main-command dial (MCD)
7. Focus area selector (left/right/up/down). A round push
button with four small arrows on it.
8. 10-pole female connector for PC/Mac (aka Mini-DIN) |
