| Here
you can read about my first experiences with the Nikon F5
camera and accessories, read about how I [mis]used the stuff
and get some price information. Also check out the links to
reviews and specs on Nikon gear.
| |
| The
channel in the city of Hüfingen, Germany. May 1999.
Nikon F5, Nikkor AF 20mm/2,8D on Ilford XP2 Super.
|
May
19th 1999.
Well, at last I got the Nikon F5 from the other side of the
puddle. After paying the additional import fees at the customs
of Villingen (merely 600 Deutsche Marks - hey, you can get
a somewhat decent 2nd body for that!), I had this little 1
kg box in my trembling hands. After opening the box, I loaded
an old (August 98, though refrigerator cooled) Fujicolor HG
1600 in the camera - thought it might be smart to make the
first mistakes on something which was doomed to fail anyway
:-)
My
first impressions
1. Nice camera; robust and fits those big hands of mine.
2. Wow, this one is fast: The AF works really quick and precise,
even in low-light.
3. Yowza! I can even understand most of it; the arrangement
of the controls is easy to grasp and you can lock (either
by software or by hardware) any controls which might be easy
to change by mistake.
The
virgin roll
Going out into the darkness of this little village,
bringing my Bilora Favorit 820 tripod with me. Quickly killing
off the virgin Fuji roll. Back into the house. Fumbling with
the rewind buttons. Rapidly blinking error LED. Thinking "Yeah,
first roll of film By West...". Pressing the tiny push
buttons again. A humming noise. Stops. "Can't be the
whole roll, can it?" A sadistic grin plastered on my
face as I lean over, putting the camera in the shades of the
table while pulling the back open. Correct - it wasn't the
whole film. Snapping the back shut. Next try. Buttons pressed
firmly. ZzzZzzZZrrrrr..qqqqk. Silence. Ok, must've been the
whole film. Opening the back again. Positive result - no silver
to be seen.
Summary
of my first mistakes and experiences with the F5
1. The error LED blinks rapidly to indicate that
you have started to rewind a film but the operation is not
completed. I couldn't find this rapid LED blink indication
in the manual.
2.
I kept the two film rewind buttons pressed for a while, maybe
for two seconds and then let loose. This was the mistake:
if you let loose, the rewinding stops. Hey, what's this? Even
my tiny F-401 kept on rewinding even if I'd let go off the
buttons. Now I know it: you got to keep the buttons pressed
until the motor stops - or at least for a longer period of
time (not sure for how long). Added June 10th: It looks like
you must keep the rewind button #1 pressed for the whole time
the film is rewinding (you can let go of button #2). If you
let go of button #1 the rewinding stops, combined with an
angrily blinking Error LED. Pressing the button again and
the rewinding starts anew. Comment made later. As several
readers have noted: You do not need to keep button
#1 nor button #2 depressed the whole time to rewind the film:
Both buttons holds by themself when depressed completely and
the lever stays up by itself - let the F5 do the job for you.
3.
The IR light on the SB-24 flashlight doesn't light up to help
the AF if you're using the (C)ontinous AF servo function -
at first I thought the IR light on the flashlight malfunctioned...
This is sort of mentioned in the SB-24 booklet though.
4.
The vertical shutter button is disabled if you have your flashlight
turned on. This is a strangie... and I got to get this one
confirmed for sure.
May
20th 1999. Brought the camera with me to the office.
Was eager to try out the 20mm/2.8 on my fellow collegue photo
victims. Packed two extra rolls of b/w Ilford XP2 400 Super
while having one in the camera.
May
24th 1999. I have now shot the following film with
the F5:
2
(aged) rolls of Fujicolor HG 1600
1 roll of Fujichrome Sensia II 100
5 rolls of Ilford XP2 Super 400 |
