The
F5, king and queen of still film cameras, designed in the
early nineties and in production since 1996 is no longer alone
on the throne. In the third quarter of 2004, after three years
of rumors, Nikon decided to rub the balanced order for many
serious amateurs and professionals, me included. They introduce
the Nikon F6.
On
the Net
in general, we hear a lot about how the F5 is supposedly as
good as, or better than the F6. We hear how the F6 is a digital
camera with some film advance features and that the F6 is
actually prepared for the digital back since film is dead
any way. Welcome to reality.
FILM?
FILM!
Nine years after introducing the F5, Nikon introduces the
F6. Nine years is a long time. For an engineer like me, nine
years means something like three computer generations. In
1996 digital photography was close to non-existent, whereas
in 2005, you are supposedly a dinosaur if you are still using
film. The company producing one of the best black and white
film there is, Ilford, out of the United Kingdom went bankrupt
2004 but was fortunately rescued in a management buyout; German
Agfa's film division was sold to a separate entity and both
Kodak and Fuji have struggled to keep their film operations
up and running. In these film volatile times, Nikon releases
a new pro film body. Are they sane?
NOT
AN F5, NOT AN F4 AND NOT AN F100
Ok, so what is the F6? I could say it is the most versatile
tool ever made to intelligently capture your memories, but
let me start with what it is not: The Nikon F6 is not an F5,
it is not an F100 and it is not an F4. It has a bit of each
plus several new features never found in the Nikon film world
until now.
The
F6 feels a bit like an F100 at first. Let me dig into
this a bit. It uses the same design idea as the F3 and
F4, providing an optional battery pack. The
model designation for this pack is MB-40 and if you
know the MB-15 for the F100, you are looking at a similar
unit, with AF lock button, vertical shutter button and
sub-command dial. Without this separate unit, the F6
is smaller than the F5 and just slightly larger than
the F100. |
... |
|
Here we have one of the main advantages of the F6: It is smaller
than the F5 and with comparative less power requirements beats
both the F100 and F5 in most areas. As said, without the MB-40,
it is nearly as small as an F100 and it shares some other
traits with the F100 as well: We directly recognize the multi-control
lock, the red lit focus areas and the non-replaceable view
finder.
Its
ergonomically designed grip is very similar to the one of
the F100. It is formed a bit differently compared the F5's
grip. I hold it just as well in my big hands as the F5 though
and it should be very nice to hold for small hands as well.
WHAT
A VIEWFINDER!
A
closer look at the area around the lens mount and we
can even see that the viewfinder is mounted similar
as on the F100, with two screws from below and the plastic
is shaped similarly, forming a nicely curved "holder"
for the viewfinder. The F6 has taking some beating for
not having a replaceable viewfinder, but as on the F100,
you can replace the standard screen for a whole set
of optional screens all replaced by removing the lens
and gently pulling down the screen from the inside top
of the viewfinder. |
... |
|
The viewfinder lost the F5's LED's indicating which AF selector
is active. These LED's are no longer needed since all available
screens have the "red light selector indication".
NO
MORE ADR
The F3, F4 and F5 show the aperture in the "old F tradition",
through a small window within the viewfinder, directly viewing
the lens. This window is called "Aperture Direct-Readout"
(ADR) by Nikon. The F6 does no longer has an ADR, but it is
really not a biggie since the F6 can let you store up to 10
non-CPU lenses (AI, AI-S etc) and the aperture of these lenses
is then showed just as the aperture is shown on chipped lenses,
e.g. in the lower LCD in the viewfinder (and on all other
locations on the outside of the body)
CLASSY,
OLD NIKKORS ON A MODERN BODY
I really like the possibility to define non-CPU lenses in
the settings. If you don't bother to program the camera for
your 10 most used non-CPU lenses though, it's not a big issue
since the F6 still shows the current aperture as a "delta
F-stop"; yes, it shows the difference in stops from the
maximum possible aperture. Really cool.
)
