Would buying a F5 be a wise decision for a novice? I would rather buy a good camera now than continue updateing every few years.

-- Allen Brooks (pya11@msn.com), May 09, 1999

Answers

Allen,

The F5 is a great camera. BUT, you might be better off buying a N90, and spending the spare $1300 on great optic(s), and a SB-28 flash. The N90 is a great camera, and the new F100 is even better, but the F100 is mid way in cost between the F5 and the N90.

Just my two cents,

-- John Purdy (jpurdy@netwurx.net), May 09, 1999.

Simple answer: no.

Long answer: The F5 is a wonderfull tool. Some say it is the best 35mm body to date. But in my opinion, it is wiser to buy a entry level or intermediate camera and improve your skill while you learn to use it. If one day you feel the need for the advanced features of the F5 then you could buy it. If on the other hand, you buy the F5 now and you are not using it, the thing will gatter dust in your closet and you will bite your fingers for having made such a bad investment.

Also, if you buy a F60 or F70 (assuming you buy a Nikon camera. BTW, Canon makes good cameras too, try several brands before investing into a 35mm system) and invest in good quality lenses (primes and pro zooms), a good part of the investment will be made. (I assume you know that the most important pieces of equiment to take good images are lenses. A good lense on a cheapo body will make good image, while the contrary isn't true)

Bottom line: I doubt a F1 race car is the best vehicule to take driving lessons. Don't worry too much about equipment questions, the best equipment can't fix a lack of vision.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you will enjoy photography as much as I do.

Regards,

lp

-- Louis-Philippe Masse (phisa@generation.net), May 10, 1999.

The F5 is quite heavy relative to the F100. Go to a camera store & find out which feels best in YOUR hands.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), May 10, 1999.

Listen to LP. He has some really good advice. I think it's better to get into photography with a minimal investment (or at least the best bang for the buck) until you go crazy with an F5 or something similar. You might find out that you don't even like photography, or that you would prefer to go into medium or large format. This might be difficult if you already have several thousand dollars sunk into a primo 35mm system. If you have the money kicking around, then more power to you-- go for it. If you have money left over, get in touch with me and L.P. because we're both starving students and could use the help :-)

Seriously, though. I started out with an older all-manual body and while I sometimes feel like I needed autofocus or spot metering to get a particular shot, I find that my knowledge of photography is better than my friends with their automatic cameras on Phd mode (push here, dummy). Go to your camera store and check out some of the models. Read up on the features. The trouble with buying a first serious camera is that you don't know what you will need. That is the nature of most of the questions around here (people asking about equipment that thay don't know about although nobody can make the actual final decision for them.) The F5 will do everything you need and much, much more. You will have to decide if it is going ot be overkill or not. The extra price of the F5 over the F90x (N90s), F100, or any of the manual bodies (F3, FM2) will certainly get you some decent lenses, a nice tripod, flash, bag, and film. It's your call. Good luck.

-- Daryl Hiebert (dhiebe@po-box.mcgill.ca), May 10, 1999.

Make the F5 the second body you buy, and don't buy it until you're sure you're ready for it. I'm from the Old School, I'll admit, but I think you will be much better off buying an FM2 and learning the basics before you invest in all the bells and whistles. You will ALWAYS have a use for an FM2 as a reliable mechanical back-up in my opinion, so it is a good, safe investment. If you must have the bells and whistles immediately, go with an N90s or an F100. There are plenty of pros who find these cameras to be all they need. Until you can better define the type of photography you'll be committing to, it is unwise to invest in an F5 in my opinion. Good luck and good shooting.

-- Bruce (brideout@sandiegozool.org), May 10, 1999.

Hi Allen, like LP and other have already said, it's not cost- effective to go straight for the top camera to learn about photograpy. Good lenses are just as important, if not more important than a good camera body. When I finally decided to "advance" into autofuocus camera, I went for a used F801s even though there's an offer of a little-used F5 body from a friend. With the F801s, I learned that I would rather have the traditional dials than buttons, and realized that I would have wasted my money if I had bought the F5 and had no use for many of the camera's advanced features, such as the computerized film management and the 'D' metering (most of my Nikkors are of the non-D variety). In the end, the F801s body was an economic learning tool to find out my actual photographic needs and preferences, and led me to settle on a F4s. Go for a medium-range camera body, like a used F601, F801s or F90, or a new F70, F90X or, if you have deep pockets, F100, and spend the rest of your budget on quality Nikkor lenses. Using a consumer lens on a good camera body is one common mistake for many serious-mined novice, as in my case when I used a Tamron 28-200mm on my F801s.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), May 11, 1999.

All of the above, in particular LP and Bruces' postings are on the mark. I agree with getting a used FM2 and learning the basics first. A used F90x is getting cheaper by the day, with the new F100 on the market. Another interesting alternative is a used F4, which combines the design and buttons of the full manual cameras with the more advanced features of Auto Focus. Granted if speed in AF is your ultimate goal the F90x will eventually be a better choice. I had the opportunity to buy an F4e, and with the encouragement of photo.net contributors, Hoyin among them, went for it and have not looked back since. Suffice to say, get something less fancy, and invest the balance in the best lenses you can afford.

-- Jeff Thomsen (jesper@mozart.inet.co.th), May 11, 1999.

I, for one, wouldn't suggest it. The F5 (and F100) are intended for knowledgeable users, in terms of how to configure the camera for different subjects, with little help for novices. The manual that comes with the F100, to a great degree, assumes that you know what you want to do, and just tells you what the controls do. The N90s provides "pic" modes which can really help a novice at critical times. The other thing to remember is that you will wind up investing more in lenses and accessories than in the body, so it's there that you want to buy things once. Even a N70 would probably be better, and you can use it as a second body latter.

-- Bruce Rubenstein (brubenstein@lucent.com), May 11, 1999.

I think everything depends on your budget and whether you want to be reasonable or make it a spontanous decision.

I think that several good lenses, like the 2.8-zooms or some good primes, altogether adding up to one or two times the price of the F5 are more useful than a highend body plus cheap glass.

Probably two cheaper bodies are alsp more useful than only one body, 2 F90X or 2 F100.

Your budget seems to be not that thight, so I would not start lower than with the F90X or F100.

Are you really sure that you will like photography ?

Are you sure that like the weight and the feel of F5? Are you sure that you will ever need the few features which the F5 offers over the other 2 cameras? Probably not.

I would start with the other 2 cameras (they are even easier to resale again), add some decent glass, and later also the F5 (in addition not in exchange).

-- siegfried boes (boes@first.gmd.de), May 11, 1999.

Geee,

that's sounds like getting a Rolls Royce for taking driver's lessons!!!

As already stated somewhere before a mid-class model will do the job as well. If you really grow over the time, you will want a 2nd body anyway and then you may go for the pro model.

-- Marcus Erne (cerne@ees.eesc.com), May 12, 1999.

I am definitely a minority here. But please don't shoot me. My opinion on F5 is that it is worth the price as well as the effort you need to figure out all the knobs and buttons on this camera. I am a amateur. My previous camera is N70. When I got my 80-200 mm/f2.8 zoom, I realized that the lens is just too much for N70 to handle, e.g. focus speed too slow, battery running out quickly, lens block on camera flash. So I got an F5 and become very happy to see the pictures, especially those showing kids at playing. One of the major advantage of F5 is that it can focus very quickly and take pictures at fast rate (6 frames per second?). When you use a long focal length zoom, you can take consecutive pictures and you can see the subtle facial expression of children changes rather quickly when they are excited at playing. I don't think I could got those if I had used N70. That why I think it's worth it. However, if your major interest is landscape, you probably don't want it, especialy for its weight to carry around.

-- Bob King (rking@genesis.com), May 12, 1999.

"...you might be better off buying a N90, and spending the spare $1300 on FILM (assuming you already planning on buying a lens & flash)

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), May 13, 1999.

No, I don't think that the F5 would be a wise decision for a novice. Buy a FM2n and a 24, 35, 50, 105, 200, and 300 mm lenses. Now, that would be a wise decision. Good luck

-- Jim Bridges (jcbejb@worldnet.att.net), May 13, 1999.

Let me join in here: I agree with alot of what has already been said, and don't have much more to add than to re-emphasize and add weight to a few of the oppinions. If you must have a camera with all the bells and wistles on it, go for an N90s with a MF26 back (used.) You can find them used for about $650-$700, and then spend the rest on some good quality lenses. As already stated, it is not the body that makes the picture, but the lens.

If you can get by without all those nifty features, then go with the FM2, although I really like the matrix metering of the newer AF bodies. An N6006 would also be a good compromise. It has alot of the same features as the N90s but is much cheaper. The AF is also slower though.

The bottom line: If you are looking for a body full of features, then go with the N90s and use the money you saved on good lenses.

-- John Foster (fostjoh@sc.llu.edu), May 16, 1999.