Nikon F4(s)
| |||
| Pro | it was the best 35mm camera of the world from 1988 to 1996, so it does everything it can professionally, with no compromise. better in pre-AI-compatibility than F5, and better assembled than F6. | ||
| Contra | old AF technology, old matrix system (non-3D, non-color), at least 9 years old | ||
| Thoughts | though it should serve with normal use for a lifetime. i never saw an Fx-nikon out of order without dramatic blessures. the camera _is_ possible to hold by a young woman, even by a thin one. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Virtually everything. | ||
| Contra | Plastic viewfinder prism. Not the world's greatest autofocus, but serviceable if you're not interested in shooting sports. | ||
| Thoughts | This camera is no heavier than an F3 with a MD-4, as a matter of fact, the F3 w/MD-4 is heavier. The camera is very, very light with the MB-20, and handholdable even for girlfriends with small hands. If you want auto-wind, you have to deal with the weight. Feel free to get an F3 if you *like* to wind with your thumb, but don't complain when you want auto winding and cannot deal with the collosal weight and size of the F3/MD-4 combo.
You cannot have a quality, ruggedly-built camera that is as light as the plastic-fantastic cameras made today. The F4 has a die-cast aluminum frame that is designed to resist shock and to hold proper film plane/lens alignment. Even though the F4 has plastic shell and viewfinder, it is still more ruggedly built than anything aside from another one of the F series cameras. The complaint of a lack of manual forward-wind is ridiculous. The F4 stepped up to modern camera design by getting rid of the need to at least partially take the camera away from your face in order to advance a frame. This is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. I think that Nikon could've done away with the manual rewind, and just have a switch on the camera to leave the leader out, if needed. An F3 is more "ancient" than an F4, in every way conceivable, and the F4's track record for reliability is well-earned. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Solid camera,easy to follow controls,accurate metering systems and very reliable.
Can accomodate non Ai lenses,F4s allows both electronic and mechanical cable releases. Easy on battery consumption. | ||
| Contra | Weight,quite a lot to lug around all day,probably suits studio work more than out and about.Vertical shutter release causes camera to have
most weight at top rather than at bottom. On switch for camera would have been better separate rather than part of the s-c dial which tends to be rather F3,ie too small and fiddily. Will never equal the FE2 coupled with MD12 for balance and feel,then again you can't have everthing. | ||
| Thoughts | Overall probably one of the best SLRs in the Nikon stable.
Will do everything you ask of it and more. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Metering. High Point VF. Removable Prism for waist level 'covert' style shootin'. | ||
| Contra | This machine doesnt know its arse from its elbow, half electronic half mech. Manual film rewind lever and yet not manual film advance lever. You cant turn the dials without taking your eye off the VF. Like the F90x, it tried to be an auto camera but ended up being manual or shutter priority or Program mode to all intents and purposes. If your thinking of buying one, dont they were crap then as they are now. Ancient. Buy an F3 instead or a D2h. | ||
| Thoughts | had one of these for a while too, what a load of crap! Man you Nikon fans out there spend more time doodling over the tools then you do taking the pictures. The F4 is a heavy slow monster that just begs to (be dropped over the nearest cliff), fall apart in your hands. AF was at the time a joke as Nikon poopoo'ed the decision Canon came to on changing their lens system, and opted for gear mech. The motors started to rattle and the gearing spent more time in service then in my hands. Metering was good though, but all those dials you end up spending more time lookin at the camera then trough it. TWO buttons to rewind the film mid-roll..? doh! | ||
| |||
| Pro | SOLID FEEL. "CLEAN" CLEAR VIEWFINDER. EXPOSURE COMPENSATION EXCELLENT.
SNAP ON AN SB25 FLASH AND THE THING PLAYS ITSELF. | ||
| Contra | AF IS SLOW-ISH IN LOW LIGHT AND SOME MACRO SITUATIONS (SWITCH TO "C" SERVO FOCUS FOR BETTER RESPONSE) | ||
| Thoughts | THEY SAY IT TAKES ABOUT 100 ROLLS BEFORE YOU GET THE FEEL FOR YOUR CAMERA. I'VE SHOT AROUND 30 ROLLS SO FAR. NUMBER 31 WAS A DREAM. WHEN THE PRINTS CAME BACK I HAD TO SAY TO MYSELF "I SHOT THAT ?"
WOW !!! | ||
| |||
| Pro | Sturdy, reliable, Matrix with AIS, good flash with SB-24/25/26 | ||
| Contra | Heavy, even with MB-20 | ||
| Thoughts | too much external plastic for my tastes, and a huge weight with a fast zoom and pro-sized flash. Excellent camera, with traditional controls and coputer controlled wizardry combined. See my review at the link above. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Everything | ||
| Contra | Nothing (yet)!!! | ||
| Thoughts | Just got one, been using F3HP, this is a fantastic next step. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Slap an MB-20 battery pack on it and it becomes the world's best manual focus camera, but with the option of auto-focus. This camera is reliable as any on the market-- more so, IMHO... I'd rely on my F4 moreso than my newer N80. | ||
| Contra | While this is the best technology that 1988 had to offer, it is currently 2002!
There are numerous cameras out there with better autofocus technologies. The Nikon F4 may have metering matching the latest and greatest cameras of our time, but for fast action shots you'll need a newer Nikon or Canon AF system. | ||
| Thoughts | The Nikon F4 is my primary camera. My backup cameras are an old Nikon 6006, and a fairly new Nikon N65. The N6006 never sees much use. The N65 has enough advanced autofocus features to make it worthy of a Nikon F4 complement, not just a backup. Bottom line: the Nikon F4 may not do what the modern cameras do, but it does its job well. | ||
| |||
| Pro | all | ||
| Contra | little bit but doesn't matter. | ||
| Thoughts | I owned most kind of Nikon bodies, all of then are pro models, such F, F2,F3 F4e, F5 too, but I love F4s much more than others. Now, I bought more AIS lense for my F4s. And I thought Nikon's AIS lenses are the best ever made. By the way, I am so wonder that it is hard to find any good one of AIS 35mm f1.4 in used market, why? | ||
| |||
| Pro | 1) 1/8000 shutter speed 2) great grip 3) compatible with most lenses 4) Exceptional quality | ||
| Contra | Of course none!! | ||
| Thoughts | For all the years i ve been "out for a photo" this exceptional camera together with the FM2 was there. Without having a scratch, up to today, this camera is the only partner i can think of. It is the only camera that can last a life-time and still shoot with the excellence of a brand new camera! | ||
| |||
| Pro | Exceptional buld quality and ergonomics, can take almost every lens Nikon has ever produced with the exception of the 28/3.5 and a couple of others that are fairly obscure. AF is as fast as an F90 or F100 with AFS lenses. Superb flash system and metering system that shames many newer SLRs. Good 5.7 fps motordrive when using the MB-21 (F4s). Extensive professional accessory system. Takes a lot of abuse to break this camera. | ||
| Contra | None. | ||
| Thoughts | This is one of the finest camera bodies ever produced by any manufacturer. I've been shooting with the F4 since it's inception and have had very little go wrong with the camera despite 13yrs of hard professional use. Some people (mostly the uninformed) whine about the AF speed, but in direct testing with a variety of AFS lenses and AF-I lenses it's as fast as the F90 or F100 in 99% of situations including motorsports, birds on the wing and soccer to name a few. The weight is just right, it should be remembered that the F4 is a professional body, and built to last, it's not some amateur toy that weighs in at half the weight of a standard pro body. If people think the F4 is a heavy body then they should ether go to the gym or try and F2 with MD2 and an AIS 80-200/2.8 sometime then they'd understand the meaning of heavy. In summary - An ideal camera if you have a non AF glass that you can't replace with AF glass or if you need a more traditional camera layout than the F5. | ||
| |||
| Pro | all | ||
| Contra | none | ||
| Thoughts | I tried all systems in market , and this absolutly the best one , i have one f5 , but i come back again to f4 because of the quality of contruction . | ||
| |||
| Pro | Design is excellent. Evolution of a classic manual camera geared with modern technology. | ||
| Contra | NONE | ||
| Thoughts | I WOULD BE LOOKING FORWARD FOR THE RE-ISSUE OF A NEW F4 WHICH IS 10% SMALLER. OVERALL DESIGN ARE THE SAME COSMETICALLY EXCEPT ALL THE KEY FEATURES ARE UPDATED. | ||
| |||
| Pro | I like a heavy camera (easy to hold steady) so the weight of the F4 suits me. I also like the way that the F4 fits my hands, it's a pleasure just to hold it! I also like its conventional controls, i.e. a proper shutter speed dial. | ||
| Contra | Can't think of any right now. | ||
| Thoughts | I have had my F4 for about 6 months now and it is one of my best ever camera buys. Some say that the AF on the F4 is a bit slow but lacking any previous experience of AF cameras I can't comment about that, although the focusing speed seems more than satisfactory to me, much faster than MF! The 1/8000th shutter speed is a real asset because it allows the use of wide lens apertures even in bright sunlight. I do like to see a subject isolated with an out-of-focus background. | ||
| |||
| Pro | by power yes but all by my mind | ||
| Contra | price | ||
| Thoughts | I can do everything with my F4. She is with me during my work of ship-photographer on the sea and in my 4x4 during my free moments (last time all the day under the snow) | ||
| |||
| Pro | You cannot take your eyes of the camera , it feels solid , controls are just where they should. vertical shots a breeze with the additional shutter release button. It has all the metering options one would possibly want. Very easy to lock metering and/or focus. bright , 100% viewfinder , with comprehensible signals. Takes all the lens you can throw at it. In short I bought this camera second hand and I fell in love with it. | ||
| Contra | flash metering only centerweighted and not matrix | ||
| Thoughts | The camera will suit large handed people like myself , like a glove. attach the 35-70 2.8 AFD and you have balanced war horce | ||
| |||
| Pro | A very solid piece of photographic machine! Durable, reliable and dependable. Design is superb---controls, lay-outs and operations. The manual rewind is a BIG plus for me...I hate to get the leader out with a conventional tool and sometime is just by luck. Mechanical depth-of-field preview button with mirror lock-up is superb! Try this operation on the F100 or F5's electronic control for close-up photography! Without spare batteries and you'll be stranded. I've encountered this problem once with my F100 when D-O-F are used a lot. | ||
| Contra | Auto focus can be a bit slow; a lot of hunting with less contrast subject or low light compared to F100 or F5. But don't forget! This F4 was built during the mid '80s with CAM 200 sensor compared to the F100 or F5's 1300 Multi-CAM; the F4 was still ahead of its time then. This doesn't bother me, since I almost always use manual focus. It would be nice to have a controlable shutter speed down to 30 sec in manual mode. | ||
| Thoughts | I replaced my F3 with this big guy for landscape and close-up photography. It is now my favorite camera. This will be my keeper camera. | ||
| |||
| Pro | logical setting of the instruments, the qualitity is remarkable (not to forget the quantity, it is the biggest SLR you can get), the design is okay | ||
| Contra | heavy and big | ||
| Thoughts | this camera is my favorite | ||
| |||
| Pro | Sweet, no plastic here. Solid feel, good grips, good movement of the knobs, viewfinder is excellent, metering is quite good /matrix and spot, have not used the centerweighted/. | ||
| Contra | AF not so good - hunts too much, action photos must must be prefocused ( moving over 8 mph kills AF ) | ||
| Thoughts | Hassel's classic 500CM comes to mind. F4 will be a classic long after the F100 and the F5s are forgotten. | ||
| |||
| Pro | this is a real tank,so rugged,so solid-built | ||
| Contra | yeah,heavy,but no other camera brings this solid feel.a little faster AF maybe good | ||
| Thoughts | why are you people talkin'bout collectible?this camera is a miracle!even if it is 11 years old it is still up to date! | ||
| |||
| Pro | The only camera with auto-everything options yet an old-fashioned, friendly mechanical feel. The camera's weight not only makes it feel solid, it deadens vibration at low shutter speeds (easier to handhold than light, plastic cameras at low speeds) | ||
| Contra | AF leaves much to be desired. So we go back to manual focus :) That's not really a bad thing at all. | ||
| Thoughts | Five segment matrix and TTL metering are both outstanding... better than N90s in my opinion... Only wish the F4's center-weighted was 75/25 split rather than 60/40. I love using this camera! | ||
| |||
| Pro | One of the best in Nikon bodies with traditional and modern features. The shape and firm feel and the sound of the shutter makes you feel you are really taking serious shots. The design and the built quality is the best, I have not yet come across any other pro camera body with that features. | ||
| Contra | Yes... it is heavy with tele 2.8's, but you have much better control of the body. | ||
| Thoughts | The best if you do not want too much electronics and yet you want some and the combination of manual camera features will make this camera one of the legendary and collectible. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Built like a battleship. Most settings cannot be un-intentionally moved as they have releases of some sort. Excellent ergonomics for large hands and I like the weight. | ||
| Contra | Heavy for some people and my wife (size 5.5 shoe, small hands) cannot reach the AE or AF lock buttons. She barely holds the grip. Occasioanl AF issues, hunting | ||
| Thoughts | The Nikon Filed guide recommends serial number 2350000 and above for refinements. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Best manual focus camera Nikon's ever made. Good metering, easy to use with no little LCD panels...super fast motor drive if fitted with the MB-20 grip. | ||
| Contra | Slow, hunting AF - this makes it a great manual focus camera. | ||
| Thoughts | Find a nice one that's not been thrashed and you'll have it forever. | ||
| |||
| Pro | exellent TTL. It's a real tank & it has every thing that a pro needs | ||
| Contra | an hour of shooting with this mammoth and u will hav a ruber arm | ||
| Thoughts | if u are not Arnold, dont use it with a 2.8 AF big tele. | ||
| |||
| Pro | >Extremely sturdy. Fully metering compatible to MF lenses. Nice ergonomic layout. Bright viewfinder. | ||
| Contra | Slow AF, often hunting. VR not possible. No 3D metering. Noisy. Hefty mirror vibrations. Naturally a bit heavy. | ||
| Thoughts | If you don't shoot pictures you may use it as a weapon in war zones ... Interesting option on the used market. | ||
| |||
| Pro | Excelent metering, handling and AF response. Looks sturdy and works as well. Well placed AF And Auto-exposure looks. Easy detachable scren. PROSESSIONAL | ||
| Contra | Weight, but Its ok | ||
| Thoughts | It's a heavy duty equipment. I trust this camera Be careful with battery consumtion. | ||
| |||
| Pro | many features and extensions. almost everything one expects of a good camera. convenient at night as finder display illumination available. can use non-AI lenses. | ||
| Contra | ergonomic nightmare. metering system crappy (matrix and center-weighted built into standard viewfinder and not usable with some focussing screens, sensitivity not as high as in Olympus OM-2/3/4). no electrical release plug on small battery pack. finder display not perfect (cannot quickly judge amount of over/underexposure). under some conditions, finder display is difficult to decipher. standard cable release connection really in a strange place. focus trap only with databack. bulky, heavy... | ||
| Thoughts | in AF cameras, Nikon should include both a window for seeing aperture setting of lenses without CPU and a digital display for lenses with CPU (better with teleconverters). | ||
| |||
| Pro | - | ||
| Contra | - | ||
| Thoughts | With my F4 s, I have simply a good feeling: all buttons on the right place, mechanicaly robust and reliable and heavy enough for a calm hand. | ||
| |||
| Pro | - | ||
| Contra | - | ||
| Thoughts | Bought an F5, and miss my F4 already. Both are great, but the mechanical feel will be missed. AIS matrix is missing on F5! Bummer | ||
| |||
| Pro | - | ||
| Contra | - | ||
| Thoughts | Add a new AF, possibly like AF sensor(s)in F5, improve AF speed and sensitivity, add shiftable program capability, increase the motordrive rate,.... Then who needs an F5? | ||