Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Nikon F5

Nikon · Nikon F mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 1996

Also known as: Nikon F5 Limited · Nikon F5 50th Anniversary · ニコンF5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
F5 Nikon F 1996–2004 3000000 – 3235612 No figure published
F5 50th Anniversary (F5 Limited) Nikon F 1998 311xxxx 2,000 for Japan and 3,000 in total including the foreign markets, per Nikon's own history; Nico van Dijk gives the edition as 3,000
  1. No production total has been published for the F5 by Nikon or by anyone else. The only quantity Nikon gives for the camera is for the anniversary edition — 2,000 domestic, 3,000 including exports.
  2. The serial span 3000000 to 3235612 covers about 235,600 numbers across eight years. That is a count of numbers issued, not of cameras built, and nothing published says the two are the same.
  3. Flash sync was disputed here — 1/250 against the 1/300 English Wikipedia and camera-wiki give — and Nikon's own specification sheet settles it. Both figures describe the same camera in different states: "in Shutter-Priority Auto or Manual exposure mode, shutter operates at speed set, or at 1/250 if speed is set between 1/250 and 1/8000 sec.; 1/300 TTL High-Speed Sync can be selected using Custom Setting #20 in Shutter-Priority or Manual exposure mode." So 1/250 is the sync, and 1/300 is a custom setting available in two of the four exposure modes. Thom Hogan reached the same reading from the camera. The two reference works quote 1/300 without the condition attached to it.
  4. Nikon's specification sheet gives the DP-30 finder as 0.70× with a 50mm lens at infinity. The figure recorded here, 0.75×, is the one the reference sites carry. Nikon's is the maker's own and is the better evidence; 0.75 is noted only so the difference is not mistaken for a second finder.
  5. Manual-focus lenses cost the F5 its matrix metering. Thom Hogan states it plainly — matrix metering is lost the moment a manual-focus lens goes on — and reports that Nikon USA would add a manual-indexing tab to the body for about US$100, which he describes as fixing half the problem.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A metering sensor that sees colour: 1,005 pixels behind red, green and blue filters, the first of its kind on any camera
  • Five autofocus areas from the Multi-CAM 1300 module, where the F4 had one
  • Eight frames a second from a body with no external motor drive to fit
  • Command wheels and an LCD panel instead of the F4's dials — the professional Nikon stops being readable with the power off

F5:

  • Black, with the vertical grip cast into the body rather than bolted underneath
  • The DP-30 Multi-Meter Finder as standard, and a metering-mode selector on the prism

F5 50th Anniversary (F5 Limited):

  • Grey covers, extending to the BF-1A body cap
  • The old Nikon script engraved on the front in place of the modern logotype

Serial-range notes

3000000 – 3235612
Nico van Dijk gives 3000000 as the start and 3235612 as the last serial, describing the end of the range as confirmed by the factory. Production stopped in mid-2004.
311xxxx
The 50th Anniversary edition of April 1998 takes numbers in this block.

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
Finder
DP-30 Multi-Meter Finder as standard, a fixed High-Eyepoint pentaprism with an eyepiece shutter and a metering-mode selector; interchangeable with the DA-30 AE Action Finder, the DW-31 6× magnifier and the DW-30 waist-level finder · 0.7× magnification · 100% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
vertical-travel focal plane, electromagnetically controlled, timed by a lithium niobate oscillator · 30s – 1/8000 in 1/3 stops, plus B; rated by Nikon for 150,000 cycles · flash sync X at 1/250; 1/300 TTL High-Speed Sync selectable on Custom Setting #20, in shutter-priority or manual only, per Nikon's specification sheet · self-timer
Film advance
integral motor: about 8 frames a second on continuous high with the MN-30 nickel-metal hydride unit, about 3 on continuous low and about 1 on continuous silent
Back
hinged
Meter
Three meters in the body: 3D Colour Matrix from a 1,005-pixel RGB CCD, centre-weighted, and spot. EV 0 to 20 on matrix and centre-weighted, EV 2 to 20 on spot, at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens.
Motor drive
MN-30 — Integral. The MN-30 is a battery, not a drive — there is no external motor for an F5, because the transport is part of the casting.
Weight
1210 g
Dimensions
158 × 149 × 79 mm
Country
Japan
Original price
325,000 yen for the body in October 1996, consumption tax excluded. No American list price has been found. (today ¥367,000)
Accessories
DP-30 Multi-Meter Finder, DA-30 AE Action Finder, DW-30 waist-level, DW-31 6× magnifier · MN-30 nickel-metal hydride battery unit · EC-B focusing screen (standard)

Figures we worked out rather than found: About 235,600 serial numbers were issued between 3000000 and 3235612. This is arithmetic on van Dijk's endpoints, not a production figure, and it holds only if the sequence ran without gaps or reserved blocks — which is known for the F4 and unverified here.

What reviewers say

History

The F5 went on sale in October 1996 at 325,000 yen for the body. Nikon says the work started around 1992, not long after the F4 shipped, and that the concept was one word — speed. Eight frames a second is the number the camera is remembered for, and it is not the interesting one.

The interesting one is 1,005. That is the pixel count of the metering CCD, and each pixel sits behind a red, green or blue filter. No camera before it metered in colour. Matrix metering on the F4 divided the frame into five brightness segments; the F5 hands its computer a coarse colour photograph of the scene before the exposure, which is how it separates a bride in white from a snowfield, or skin from the sand behind it. Nikon called the result 3D Colour Matrix, and every matrix meter since — including those in every Nikon digital body — descends from it.

The rest of the camera follows from putting the film transport inside the casting. There is no motor drive for an F5 because the F5 is the motor drive; the vertical grip is structural, and the body cannot be made shorter by taking anything off it. The MN-30 nickel-metal hydride unit is a battery, not a drive, and eight frames a second depends on it. Autofocus moved from the F4’s single zone to five, on a Multi-CAM 1300 module built for this camera, and the shutter is rated by Nikon for 150,000 cycles.

What the F5 gave up was legibility. The F4 could be read with the power off — every setting was engraved on a dial. The F5 puts shutter speed, aperture, mode, focus area and compensation behind command wheels and an LCD panel, which is the layout every professional Nikon has used since. The dials did not come back.

Almost nothing is published about how many were made. Nikon gives a quantity for exactly one version of the camera, the 50th Anniversary edition of April 1998 — 2,000 for Japan and 3,000 in total — and no figure at all for the F5 itself. The serial numbers run from 3000000 to a last number van Dijk reports as confirmed by the factory, 3235612, which is about 235,600 numbers over eight years. Whether that is also about 235,600 cameras is unknown; on the F4 the sequence and the sales figures matched to the unit, but no comparable check exists here, and Nikon has published nothing against which to test it. The flash sync, which looked like a disagreement, turned out to be one camera described in two states. Nikon’s specification sheet gives 1/250 as the sync and adds that 1/300 TTL High-Speed Sync is selectable on Custom Setting #20, in shutter-priority and manual only. English Wikipedia and camera-wiki both print 1/300 without the condition; Thom Hogan, working from the camera rather than the paperwork, had already got there. Nothing is in dispute.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Nikon F5
Nikon F5 — Moyashisun, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Nikon F5
Nikon F5 with the 50mm f/1.4 — Silvio Tanaka from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Nikon F5
Nikon F5 cutaway with the 85mm f/1.4D, Nikon Museum — 4300streetcar, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $550 across 132 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $430–$730). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 3 days: unchanged from $550.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$550$430–$730132
2026-09-10$550$430–$730132
2026-09-06$550$430–$730132

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Nikon F100 · Nikon F2 · Nikon F3 · Nikon F4

Lenses for this body: AF DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D · Nikkor 200mm f/2 IF-ED · Ai AF Nikkor 28mm f/1.4D · Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 ED · Nikkor 85mm f/1.4

Sources (10)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.