Nikon F5 - Belmar, NJ

B&H got me again... they just have me figured out, apparently. I went in for a few rolls of film this past Summer, and walked out with a professional SLR from the late 90s.

The Nikon F5, in all it's chonky glory

In my defense, the camera launched in 1996 at $3200, which price adjusted to 2023 is ~$6300, and I was able to buy it for $125. The temptation to own a proper, professional level, pinnacle-of-camera technology (circa 1996), was too much to ignore.

Belmar, NJ beach jetty, with fishermen looking to snag some Stripers

The F5 reigned supreme for 8 years, before finally being replaced in 2004 by its successor and arguably the most advanced film camera ever produced, the Nikon F6. As such, the F5 is renown for its reliability and ruggedness. I had the perfect opportunity to take this legendary beast out for a salty shoot out on the sea.

A semi-seaworthy dinghy / retired lifeguard boat out on the bay

My wife had organized a trip for her girlscout troop to meet during the summer on a whale watching trip. I had my doubts that we would spot any whales off the Jersey Shore... after all, I had lived here all my life, worked on the beach patrol for ~8 years, and had only ever seen skates, stingrays, or dolphins in the ocean. I had spotted large brown sharks once, and that was the extent my exotic sea creature observations.

The Belmar Princess, with some Whale Tails

Much to my surprise, as you can see above, there were whale tails to be found. There were more than a few sightings, whale breaches, surface water bubbling with bait fish... I didn't realize that all of this was going on not even a few kilometers off the shore!

Vintage style picture in modern times

The camera was a blast to shoot with... incredibly snappy to pick up focus, and very confident in its shutter. It has a very satisfying *click* and rapid film advance... a little too rapid, tbh. At 8fps, you can blow through an entire 36 shot roll in just about 4 seconds. But it was very cool to see all of my modern DSLR lenses working perfectly well on a camera that was conceived and manufactured before any digital Nikon camera had ever been produced. Now that is some fine backwards compatibility.

It's only appropriate, of course, that I end with a sunset shot, heading back into the harbor. I'll be thinking about the next shoot to bring my "new" Nikon F5 on. Which, tbh, shouldn't be long... I've since sold my Fuji X100V for more than I originally bought it for over a year ago. Somehow, it became TikTok famous in the last year due to its vintage aesthetic and built in film simulations. So, for the time in a while, I 'm mostly going to be relying on my film cameras until the Nikon Zf that I pre-ordered ships. Not a problem with me - Film, as a I've said here before, just has a magic quality to it ✨ 🎞️