Howard_Creech's Full Review: Nikon F100 35mm Film Camera
Pro and serious amateur photographers like to call the F100 the F5 “lite” or the “Baby” F5 but I think the F100 is a solid camera in its own right. The F100 was designed as a professional l camera with a truckload of features packed into a moderate sized camera body. The F100 was conceived from the start as part of the "new" Nikon analog/digital family with the F5 and the D1X and D100 digital cameras. At half the F5’s price the F100 does almost everything the F5 can do, and it does it all very well. Features include the F100’s incredibly fast and super smooth autofocus, high-speed flash sync (up to 1/4000 second with the SB-28 speedlight), rear-curtain and slow speed flash sync, and three metering modes. The F100 incorporates the F5’s command dial, Nikon Focus Area Selector (pioneered on the F5---users can manually select one of five AF areas, Nikon's 3-D matrix metering (plus centerweighted and spot), manual focus with virtually every “F” mount lens manufactured since 1981, auto bracketing in ALL exposure modes, and a nifty "all modes" depth of field preview. I have used the F100 extensively under a wide variety of exposure/lighting situations and with lenses ranging from the superb manual focus 35/f1.4 AIS Nikkor to the popular AF-S Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED-IF and I have always been impressed with its performance, design, and ease of use.
Nuts & Bolts
Focus
The F100 has the fastest and most consistently accurate auto focus of any 35mm SLR currently available. Precise manual focusing is ensured by the F100’s built in electronic rangefinder.
The F100’s TTL phase detection auto focus system features 5 AF areas, allowing photographers to switch between a single user selected AF point, Dynamic AF (the F100 selects the AF point), and Closest Subject Priority (the F100 determines which AF point is closest to the subject and enables that AF area)
EXPOSURE
The Nikon F100 features three metering systems, 3D matrix, centerweighted, and spot and four Exposure Modes (Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Full Manual)
Lens Compatibility
The F100 makes maximum use of the Nikon "F" mount, allowing full function use of all AF and AF-S Nikkors (silent wave) the camera determines the exact lens that is mounted, locates the lens data for that optic in its on board database and optimizes its features and capabilities. For those photographers with a bag full of manual focus “F” mount lenses, the F100 can use all AI and AI-S Nikkors, and all manual focus Nikon mount (AI or later) lenses from aftermarket manufacturers. This provides the user with access to thousands of lenses, new and used.
Flash
The Nikon F100 has the most advanced and comprehensive flash system available in any camera. Automatic balanced fill flash was designed to work equally well with ALL F100 exposure modes, auto bracketing, and exposure compensation options. The new system is based on Nikon's exclusive 3D multi sensor (five segment) TTL (in AF or Manual) balanced fill flash program. When the shooter trips the shutter (after the mirror flips up, but before the shutter curtain opens) the camera directs the flash (either the Nikon SB27 or SB28 Speedlights) to fire a rapid series of imperceptible pre-flashes, the flash is reflected back to the camera's TTL multi sensor and the F100's CPU (with over 30,000 exposures stored in memory) determines in which of the sensor's five segments the subject is located (in coordination with information from the "D" AF lens mounted) Segment areas which reflect back no information indicate a distant background and the CPU instructs the flash to ignore them in its calculations for the correct flash output. Combine all this sophistication with a top flash synch of 1/250th of a second and the F100 provides photographers almost unlimited creative control.
In the Field/Operation and Handling
My first experience with the F100 came in Louisiana when my friend Eric returned from vacation with a brand new F100. I asked him if I could borrow the camera for a short trip to Hodges Gardens and the sawmill town of Fisher.
Hodges Gardens
The “Garden in the Forest” came about because of the vision of one man, A. J. Hodges. The huge Long Leaf Pine forests that once covered the area, remain now only in the Kissatchie National Forest. The area between Mansfield and DeRidder has been heavily logged for more than one hundred years and in 1930 Hodges bought 5000 acres of logged over land and started a one-man re-forestation project. Today, Hodges Gardens is a great place for a photographic outing. There is a scenic drive, 60 acres of formal plantings, hiking trails, a 225-acre lake, wildflowers, and hundreds of huge Long Leaf Pines and Spanish Moss draped Live Oak trees.
I took the F100 and my favorite 35/f1.4 Nikkor AIS lens and a 105/f2.8 AF Micro Nikkor lens and walked around the Lake area. I wanted to shoot the dozens of varieties of blooming wildflowers and the ubiquitous hawk moths. Hawk Moths are large diurnal (day flyers) nectar gathers. They have short wings and look like hummingbirds until you get very close. I used the F100 and 105/f2.8 AF Micro Nikkor to shoot an entire 36 exposure roll of roll Kodak EliteChrome ISO 100 slide film. Elite Chrome 100 is relatively inexpensive and works very well for most outdoor photography because the colors are accurate, grain is very fine, and resolution is tack sharp. Kodak EliteChrome ISO 100 is a general use slide film but if exposed and processed properly it provides professional quality results.
Hawk Moths hover (just like hummingbirds) and their wings are a constant blur-- so getting a really sharp picture was quite a challenge. I spent most of an hour moving from one clump of wildflowers to another trying to get a good close up Hawk Moth shot. With the camera mounted on an old Leitz Tilt All tripod and the SB27 set to fill mode I shot until I ran out of film.
After my knees started to hurt (serious macro photographers should invest in a set of good kneepads) I jumped in my car and drove the shot distance on U. S. 171 to the Fisher turnoff.
Fisher
The Village of Fisher is the last surviving old Louisiana sawmill town from the golden age of the timber industry. The town was built by the Louisiana Long Leaf Lumber Company (better known as 4-L) in 1899 to process pine timber cut in the surrounding forests. The village is split right down the middle by the tracks of the Kansas City Southern Railroad, which was Fisher’s lifeline to the world for more than three generations. The KCS tracks divide the large comfortable houses of the sawmill’s management from the simpler much smaller houses of the sawmill workers. Whitewashed picket fences and pine plank sidewalks once surrounded all the houses in this old company town. Everything in Fisher is made of wood including the Railroad Depot, the Company Store, and the Opera House.
The Opera House was very popular in the early years of the twentieth century because it was the only place between Shreveport and Lake Charles that showed movies. People came from Mansfield, Many, Nachitoches, Leesville, DeRidder, and dozens of other small towns to see their celluloid heroes on the big screen.
By the late sixties Fisher’s sawmill had changed hands several times and it was obvious the little village was doomed. The residents negotiated with the owner of the sawmill and by the mid seventies the village was signed over to the residents. More than one billion board feet of lumber were produced at the Fisher sawmill.
On a typically gorgeous Western Louisiana summer day I spent more than an hour shooting the old whitewashed pine buildings of Fisher. I spent quite a bit of time shooting the double entrance company store (which looks like something out of an old cowboy movie) and a wonderful heirloom tea rose bush in front of one of worker’s houses. I used the 35/f1.4 Nikkor AIS mounted on the F100 to document the weathered white washed wood and the lovely coral color of the tea roses. I was able to go through another roll of Elitechrome 100 ISO slide film and still get the camera back to Eric before he was finished with work for the day. I had to wait a week to get the slides back (for overnight slide processing it is necessary to drive to either Lake Charles or Shreveport) but it was worth it. When Eric and I spread the slides out on the light table I knew right away that I had gotten a couple of keepers. Most of the Hawk Moth pictures were blurred or the insect was badly framed, but in two slides I had managed to get everything right. The pictures from Fisher were a lot better (buildings tend to hold still for photographers much better than bugs do) the stark white pine buildings were beautifully framed by a cobalt blue sky. I loved the F100 ---- the camera quickly and competently did everything I asked it to do--------and that is all a photographer can ask of a well designed and solidly constructed photographic tool.
Technical Specifications
Viewfinder: fixed optical TTL Pentaprism
Metering: 10 segment 3D Matrix, Centerweighted, 1% spot
Shutter Speeds: 30 Seconds to 1/8000th of a second
Exposure Modes: Program AE (Shiftable) Shutter & Aperture Priority AE, and Metered Manual
Focusing: AF (single shot or continuous "predictive" AF)
Depth of Field Preview: Yes
Auto Bracketing: Yes
Film Advance: 4.5 FPS
Power: 4 "AA" cells
A Few Concerns
My most serious complaint with the F100 is the lack of a mirror lock up option---Nikon was able to provide mirror lock up on their inexpensive entry level Nikkormat cameras, why can’t they manage it with a $1000 professional camera?
SUMMARY
The F100 incorporates Nikon's famous "built to last" sturdiness and dust/moisture seals. The top and bottom areas of the camera are constructed of a new magnesium alloy for maximum toughness.
The F100 features Nikon's justly famous ergonomics, excellent balance, and well laid out, logical controls. The F100 makes the perfect back up to the F5, or works beautifully as a primary camera. For the working pro, or the dedicated amateur who insists on the best, the F100 may be the camera for you. Expect to pay around a thousand bucks for the camera.
If you found this 35mm SLR review informative, you may enjoy my other 35mm SLR reviews:
The F100 a 35mm SLR body geared to the professional and is situated beyond the N90 and behind the F5 as the #2 top camera in the Nikon line With its s...More at Amazon Marketplace
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