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The New Flagship The Nikon D5 sails into view! - part 1 of 1

by Mike McNamee Published 01/02/2016

After much rumour and counter rumour, and even a pre-announcement by Nikon themselves, they have revealed the D5 to the world and showed it to the UK public at the Convention Trade Show. It was joined by the new D500 and a few other goodies.

The Nikon D5 Full Frame SLR

This is billed as the new Nikon flagship and comes in at a hefty £5,200 for this 20.5 megapixel machine. The camera is built for speed above all other aspects: two high-speed XQG cards (you can also opt for 2x CF cards with another model), 12fps, 200 Raw files burst depth and a mind-blowing 3,280,000 ISO (normal range 100-102,400 ISO). As such it is aimed fairly and squarely at the news sport and nature shooter; landscapers and studio users can stay with their D810 and its equally mind-blowing 36 mega pixels but less ability to stop a galloping police horse in its tracks.

In the hand the D5 looks and feels like a D4s with just a couple of millimetres here and there on the size (see the comparison table). Today a D4s may be had for £4,192 from Park Cameras and whether you are prepared to pay for the upgrade is purely personal. The idea of shooting a 100mm sprint without taking your finger off the button and still having frames to spare for the winner's celebrations might tempt some (it is Olympics' year!). The ultra ISO might appeal to bat photographers but the improved performance around the 1600 to 6400 ISO would appeal to the nature shooters who are always short of shutter speed.

The other major feature of the D5 is the expansion to 153 focus points and 99 cross-type sensors. AF sensitivity is maintained down to -4 EV (ISO 100, 20 °C/68 °F) which enables superior low-light performance. Subjects at the periphery are easily detected and vertical shooting is vastly improved due to the implementation of cross-type sensors around the edge of the focusing area. The new AF ASIC unit allocates maximum computing power to AF at all times.

Movie-makers are not forgotten with high-definition 4K/UHD capability to shoot 4K movies (3840x2160 pixels) at 30p/25p/24p in dot-by-dot native pixel crop, which ensures the highest image quality. Shoot Full HD (1080p) video at up to 50p/60p is available in multiple formats.

That's about as much as we can say for the moment; plans are afoot to try to get a D5 into the hands of Ian Cook for a certain big game due in May (called the European Champions League Cup Final, in Milan!) - now that will give the camera a good workout!

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There are 37 days to get ready for The Societies of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 17th January 2024