Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsLadies and gentlemen, we have a winner!
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2016
I am a professional photographer and I either own or have owned many other Nikon FF bodies, including the D4, D810. D750, and D700. I use these cameras as a job function; they pay my bills. So a lot of the gimmick features are wasted on me. I want bodies that do their job, do it well, and don't fail me.
The D5 is not the D4. It's not the same thing with a few tweaks. Even a few days of ownership are enough to be certain of that fact. That statement includes both positives and negatives, both of which I'll try to outline here. As the weeks and months go on I will update this review with further findings. I'm going to touch on four main issues: autofocus, high ISO performance, handling/ergonomics, and overall impressions.
First, the autofocus is incredible. Not good, not great; truly exceptional. I almost have to try to make it miss. The D4 does a great job of focusing in most conditions but it does struggle in a few situations. Erratic side to side movements are very tough, for example. I've yet to find a situation where the D5 struggles. Short of using superlatives I'm not sure what there is left to say on this subject. A+, 10/10, AAA.
High ISO performance is one of the hallmarks of the D series. It's always excellent and the D5 is no exception. When the light gets low the D5 steps up and doesn't disappoint. I'm primarily a RAW shooter but I've been shooting RAW+JPEG since I have received the camera. The JPEG's are superb. It's very obvious that Nikon has made significant progress with their JPEG engine. The RAWs are also excellent, but not quite as amazing (comparatively) as the JPEGs. They are still MORE than acceptable and I find them to be about a stop better than the D4. However, I expect a future firmware update, paired with software updates, to make them truly amazing in the months to come. JPEGs get an A+. RAWs get an A.
The ergonomics of the D5 are every bit as good as their predecessors. Everything is tight, well built, and well placed. There have been some small changes in button layout, all of which I think are improvements. The biggest improvement being the relocation of the ISO button. Instead of being located in the bottom left it's now near the shutter, making changing ISO on the fly much more convenient. It will take some relearning of muscle memory, but in the long run it will definitely be a positive.
My overall impressions are highly positive. I think that Nikon's changes have been for the better and that those improvements have been significant. The high ISO quality has been improved and even a minor improvement (combined with more resolution) is impressive. The focus improvements are significant and immediately noticeable. The low ISO dynamic range seems little lower than I would have hoped for, but it's not a concern for my work and I can't imagine buyers of this camera would be concerned with it either.
As I said, I will update this review in the future after I use it more, but if my long term impressions are anywhere close to what I've seen so far, I'll be highly pleased with this purchase.
