F5 Won't read DX coding

[ianhoke]

<p>I searched for an answer to this but found nothing, so here goes. I recently bought an (awesome) used F5 that does everything right, except I keep having to set the ISO manually. The F5 is a US body and I'm buying film in China, but thus far, neither Ilford nor Fuji films have registered ISO via the DX coding.<br>

Any suggestions? I'm doubting the DX coding differs geographically, so here's hoping for an equipment-based answer.<br>

Thanks in advance.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>IIRC an F5 needs to have its ISO set to "DX" to read the DX coding, so if it didn't read one roll and you set it manually, you'd need to set it back before you loaded the next roll.</p>

[User_276104]

<p>Not sure what kind of experience you have with film bodies, but to set the camera to read ISO automatically, go one click above 6400 or one below 6 so that "DX" shows up in the rear LCD panel.</p>

<p>Sorry if that's too obvious or insulting - it was the first thing I thought of in case someone was new to an AF film camera.</p>

<p>Edit: Looks like Andrew was just ahead of me with a similar answer.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Of course you have to set the ISO dial to DX or the camera would use the specific film speed setting on the dial.</p>

<p>There are probably some electronic connectivity issues. I would clean those electronic contacts in the film cassette chamber and see whether that solves the problem. Otherwise, if the circuit is broken inside, I am afraid that setting film speed manually is the easiest work around. I have had problems on the F4 when it reads the DX coding completely wrong, so it is not a bad idea to set film speed manually anyway. When I shot film, I always had the habit to manually verify the decoded film speed anyway.</p>

[ianhoke]

<p>Thanks, all. My last film body was a 1960's Pentax from my father, so the automation is all new to me. I appreciate the information. Perhaps in light of your comments I will continue to set the ISO manually anyway. Cheers!</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>My experience with the F4 was that it once decoded a roll of Kodakchrome 64 as ISO 4000. The problem on the F4 is that it has no LCD read out to confirm what the decoded value is, but I realized that the metering did not make any sense. On the F4, back then the only solution was to attach an SB-24 flash, and the flash's LCD would show film speed. That was how I found out that the F4 decoded it to be ISO 4000.</p>

<p>I clean the film cassette and the electronic contacts on the F4. For whatever reason it continued to decode that roll of K64 as ISO 4000, but it had no problems with other similar K64 rolls. From that point on, I never totally trusted DX film speed decoding although I never had any problem again with my N8008, F5, and F100 in the following 10 years or so when I continued to shoot film. All of those bodies have an LCD to provide the decoded film speed feedback.</p>

[walterh]

<p>I once had a problem that my F5 did read the ISO wrong. Luckily it was extremely high (similar to Shun's experience) so it was very obvious. Cleaning the contacts in the body solved the problem. The contacts looked fine but needed the cleaning. Once I got back to my own C41 and BW (silver based) developing I set ISO manually because it was always a bit different from nominal ISO.<br>

And there are no regional differences in DX coding.<br>

Have fun with the F5, a great camera.</p>