Nikon D5500 General Discussion

Golf007sd

Give the new announcement by Nikon on this new body, I warrants its own topic.

Personally, I look forward in hearing how the touch screen works. Moreover, at $900 (body only) it is well priced.

Golf007sd

Msmoto

What I see on the specs is an ISO the same as the D4s, yet the pixel density in the D5500 is much higher....how interesting... we will have to se exactly how it does in real life low light.

rmp

Nikon seems serious about the ISO values. On the home page they list two cameras with the 25,600 value.
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/dslr-cameras/index.page#!/tag:u0Q:25600 ISO

I wonder what the D5 ISO value will be. I guess this solves my problem of what to buy my daughter.

Sports

I guess this solves my problem of what to buy my daughter.

Maybe not quite ....
The D5500 comes in different colors, and you better get the right one :-)

donaldejose

Yes, the posted ISO range (without a High 1 and High 2 designation) is most interesting. Nikon had used the High designations as a warning that the image quality at those levels was not really acceptable. By dropping the High designations is Nikon saying the image quality at ISO 12,800 and 25,600 from a Dx D5500 sensor has now been improved to the level it used to be at ISO 6400 from a Dx D5300 sensor? Hopefully so but maybe too much to hope for because that would be a two stop improvement. The sensor alone wouldn't make a two stop improvement but Nikon could be using differential noise reduction in JPEGs plus sensor technology like the D750s to gain significant improvement at high ISO. If all this it true I say we now have a sensor for a pro DX which can be a mini-D4. We also have Nikon changing body build and internal parts placement to give us thinner lighter bodies. Nikon can use the same design criteria to produce a D400 body with a built in battery grip. I am looking forward to the various reviews and DxOMark "Sports" rating. This sensor combined with the new 300mm f4 lens could be quite a combination for wildlife.

Photobug

I spent a lot of time reading about the new D5500 last nigh, including the side-by-side comparison that Peter posted on the main Blog. I sold my wife's D90 last month and had planned to replace it with the D5300 then decided to wait to see what was in the D5500.

The side-by-side comparison is excellent. I can see many people liking the touch screen and the deeper grip, ala D750. The 2 oz reduction in weight is not surprising either.

I received a response from B&H Customer Support this morning, they will receive the D500, D5500 18-55 kit, D5500 18-140 kit, and both new lens on Feb 5th. So the weight won't be long for those pre ordering now.

My hunch is that the low noise, and sensor tweaking, and EXCEEDS 4 is going to produce an excellent DxO Mark score.

The $900, $1000, and $1100 price points for this DSLR and the kits is competitive and less than I anticipated. On paper, this appears to be an excellent addition to the Nikon DSLR rank.

Oh, I did see a couple of things that I expect to see in the new D7200 to be announced next month.

WestEndFoto

What I see on the specs is an ISO the same as the D4s, yet the pixel density in the D5500 is much higher....how interesting... we will have to se exactly how it does in real life low light.

To Donaldjose's point (what Nikon considers acceptable) I think that this is the marketing department talking. Even if ISO 25,600 is the new ISO 6,400, was ISO of 6,400 ever really acceptable? To me shooting even at ISO 3,200 on my D800 is something I only do if there is no other alternative ( and there are those times). How good can almost ten times the ISO, or even double, in a sensor format half the size, possibly be?

I know that there is good reason to shoot at these higher ISOs. I just think that these ISO specs tell us more about the marketing department than the engineering department.

Photobug

Price Error

I just checked the NIkon USA web site and B&H. Some one is wrong on pricing. Remember mail order places are normally a few dollars less than the SRP.

Nikon SRP (suggested retail price)
D55500 Body: $900
D5500 + 18-55mm lens kit $1000
D5500 + 18-140mm lens kit $1400

B&H & Adorama selling price
Nikon SRP (suggested retail price)
D55500 Body: $896
D5500 + 18-55mm lens kit $996
D5500 + 18-140mm lens kit $1196

Just checked Adorama and their prices are same as B&H.

Could some one be wrong on the D5500 with 18-140mm lens. I expect B&H & Adorama to make an adjustment.

spraynpray

What I see on the specs is an ISO the same as the D4s, yet the pixel density in the D5500 is much higher....how interesting... we will have to se exactly how it does in real life low light.

To Donaldjose's point (what Nikon considers acceptable) I think that this is the marketing department talking. Even if ISO 25,600 is the new ISO 6,400, was ISO of 6,400 ever really acceptable? To me shooting even at ISO 3,200 on my D800 is something I only do if there is no other alternative ( and there are those times). How good can almost ten times the ISO, or even double, in a sensor format half the size, possibly be?

I know that there is good reason to shoot at these higher ISOs. I just think that these ISO specs tell us more about the marketing department than the engineering department.

Nobody ever shoots high ISO when low ISO is enough of course, but the difference between the high ISO performance of my old D7000 in low light and my D7100 is a good 2 stops as I've said many times before. That statement is following is a side-by-side comparison of the two in low light. The improvement in the D5500 may well be real enough, time will tell for sure - guessing will only give you a 50% chance of being right.

WestEndFoto

You may be right. But I am not guessing as I am really only saying that I am very skeptical of marketing department claims.

spraynpray

Amen to that these days! :P

donaldejose

My comparison of "highest native ISO" between Nikon camera bodies is an attempt to suggest Nikon has some sort of standard against which it judges the ISO it will mark as the highest "native" or ISO numbered ISO with higher ISO's being designated has Hi 1, etc. We don't know exactly what this Nikon "standard" is but I do believe it is not simply a floating point set anywhere the marketing department wants it to be. If such a "standard" truly exists then the D5500 has an improved high ISO performance of about two stops. Now if that it true it is REMARKABLE! Image quality usually advances less than one stop per generation or iteration and here we have what seems to be more than one stop improvement at high ISO. The touch screen will take all the air out of the discussion of the D5500 but the real technical accomplishment may be vastly improve high ISO Image Quality in a Dx sensor. Of course, Nikon's upper bound "standard" may not be yours. But even if you upper limit for ISO on a Dx sensor was only 1,600 if the new D5500 sensor can give you about the same image quality now two stops higher at 6,400 it will be remarkable. I have always wished for a "mini-D4" with a built in battery grip, 8 to 10 fps, large buffer, built in WiFi and a Dx sensor able to shoot cleanly at ISO 6,400 or 12,800 for $2,000. Such a camera would allow local photojournalists and parents to cover indoor events and quickly transfer images to social media or e-mail. A year ago I was told by many that it was impossible and no Dx sensor in the near future could do it. Well, this D5500 sensor may be able to do it now. We will have to wait for the tests.

WestEndFoto

You may be right as well, but I am still skeptical.

If they do make that kind of improvement, however, it will be a software improvement, not a sensor improvement.

This aspect of Nikon's and Canon's secret sauce does not get half the attention it deserves.

CaMeRaQuEsT

I was really hoping Nikon will start adding on chip phase detection AF on this iteration to make the best use of its touch screen, seeing that the V3 has them both and so do Canon's T5i/70D and Sony's A5100/A6000, so a big let down there. They don't mention any improvements realized on their LV contrast detection AF anywhere on their press or product literature, so I don't expect any on this front. Or hopefully they added depth from defocus and can't advertise it, least they get sued by Panasonic. ) As I see it, this is yet another step forward for Nikon in their ongoing quest for cost reduction (would they be realizing a 10% reduction in material cost with the 10% in weight reduction they realized?). Taking away the GPS capability to make up for the cost of the touch screen was a wise move I think as I will probably leave the GPS off at all times to save power. Hopefully they did realize at least a 1 stop improvement on high ISO (if they did, why are they not giving us Hi-1 at ISO 51200?) and I'm all for weight and size similar to the D3300. But for now, I think I'll keep on enjoying my D3300 while I wait for the price of the D5300 to get as low as what I got my D5200 for.

spraynpray

My comparison of "highest native ISO" between Nikon camera bodies is an attempt to suggest Nikon has some sort of standard against which it judges the ISO it will mark as the highest "native" or ISO numbered ISO with higher ISO's being designated has Hi 1, etc. We don't know exactly what this Nikon "standard" is but I do believe it is not simply a floating point set anywhere the marketing department wants it to be. If such a "standard" truly exists then the D5500 has an improved high ISO performance of about two stops. Now if that it true it is REMARKABLE! Image quality usually advances less than one stop per generation or iteration and here we have what seems to be more than one stop improvement at high ISO. The touch screen will take all the air out of the discussion of the D5500 but the real technical accomplishment may be vastly improve high ISO Image Quality in a Dx sensor. Of course, Nikon's upper bound "standard" may not be yours. But even if you upper limit for ISO on a Dx sensor was only 1,600 if the new D5500 sensor can give you about the same image quality now two stops higher at 6,400 it will be remarkable. I have always wished for a "mini-D4" with a built in battery grip, 8 to 10 fps, large buffer, built in WiFi and a Dx sensor able to shoot cleanly at ISO 6,400 or 12,800 for $2,000. Such a camera would allow local photojournalists and parents to cover indoor events and quickly transfer images to social media or e-mail. A year ago I was told by many that it was impossible and no Dx sensor in the near future could do it. Well, this D5500 sensor may be able to do it now. We will have to wait for the tests.

I agree Donald, but I think the standard of acceptability of IQ is something that does change as the D7000's 6400 ISO results were waaay worse than the D7100's at 12800 and yet the D7000's ISO 6400 (unlike the ISO 12800 of the D7100) was not Hi 1, but a bonafide ISO rated stop.

donaldejose

It will be interesting to compare DxOMarks "Sports" ratings for the various Nikon Dx sensors. Currently, the top Nikon Dx sensors are rated at clean or unobjectionable at approximately 1300 ISO. The Fx D3 is "Sports" rated at 2300 ISO which is about one stop better. If the D5500 has a native 25,600 (the D3 only had a native top ISO of 6,400 with a boost to 25,600) you would think it may be able to achieve a DxOMark "Sports" rating of at least 2300 putting it on par with the Fx D3. It will be interesting to see.

And certainly it is a combination of sensor and software as is true with the great ISO performance of the D750.

JCTibu

There is a lot of rumors about the D5500 without a real test on field... If i has the option to buy a DX, I will wait until Feb or March to see two things happens:

1.) pricing drops of the D5300 in case I don't like the review of the D5500..
2.) What will bring out the new D7200..... that will also drop the price of the D7100...

But hey.... that's only me....

Photobug

There is a lot of rumors about the D5500 without a real test on field... If i has the option to buy a DX, I will wait until Feb or March to see two things happens:
1.) pricing drops of the D5300 in case I don't like the review of the D5500..
2.) What will bring out the new D7200..... that will also drop the price of the D7100...
But hey.... that's only me....

+1 very valid points. I agree with you on each point.

Photobug

Price Error

I just checked the NIkon USA web site and B&H. Some one is wrong on pricing. Remember mail order places are normally a few dollars less than the SRP.
Nikon SRP (suggested retail price)
D55500 Body: $900
D5500 + 18-55mm lens kit $1000
D5500 + 18-140mm lens kit $1400
B&H & Adorama selling price
Nikon SRP (suggested retail price)
D55500 Body: $896
D5500 + 18-55mm lens kit $996
D5500 + 18-140mm lens kit $1196
Just checked Adorama and their prices are same as B&H.
Could some one be wrong on the D5500 with 18-140mm lens. I expect B&H & Adorama to make an adjustment.

Just to drive this point home again...I checked the prices tonight at B&H, Adorama, and Amazon. The price of the D5500 + 18-140mm lens kit is just under $1400. Which is consistent with Nikon's SRP (suggested retail price). That leaves Adorama and B&H selling the same new D5500 + 18-140mm lens for $200 less. Just saying, that is a great buy.
Update time: 8:15pm, original message was 7:40pm.
Roberts price matches B&H and Adorama for the D55 + 18-140mm kit, $1199.95.

Photobug

KR has already posted a review of the D5300...this is what I dislike about his reviews. No one has the camera yet is posting looks like he has shot pictures and makes quality comments. Why? Okay off the soap box.

In the middle of the review is a good comparison chart on the D5XXX DSLR's.

Here is his dumb review: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d5500.htm

calengor

KR runs that website to get visitors and make money, that's it.

Paperman

Sorry to shatter the dreams of all those expecting 2 stop improvement ( or even 1 stop ) in D5500 from D5300/D7100 in low light performance but DxO shows that low light performance figures for Nikon DX DSLRs have changed only about

Less than 1/2 stop between likes of D90/D5000 ( 2009 ) and today's D5300/D3300/D7100
A little over 1 stop between likes of D200 ( 2005 ) and today's D5300/D3300/D7100

Some expect to see 1 stop better low light results with every new DSLR announced, some claim they personally see the difference ...The reality is in test figures. I am aware the resolutions have also increased so the technological improvement is actually more but still we should consider ourselves lucky to see 1 stop better low light performance every 4-5 years.

The DxO figure will probably be between 1400-1500 ( if that ) which will correlate to fractions of 1 stop improvement over D5300.

NSXTypeR

What I don't understand is why does Nikon always take features away and then add later? They took out GPS, but the D5300 had that.

I think people who wanted a new camera who would have been interested in a D5500 would just get the D5300 and pocket the change, even if they were seriously interested in the D5500.

Pistnbroke

Not my sort of camera but I dont like the loss of the GPS and touch screens are a pain in the ass as they get touched and the settings have all changed ( same problem with Sam NX2000)
so sorry 5300 rules here

heartyfisher

Looks good .. was hoping for the D7100 AF .. maybe the D7200 will have the flippy screen and wifi.