D500 General Discussion Thread

snakebunk

@rmp: 300 meters is pretty far away and I think you need something longer than 70-200. You could try to shoot something at similar size and distance to get a feel for it.

DaveyJ

At RMP: which lens would record a Marlin jumping at 300 meters? Maybe he means 300 ft from the boat.....a Nkon D500 and a 70-300 lens will handle that in video or still. Recommend video highly for that hooked fish. A D7200 will do it. Biggest question is not whether the camera and lens can do it, but getting a Blue, Black, Stripped Marlin to go for this....I would way rather have the fish on UW video swimming free....it has been done! Between 300 ft and 300 meters you are pretty much at infinity on the lens, so the question is how big the jumping fish appears....but is still going to be in focus at infinity and for sure I'd want to be on auto focus....

DaveyJ

Almost all of the free swimming Marlin images are shot UW at less than 100 ft. A jumping Marlin at 300 meters....a long way out......is still going to be jumping at 300 ft. Out then even closer. At some point you'd better have a second camera with a shorter lens as those photos are going to be worth having. A long lens suggestion fixed lens just means the respondant has never been there and done that. That jump,is just one jump, there will be others. But a 300 mm lens is quite worthless for this assignment. It might be OK for one or two leaps....having done this type,do photography and seen it done by others, video is better, better have a gimble or floating head camera and lens as the boat will be rocking, and a 300 mm fixed lens is NOT going to record the overall event.

heartyfisher

Yup i was thinking the same .. 300m is far ..

retread

If I have this figured right 200 X 1.5 ( DX crop factor ) = 300. 300 X 1.4 ( TC1.4 ) = 420mm.

I shoot birds with a 70-200 F2.8 with a TC2.0 ( 600mm ) and am amazed at what it does when I hit the focus correctly. DOF is not deep even at 5.6. Yes sometimes I wish it were longer.

D500 will make my current camera the second with the shorter lens when I have my $$$$ saved.

spraynpray

Yes. The 200-500 minimum and as you are on a moving boat, you will need active VR enabled. Don't know if the Siggy has that facility, if not, that may be a problem.

rmp

Thanks to everyone that commented. I just blew a chance to get some pictures of my first marlin and I do not want to make that mistake again. I guessed the marlin would be about 100-200 feet from the boat. My marlin must have been camera shy, because he only jumped when he(she?) was really far away.

WestEndFoto

You will wish you had more reach even if you are using an 800mm.

spraynpray

WestEndFoto said:

You will wish you had more reach even if you are using an 800mm.

Always true I'm afraid!

fiziks

@rmp That's why I recommend a zoom. It may be close or it may be far away. You're not going to have room to "sneaker zoom" on a boat with a prime. And if you are going to shoot video, the D500 shoots 4k video in crop mode I think (or was that just the D5?) - another reason to use a zoom.

rmp

After listing to all of you, I'm thinking two cameras with different zooms. D810 with 70-200 and D500 with 80-400, but that is a lot of weight for traveling.

donaldejose

I think you are going to have a lot of trouble with any big zoom on a bouncing boat.

EricBowles

I handled the D500 and D5 at a Nikon Launch event yesterday. I tested burst rate, burst duration, ISO, and AF.

Contrary to some early information, the buffer is not 200 frames. The buffer is closer to 1.3 GB. The camera can achieve a 200 shot burst of 14 bit lossless compressed RAW images if it has a Lexar 2933x XQD or a Sony G XQD card. Any other card will have a lower maximum burst - possibly much lower.

At 24 MB per 14 bit lossless compressed image, you're looking at something like 55 image in the buffer. Write speed with a fast XQD card is fast enough to prevent the buffer from filling, but with a slower XQD card or an SD card, you'll fill the buffer in less than 20 seconds - and as soon as 8 seconds.

The only way to get top speed is a fast XQD card. The Sony M and the Lexar 1400x XQD cards cannot achieve peak speed or burst length.

The cameras at the launch events are pre-production models that do not have final firmware. But the buffer is locked down and will not be changing.

starralazn

how much is a 64gb 2933x xqd? 200$? (:|

Parke1953

$50 off if you get a 128gb.

Michael

EricBowles: If you noticed and remember, what was the firmware version, and what was the value displayed when you half-pressed the shutter button (indicating the number of frames remaining in the buffer, e.g., r29)?

Msmoto

@rmp

Bob, I think your 80-400 would be the ideal lens for grabbing the fish....the large range of zoom, about 120 -= 600mm equivalent would be great. And you know this is a great lens, the VR being one of the best as well, and in "Active" mode would cover the boat movement.....but, only my opinion...... )

Msmoto

The buffer issue is interesting.....I cannot think of when I have taken more than 20-30 exposures in one burst with my D4.

Can someone explain what situation might require 200 images in a continuous shoot?

Sports

Some will shoot "as long as possible", so 200 may not be required, but simply just better than 100.
Personally, I don't need bursts that long, but I do shoot many 2 second bursts with a very short pause (maybe 1 second) in between. This is needed with many runners passing: focus, shoot, re-focus to the next, shoot, re-focus, etc.
Unfortunately, my D300 typically almost stalls at the beginning of the third burst, so I'm looking forward to the D500. I don't need 200 shots, but I do need "much better buffer than the D300".

DaveyJ

I have been on the boat many times when unusually big fish happened by....The cameras and lens mentioned assume the RMP case where the Marlin leaped only far out is pretty rare! Once in a while a big fish will sound and not jump much at all, prolonging the battle. I have been hooked to others that jumped between 18 and 80 times and only at the last minute did there seem to,be a ghost of a chance that the fish was landed. All of th see big trophies were released by the way, as we are pretty much in the natural resources conservation business.
The Nikon lens I would MOST want on a D 500 at the point of landing a very rare say Black Marlin, or a Blue.....would be my 16-80. The usual number of UW Go Pros would be deployed. Somebody would also have the mission of going in with a handheld UW camera, if possible. Since only the photos would remain...no dead fish for mounting....the photos better be good.
It would be nice to have a few photographers on board with other rigs....loud in our days of doing this....only those with a direct input to spotting, engine handling, gear handling, who,is using the rod, and a camera guy are on board. Since landing a big one is a rare event.....there are a lot of vagaries.....landing a Marlin that only does one jump a long way from the boat is indeed remarkable, and odd......much more likely is one massive it there leap and the fish throws the hook. I would myself not want the gear recommended most by you all.....Nikon Rumors folks are about as good as such forums ever are!!! Yet this encounter is not very representative of most Marlin landings. Also even if RMP is a Keys regular, the meter is really running every which way. These are often $4,000 dollar days. That does not even begin to add camera gear costs. That is why we use our own boat, rigs, cameras, and crew. We value free unhooked fish photos most in ultra clear water. And rmp's fish jump would just not happen at all. Our greatest concern as a family devoted life, education, our collective worth to this pursuit is the future of these "Granders". Our future seems clouded by over fishing, over population, and the only increases in ocean fish populations seems to be toward the inedible, and ugly species. Still rmp's desire to get that winning image of one is noble and important.
To all: Clear Water and Tight Lines! DaveyJ

DaveyJ

To Sports: Your D300 should have been retired years ago,for what you are shooting. I will always keep mine....but as a momento...the D7000 series eclipsed them a long time ago.... But you certainly got your value out of your D300. But your time and personal,history suffers when you don't have a current rig. Not a fan of burst shooting ever.....but the technique does put a premium on buffers, write speed, etc. The D500 will sell heavily, good for Nikon, but it does have some capabilities that are maybe not absolutely necessary.

rmp

Thanks DaveyJ. It was my first marlin. It was a black marlin and weighed between 450 to 500 lbs. It was released as were all of our catches. The marlin jumped 5 to eight times, but it was so far from the boat only the 36mp of the D810 let me crop to any shots of the jumps at all. Now, for my next marlin ... :-) (Will you be in St. Augustine?)

heartyfisher

...are ... we ... there ... yet .......

spraynpray

I'm looking forward to seeing @rmp's images of Marlin. :-bd

rmp

The previous pictures of my one-and-only marlin are too bad to expose to anyone that knows how to use a camera. They are on facebook, if you want a good laugh. I hope my next set of photos with a D500/80-400 will be usable and I hope to post them. Maybe from St Augustine ... :-c