D500 General Discussion Thread

autofocus

Sad I sold my 17-55mm now. Loving the D500.

Ton14

Just give up Andrew, @retread is right. We are going to hear less from Hearty in the near future, due to selecting photo's, I hear him screaming, too many sharp photo's, help, help, I need a better workflow, help. ha, ha, ha, ha. (sorry I can't resist this).

heartyfisher

I have just been using my old sd card in my d500 but it doesnt seem to want to write raw files to my old SD card?


... I think I remember reading about issues with sdcards? type2? and/or xqd ? Lexar ? .. what are you guys using?

Sports

heartyfisher said:

what are you guys using?

Lexar XQD 2933x

It's some pretty new and fast Lexar SD cards that cause most errors. But the D500 is a somewhat difficult customer, apparently, and even XQD cards can cause card errors occassionaly - I've had two or three errors so far.

Ton14

My old Sandisk Extreme 60mb SDXC 64 mb and the older Sandisk Extreme SDHC I, 32gb worked fine in the D500 the weekend I rented the amera.

retread

When I got the D500 I shot with only a UHS l SD cards until I could afford XQD and a UHS II cards. I have never had a card error. That is not to say I never will but so far have not had one. I have always used Scan Disk SD cards and my XQD cards are Lexar.

heartyfisher

thanks guys! good info on the cards...

sigh... still have not figured out how to set it to write raw files... guess I will have to read the manual... LOL!

PS: figured it out :-) ... who needs the manual .. hah !

KnockKnock

Looks like f/3.5 at 50mm. Don't know about 55mm. Maybe someone who has a copy can pitch in?

BVS said:

Wish they'd update the 17-55 2.8 one of these days to go with it. I guess the 16-80 is probably the replacement though. Anyone know what the max aperture is on the 16-80 at 55mm?

spraynpray

Looks like f3.8

heartyfisher

D500 ....

Msmoto

My D500 has been much more noisy than I had wanted, yet, the AF is great, the 10 FPS in a crop sensor body also nice. As for detail, the D500 has the quality of my D800E, lots of info when properly exposed.

The real test comes this season with motorcycles/cars...shooting at an "equivalent" 1200mm....YES!

donaldejose

Shooting at 1200 mm will be extremely difficult. I know I couldn't do it. Hopefully, you will have strong light so you can keep your shutter speed high and the ISO low. I also find more than enough detail in the images from my D500 and that it doesn't live up to the hype of high ISO with low noise, unless you don't view your images larger than about 5x7 inches; at 100% forget about it. I just did a portrait session with the D500 (strange choice, I know since I also have a D750 and a D800 but nothing was going to be printed larger than 8x10 so FX was not needed and I wanted to see what the D500 could do). I have shot so many portraits on FX which were "overkill" because they never were printed larger than 8x10 that I got tired and disgusted with producing higher quality than ever will be used. In this session I shot some frames at medium normal jpeg just to see what the results would be. In my opinion you can "down quality" the D500 and it still would be fine printed to 8x10. If the D7200 replacement uses the D500 sensor I know some people will complain about the loss of those 4 megapixels. I suggest it won't make a difference unless you are printing poster size, and if you know you are going to do so you should be using an FX sensor in the first place. I also hope newer software will improve high ISO noise in the D7500.

This image was shot at medium normal jpeg, using the Nikon 105mm DC lens (157 FX equivalent), at f5.6, 160th sec, ISO 320. I judge it as "good enough" for someone who will print 8x10 or even 11x14. If anything, it is too sharp for a portrait.

heartyfisher

that's very sharp...

autofocus

Nothing wrong with that portrait @donaldejose. I shoot at 1000 iso on my D500 all the time at dimly lit events. Who are we shooting for? I don't shoot for uber critical photo critics. I shoot for people and they are happy. We get too caught up in 300% peeping. Normal people don't see what we can dig out of the shadows. ..And if you are showing it to them you're crazy. Sorry if this comes across harsh but I'm so so so tired of pixel peeping and criticism of equipment performance. The D500 excels in it's intended purpose, action, event, and yes, even weddings.

retread

I am trying to fine tune the auto focus. Can someone please point me to the page in the manual or some instructions. It is frustrating just trying to find out how.

manhattanboy

retread said:

I am trying to fine tune the auto focus. Can someone please point me to the page in the manual or some instructions. It is frustrating just trying to find out how.

I've found it to mostly be useless as doing the test 10 times gets you ten different results. Nonetheless, here is what you want:
http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d500_tips/af/auto_af_fine-tuning/

retread

Thanks I will see what I can do.

donaldejose

autofocus: agreed. In fact, I find I can shoot my D500 at 3,200 ISO without people complaining as long as I don't print the image larger than 5x7 (6,400 for some people). The noise starts to bother me above 6,400 but you can shoot jpeg and set the noise reduction to high and that helps. The details you lose in doing so don't seem to bother most people.

There are two audiences for our photos: normal people and photographers. The normal people don't pixel peep and are oblivious to much of what we photographers see when we look at a photo.

I find the D500 to be really a fantastic camera and a fantastic buy because it is fast enough for sports, has extra reach for wildlife, has ISO good enough for low light, has enough dynamic range for landscapes, and has enough pixels for the sharpest lenses and for reasonable cropping. Of course, there are a few better bodies in some ways. The D5 is better for fast sports and has better low light ISO ability. The D810 has more pixels and dynamic range for landscapes. But the D500 is the best all around bang for the buck Nikon body available today in my opinion. I am glad I purchased one. If the D7500 has the D500 sensor it should also be a great bang for the buck. With a few less megapixels and a faster processor the D7500 may well offer 7 fps.

autofocus

@donaldejose concur with all. It just seems so many are quick to criticize wanting something that may not even be feasible. I have the D5 also and agree it's a great camera as well. Carrying the two makes shooting so comfortable since they share so many ergonomic characteristics. At a recent indoor car show I found myself shooting the D500 more so than the D5.

I'm not defending Nikon but I'm certainly tired of all this bashing going on. I still think Nikon has proven they are on the cutting edge with recent cameras. Maybe it's just this grand desire to go mirrorless that perpetuates the whining. I'm sure Nikon will enter that arena when they're ready. Not soon enough for the petulant children though.

Anyway, back to the D500. I have been extremely pleased with it's performance so far. I do believe it's the best crop sensor camera on the market right now. Based on the rumored specs of the D7500 I'm sure it will be a great, affordable camera as well.

heartyfisher

D500 .... (shakes head ... opens mouth to say something .... shakes head ....)

Msmoto

True confession time........

Up at VIR, looking to "test" the D500 with the 400/2.8 + 2X, i.e., 1200 mm "equivalent"

Could not for the life of me get the focus point to stop moving around.....went through menus, cursing the camera of course......finally, switched to the D4 and was off and running, sort of.

Later that day, a very nice gentleman with a D500 and Rokinon 8mm fisheye comes by and I tell him about the issue.....quickly he stares "3D focus" And even shows me which button to press to get it out of this mode.

And, he was correct as I discovered in a few hours..... all the time thinking I was in AF-C with 25 points...... vs. 3D.

Not too old to learn or is it I am so old I forget.... whatever. Will try it again in a week or so.

manhattanboy

Msmoto said:

True confession time........

Up at VIR, looking to "test" the D500 with the 400/2.8 + 2X, i.e., 1200 mm "equivalent"

Could not for the life of me get the focus point to stop moving around.....went through menus, cursing the camera of course......finally, switched to the D4 and was off and running, sort of.

Later that day, a very nice gentleman with a D500 and Rokinon 8mm fisheye comes by and I tell him about the issue.....quickly he stares "3D focus" And even shows me which button to press to get it out of this mode.

And, he was correct as I discovered in a few hours..... all the time thinking I was in AF-C with 25 points...... vs. 3D.

Not too old to learn or is it I am so old I forget.... whatever. Will try it again in a week or so.

@Msmoto I love the 3D focus mode. I have mine set to the center AF point and then roughly hold my subject in the center of the frame. The 3D point takes care of the slight shifts and erratic movement in the subject while the camera waits for my slow human brain to command my muscles to adjust the camera/lens and move the subject back into the center. To me its kind of like group AF, only better. Compared to the Dynamic modes, I find 3D mode better able to hold focus on a specific feature, like a head. However, it is incumbent on correctly setting the focus point the first time so that the subject info gets correctly locked into the computer's tracking mechanism.

HipShot

D500 refurb. Very tempted.
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/refurbished-dslr-cameras/d500-refurbished.html

Ironheart

do it

heartyfisher

I have been using my D500 for a while .. you know when you get a new toy.. You get used to it and the honey moon period is over .. you start to see things you dont like...

I guess the honeymoon is still not over for me !! :-) isnt it the best DSLR ever !! ;-)