D500 General Discussion Thread

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heartyfisher said:

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 !! ;-)

I picked mine up a couple days after they were released. I am still in love.

donaldejose

I wouldn't say mine is the best DSLR ever but I would say it is the best DX DSLR forever; with one exception. I wish it had the U1 and U2 functions.

Photobug

@heartyfisher - that post surprised me. By now I would have thought you would have a couple of nick pick points you don't like. That speaks very highly of the D500.

heartyfisher

Photobug said:

@heartyfisher - that post surprised me. By now I would have thought you would have a couple of nick pick points you don't like. That speaks very highly of the D500.

Actually, there are.. but you know the saying when you are in love, these traits are "quaint"

I have still not tried it out with all my lenses yet.. .. The 70-200 F4 has been monopolizing the mount... Such a perfect duo..

And my IPS monitor died a week (after my PC died) so I tried processing some photos on my old monitors and laptop.... what A MESS !! How did I do that in the past ?? I need a solution.. may be a while before I am up and running again...:-( Researching new PC and monitors etc
* Cool new Ryzen chips !! wow!
* Wow the M.2 SSD !! didnt know they existed. 30 GBPS !!
* IPS Monitors .. hmm.. 5-7 different versions now !!
* New Case -- woohoo.. so many lights and fans !!
* Motherboards .. Lights too? heh! USB 2,3,3.1 typeA, typeC, sata msata, esata, displayports... etc...
* Harddisks.. M.2-SSD, SSD, SSHD, "Normal" 4tb!, 6TB!, 10TB !!!
* RAM easy DDR4 whew.. err...maybe not...
* Video cards.. easy.. got some hand-me-downs from my sons superduper gaming PC more than I will ever need.. :-)

Almost decided... then back to processing images :-) Luckily D500 images don't need much processing... kind of making do with a tiny 12" IPS screen on my new "secondhand" laptop i got to tide me over...

heartyfisher

D500 + 70-200 f4 + TC17

rmp

Good detail and color.

Photobug

@heartyfisher - excellent bird picture.

The 70-200 F4 on the D500 is an excellent pairing.

Regarding your computer and monitor problem. What a pain in the rear! My recommendation, only buy a new computer that has a SSD hard drive (drive C). The Gbps transfer rate is unbelievable and the speed of start up, shut down, starting up applications is so so fast. I am running a 1 TB drive "D" for the internal drive and that is where all my images are stored....even all my doc files are on D. I only put software on drive C.

I was stunned when I upgraded my external memory card reader to USB 3. The transfer rate is so fast to the internal 1TB HD and even faster to the external 3TB HD I use for backups. I did learn quickly that an external memory card reader (USB 3) was faster than the built in memory card reader.

I love the SSD hard drive. It's the future.

Capt_Spaulding

Gorgeous image. If a D500 in my hands would do that ... . Oh Boy. Sadly, it almost certainly wouldn't.

Great shot HF. The level of detail is stunning. How much, if at all, did you crop?

HipShot

Wow, now a new one plus battery grip! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQFLG9Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?&linkCode=sl1&tag=nikorumo-20&linkId=dde295f8fb546fd40327f2a80d78fe88

Capt_Spaulding

RIght now, the D750+battery grip for $1500 is calling me. I'll have to lash myself to the mast.

autofocus

I have a D4, D5, and D810 but shoot the D500 as much as the three of them. It's a great camera. Didn't think I would ever own another DX camera but the D500 convinced me to try. I love it with the 400mm 2.8 and TC-17 for static wildlife.

heartyfisher

Capt_Spaulding said:

Gorgeous image. If a D500 in my hands would do that ... . Oh Boy. Sadly, it almost certainly wouldn't.

Great shot HF. The level of detail is stunning. How much, if at all, did you crop?

Quite a bit of crop !! ... The one below is a crop probably equivalent to a 0.3 crop? so the first one is more... yeah lots of detail in my 70-200 F4 and TC17 !! but the one above I would say would be the limit of what you can crop...

heartyfisher

@Photobug : Yeah its a pain that both my pc and nice IPS screen went kaput at almost the same time.. days apart.. sigh..

Re SSD, it does sound amazing this new tech.. with 6gb transfer rates of sata3... but I think I will probably go for the on motherboard M.2 SSD option.. 30gb transfer rate just blows my mind .. totally... but having no good PC and no good screen is a frustration ( did i say frustration? I meant AARRRRRGGG !! ) since I just got my D500 and thousands of pictures ...

Below another D500 image from a museum displaying ancient Egyptian artefacts. D500 70-200 F4 1/125 F4 ISO1250 no crop and SOOC !! See what I mean about not needing much PP ? the auto WB is beautifully executed. The exposure is beautifully metered.. and ISO1250 is better than ISO200 on my old cameras...

Capt_Spaulding

@heartyfisher

The 70-200 f4 is at the top of my wish list. I have a copy of the 70-300 4.5-5.6 and while I like it, I don't think it could get close to yours.

heartyfisher

Capt_Spaulding said:

@heartyfisher

The 70-200 f4 is at the top of my wish list. I have a copy of the 70-300 4.5-5.6 and while I like it, I don't think it could get close to yours.

The old 70-300 is a well respected lense.. I was seriously considering that as an option.. but after much research, decided on the the 70-200 f4. Thanks to the help and samples of images provided by the members of this forum ! may still get a 70-300 when/if they bring out a new FF one. Its just such a convenient range..

Michael

Has anyone compared the well respected Nikon FX AF-S 70-300mm VR to the new (last year?) AF-P 70-300mm DX VR? If so, how well does the new DX lens perform? It looks to be a lot lighter, as well as smaller.

Photobug

@heartyfisher - Thanks for sharing the photo. The AW balance is nice. Take your time finalizing what you want on that new computer. It's going to be with you a long time and you want it to be right for your application.

I am trying to avoid all the talk on the D500. My D7100 could easily be replaced but I am holding out my money for the D750 replacement....which I love.

manhattanboy

heartyfisher said:

Capt_Spaulding said:

@heartyfisher

The 70-200 f4 is at the top of my wish list. I have a copy of the 70-300 4.5-5.6 and while I like it, I don't think it could get close to yours.

The old 70-300 is a well respected lense.. I was seriously considering that as an option.. but after much research, decided on the the 70-200 f4. Thanks to the help and samples of images provided by the members of this forum ! may still get a 70-300 when/if they bring out a new FF one. Its just such a convenient range..

This was the smarter choice for the D500, as folks frequently forget that in order to use ALL of the autofocus points on the D500 you need f4 or wider aperture.

spraynpray

Capt_Spaulding said:

@heartyfisher

The 70-200 f4 is at the top of my wish list. I have a copy of the 70-300 4.5-5.6 and while I like it, I don't think it could get close to yours.

Yep, I got rid of my 70-300 for the 70-200 f4 a couple of years ago. I've never looked back. The 70-300 was a soft dog at the long end with 'meh' VR. The 70-200 has superglue VR.

Michael

I also bought a 70-200mm F4 to replace my 70-300mm VR, the later indeed goes soft as it goes to 300mm, however, for the overlapping range I did not see much difference and regretted the purchase (for my shooting purposes). I'll second the complement of the 70-200mm's vibration reduction, it did allow me to do a waterfall shot at 1/10 of a second (enough to get some nice water motion blur) while the VR held the surrounding rock-face in sharp focus. The VR on that lens is top notch. Nevertheless, I have come to suspect that lens was designed for portrait use, and thus was optimized for nearby subjects (e.g., 3 meters), but at the cost of sharp focus for distant subjects (hence I prefer the 70-300mm VR for birds or sports).

Hiker

I'm looking for an alternative to my 70-300. VERY soft at 300mm even stopped down. Hoping that maybe the new Sigma 100-400 is better.

heartyfisher

yeah that sigma looks useful..

BVS

Hiker said:

I'm looking for an alternative to my 70-300. VERY soft at 300mm even stopped down. Hoping that maybe the new Sigma 100-400 is better.

Nikon is rumored to release a new version of the FX 70-300 this year. You might want to wait and see how it turns out. If it's anything like the recently released DX 70-300 it should be pretty sharp at 300mm.

Hiker

Hey BVS! Not sure of my version. I bought it from a friend a year and a half ago. I shot a Hawk yesterday, used the D7200 with the 70-300mm lens, Sun was behind me, she, yes it was a she, she was protecting her nest, was perched on a branch about 30 feet away. Some came out ok below 300mm. I was using Aperture, f8-f11. I'm hoping for a better alternative.

manhattanboy

@Msmoto Here is a link to a BIF article comparing 3D tracking on the D500 to Dynamic Area mode. http://mirrorlesscomparison.com/best/mirrorless-cameras-for-wildlife-and-bird-photography/#Preface-II-Nikon-D500-the-one-to-beat-forbirds-in-flight

The bottom line is what I have previously said, the 3D mode of the D500 is amazing and once you get the point on your subject it can be tracked tenaciously.