D500 General Discussion Thread

heartyfisher

Mirror-less is pretty close now.. in fact i would say its basically caught up now and if not for the awesome D500 AF the best Mirror-less would have, has overtaken many of the DSLRs

Photobug

Gentleman and Ladies...please can we get back on topic of the D500 and not all the discussion on lens like the 70-300mm. Thank you. There is a thread for the 70-300.

manhattanboy

Photobug said:

Gentleman and Ladies...please can we get back on topic of the D500 and not all the discussion on lens like the 70-300mm. Thank you. There is a thread for the 70-300.

I think that discussion pretty much died out on its own. The only relevant points were related to video focusing of the new P series lens, and the 70-300 maximum aperture versus the 70-200 where its larger f4 aperture allows for all of the D500 AF points that require an f4 or larger lens to be active. Those point are useful for D500 users and really are not discussed in most articles on the D500 that are published in the blog/news sites.

But I agree with you, let's get back to discussing the camera. Here is a question I have: what is your preferred metering mode for shooting with the D500? There is a brand new meter and the recent changes have not been discussed much if at all.

DaveyJ

Mirrorless cameras do not have very much to offer to me. I have owned as many as anyone I know. I personally would never buy another. Video capability is what I look for now. Have you ever tried to do birds in flight, wildlife photography, field photos with mirrorless. Where you have to have a focus cloth over you to block out other light so you can see a screen? I have spent many hours that way. From my standpoint I have yet to see a camera offered by Nikon that has anything on the D500. And quickly I would rush to add my positive impression of the D7200.

Photobug

Good question/comment about the D500 and the preferred metering mode. Would like to hear more on that topic.

heartyfisher

dunno..i will need to check.. (have been distracted by the PC build...) all I can say is the metering has been uncanny. some shots you take and check expecting to modify the settings but it's spot on.

spraynpray

I am seriously considering selling my D7100 AND D750 for a D500. I can't get away from abberations in the corners using a wide or ultra wide on a full frame in nightscapes, so I'll have to go for cropping them off with crop sensor body while taking advantage of better AF. But then, there's those pro-controls which are less useful for me than U1/U2. I'd also buy a Tamron 180mm macro but that's a different thread.

I wonder if the continuos servo is faster and more accurate than on my D7100? @heartyfisher ?

I need to think hard before I chop my full frame though.

manhattanboy

spraynpray said:

I am seriously considering selling my D7100 AND D750 for a D500.

That's funny because I am thinking of selling my D500 and D810 for a mirrorless.
The D500 is an amazing camera for the AF; I have switched to using 3D tracking as it is better than my abilities with dynamic area, group AF, or single point in tracking action. By far it is the best AF I have used on any camera, but I want to do more indoor photography and for me the silence of mirrorless is really tempting.

The pro controls are not that difficult, but the main problem I always have is that there is no auto mode. The other day I wanted someone to take a photo of me, and most of the shots they took were useless! The D810/D500 are tools geared for professional photogs, and they are amazing when you know what you are doing, but almost useless if you don't as there is no simpleton mode.

Based off what you want to shoot, I am not sure I would recommend switching. It sounds to me like your issue is more of a lens issue than a camera issue. The only benefit would possibly be better focusing at night, but the 750 is supposedly already pretty good so I am not sure how much gain if any would be getting with the D500. See if you can rent a couple lenses for a day or two to try them out. You may find that changing to a lens with less distortion may be what you need instead.

heartyfisher

spraynpray said:

I am seriously considering selling my D7100 AND D750 for a D500. I can't get away from abberations in the corners using a wide or ultra wide on a full frame in nightscapes, so I'll have to go for cropping them off with crop sensor body while taking advantage of better AF. But then, there's those pro-controls which are less useful for me than U1/U2. I'd also buy a Tamron 180mm macro but that's a different thread.

I wonder if the continuos servo is faster and more accurate than on my D7100? @heartyfisher ?

I need to think hard before I chop my full frame though.

I wouldnt "chop" the D750. It really has a good sensor. For general photography I would say the D750 would be better. The advantage the D500 has is the AF, and from my playing around with my Nikkor glass, Nikkor is the way to go with the D500 if you want to AF well. Just went shooting with my 2 cameras tonight with Tamron lenses.. D610+Tamron 24-70, D500+Tamron 85 1.8 VC. Guess which focus better at night?
Surprisingly, the D610 with the Tam24-70 F2.8 performed better.. Maybe the Tam 1.8 + D500 is a bad combo.. but it took what felt like forever to acquire focus. and your D750 is better at AF compared to my D610.

Regarding the D500 sensor vs the D7200(and D7100?) .. at High ISO the D500 really does do amazingly. But I have been processing some of my old D7200 pictures lately and I noticed most of the time I do shoot at 100 ISO and at that base ISO the D7200 really does beat the D500. the D610 is of course really awesome at Base ISO. and I have seen comparative images between the D610 and D750 at higher ISO the D750 has quite a good advantage over the D610.

High ISO
* If I were to guess at High ISO the D750 would be very similar or better than the D500.
* My D500 at high ISO (10000) is a bit better than my D610

Low ISO : D750 == D610, Beats the D7200 which beats the D500.

Regarding Cropping Aberrations .. I dunno. Never considered it as solution for lense aberations .. will have to think on it a bit more.

heartyfisher

Regarding aberration cropping .. I think a DX crop is going too far.. Dont the D750 have a 1.2 crop mode built in ?.. either that or wait for the new expected D820. Seems that would be a perfect upgrade for you.

spraynpray

Thanks for your comments guys.

Yes, it is the AF that interests me. No wonderful sensors or great noise performance help if the subject is out of focus.

I don't expect a problem as such using the pro controls, it's just the U1/U2 is better by far than the memory bank concept. Flick the the range back and forth and the settings are back where you started.

I never use program or auto, so a lack of those is OK, and if I want a picture taken by somebody else, that's what the mobile phone camera is for!

My nightscapes are always manually focused anyway, and regarding aberrations, I have used or seen results from all of the wides and ultrawides exept the IRIX and of course the new 15mm Sigma Art. They all have aberrations in the corners, and so the logical answer is to get an ultrawide and use the best part of the lens. My current favourite is the Sigma 24-35 f2 which I shoot at 30mm and f2.4 on the D750.

My thinking is that the AF on the D500 would mean less butterflies out of focus due to the continuous servo not keeping up with my sway or the wind. DX is better for pixels on the subject too so the D750 never comes out for close-up/macro.

Regarding the crop thing, maybe the 20mP DX has more pixels on the stars than the 24mP FX..?

HockeyMan

manhattanboy said:

spraynpray said:

I am seriously considering selling my D7100 AND D750 for a D500.

The pro controls are not that difficult, but the main problem I always have is that there is no auto mode. The other day I wanted someone to take a photo of me, and most of the shots they took were useless! The D810/D500 are tools geared for professional photogs, and they are amazing when you know what you are doing, but almost useless if you don't as there is no simpleton mode.

Isn't there a "P" mode which is basically the simpleton mode? The D800 / D810 has this. Was this removed from the D500? If you can switch from Aperture priority to Manual to Shutter, why would it not have a Programmed auto?

heartyfisher

The "P" mode .. my cameras are mostly on it. Though these days I am using "A" mode more (about 10%). I am still a P Mode guy.. I just use the mode dials to change aperture/shutter as needed. Simple Off /On to reset the P mode. Also now that the ISO button is up top its more convenient to change that too...

Saw a poor photog strugling with a new camera last week (taking night shots of Sydney VIVID) and I had a chat and configured her new D7200 + 18-140 into P mode and AutoISO. Like magic all images were awesome! That D7200 is one amazing camera!!

Capt_Spaulding

@heartyfisher That's interesting. For most of my digital life I've been a "A" mode guy. I decided what depth of field I wanted, set a minimum shutter speed and let auto iso fill in the triad.

Recently, I've begun using a similar approach but in manual mode, setting aperture and shutter speed and letting auto iso set the exposure. It's not for everyday use, but in some situations it works really well.

manhattanboy

HockeyMan said:

Isn't there a "P" mode which is basically the simpleton mode? The D800 / D810 has this. Was this removed from the D500? If you can switch from Aperture priority to Manual to Shutter, why would it not have a Programmed auto?

I was referring to the AF portion of the "Auto" mode, where instead of fancy group AF or 3D tracking, it reverts back to the camera figuring out what subject to focus on. I'm not sure if P mode does that, and honestly will have to test it out to see.

In contrast to Hearty's take, the main problem I see with people just handed the camera is not the exposure. Most cameras these days can recover the exposure from whatever the user may set wrong It is figuring out the AF nuances that I find trips up brand new users the most. It seems simple to us, I know, but training someone to understand that not all of the picture matters, only where the AF point lies, is a mental adjustment from using something like an smartphone that focuses in broad areas. I find that most people concentrate on framing the picture, but in doing so ignore what happens to the AF point and I end up with a nicely framed shot where I am completely out of focus

HockeyMan

manhattanboy said:

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I was referring to the AF portion of the "Auto" mode, where instead of fancy group AF or 3D tracking, it reverts back to the camera figuring out what subject to focus on. I'm not sure if P mode does that, and honestly will have to test it out to see.

In contrast to Hearty's take, the main problem I see with people just handed the camera is not the exposure. Most cameras these days can recover the exposure from whatever the user may set wrong It is figuring out the AF nuances that I find trips up brand new users the most. It seems simple to us, I know, but training someone to understand that not all of the picture matters, only where the AF point lies, is a mental adjustment from using something like an smartphone that focuses in broad areas. I find that most people concentrate on framing the picture, but in doing so ignore what happens to the AF point and I end up with a nicely framed shot where I am completely out of focus

Oh yes, autofocus. That darned thing that's supposed to make life easy for photographers but always puts the wrong thing in focus. With me its user error when it happens - other than gymnastics, i'm finding it to be the most difficult sport to shoot and the number of times I've shot something where the people behind the gymnast are in focus kills me.

For people handed a DSLR there is really no solution for having to set AF. Even in P mode, you have to set your AF point or your AF mode. They really should have an "I" mode for "Imbecile" or dare I say "iPhone" user - it would always try to detect faces like a smart phone and focus on those first.

But I really shouldn't throw so much shade, for the average person coming from a smartphone or even p/s camera, DSLRs are big heavy beasts with teeth and demonic controls.

Purdyd

If you set to P mode or my favorite aperture priority with auto iso with the auto iso set to 1 1/2 times the focal length of the lens, that is pretty much auto exposure

if you set the focus to auto, it will pretty much do what your smartphone or P/S camera does with focus

You do see more variation because you have less depth of field, but I think the auto modes on the Nikon DSLR's are very good. Better than the smartphones and P/S cameras

So yes, you can setup your DSLR in I mode

I can pretty much setup my D800 or D500 for anyone to take a picture.

The problem is remembering to setup the camera before you hand it to someone.

manhattanboy

Apparently the D500 auto af mode does do face detection:
http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d500_tips/af/af-area_mode/
My problem is that I have eliminated it off of my normal af modes I shoot with.
I guess I should add it back for those rare one in 10,000 shots when I need someone to take a picture of me instead of me taking the pictures LOL.
The Auto mode of the 7xxx series was perfect for those times as the person did not have to wait for me to menu dive or set the camera.
I'm not suggesting that Nikon add in an auto mode, just merely commenting that the D500/810 are more professional tools and not as easily adapted for a layman.

BVS

@manhattanboy There's also the face detect mode in LiveView to consider. It'll put the little boxes around people's faces and be more like shooting with a cell phone, which people are more used to these days.

manhattanboy

BVS said:

@manhattanboy There's also the face detect mode in LiveView to consider. It'll put the little boxes around people's faces and be more like shooting with a cell phone, which people are more used to these days.

That's totally a better way and very fast as its just a flick of a switch! I feel stupid for not thinking of it earlier
For the D500 that would be the easiest thing to do, just flip to live view and tell the person to press on a face on the screen. The D810 is trickier though as there is no touch to focus and shoot option like the D500.
Supposedly the D810 replacement is going to pick up that touch screen feature from the D500, which IMHO will be a nice improvement for video work and those rare times like I have posted above when you need to hand your camera off to a stranger.

heartyfisher

The Sandhill Crane Story - Nikon D500 Wildlife Documentary

autofocus

@heartyfisher I thoroughly enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing and the D500 did an incredible job in both video and stills.

spraynpray

I am very impressed with the 7D2 and this comparison between the D500 and the 7D2 makes the D500 a convincing winner. I was surprised to read though that they don't reckon the low noise performance is significantly better. My D7100 is better than my mates 7D2 and I can't believe the D500 isn't better than my D7100.

http://www.techradar.com/news/photography-video-capture/cameras/canon-eos-7d-mark-ii-vs-nikon-d500-1329258

heartyfisher

"My D7100 is better than my mates 7D2 and I can't believe the D500 isn't better than my D7100."

I dunno.. compared to my old D7200 (which i no longer have, so ... ) It would seem to be hugely better at the high ISOs. I have the autoISO going to 10000 on my D500 and on my D7200 I used 4000 so .. dunno..

I have a feeling its probably because of the ADOBE raw converter.. that most people use.. that is causing the differences in perceived ISO performance. I use JPG from the camera mainly.. and when I need to process RAW I use rawtherapee.. which seems to do well with Nikon raw files. for example the D7100's "banding issue" is not seen using Rawtherapee...

heartyfisher

autofocus said:

@heartyfisher I thoroughly enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing and the D500 did an incredible job in both video and stills.

Yeah a nice one ... And i think he uses the Nikkor 200-500 ... seems the D500+200-500 is a sweet combo.