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Pro Pedigree, DX Agility: The New Nikon D500 Establishes a New Era of DX-Format Performance


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15 replies to this topic

#1
Adam

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The Highly Anticipated Resurrection of the DX-Format Flagship Gives Photographers the Best Combination of Speed, Reach and Connectivity LAS VEGAS, NV (January 05, 2016) - Today, Nikon Inc. announced the D500, a DX-format DSLR with pro-level features that gives photographers nimble handling, speed and extreme processing power in a compact and lightweight body. With amazing imaging…

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#2
Kenafein

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Now all the people complaining, for years, that there was no D400 can complain about how expensive this is for a DX camera ;).  I will actually keep my eye out for a used one in a few years, as it would make a fantastic birding camera, but I will have to muddle through with my D600 for now.  


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#3
Ron

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This camera should shake things up a bit. Nikon pulled a little bait and switch with the D5 pre-announcement. It looks like nobody... and I mean NO BODY saw this one coming. The specs are gorgeous though. I wish I could afford it.

 

--Ron



#4
mikew

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This camera should shake things up a bit. Nikon pulled a little bait and switch with the D5 pre-announcement. It looks like nobody... and I mean NO BODY saw this one coming. The specs are gorgeous though. I wish I could afford it.

 

--Ron

 

Its surprising how soon the price will drop,recently got my D7200 for just over £600 and its not a gray, sold the free grip and took that off the cost you end up with a great price.give it a year.



#5
Merco_61

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Its surprising how soon the price will drop,recently got my D7200 for just over £600 and its not a gray, sold the free grip and took that off the cost you end up with a great price.give it a year.

Unfortunately, the price drop isn't as dramatic in the pro lines... The D300 only dropped 12% during it's full production timeline, the same for the D300s, the D700 and the D800. The D500 seems to be exactly what we have hoped for ever since the D300s didn't get a large enough buffer to be a compelling upgrade from the D300. The price is not surprising at all, but the investment to get it up to full usability is a lot more than just the body. A MH-26, two EN-EL18 and two BL-5 and a grip will be about 2/5 again on the price of the body. It would be amazing if they have got it up to 10 fps with the standard battery, but I don't quite believe it until it has been verified by independent testers. Fast-paced shooting with 10 fps means a larger battery anyway, and changing NiMh cells is too fiddly.



#6
mikew

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Unfortunately, the price drop isn't as dramatic in the pro lines... The D300 only dropped 12% during it's full production timeline, the same for the D300s, the D700 and the D800. The D500 seems to be exactly what we have hoped for ever since the D300s didn't get a large enough buffer to be a compelling upgrade from the D300. The price is not surprising at all, but the investment to get it up to full usability is a lot more than just the body. A MH-26, two EN-EL18 and two BL-5 and a grip will be about 2/5 again on the price of the body. It would be amazing if they have got it up to 10 fps with the standard battery, but I don't quite believe it until it has been verified by independent testers. Fast-paced shooting with 10 fps means a larger battery anyway, and changing NiMh cells is too fiddly.

I could get the benefits i would want with out any upgrades,better focusing with a f6.3 lens and even better noise control than the D7200,these wouldn't be enough to warrant the headline price but give it a year with the gray market chipping away at it and things may be different.



#7
iNYONi

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D500 up for pre order in Jessops for £1,729

#8
Ron

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Unfortunately, the price drop isn't as dramatic in the pro lines... The D300 only dropped 12% during it's full production timeline, the same for the D300s, the D700 and the D800. The D500 seems to be exactly what we have hoped for ever since the D300s didn't get a large enough buffer to be a compelling upgrade from the D300. The price is not surprising at all, but the investment to get it up to full usability is a lot more than just the body. A MH-26, two EN-EL18 and two BL-5 and a grip will be about 2/5 again on the price of the body. It would be amazing if they have got it up to 10 fps with the standard battery, but I don't quite believe it until it has been verified by independent testers. Fast-paced shooting with 10 fps means a larger battery anyway, and changing NiMh cells is too fiddly.

 

Well, you can use an EN-EL 15 in both the camera and MB-D17 grip but you probably lose that high drive speed as a trade off. Depending on what you shoot this may or may not be a deal killer. I'm a bit gobsmacked by the price of the MB-D17 grip but then if it adds a higher frame rate to the camera ... as opposed to just adding weight and vertical shooting options, then it might be worth the price. 

 

This camera seems to me to be exactly what people have been clamoring for. A true, contemporary PRO DX body. I even applaud the removal of onboard flash as I find it more bothersome than useful. However, the guys who can NEVER be pleased are already calling it a deal breaker. Not me. If I had the scratch, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat.

 

--Ron



#9
TBonz

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The MB-D17, because of the second battery, also allows for more frames without running out of battery...that is also an important consideration...and, of course, a reminder to me that I need to charge up some batteries :)!  It would be nice if they had a more Pro Body button setup, but I don't think that is a deal breaker either...I saw a few people complaining that they weren't going to buy one with their only reason being that it didn't have a CF slot...To get the FPS, they would probably have to buy faster cards anyway...I expect the higher end bodies will be switching to XQD down the road...I think the only reason they offered the D5 in a dual CF format is for some pros who won't change as well...that would make sense for pros who have large #s of CFs and don't intend to upgrade beyond the D5...and they would likely have higher speed cards anyway....

 

EDIT - I should add that the XQD cards are faster and less prone to damage than the pins on the CF cards...In most circumstances I write RAW to the XQD card and JPEG to the CF card in my D4 bodies.  It doesn't seem to impact FPS either way, but setting the other way did seem to impact the buffer a bit...still a big buffer but not quite as big :)...



#10
Merco_61

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The EN-EL18, like the EN-EL4A before it, gives a bigger increase in picture-taking capacity than the small increase in battery capacity as the voltage is higher so the current draw is lower even if a bit of that higher voltage is used to raise the fps.

XQD is definitely the future, and the smaller card door is a nice touch as the CF door on the D700 and D8x0 has a tendency to snag in the bag and open inadvertently. 

This will definitely be my next camera as I like and have a use for all features. The only thing I will miss from the D300 is the pop-up flash as master, but that is not a deal breaker. 



#11
TBonz

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If I still had my D600 bodies, based on what I know so far, the D500 would be at least one of my bodies...While I would certainly love having two D5 bodies, I don't anticipate letting go of my D4 bodies any time soon!  If I ever go to a 3rd body, I would be looking at the D500 or possibly a D8xx depending on lots of factors - one being the extra reach of the DX body...



#12
Ron

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Then there's also the new SB-5000 flash system. Nikon has finally discovered radio! Wheeeee......

 

I expect things on this front will be messy for awhile as they transition from IR to RF. It's too bad that Nikon didn't introduce an add on RF transmitter for use on current bodies.

 

Yeah, the D500 is nice and may be difficult to resist when I finally get to fondle one.

 

--Ron



#13
Merco_61

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It will be interesting to see if the SB-5000 can act as a radio slave and optical master at the same time, making the transition much less messy. That isn't clear from anything I have read so far. If not, I will have to use the SU-800 until all SB-600 and SB-910 units have been replaced.



#14
Kenafein

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I wonder if Yongnuo will come out with compatible radio trigger units for TTL flash.  I use yongnuo flashes because they're really good for the price and compatible with all the old Nikon stuff.  



#15
Ron

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It will be interesting to see if the SB-5000 can act as a radio slave and optical master at the same time, making the transition much less messy. That isn't clear from anything I have read so far. If not, I will have to use the SU-800 until all SB-600 and SB-910 units have been replaced.

 

I've heard some rumblings about an SU-800 replacement that would handle both RF and IR. Whether it could do both at the same time has never been mentioned... to my knowledge anyway. The SU-800 is getting long of tooth anyway so it's about time it was replaced. Ditto for the Nikon macro flash system.

 

I do hope that Nikon decides to support older cameras if/when they update the SU-800 and that they don't decide to charge an arm and leg for it. US$600 is an awful lot to pay for a flash gun. They could end up pushing a lot more potential customers towards Yongnuo (and other brands) that are cheaper and do basically the same things... or more. It doesn't do their bottom line any good to charge premium prices that the competition can easily trump.

 

--Ron



#16
Jerry_

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Was visiting a photography show today, including a Nikon stand, and had the opportunity to get the hands on a D500. (They also had the new D5, but avoided to get hooked up on that one :) )

Definitely a model worth looking at.

I was on the point to replace my older DX (D5100) with a D7200, but will now wait for a moment to get the D500, even so it is more expensive; but probably not be an early adoptor, but waiting for a few months so some initial fixes will have been done before I get it.

Most impressive (to me) are the high ISO values (for low light captures), the new button to easier move the focus points, as well as the D810 ergonomics with the two programable FN buttons.