Equipment & Techniques > Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear

Nikon D500 First Impressions

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dwswager:
I've now had an opportunity to shoot with the D500 and these are my impressions.  Background, I have never shot significantly with a high frame rate camera.  Most of my shooting has been with the D300, D7100 and D810.

1. High FPS is not a panacea for poor skills in critical situations.  While  press and blast works on slower events like a pitcher's motion, I was unable to get the ball on the bat more consistently with 10FPS over 5-6fps. In fact, done right, it is he first frame that is the shot.  Though I did notice you can get more usable shots with high fps, just not consistently "the shot".  Hence, Don't expect the extra $1000 over the D7200 is going to "fix" things.

2. I have yet to figure out how to turn focus off on the shutter button to back button focus.  The AF-ON button works, but the shutter button still activates focus.  Dear God, I hope they didn't screw this up and leave this out.  I have this setup on the D810 but can find the control for the Shutter Release button. UPDATE:  Found it at Custom Menu a8:  AF Activation  (The cheese moved from a4 on the D810)


3. The focus speed is real and seems to track exceptionally well.  I got more in focus frames than expected.  It snaps into focus quick.  I was shooting with AF-C Priority set to Release. UPDATE:  Can't comment about the D4 due to lack of experience, but with any other Nikon DSLR below that, you will get more in-focus frames and a sequence will snap into sharp focus at least a frame to 2 sooner.  Still can't comment on focus tracking and lock on yet.  But if focus speed and accuracy is a big thing for you and you need a DX camera, the D500 is it.

4. Most people will not need super fast XQD cards.  I never hit slowdown of the camera with a Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s 32GB UHS-I SD card.  I even tried by shooting a sequence with batter from yank of the bat though the run to first base.  Never slowed down.  Of course, if you want to shoot 15 seconds straight, then you'll need faster cards.  I will probably buy one XQD card for backup/overflow and use UHS-II SD until I find a situation where that doesn't work.

5.  Hate that the ISO does not appear in the viewfinder information.  I shoot a lot in Aperture or Manual and Auto ISO and it would be nice to see what the ISO was doing.  The AutoISO symbol blinks when it is pushing ISO so just show me the number and blink it when it is above the set base!

6. THE GRIP  A lot was made about the size and shape of the grip.  I can't say anything except I didn't even notice the camera in my hand for the 90 minutes I was holding it.  It just felt right. And I have smallish hands with short fingers.  Hence, the worry over the taper and depth of the grip seems mute to me.

gchappel:
Menu d3 lets you turn on iso display in the viewfinder. 
Gary

pw-pix:
Good quick review, you cover some interesting points.

moot = having little or no practical relevance
mute = silent; refraining from speech or utterance

dwswager:

--- Quote from: pw-pix on April 30, 2016, 12:50:28 am ---Good quick review, you cover some interesting points.

moot = having little or no practical relevance
mute = silent; refraining from speech or utterance

--- End quote ---

My Daughter's high school soccer coach teaches Honor's English and tries to train me up all the time. :)

Found the ISO display at d3.  Not sure I need the Frame Count that it replaces.  Hmm.  Lot to learn even though I've been shooting the D810 for over a year.

rdonson:
Great action photo!  The deformation of the bat really makes it. 

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