Why not a built in flash commander (but no actual flash)?
This should've been the center of the argument from the start. The D500 could've used the integrated wireless commander like the D5 has. I assume it was skipped to save some money, but frankly Nikon should've made it part of the camera to make their new wireless flash system a viable alternative without the need for bits sticking out from the left side.
The second question I've had is "why no high resolution version of either the D5 or the D500"?
They have the D8x0 line for high resolution (but slower workflow) cameras. The D5 has always been about speed and low light quality. The D500 mirrors that, being also lower in resolution than other DX bodies but having (at least on paper) much higher and cleaner ISO ratings. This also shows that they are not targeted to every market but specific jobs, despite the fact that you can use them for whatever.
The Nikon D300/D300s replacement was the most talked about camera in the history of Nikon cameras! The D300/D300s was wildly popular precisely because it appealed to both amateurs and professionals. The D500 is the closest thing to that replacement as we can get. They gave us more performance than one would have expected and removed the flash.
There is still a lot of confusion.
The D500 is not a successor to the D3s, it's a successor to the once top of the line DX cameras that were replaced with full frame ones after the D3.
Nikon used to push DX real hard, but the lack of proper DX lenses made professionals demand for a full frame camera to fully utilize all the full frame lenses available. We still lack a full DX lens lineup because after the D3 introduction Nikon basically regarded DX as amateur stuff.
But professionals wanted DX for reach and size, so they turned around again and released the D500.
As for the positioning, you can't take what the Nikon USA website classify as the ultimate proof. The D500 marketing material states that it is a professional camera. Nikon USA groups them up by price. Nikon Europe website has the D500 fall under the professional label (go here
http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/products/category_pages/digital_cameras/category_SLR.page? and in Narrow By: select Professional under Photography level). The global Nikon website doesn't even make a distinction between levels, but they state it is a professional camera in press releases and the official microsite.
There will never be a Dx5. Nikon will never name a camera this way, they have a different naming scheme and this would sound just too confusing to customers. They went for D500 because it was available and people were expecting the D400 already, so they wanted to capitalize on that. They could've called it "The second coming" for all we care, it won't change what the camera actually is and what it is not.
There D300 successor so many were waiting will never come. The market has changed and Nikon is going in a different direction. As I said before, the closest thing this D500 gets to is the D2x/D2h line, with the vertical grip removed to emphasize the portability of the crop sensor cameras compared to the full frame alternative (D5).
Quoting again the official Nikon description of this camera because I have to hit this nail in the head a lot harder than I thought:
Meet the D500: it’s a compact powerhouse fusing the highest performance of Nikon’s professional D5 with the unique agility of the DX format. Portable and powerful, the D500 will galvanize the way you shoot stills and video.
