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Confirmed to buy the D500


kohanmike

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<p>After a few months of checking out the D500, I finally decided I would stop buying new ukuleles and save up for the next few months and buy two D500 bodies to replace my D300s bodies. For a good while I thought my D300s would serve me indefinitely, but lately the Los Angeles Lawyers Phil, Big Band of Barristers and Legal Voices Chorus (for which I'm the staff photographer) have been doing gigs in venues with limited lighting, so I now have a need for more ISO, plus I can use the extra focus points. All my lenses are Pro Dx so I have no intention of going Fx. I figure I'll look for factory refurbs and trade in my D300s bodies, I might be able to get away with about $3000.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the feedback all. I have been looking at the Nikon site for refurbs, but I can trade in my D300s bodies to B&H and and Adorama. Also, I'm not going used, I feel like a Nikon refurb is a better choice, both my D300s' are refurbs and have served me very well. <br /> Shun, I know I'm not going to the D7200, I really like the heft and configuration of the D500, much more like my D300s. Have no need for a grip, especially because I use two Spider clips attached to the front of a LowePro vest.</p>
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<p>The D7200 is a fine camera, but once you have used the D500, you would never even consider one. The AF system, the frame per second rate the buffer rate and pretty much everything else in the D500 blows away any DX body made. I primarily shoot full frame and I kept a D300 and then a D7200 in my kit for times when I wanted the crop effect of the DX with my 400/2.8 for sports. <br>

After trying a buddy's D500 on the sidelines, I promptly sold the 7200 and grabbed a D500. This baby has the D5 AF module and the ability to shoot very fast (frame rate) and not have the body bog down when writing to the card. I only have two minor complaints - first, I had to go out and buy XQD cards since I was shooting with D3S's and it is a pain in the *ss to carry extra cards and different readers and second, the 500 does not have a built in flash. While I never use a built in flash as a light source, I have often used the one in my D810 to trigger remote SB900/800's.<br>

Not trying to be cavalier about the money, but for $2k, this thing is a steal. I like it so much that I went out and bought a 16-80 DX lens (excellent) which allows me to use the D500 as a second body to shoot player closeups or bench shots while using the 400 on the D3S. I will mount the 400 on the D3S for times when the 400 plus the crop factor is too close or when shooting in low light (since nothing handles hi-ISO like the D3s.)<br>

The DX lens and body is also nice for times I want to carry a lighter weight kit. </p>

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<p>A couple of times I have gone on short trips but forgot to bring an XQD card reader with me. There are two simple solutions. If you have the right USB cable, you can connect the D500 directly to your computer to upload the images.</p>

<p>Once I didn't have the cable, but there is a feature in the playback menu on the D500 (and on many other Nikon DSLRs with dual memory cards) to copy images from the XQD card to the SD card. As long as you have a spare SD card to receive the images, it is simple to use that extra SD card to transfer images on the XQD card to a laptop with an SD card reader built in.</p>

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<p>Shun - I learn something new every day. Had no idea that I could transfer from XQD to SD. Now I guess I will have to begin using bigger sd cards since I write raw to XQD and jpeg to SD. I typically use 64 XQD cards and 32 SDs in the 500 because I have a bunch of 32 SD cards. If I want to transfer the data, I will need to swap out for the big cards I use in my D810.</p>

<p>All of this notwithstanding - I hate that Nikon has foisted this damned technology on its people. Yes I understand that the xQD card is faster and that it doesn't have pins to break, but buying a bunch of cards that will only work in one of my bodies feels like I am getting screwed over. I never had a CF or SD card malfunction. If XQD technology is so good, why is Nikon the only company that uses it (other than some Sony video cameras)? Even Sandisk won't make them. I have always been of the opinion that somewhere back when the D4 was introduced, Sony must have made a deal with Nikon to produce its sensors at a bargain rate if Nikon would commit to XQD to get the format off the ground. It is also not lost on me that our friends at Sony were the ones who tried shoving Betamax down the consumers throat. I wonder if the lack of users of XQD will somehow force Sony to give it up as it did with Betamax vs. VHS. Ok - rant over! </p>

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<blockquote>

<p>If XQD technology is so good, why is Nikon the only company that uses it (other than some Sony video cameras)?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The reason is very simple: only Canon and Nikon make dedicated sports/action still-image cameras (e.g. Canon 1DX Mark II, Nikon D5, D500) that can take advantage of XQD type speed. Unfortunately Canon has taken a different route and chosen CFast memory cards instead of XQD. Likewise, only Canon and some high-end video cams use CFast.</p>

<p>While I haven't done that myself, I have seen people inserting CF cards and accidentally damaged the pins inside the camera, leading to some expensive repair, and I have cracked several SD cards myself since they are too small and fragile. At least to me, XQD is a welcome change. It just hasn't spread to other Nikon modes yet besides the D4(s), D5, and D500.</p>

<p>Mirrorless cameras are obsessed about making the bodies small. Hence a lot of them are using smaller batteries to save space, leading to frequent battery changes. Likewise they prefer the smaller SD cards. Some of the later Nikon 1 mirrorless even use Micro SD, and most of them lack dual memory cards.</p>

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<p>Yesterday I checked B&H for D500 refurbs, they had some, two bodies, two 32GB XQD cards that included readers, plus trading in my two D300s bodies, the total cost was just over $3100, but I didn't have the funds. Today the refurbs are gone. Have to wait a month and hopefully more refurbs will show up when I will have the money.</p>
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