Barry Clemmons Photography

<p>Since the D500 body is smaller than the D5, there probably isn't enough real estate for two XQD card slots. Plus almost all laptops now have a slot for SD memory cards but not XQD, making it easier to view shots while traveling without purchasing additional external readers. Just my guess.</p>

<p>I agree Patrick. One of the reasons I visit this forum several times a day is to get other people's opinion. Many times I have discovered better methods than I had been using, thus making me a better photographer. It doesn't upset me when someone disagrees and has a different opinion. I think sometimes it is a generational or geographic thing. I grew up in a time and place where robust but polite discussion was encouraged. That was one of the many ways we learned new things. I think Nikon (and other manufacturers) would be wise to read discussions like this one from users before bringing a new product to market.</p>

<p>And here is a shot using the 600mm lens.</p><div></div>

<p>Les, I have been going back and forth between photography and other things for the past week but I do have a couple of shots using the D500 with both the 200-500mm lens and the 600mm lens for comparison. This shot is with the 200-500mm lens.</p><div></div>

<p>For those of you who read Brad Hill, he has a new blog post about the D500 including a paragraph about battery life.</p> <p>http://www.naturalart.ca/voice/blog.html#D500_DXNirvana</p> <p>To summarize, he stated his first battery charge lasted for less than 100 shots. He wasn't surprised because the first charge was used to go through all menus to set the camera up plus take about 80 shots using Liveview to test ISO. He stated that when recharged and used as he normally would he got about 2000 shots.</p>

<p>With a tiny little combination lock.</p>

<p>Good point Shun about needing a few charge/discharge cycles. I think it is also best to discharge them to almost zero each time as well rather than topping it off every day or so.</p>

<p>Nice shots Joe! Were any of the shots cropped or were they as shot out of the camera?</p>

<p>Rodeo Joe, have you tried or looked into the di-GPS Eco ProFessional M? It connects directly to the 10-pin connector so there is no cable to get in the way. Best of all it is 40% cheaper than the GP-1A. It also has a pass-through 10-pin connection. I believe the company also makes models for direct connection to the Nikon prosumer bodies without the 10-pin connector.</p>

<p>I forgot to add that there are reports that most (maybe all) third party batteries will not work in the D500. I only use Nikon batteries, so I can't test to see if that is true.</p>

I've seen several posts on the web about possible shorter battery life with the D500. I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. The first battery charge with any new body is shorter than normal for me, but only because I spend time in the menus setting it up and chimping more than usual. The one thing I did notice was a difference in battery % shown when moving a battery from the D810 or D750 to the D500. The D500 always shows slightly less charge (about 5%) than the other two. I also moved one battery from the D810 that showed about 30% left on that body, and there wasn't enough charge to even turn on the D500. The same thing happened with a low charged battery from the D750. Once I charged them they worked fine in the D500. I tried all of my EN-EL15 batteries (both Li-ion01 and Li-ion20) and all worked fine in the D500 after being fully charged. I'm wondering if the D500 uses a different algorithm to determine battery life remaining. A few have also mentioned problems using Lexar 1000x and 2000x SD cards in the D500, even though they are shown as approved for use in the D500 by Nikon. The D500 would show that the card was defective and sometimes lock the camera. The problem was remedied by turning the camera off then on. The issue also presented itself sometimes when trying to view a shot at 100% on the D500 display. I was unable to replicate that issue using a Lexar 64GB Pro 1000x card.

<p>Right on Lannie, I'm with you! If someone wants to see any of my photos from the trail (or anywhere else) they have to wait for me to return to my PC to process them and decide which photos I want to send to family or friends. I also don't take photos of my food in restaurants to show my friends what I am eating. I assume they are busy providing nutrients to their own bodies. And I don't do "selfies", or post my daily life on FB so every thief within 50 miles will know when I'm not at home and have an open invitation to come take all of my possessions. I also change my own oil and can rebuild a four-barrel carburetor (you young'uns will have to look it up). What happened to my world?!!! :)</p>

<p>People are also complaining about all of the Quality Control issues with Nikon and other manufacturers in the last few years. The more features you try to pack into a camera (or any other electronic device), the more you open up the possibility of bugs. I have never used video in any of my digital bodies, but I do understand economies of scale as someone pointed out. I doubt there is anyone out there who uses 100% of the features in any modern digital camera. Nikon and the others are trying to find the "sweet spot" for the majority of users, not satisfy the desires of every user. I imagine Nikon could make a lot of money by creating a Custom Design Camera Division. That way you could go online and design your dream camera beginning with a base camera and adding only those features you want. Automobile manufacturers do that, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be for a digital camera. Or for that matter how cost prohibitive it would be.</p>

<p>Elliot, I used NX-D because they had already updated for the D500. Hopefully the major packages will soon update as well. I haven't checked, but I believe Lightroom has an update that includes both the D5 and D500.</p>

<p>RJ, yes the lens was zoomed to keep the framing the same. I sold my D7200 a few days before the D500 arrived to someone who needed it for a trip, otherwise I would have used it instead of the D300S. You are correct that the deep buffer will not be of interest to a lot of people not shooting sports or BIFs. It does answer one of the consistent complaints from users of the D7xxx series though. One of the first events I used the D7000 for was a conference track meet. I was taking shots just past the finish line of competitors coming towards me during the hurdles event. I assumed incorrectly that the buffer would be similar to the D300 I had been using and missed a key portion of the race while the buffer emptied. As far as IQ I can't really say just from looking at the files that it is better or worse than the D7200, other than the cleaner colors I mentioned earlier. It is actually the first time I have gone backwards as far as megapixels, but 20 MP is plenty for my purposes. In fact I have been happy since cameras got to 12 MP. But of course I will always take more to work with, everything else being equal. My reasons for the D500 was better weather sealing, more rugged build (I sometimes don't get out of the way quickly enough on sidelines), higher frame rate and deeper buffer, and the new flicker reduction feature. Anyone who doesn't need those items will probably be happy with the D7200 and $700-$800 in their pocket.</p>

<p>Roses are in full bloom!</p><div></div>

<p>Elliot, all three were shot with NEF files out of the cameras and then converted to JPGs for posting using NX-D. No further processing was performed.</p>

<p>I just ran a quick test on the buffer. I took out the XQD card and used only an old 4 GB Class 4 Kingston SD card that is normally used in a trail camera. At 10fps I was able to get 28 shots before it stopped completely. It then took about one minute for the buffer to finish writing to the card. I then replaced it with the newest SanDisk Extreme Pro 280 MB/s SDXC II card and was able to get 44 shots before it slowed down to 1-2 frames per second. The difference this time is that the buffer cleared almost immediately when I stopped shooting. I didn't try it with the Lexar 2933 XQD card, but I feel fairly certain it would hit the 200 shot limit using that card with no problem.</p>

<p>Was your wife in Spain recently? I believe some GPS units will save the "last known location" in memory.</p>

<p>Looking at the original files full screen the D750's noise level is slightly better than the D500, but not by as much as I thought it would be. I think the D500 will definitely be on the sideline with me this year. I will be using it for nature photography (primarily birds) in the meantime. Hector is also correct about the shallower depth of field for the D750 having some effect. I'm sure there will be some better (more scientific) comparisons on the web shortly. It will be interesting to see what they show.</p>

<p>And finally the D750 crop. By the way, no additional post-processing was applied to any of the shots.</p><div></div>

<p>And here is the D500 crop.</p><div></div>

<p>Here is the D300S crop at ISO 6400.</p><div></div>

<p>And here is the D750 at ISO 6400.</p><div></div>

<p>Here is the D500 shot.</p><div></div>