Yukon Quest 2019 Finish - The 1000 Mile Sled Dog Race in Canada and Alaska

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Frank and Bent for the enthusiatic comments.

Batteries - hold up well in the cold?

It was not very cold for the batteries, so that would not have motivated me to get out  , but you are on to something there - batteries in what?

[Hugh_3170]

Mmmm - a new electric bike to cover the 15km there, back, and around the finish?

[Øivind Tøien]

That is not photo related enough. (And my pedal power works well enough around here, not that much hills.) It is a much more obvious answer. (Perhaps so obvious that no one have noticed  ).

[Hugh_3170]

D500?

[Øivind Tøien]

D500?

Yes!  I got an order in for the D500 at nearly the last moment before the free grip order went away after February 2. (I expect to be announcing the grip for sale shortly - still sitting in the box.) What is better for a first outing to test this body than a sled dog race in the cold? I used D500 with the 300mm PF most of the time while the D7100 took most of the wide shots. I will post more on the the battery use in the dedicated thread. (There is already an obvious clue to my initial question here in that thread.    , http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,8114.msg137083.html#msg137083). I sort go against the stream in these Z times, but while have had a brief encounter and found a Z body to have a pronounced want factor, with a little rational thinking they would not serve me well with my shooting style at this point of time (and it would be a much larger investment).

[Hugh_3170]

Well done Øivind!

The D500 is now quite affordable and is very good value for money IMHO and it does not have the limitations of lens incompatibilities of the D5600 and the D7500 and is much better built.  Possibly also easier to grip in your cold climates - not that it is an issue for me where I am.

I got mine about 12 months ago at a post Christmas sale when Nikon Australia was running a cash back offer to stimulate sales.  Paid around $US1,400 (including 10% GST) IIRC.  Body only.

[Bent Hjarbo]

I thought about a new camera, but took a wide shot and it didn’t show your new camera. Congratulations it is a nice camera and works well in the cold, I have just used mine in Norway in minus 10C for a whole day, no problems

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks, Hugh. It is not quite that well priced here  for a new one when the grip is hopefully sold, but getting close. One could even get a refurb one here for less than that price now, but then with only 3 months warranty (they have been not been in stock at Cameta). The best offers were about the same about a year ago too, but then I was still in conflict with CNX-D and it would not have been a good start of the relationship. It was a close race to the D7500, in fact I was close to pushing order button on that one a few times, but in the end a number of things added up for the D500, which makes it mostly a no compromise body. Related to night sky captures, it has a gentler 24 neighbors algorithm for the spacial filter so should in theory provide better star colors than the D7500. Your argument with the grip is very valid. While the grip of the D7500 fits "like a glove", it is a tight one, and best operated without winter insulation on the hands. The one on the D500 is just the right size, and shutter button is in just the right place. The D500 viewfinder is however the main attraction. Perhaps luxury, but in the end the feeling for a body contributes to provide inspiration for the image capture.

Thanks to you too Bent. I have already used it down to -25°C without problems. I will be getting back to a further analysis of the battery/power consumption.

[Erik Lund]

Thanks for sharing! For sure some very nice event images again this year

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the kind words, Erik, glad you liked them. 

[CS]

Thanks for the kind words Akira and Carl.
Carl, the Yukon Quest is favored over Iditarod (which only exceptionally have started in Fairbanks) by us inhabitant of interior Alaska, but that was not the special reason in this case.

Hugh, I have no special relationship to any of the competitors, in fact I never met any of them before, although I thought someone could perhaps  take that as a (false) bait. Think more photo-related, no need to dig into information from anywhere but what is posted here on NG is adequate to answer the question about my special motivation. 

Well, I managed to confuse the Yukon Quest with the Iditarod, but I wasn't confused about your images! 

[Frank Fremerey]

The D500 is now quite affordable and is very good value for money

The D500 is a phantastatic camera by any measure (it replaced my former love D3 and it is better in any respect). After all the time with both, the D850 is just another work horse, the D500 is a love affair. Only in the low ISO, the D850 is something special. The D500 is special at all ISO. I am a very acoustic person and the shutter sound of the D500 is wonderful. And she is so sober, adds nothing, takes nothing away in her IQ. What a great camera!

If for my work it would not be a great choice to have an FX and a DX body at the same time, I would rather get two D500 instead of the D850 & the D500. I am happy, only a very small lust for the Z6 because she is the right blend of D600 & D5 IMO.

[Øivind Tøien]

Well, I managed to confuse the Yukon Quest with the Iditarod, but I wasn't confused about your images! 

Thanks for further comment Carl - yes, it is easy to get them mixed up, both are very impressive events.

[Øivind Tøien]

The D500 is a phantastatic camera by any measure (it replaced my former love D3 and it is better in any respect). After all the time with both, the D850 is just another work horse, the D500 is a love affair. Only in the low ISO, the D850 is something special. The D500 is special at all ISO. I am a very acoustic person and the shutter sound of the D500 is wonderful. And she is so sober, adds nothing, takes nothing away in her IQ. What a great camera!

If for my work it would not be a great choice to have an FX and a DX body at the same time, I would rather get two D500 instead of the D850 & the D500. I am happy, only a very small lust for the Z6 because she is the right blend of D600 & D5 IMO.

Thanks for the comment Frank. Yes, the sound of the D500 mirror/shutter is very nice, sometimes I mistake it for just a shutter activation without mirror movement, similar to in live view mode on D7100. During this event I shot short burst at 10 frames/sec almost the whole time, and it was not annoying at all, like continuous mode can be on other bodies.  It can be hard to hear it from a distance during astrophotography. With all noise reduction turned off in CNX-D I gain a stop compared to D7100 at high ISO, but even noise reduction in camera at low gains almost another stop with very moderate loss of resolution.