Nikon D500 - first impressions

[Andy]

A few shots with the D500 & AFS 200mm/2.
All photos unprocessed. Just resized to 1500x1000

In the first picture, the dog was running straight to me. Nice that the AF system kept the eye in focus.

rgds, Andy

[paul_k]

Frank,
I used NX-2 as the only tool for post processing for years. Loved it like you.
Until Jan 2016 - as I had only "old" cameras which were supported by NX-2.

With recent camera acquistions this year, there was the need to move forward, not backward.
After much "resistance", I gave NX-D a try - and to much my surprise, I could do all the things with NX-D I did with NX-2.
Of course the menu structure was different, but after one evening, familiarity is now here as well.
A few things are even easier and more obvious than with NX-2 - so the pain is not really there.
( ...)
Andy

From a working point of view I found NX-D, which I downloaded to have a play with a couple of NEF's from some of the latest Nikon DSLR models, such as the D500,  less of a dissapointment then I feared it would be after reading many reports on it. Admittedly I only make adjustments to WB and exposure in NX-D, after which I export the file into NX2 which I keep using  as my main processing software (love those color points), so my experiences maybe aren't extensive enough to get frustrated over it.

Only disadvantage is that the NX-D NEF's are exported into NX2 as TIFF's, which for a D800 lossless compressed 12 bit NEF still boils down to a well over 200MB TIFF, and for a similar file for my DF for a nearly 100MB TIFF. Fortunately my Macbook Pro can handle such big files well, but I may need to give my storage a second look.

[simsurace]

A few shots with the D500 & AFS 200mm/2.
All photos unprocessed. Just resized to 1500x1000

In the first picture, the dog was running straight to me. Nice that the AF system kept the eye in focus.

rgds, Andy

Apart from the nice camera, that 200/2 is really sublime.
Very cute dog. What breed is this?

[Andy]

Simone,
today was a day with the AFS 200m/2 and the AFS 70-200mm/2.8 VR II. It is always a nice experience to see the 200mm/2 performance. Combined with the quick AFS motor in the lens and the fast AF system of the D500, it really worked like a charm.
Thanks for the comment on the dog. It is our 6 month old "puppy" and the breed is a "swiss white shepherd"

rgds, Andy

A few with the zoom lens (slight crops, but otherwise unaltered photos)
Play time .....

1) accelerate
2) top speed
3) full stop

[simsurace]

Thanks! Haven't seen them much around here despite the 'Swiss' in the name. This is certainly one of my favorite breeds, at least from the looks. The action shots with the 70-200 are also nice, of course that lens is more flexible when things are moving towards you or away from you. But the 200/2 just has a presence that few lenses have. Sooner or later I will get one of those

[Tersn]

Really nice action shots of the dog, Andy. Also tehe 200/2 shots are nicew to watch (not a big surprise).

[Frank Fremerey]

My guess is that the USB-trouble hat to do with power management issues. It seems after a certain while of shoveling data over the USB3-connection the D500 gets bored and shuts down...

Workaround: Instead of doing a direct transfer from XQD to HD I take a route via SSD which is fast enough, altough the HD speed of 120MB/s should not limit the USB3-connection.

Still: The 90MB/s read of the Samsung Pro SDHC is significantly faster than D500-USB3 via cable from a 440MB/s rated Lexar XQD. The USB3 connection on the D500 seems to be clearly limited.

I tested that on an ASUS/Intel board with a) Intel USB3-chipset and b) NEC-USB3-chipset. Both are really fast with my Kingston UDMA7  card reader

[elsid]

Being a, not very experienced, hobbyist, I dont feel I can review a camera or lens. However, I can safely say that D500 is a very good tool. You can feel the quality, AF is excellent and the colors superb. All this has already been said by Frank. I simply agree.
I post some pictures taken as jpegs with the 300mm PF lens + TC-14E III.

[elsid]

Here they are

[Danulon]

Got my copy on thursday. Lightroom needs  a patch to V6.5 to be able to read D500s NEFs. Appears to be buggy as it does not show lens data any more in the EXIFs

LR 6.51 is supposed to fix the bug - Adobe acknowledged the error and announced a fix.

[chris dees]

LR 6.51 is supposed to fix the bug - Adobe acknowledged the error and announced a fix.

LR 6.51 is released today.

[JJChan]

Being a, not very experienced, hobbyist, I dont feel I can review a camera or lens. However, I can safely say that D500 is a very good tool. You can feel the quality, AF is excellent and the colors superb. All this has already been said by Frank. I simply agree.
I post some pictures taken as jpegs with the 300mm PF lens + TC-14E III.

Elsid
Pretty good for a 'not experienced hobbyist'!!

JJ

[Frank Fremerey]

Last night I sat on a balcony with a friend, having a beer. I took some shots there. The D500 focusses, where I could never see any focus and she sees color where I can not see color:

These are taken with the D500 and 1.4/24G @f=1.4 and 30th to 50th of a second. ISO is in the 20.000 area...

[elsid]

JJ, It has been about 2.5 years that I became serious about photography. I try my best. Thanks for your appreciation.

[Frank Fremerey]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/like/291666634118?clk_rvr_id=1023005753950&item=291666634118&lgeo=1&vectorid=229487&rmvSB=true

It came today. I get 230MB/s over the NEC-Interface. Much better. Thank you.