The BEST Nikon DSLR for Wildlife Photography?

[chambeshi]

blog post by Canadian, Brad Hill

http://www.naturalart.ca/voice/blog.html#BEST_Wildlife_Nikon

[John G]

A long time waiting for this, and as always a presentation that offers a fair appraisal of the latest Bodies, as well as a support for Older Professional Bodies.
Well worth a read by established and aspiring wildlife photographers.

[Ann]

I agree with Brad: the D5 comes as close to perfection as I have ever experienced.

Yes, the D5 is large, heavy and very expensive but, if you can swing it, I don't think that you will be disappointed.

[MILLIREHM]

As Mr. Hill is stating there is not ONE best DSLR.
I recommend to get all three (not forgetting good lenses)
Like Brad Hill I see the D4S more than competitive in terms of AF-Speed (though not having the most modern AF-System) and fps (it even has Dynamic range advantages compared to the D4). The D4S has the best feeling of a camera in hand i ever experienced (and D5 is probably the same - i'd like to wait for a D5S though)
in fact I use the D500 more - two reasons:
1st It has got the DX crop factor i often need.
2nd It has good AF-Speed and full fps without battery grip just with EN-EL15 so its good to hike it around and travel with it.

The D850 is not competitive in speed (fast for this resolution) and the buffer gets full rather easily. It has its merits when maximum resolution is needed (and still being rather fast or when FX-DXswitching comes handy

[Ilkka Nissilä]

The D850 buffer is ok in 12-bit lossless NEF with G series XQD cards.

[MILLIREHM]

Should give that a try. My D850 is rather new and not fully tested out.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Should give that a try. My D850 is rather new and not fully tested out.

It does depend on how the camera is used, of course. But I felt the buffer was not limiting my shooting as long as I started out in 12-bit lossless compressed NEF mode (large/full size NEF; the smaller NEFs actually reduce the number of images in a max burst due to processing) and used the XQD card. The nominal buffer is then 54 images with EN-EL18b battery at 9fps; with EN-EL15a at 7fps it is 170 images. However, image content can make the files larger (compression less effective) so you may get fewer shots in practice. The buffer limit is easy to run into if using 14-bit NEF and/or slower cards, so if you're shooting action I would just use the XQD slot and stick to 12-bit NEF if possible.

I haven't compared compressed and lossless compressed, Nikon's specs show only a small difference (56 vs. 54 shots at 9fps for 12-bit; 31 vs. 29 for 14-bit) but I suspect that their test is with lens cap on (or in a dark room) so there is no image content that would compress well. My suspicion is that with a real scene being photographed, (lossy) compression would likely help more than suggested here. In practice even the (lossy) compressed NEF is visually lossless in practice since what they do is they reduce the number of bits stored of highlight pixels (where shot noise for a high luminosity means the lowest bits are just noise and not contributing to the image in a practically perceptible way). I will see if I can do a test comparing lossless compressed and compressed NEF with a real subject to see if the real world difference is greater than the very small difference in Nikon's table.

[tommiejeep]

I've always had a lot of time for Brad Hill.  One of the things I like is that he will change his opinions as he shoots more with a body/lens.  Losing the Focus point selector from the back of the camera did not make me happy as did going from the 9pt to 25pt.   I am shooting birds less so the D500 suits me but interestingly I have more favourite images from the D750 , D300s and D3s.  Of course I was younger and healthier while shooting those  .
Thanks for the link, I've not been in a buying mode so have visited his blog recently

[Gary Irwin]

The D850 buffer is ok in 12-bit lossless NEF with G series XQD cards.

Agreed...I find that I don’t need 14bit for wildlife shooting.

[RexGig0]

Brad Hill’s user reports do capture my attention. For reasons similar to his, but before seeing this March 2018 report, I bought a D5, in February 2018, after already having added a D500 in November 2017. Not that we have many bears, here, but plenty of alligators, in this wet, green, heavily-vegetated edge of Texas.

Largely due to Brad Hill’s earlier reports, I am considering a Sigma 500/4 Sport lens.

The D500’s superior AF had already relegated my D3s to secondary status, before I added the D5. I do plan to keep the D3s.

My Df, of course, remains relevant.