Nikon D50010 FPS, 21MP DX, 4K, Flip LCD
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This D500 is Nikon's best DX sports camera because it's the fastest DX camera ever: 10 frames per second, it can shoot through the flicker of typical sports arena, pool and gymnasium lighting, and it shoots at ridiculously high ISOs like 51,200 and still looks great.
It has superb auto white balance, giving great colors in all sorts of crummy artificial lighting like LED, incandescent, fluorescent out in the real world.
The D500 is the first consumer Nikon that's worthwhile considering for serious sports shooting. For sports, it's a complete winner.
It has the same autofocus system as the top-of-the-line D5, which is fast and hot in any light.
As expected, it has more AF points than ever before, but you can't select them all. You have only 55 selectable points, even if there are a claimed 153 AF points hidden somewhere.
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
All the buttons on the top left and back left light up in white anytime you flick the power switch around the shutter button. Finally most of the buttons in my 2016 DSLR light up as well as all of the buttons in every cell phone I've owned since 1992 do, which is a life saver when shooting in dim light. They are exactly as bright as they should be, just enough to see but not so bright that they blind you. The buttons on the top right and back right are still dark.
More buttons along the left of the camera, including a new programmable Fn2 button on the bottom left.
The second card slot is now an XQD slot; we now have one SD card slot and one XQD card slot.
10 FPS with AF and AE tracking — fastest Nikon DX camera ever.
79-frame buffer at these speeds, even in 14-bit uncompressed raw (with a fast enough card).
153 AF points that are rated down to LV -4 (full moonlight on sand), but you only can see and control about 55 of them.
Automatic ability to shoot-through flickering lighting (think fluorescent, mercury-vapor sports stadium lighting, LCD screens and dimmed LED lighting).
Touch Screen.
Tilting Screen.
MODE and ISO buttons swap locations compared to earlier Nikons. The exposure MODE button moves to the top left with the QUAL, WB and Metering buttons, and ISO moves to near the shutter button.
ISOs to 51,200 as regular ISOs, expandable to ISO 1,638,400 as "HI +5."
4K video.
Can shoot stills during video.
"SnapBridge" Bluetooth scheme to get your images moved around automatically, but not available for Apple until the summer.
Wi-Fi.
Easy to program the D500 to enter IPTC data into all files as you shoot.
Three levels of warm correction for Auto White Balance. There's normal (AUTO1), AUTO2 that keeps warm indoor tungsten colors warm and wonderful, and AUTO0 that ensures a neutral color balance even under tungsten.
Silent electronic front curtain shutter (MENU > CUSTOM > d6), but only works in concert with the Mirror-up mode.
Auto ISO now lets us select "Subject" or "Subject and Background" Auto ISO (MENU > CUSTOM > e4). Subject is the same as before; Subject and Background jacks up Auto ISO further to get detail in the background for indoor flash shots.
Nikon's best and fastest DX DSLR ever, 10 FPS.
Superb high ISO performance and settings to ludicrous values as high as ISO 1,638,400 ("HI + 5").
Much quieter than any of Nikon's pro cameras like the D5, D4 or D3.
Easy to save and recall one complete camera state as a file on your memory card, but —
No fast recall modes for different camera setting; the D500 still uses Nikon's awful settings banks that take too long to select and don't recall all we need, like AF settings, anyway. The D7200, D610 and D750 are much better here.
No built-in flash.
No GPS.
No auto brightness control for the LCD. You can set the LCD brightness separately for Live View versus Playback and Menus, but now there are more menu clicks needed to select between these to change brightnesses as you move outdoors or indoors.
No power switch lock, and it's easy to knock on or off by accident and miss shots.
Only 20.6 MP (5,568 x 3,712 pixels native); even a D3200 has slightly higher resolution.
Still no sane replacement for Nikon's idiotic Custom Settings Banks, which has been a core incompetancy of Nikon since they introduced these in 2003. There are no U1, U2, U3 (or C1, C2, C3 or M1, M2, M3 etc.) modes so we can save and recall camera settings. There is no way to save immediate camera settings; the Custom Banks are re-written every time you set the camera with no way to lock them!
Nikon D500. bigger.
Nikon D500 and 35mm f/1.8 DX. bigger.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
Nikon D500 lens mount. bigger.
There is a focus motor in the D500, so it works with every AF lens made since 1986.
Even better, there's an aperture-ring feeler, so it meters with all AI and newer (1977-on) manual-focus lenses. The D500 also gives full-color Matrix metering and EXIF data with manual-focus lenses if you share the lens' data in a menu. More at Nikon Lens Compatibility.
You're always on your own with off-brand lenses like Sigma. Potential incompatibility with future cameras is one of the steep prices one pays for trying to save a few dollars yesterday on a cheap lens. Nikon shares nothing with its competitors about lens compatibility, so if you want to buy a Tamron or Sigma, you're gambling that it will work with tomorrow's camera. Good luck; it's always better to buy used Nikon than new junk-brand lenses if money matters.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
CH (Continuous High): 10 FPS with full AF and AE.
CL (Continuous Low): selectable 1 to 9 FPS.
QC (Quiet Continuous): 3 FPS.
15.7 x 23.5mm DX CMOS.
1.53x crop factor.
Ultrasonic cleaner.
5,568 × 3,712 (20.6 MP) native.
DX (16 × 24mm)
5,568 × 3,712 (L, 20.6 MP), 4,176 × 2,784 (M, 12MP), 2,784 × 1,856 (S, 5 MP).
1.3x crop (12 × 18mm)
4,272 × 2,848 (L), 3,200 × 2,136 (M), 2,128 × 1,424 (S).
Stills shot during video
3,840 x 2,160 when shooting 4K.
You get full-still resolution stills, cropped to 16:9 (5,568 x 3,128 (L), 4,176 x 2,344 (M) or 2,784 x 1,560 (S)) when shooting 1080 or 720 video.
If shooting 1.3x crop you get a slightly lower resolution 16:9 stills: 4,272 x 2,400 (L), 3,200 x 1,800 (M) or 2,128 x 1,192 (S).
ISO 100 to 51,200, expandable from ISO 50 ("LO -1") to ISO 1,638,400 ("HI + 5").
Auto ISO
Settable high and low ISO limits as far as the camera goes: ISO 100 to 1,638,400 ("HI + 5")!
Slowest shutter speed settable to any fixed value in full stops, as well as to track the lens' focal length.
New "Subject and Background" mode (MENU > CUSTOM > e4) to give the D500 permission to jack up ISO to higher levels to get more detail in the backgrounds of indoor flash shots.
All with individual fine-tuning:
Auto (3 types: normal, leave warm light warm, and correct warm lighting fully to white).
Incandescent.
Fluorescent (7 types).
Direct sunlight.
Flash.
Cloudy.
Shade.
Preset manual.
6 stored presets.
Spot white balance also with live view.
Kelvin (2,500 K to 10,000 K).
sRGB and Adobe RGB.
NEF (Raw): 12 or 14 bit (lossless compressed, compressed or uncompressed); large, medium, and small pixel sizes (medium and small images are recorded at a bit depth of 12 bits using lossless compression)
JPG: Fine (approx. 1:4), Normal (approx. 1:8) or Basic (approx. 1:16) compression. Usual optimal quality or fixed size options.
RAW+JPG
RGB TIFF
3,840 x 2,160 (4K): 29.97p, 25p or 23.976p.
1,920 x 1,080: 59.94p, 50p, 29.97p, 25p, 23.976p.
1,280 x 720; 59.94p, 50p.
You can select high or normal quality at all these, except only normal at 4K.
H.264/MPEG-4
.MOV
Stereo microphone built-in.
Linear PCM recording.
All the same as the D5:
Face-Priority AF; automatically finds faces and focus on them.
153 AF points.
Work down to LV -4, which is full moonlight on sand.
Only 99 of these are cross-type.
Only 15 sensors work with f/8 lenses.
You can't select all these manually; you only can select 55 of them. Of these selectable 55; 35 are cross-type sensors and only 9 work at f/8.
Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor module.
100% coverage. (only 98% in 1.3x crop.)
0.7x magnification with 35mm lens. (1.0x magnification with 50mm telephoto lens.)
16mm eyepoint.
-2 to +1 diopters.
Vertical metal focal plane shutter.
30s to 1/8,000, Bulb.
10-pin or WR-R10 & WR-A10 adapter.
No built-in flash.
Flash Sync
1/250 sync speed.
ISO 519 PC (Prontor-Compur) socket.
Flash Control
Nikon's usual i-TTL.
TTL RGB.
180k pixels.
3D Color Matrix.
13mm, 10mm, 8mm or 6mm diameter center-weighted. (only the 8mm circle works with old manual-focus AI lenses.)
3.5mm spot at the selected focus point (only the center point with old manual-focus AI lenses).
LV -3 ~ +20.
Spot meter: LV 2 ~ 20.
Yip, for stills and movies with the usual options.
Nikon D500 flipping LCD. bigger.
3.2" (8cm) TFT.
Tilts up and down for shooting at odd angle, but doesn't swing around for self-portraits.
Touch sensitive.
2,359,000 dot (XGA).
170° viewing angle.
100% frame coverage.
NO AUTO BRIGHTNESS CONTROL.
One SD slot and one XQD slot.
SD slot takes UHS-II SDHC and SDXC cards.
It has the usual options for the two cards: dual (backup), sequential (overflow), RAW/JPG, etc.
Nikon D500 connectors. bigger.
USB 3.0 Micro-B.
Type C HDMI.
3.5mm stereo audio input with plug-in power.
3.5mm stereo audio output.
10-pin Nikon remote: for things like optional WR-R10 (requires WR-A10 WR Adapter) or WR-1 Wireless Remote Controller, GP-1/GP-1A GPS Unit, or GPS device compliant with NMEA0183 version 2.01 or 3.01 (requires optional MC-35 GPS Adapter Cord and cable with D-sub nine-pin connector)
Nikon "SnapBridge" uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone or elsewhere for automatic uploads.
Bluetooth Specification Version 4.1
IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g.
Open system, WPA2-PSK.
NFC Forum Type 3 Tag.
EN-EL 15 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, same as D810.
Rated 1,240 shots per charge.
Optional EH-5b AC Adapter, which needs an EP-5B Power Connector.
Optional battery grip:
Optional MB-D17 Multi-Power Battery Pack uses one EN-EL 15 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery or eight AA cells.
If you use a BL-5 Battery Chamber Cover you can use the EN-EL18a or EN-EL18 battery.
5.8 x 4.6 x 3.2 inches.
147 x 115 x 81 millimeters.
29.595 oz. (839.05 g. or 1 lb., 13.595 oz.) with battery and SD card, actual measured.
Rated 30.4 oz. (860 g. or 1 lb., 14.4 oz.) with battery and XQD card.
Rated 26.9 oz. (760 g. or 1 lb., 10.9 oz.) stripped.
Camera
BF-1B Body Cap
EN-EL15 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
MH-25a Battery Charger
DK-17F Fluorine-Coated Finder Eyepiece
UC-E22 USB Cable
USB Cable Clip
HDMI Cable Clip
AN-DC17 Camera Strap
Also comes as a kit with 16-80mm VR lens:
Nikon D500 and 16-80mm VR lens. bigger.
Bottom, Nikon D500. bigger.
Made in Thailand.
0 to 40°C (32 to 104°F).
85% or less RH, no condensation.
Tuesday, 05 January 2016, 3PM NYC time.
March 2016.
Shipping since late April 2016, and still hard to find as of July 2016. You need to order yours and be patient.
$1,600 New at B&H, gray market.
About $900 used if you know How to Win at eBay.
About $829 used at Amazon or about $1,600 used with lens at Amazon.
About $900 used if you know How to Win at eBay.
About $2,069 new at Amazon or $2,000 for the kit with lens, used.
About $950 used at eBay, if you know How to Win at eBay.
These were so hard to get in the begining that they sold for more used at eBay than you could order them new.
Nikon D500. bigger.
Getting a Legal USA Version (for USA only)
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
In the USA, be sure your box has "US" above the UPC bar code:
Nikon D500 box end. bigger.
If the letters are different, you got ripped off with a gray market version from another country. This is why I never buy anyplace other than from my personally approved sources. You just can't take the chance of buying elsewhere, especially at any retail store, because non-USA versions have no warranty in the USA, and you won't even be able to get firmware or service for it — even if you're willing to pay out-of-pocket for it when you need it!
I got my D500 as body-only from Adorama, who also has the kit with 16-80mm VR. I'd also get it from B&H, who also has the kit with 16-80mm, or from Amazon (also as kit with lens) or from Crutchfield (also with lens), or get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Always be sure to check your box while you can still return it, or just don't buy from unapproved sources, so you'll be able to have your camera serviced and get free updated firmware as needed.
Even easier, a legal USA version has a warranty card from Nikon USA. The serial number on the card must match the serial number of your camera, or you have no warranty. The serial number on the box should also match the serial number on your camera.
Nikon D500 USA Warranty Card. bigger.
US versions include two printed manuals, one in English (shown on right) and uno en español (a la izquierda).
Get yours from the same places I do and you won't have a problem, but if you take the risk of getting yours elsewhere, be sure to check everything while you still can return it.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
Overall Autofocus Viewfinder Ergonomics
Image Quality Auto WB Exposure HDR
Flash Exposure High ISOs Distortion
Shutter Noise Top LCD Rear LCD Playback
Power & Battery Mechanics Clock Data
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
The Nikon D500 is fast and sure, and adds a few new features to the Nikons we all know and love.
Low light and high ISO performance are spectacular, and the AF system is superb as well.
Image quality is outstanding.
At 10 frames per second this is Nikon's best DX camera ever for sports and action. The D5 is 2 FPS faster, but for sports, the DX sensor makes your lens 50% longer, so unless you do this for a living full time, this is Nikon's new best sports camera.
My biggest sticking points are ergonomic: with no U,1 U2 or U3 preset memory settings I prefer the D7200 or D750 because I need these modes to swap all my settings quickly as my shooting conditions change from people to places and things.
Autofocus is outstanding. It's fast and sure in any light, and facial recognition works great in the regular viewfinder shooting mode.
The default Auto AF Area Select mode usually finds faces all by itself, or whatever else is our intended subject, and just focuses on it. This is superb; we rarely need to select AF areas manually.
Regardless of claiming 153 points, there are only as many selectable points as in any other camera.
The sea of AF points covers the full width of the frame, but only about half the frame vertically. This is typical.
By default it will identify your subject just about anywhere in the frame, grab it and focus on it. In AF-C (continuous) mode, it will track that subject all around the frame at its default settings. Bravo!
What isn't as good is that it takes too many clicks to swap between the default Auto AF Area select mode mentioned above which I usually use, and the single AF-point mode I use when the Auto Select mode doesn't find my subject. You have to hold the AF mode button on the front of the camera, stop what you're doing and look at the bottom of the screen or look for AF point displays, and spin a dial among a zillion other modes until you get the display you want. Older Nikons have a dedicated lever to select among these by feel. You can remove some of the modes you don't use to make it faster to select the ones you do; see Usage.
Another way to get between Auto Area AF and a single AF point quickly is to reprogram the function of the Preview (or F1) buttons to immediate selection of the single AF-point mode.
Actual view through Nikon D500 viewfinder. Chula Vista Nature Preserve, June 2016. bigger.
No news here; the finder is excellent as we expect. It looks a lot better in person than in my photograph through it here; it's sharp and bright and everything is always completely legible in any light.
The AF zones are indicated with black LCD boxes that will move all over as they track, or multiple boxes will indicate if a few are in focus at the same time.
These black boxes light dimly in red at night. The red lighting isn't very bright, you can't see the level at night, for instance.
The flash bolt is orange, thankfully.
"FLICKER" appears in black on the lower right of the image if the D500 detects and is tracking flicker through which to shoot.
It's mostly the same as the D810, with very similar operation and controls. Sadly the buttons are all on the wrong side, demanding both hands to shoot, set and playback.
As I carry it, Live View often turns itself on by accident.
Disheartening is that there's no mode dial with custom-programmable camera presets as we can do on less expensive cameras like the D7200.
This makes it take way too long to reset the camera for different scenarios, like people or places or things or sports as I use U1 and U2 settings on my other Nikons (or C1, C2 and C3 settings on my Canons). Nikon is still using the same foolish "settings banks" that require two sets of banks (Shooting Banks and Custom Settings Banks) that take way too long to select in the heat of shooting, they cannot be locked, and even then these two banks together fail to save and recall everything; AF modes don't save or recall, for instance. The D7200, D610 and D750 are far better here; this matters if you need to reset your camera for shooting different things very quickly. I do.
It takes a moment to wake in menus or playback. This is 2016; there's no excuse for having to wait for the camera to turn back on when I press MENU or PLAY.
You often have to hit OK after setting things, like MENU > Shooting > Image Area, otherwise the D500 ignores you. It's like Simon Says; if you don't hit OK after changing a setting, it is forgotten.
It has so many different display modes and display mode shortcut buttons (i, INFO, MENU, Fn2) that they no longer do much; you wind up having to hit all of them until you find whatever you needed.
My D500 images look great. This is what Nikon DSLRs are all about: you can't get better-looking images from any digital camera at any price.
The colors, tones, highlights, shadows and everything are superb. My Canons are as good, while everything else pales in comparison to the JPGs I get directly from my D500. (If you shoot NEF, then the look of your images will be just as much a factor of whatever software you use.)
Ditto for focus: they're always sharp because they're always in focus. Unlike many of the cameras I review where I mention occasional inconstant AF (like in the Sony RX10 Mk III at 600mm), my D500 images are always in focus.
AWB is superb; I've never seen better in a DSLR. AWB is critical to great pictures; without perfect auto white balance, the resulting color shift severely degrades images. This is often the difference between a WOW! shot that sells, and an also-ran.
The D500 is superb in setting its white balance perfectly in any light, and especially in artificial light. Daylight, shade, incandescent, florescent or LED, it all looks flawless as shot on the D500.
Exposure can vary, which is not good. I tend to shoot at 0 compensation indoors and -0.7 stops outdoors, but it will vary. I sometimes can need -1.0 stops compensation if there are large dark areas in the image; it's weird that Matrix metering isn't setting the highlights properly by default.
As I explain at Flash below, flash exposure is more variable than I'd like.
The HDR (high dynamic range) mode works great, even hand-held. It defaults to an automatic mode that just works. Here are two pairs of samples, the first shot normally, and the second as it came from the D500. Click any of them to enlarge:
Regular shot. Click to enlarge. Roll your mouse over this image to compare, or see the HDR image below if you have no mouse:
Shot as HDR. Even hand-held, HDR does a great job of naturally filling-in detail in the dark areas lost in the regular shot above, and keeps detail in the sky which was washed-out to white in the regular photo. bigger.
Regular shot. Click to enlarge. Roll your mouse over this image to compare, or see the HDR image below if you have no mouse:
Shot as HDR. Even hand-held, HDR added much more detail out the window, and pleasantly warmed-up the interior. No, I have no idea why it changed the white balance in HDR; these were shot in Auto White Balance. bigger.
There's no built-in flash. My favorite external flash is my SB-400, which is small, light, fast and powerful. I'd get one used again today over anything else new.
The worst technical thing about the D500 is that the flash exposure isn't as consistent as I'd like. It's bad because it's not as repeatable as it should be, making it impossible to ensure perfect flash exposure for every shot as I get with my Fuji X100T. Nikon invented the world's first 3D Matrix through-the-lens flash system which set the world standard in this in 1992, but the D500 isn't as good.
It's not unusual for two shots in a rapid sequence to have different flash exposure, and just as often the second shot has more flash exposure than the first; it's not my flash being depleted.
I often have to dial-in negative compensation for both the overall exposure as well as the flash, and it's not consistent so there's more luck involved than I would like. I have yet to learn how to get consistently good flash exposures with my D500.
The new "Subject and Background" Auto ISO option (MENU > CUSTOM > e4) lets us get brighter backgrounds with flash indoors by selecting higher Auto ISOs if it needs to.
Even ludicrously high ISOs look superb. The D500 has great color and tone at any ISO up to and including 51,200!
Nikon is using clever fractal and vector conversions to let the camera shoot at foolishly high ISOs, and still deliver recognizable and usable images. Yes, it gets softer and any subject texture is replaced with slight random grain, but even at ISO 51,200 I get perfectly usable images when I need it.
ISOs and resolution ratings haven't been relevant since about 2007, so don't get hung up on any of that. All that matters is how hot and fast is the AF system and how quickly we can set the camera. With no instant save and recall ability, resetting the camera from one type of shot or from gig to gig becomes much more of a pain than it is on a D750 or D7200.
The D500 simply gets fuzzier, but clean, up to ISO 51,200. At ISO 102,400, High +1, it ignores picture control settings, which is why the colors suddenly get dull (I keep my D500 set to Vivid and +3 saturation).
As we get to ISO 1,638,400 (High +5), the image is completely gone.
In other words, so long as you stay away from the ridiculous High + settings, everything looks swell. If you need ISO 51,200, use ISO 51,200.
Complete Images
What we lose at high ISOs if you look at the original images and crops below are details and textures. As ISO climbs, we lose grain in the wood, the sparkles in the grain on the right, and everything gets softer. Fireplace bricks inside the grille disappear first on the left then the right, and the dust on grill vanishes.
As I see it below, every ISO up to and including ISO 51,200 looks great. Only at ISO 102,400 and above do the images start to suffer.
Click any for the camera-original © files as above to explore on your computer; mobile devices rarely show the full resolution files properly.
Crops
These are 600 x 400 pixel crops. They will vary in size to fit your browser window; if they are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 37 x 56" (1 x 1.5 meters) at this same magnification.
Click any for the same camera-original © files as above to explore on your computer; mobile devices rarely show the full resolution files properly.
In these crops, I see a fine scratch in the wood to the bottom left of the clock disappear by ISO 100. Fine wood grain also softens by ISO 100. Detail in highlights of the black wood on the clock softens at ISO 100, and everything gets softer and softer at each higher ISO. At the really high ISOs, there isn't much left anymore. This is what happens with all cameras.
Auto Distortion correction works great. I can shoot the 10-24mm lens at every crazy setting, and every shot is dead-straight:
Fine Gy Dreier home, Palm Desert Area. Nikon D500, Auto Distortion Correction ON, Nikon 10-24mm at 10mm, f/3.5 at 1.8 at Auto ISO 160. bigger.
The 10-24mm has a lot of barrel distortion that would have been visible, but with Distortion Correction turned ON, they come straight out of the D500 with everything ruler-straight.
It's not that quiet. It's about as loud as a D3300.
A D810 is much quieter than the D500, even with with the D810 in its normal mode and the D500 in its quiet mode.
In either of the Quiet modes (Q or QC set on the top left advance mode dial), the D500 is a little quieter than the usual modes, but it's slower to respond — not why you paid big bucks for a D500.
I like the quiet modes and use them unless I need to shoot at 10 FPS.
The top LCD is the usual. It has a green LED backlight if you activate it.
With the power ON, it shows everything even if the D500 goes to sleep.
With the D500 turned OFF, the top LCD still shows how many shots you've made, and which slots have a card.
The rear LCD is better than the LCDs on cameras like the D600, D800 and D810 that were too green. The D500's LCD seems super accurate.
Sadly it has no auto brightness control as Canon does, so one always has to reset its brightness as one moves inside or outside. Now that Nikon added separate brightness settings for Live View or Playback and Menus, there sadly are more clicks required to change the brightness than ever before.
When set to maximum brightness, the LCD clips the highlights, making things look overexposed that probably aren't. The D500 LCD is therefore poor for use outdoors, sort of a bummer for a camera optimized for sports.
The rear LCD has a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means that the top and bottom of the screen has black bars when showing images, which have an aspect ratio of 3:2. The screen does fill with the image when zoomed.
Other than outdoors, the LCD is sharp, bright, colorful and accurate.
Playback is even easier than on other Nikons with the addition of the touch screen.
If you set the center button to Zoom, (MENU > f2 Multi selector center button > playback mode > zoom), the D500 zooms-in to the active AF area you used, bravo!
The touch screen works swell for zooming and scrolling, but you can't grab the navigation image and use it like Photoshop's navigator to scroll around the image as I would like.
Battery life is excellent, especially if you've been slumming it with a mirrorless camera lately.
I get about 1,400 shots per charge on my new battery, which should work even better as I start using it. Lithium batteries gain capacity during the first few charge and discharge cycles.
Of course you'll get twice as many photos if you're motoring away shooting sports and not using the LCD, and half as many if you're twiddling with settings and playback after each shot.
The charger is still poor, with nut one slowly blinking light to try to tell us everything that's going on, and a foolish cord and swiveling connector where there should simply be a folding plug.
It has metal top, bottom, front and back covers. Everything else is plastic.
The battery door is plastic, with weather gaskets.
The buttons, levers and knobs are all plastic.
My D500 is slow 235 milliseconds per day, or 7.2 seconds per month. This is reasonable performance.
Every sample of D500 will be different; this is an analog adjustment to the quartz oscillator.
Nikon's much-heralded SnapBridge program is not out until at least Summer 2016, for Apple.
The cards are properly formatted as "NIKON D500."
Folders start off as "100ND500."
You can set the first three characters of the file name. I use "500" so I know they were shot on my D500.
Another core incompetancy of Nikon, often as you change your settings banks the D500 will just happen to be set to different folders, so you'll have images getting thrown in different folders as you change banks.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
Do you get randomly underexposed or off-color frames when you shoot sports at high shutter speeds indoors, or outdoors at night? That's because your exposure caught the artificial lighting at an instant where it wasn't at full brightness — something the D500 and Canon 7D Mk II can now shoot around automatically.
When looking at the D750 versus the D500 that sell for the same price, the choice is easy.
Get the D750 for nature, portraits, interiors and landscapes. Get the D500 only if sports or birds are your thing; the D500 runs very fast, while the D750 has a much bigger sensor, better ergonomics and a built-in flash.
If comparing the D610 to the D500, the D610 is the same as a D750 above, except that the D610 has poor low-light autofocus. If it's too dark to read easily, the D610 often just gives up and needs an AF illuminator, while all the other cameras focus easily without one.
Get the D610 for nature, portraits, interiors and landscapes. Get the D500 only if sports or birds are your thing; the D500 runs very fast, while the D610 has a much bigger sensor and better ergonomics and a built-in flash.
So long as you're not trying to shoot in the dark, the D610 for much less money gives potentially better pictures for everything except sports and birds.
See also The Best Camera.
Canon 7D Mk II is a completely different camera.
I prefer the 7D Mk II for its superior ergonomics and Canon's customer support. Given the choice, I'd pick the 7D Mk II any day. They have the same-size sensors and frame rates.
If you're already in bed with the Nikon system ignore me, but if starting with a clean slate or not that much investment in Nikon, I'd get the 7D Mk II, and it costs less, too.
You'll have to read both reviews and Nikon vs. Canon to get the bigger picture.
Anni | 2011-2016 |
2014- |
2014- |
2016- |
2016- |
2014-2015 |
2012-2014 |
FPS | 12 |
10 |
5 |
10 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
Resolution | 18 MP |
20 MP |
36 MP |
20 MP |
20 MP |
16 MP |
16 MP |
Format | Full |
DX |
Full |
DX |
Full |
Full |
Full |
ISO Max** | 51,200 |
16,000 |
12,800 |
51,200 |
102,400 |
25,600 |
12,800 |
Selectable AF Points | 61 |
65 |
51 |
55** |
55*** |
51 |
51 |
LCD | 3.2" 1,040k |
3" 1,040k |
3.2" 1,229k |
3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 921k |
3.2" 921k |
Auto brightness | no |
YES |
no |
no |
no |
YES |
YES |
Built-in Flash | no |
YES |
YES |
no |
no |
no |
no |
Shoot-through Flicker? | no |
YES |
no |
YES |
with new firmware |
no |
no |
Rear voice memo mic & rec. button | YES |
no |
no |
no |
YES |
YES |
YES |
Battery | |||||||
Weight**** | 53.8oz. 1,526g |
31.8oz. 901g |
34.0oz. 965g |
30.4oz. 860g |
49.9oz. 1,415g. |
47.2oz. 1,337g |
47.2oz. 1,337g |
Price, 1/2016 | $3,000 used |
||||||
Price, 5/2016 | n/a |
$2,500 used |
** In standard modes. This is a meaningless specification; cameras that let you set them higher simply look worse than cameras that can't go as high! This is merely a poster spec to try to bilk innocent people out of more money for more expensive cameras.
*** I said selectable AF points. Most cameras use many more invisible AF points to help out the ones you can see.
**** With battery and card(s).
Anni | 2016- |
2014- |
2014- |
2013- |
2016- |
2015- |
FPS | 12 |
5 |
6.5 |
6 |
10 |
6 |
Resolution | 20 MP |
36 MP |
24MP |
24 MP |
20 MP |
24MP |
Format | Full |
Full |
Full |
Full |
DX |
DX |
ISO Max** | 102,400 |
12,800 |
12,800 |
25,600 |
51,200 |
25,600 |
Selectable AF Points | 55*** |
51 |
51 |
39 |
55** |
51 |
LCD | 3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 1,229k |
3.2" 1,229k |
3.2" 921k |
3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 1,229k |
Auto brightness | no |
no |
no |
no |
no |
no |
Built-in Flash | no |
YES |
YES |
YES |
no |
YES |
Shoot-through Flicker? | no |
no |
no |
no |
YES |
no |
Rear voice memo mic & rec. button | YES |
no |
no |
no |
no |
no |
Battery | ||||||
Weight**** | 49.9oz. 1,415g. |
34.0oz. 965g |
29.5oz. 836g |
30.0oz. 851g |
30.4oz. 860g |
27.0oz. 765g |
Price, 1/2016 | ||||||
Price, 5/2016 | ||||||
Price, 7/2016 |
** In standard modes. This is a meaningless specification; cameras that let you set them higher simply look worse than cameras that can't go as high! This is merely a poster spec to try to bilk innocent people out of more money for more expensive cameras.
*** I said selectable AF points. Most cameras use many more invisible AF points to help out the ones you can see.
**** With battery and card(s).
Anni | 2016- |
2016- |
2014-2015 |
2012-2014 |
FPS | 10 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
Resolution | 20 MP |
20 MP |
16 MP |
16 MP |
Format | DX |
Full |
Full |
Full |
ISO Max** | 51,200 |
102,400 |
25,600 |
12,800 |
Selectable AF Points | 55** |
55*** |
51 |
51 |
LCD | 3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 2,359k |
3.2" 921k |
3.2" 921k |
Auto brightness | no |
no |
YES |
YES |
Built-in Flash | no |
no |
no |
no |
Shoot-through Flicker? | YES |
no |
no |
no |
Rear voice memo mic & rec. button | no |
YES |
YES |
YES |
Battery | ||||
Weight**** | 30.4oz. 860g |
49.9oz. 1,415g. |
47.2oz. 1,337g |
47.2oz. 1,337g |
Price, 1/2016 | $3,000 used |
|||
Price, 5/2016 | n/a |
$2,500used |
** In standard modes. This is a meaningless specification; cameras that let you set them higher simply look worse than cameras that can't go as high! This is merely a poster spec to try to bilk innocent people out of more money for more expensive cameras.
*** I said selectable AF points. Most cameras use many more invisible AF points to help out the ones you can see.
**** With battery and card(s).
Anni | 2016- |
2009-2012 |
2007-2010 |
2005-2007 |
FPS | 10 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
Resolution | 20 MP |
12 MP |
12 MP |
4 MP |
Format | DX |
Full |
Full |
DX |
ISO Max** | 51,200 |
12,800 |
6,400 |
1,600 |
Selectable AF Points | 55** |
51 |
51 |
11 |
LCD | 3.2" 2,359k |
3" 921k |
3" 921k |
2.5" 232k |
Auto brightness | no |
no |
no |
no |
Built-in Flash | no |
no |
no |
no |
Shoot-through Flicker? | YES |
no |
no |
no |
Rear voice memo mic & rec. button | no |
YES |
YES |
YES |
Battery | ||||
Weight**** | 30.4oz. 860g |
52.6oz 1,492g |
50.0oz. 1,417g |
44.3oz. 1,256g |
Price, 1/2016 | $1,600 used |
$1,200 used |
$200 used |
|
Price, 5/2016 | $1,600 used |
$1,200 used |
$175 used |
** In standard modes. This is a meaningless specification; cameras that let you set them higher simply look worse than cameras that can't go as high! This is merely a poster spec to try to bilk innocent people out of more money for more expensive cameras.
*** I said selectable AF points. Most cameras use many more invisible AF points to help out the ones you can see.
**** With battery and card(s).
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
Be sure to press OK after making many settings, otherwise the D500 may choose to ignore the changes.
The rear LCD doesn't mirror settings that show on the top LCD as you change them. To have the rear LCD show this, press INFO.
Don't forget you have a touch screen.
You can use the D500 just like every other Nikon DSLR without a touch screen, or also use the screen if you like.
The arrows at the bottom on playback select different frames. You also can swipe left and right to select other frames.
Here's a link to my BIN file with all my personal settings.
Feel free to download this into your computer to load into your D500, but know that it will make your D500 the same as mine, and mine is programmed to add my personal copyright information into the EXIF of every image.
If you want to use this, be sure to reset your camera's copyright information to your own.
If you get lost, here is the clean setup file for a new D500.
These file links do nothing on your computer. To use them, download the linked files to your computer, then copy it to the top (root) directly of a card. The files are tiny, only about 60 kB each. Put that card in your D500, go to MENU > SETUP > Save/Load settings > Load settings to load any of these settings files into your D500.
A core incompetancy of Nikon are its "Settings Banks" system used in many of its cameras, including the D500. Instead of a simple U1 U2 etc. setting that just recalls all your saved settings at once as on the D750, Nikon uses two sets of banks (the "Photo shooting menu bank" and the "Custom settings bank") to save camera setups. Sadly both of these two banks together only save 2/3 of what you need, and don't save important items like AF settings.
Worse, these settings banks don't lock; anytime you change anything, you also change what's stored in the bank. You can't rally save anything, making these nearly useless.
It also takes too many menu clicks to recall these two different banks. I do it by pressing the i button, selecting the Photo shooting menu bank, selecting which one, pressing OK, selecting the Custom settings banks, selecting which one, then pressing OK, and hoping my shot isn't already gone.
I don't, but you can assign the Fn1 button to cycle through the Photo shooting menu by pressing MENU > CUSTOM SETTING MENU > f1 Custom control assignment > (pick Fn1 + dial) > choose SHOOT Photos shooting menu bank > OK.
There are way too many AF modes, so I disable the junk modes in a Custom setting (MENU > CUSTOM SETTING MENU > a9 Limit AF-area mode selection > (uncheck everything except 3D-tracking and Auto-area AF).
I don't do this, but you can program a custom button to control the AF area mode (MENU > CUSTOM SETTING MENU > f1 Custom control assignment > (pick a button) > (choose either AF-area mode or AF-area mode + AF-ON).
Pressing this also can lock exposure.
Image quality (MENU > Camera > Image quality) settings of JPEG Normal ★ or JPEG Basic ★ are higher quality versions of JPEG Normal or JPEG Basic. Nikon used to hide these in another menu as "Quality priority," with "Size Priority" as the default.
The ★ versions use more file data as needed to maintain the same quality as the image becomes sharper or more complex. I use JPEG Basic ★ for everything.
Don't let yourself do this; be sure to set MENU > SETUP > Slot empty release lock to LOCK.
At defaults, the D5 will shoot all day with no card, making you look like an idiot if it was a wedding and you shot it with an empty camera.
It's not unusual to get overexposure if the subject has a lot of black areas.
No worries, just press the +/- button and dial-in whatever negative exposure compensation you need to make it look right. If it takes a stop or two, then that's the correct value to be use. Don't be shy.
Nikon moved this into the row of buttons running along the left side of the D500.
I get inconsistent exposure with flash. No matter how I set exposure compensation, often one shot after the other will be quite different, making it difficult to get good results.
In standard flash sync mode (only a flash bolt seen on the top LCD as you spin the rear dial while holding the Bolt button on the left rear), the D500 shoots at the highest of your selected Minimum Auto ISO Speed (MENU > Cameras > ISO Settings > Minimum shutter speed) or Flash shutter speed (MENU > Custom Settings > e2).
Setting 1/4 for the slowest flash shutter speed (MENU > Custom Settings > e2) won't matter if you set 1/125 as the minimum Auto ISO shutter speed (MENU > Cameras > ISO Settings > Minimum shutter speed). Set both of these, and it shoots at 1/125, not 1/4.
However, if you select SLOW Sync mode (see SLOW and a flash bolt on the top LCD as you spin the rear dial while holding the Bolt button on the left rear), it will forget about the slowest speed set for Auto ISO and allow itself to shoot at the slowest speed set for flash.
Nikon now calls their remote wireless flash control system "Advanced Wireless Lighting," or AWL, which now works wirelessly either optically or by radio.
Nikon called their optical-only system the "Creative Lighting System (CLS). The D5 is also compatible with CLS and CLS flashes and their optical wireless control systems.
The D500 has no ability to control or trigger any wireless flashes by itself. To control wireless flash, you have to use an appropriate flash on top of the D500 to work as an optical commander, or buy a WR-R10 to use as an outboard master wireless controller and a WR-A10 adapter to connect the WR-R10 to the D500's 10-pin remote terminal.
To make a multi-flash system, you have to put a flash or WR-R10 and WR-A10 adapter on the D500 to work as the master transmitter, and then use other remote flashes that work either as optical or radio slaves.
To see the flash system's information, press the D500's INFO button twice.
See also Nikon D500 Compatible Flashes.
For most of us, our existing flashes we used with last year's Nikons will work the same way as optical masters and slaves as they always have.
We have to use a flash on-camera with commander ability to work as the master, no news here.
We have to buy a WR-R10 and WR-A10 adapter to attach the WR-R10 to the D5.
Once we have the WR-R10 in place, we can trigger remote SB-5000s by radio. We don't need any flash on camera if we use the WR-R10 and WR-A10 adapter at the D5, but as of August 2016 the SB-5000 is the only Nikon flash that responds to radio control.
For on-camera flash, I use my old SB-400 since it's small and light. A midsize flash like the SB-600 or SB-700 is way more than enough if you want to look more intimidating or need a lot of flash power all day long.
For multiple flash, I don't waste my time with Nikon's complicated, expensive and underpowered wireless nonsense mentioned above, which is even more difficult to configure than reading about it. I use a wired Novatron strobe system in my studio and trigger it from the camera with any manual flash. In the field I use a flash on-camera.
The only people who work with Nikon's wireless system are people trying to shoot weddings with assistants to carry the other flashes around, and that's not me. People who set up a multi-strobe shot in a fixed location use more powerful stand-mounted pro strobes, not these little shoe mount flashes.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
If you're shooting sports, news and action and are already invested in Nikon lenses, this is the best body ever.
This D500 is also Nikon's best for birds. The cropped-sensor is a long-lens advantage over the D5, unless you have birds posing for you five feet away.
If you're shooting landscapes and portraits, you don't need the frames-per-second, so any of Nikon's other cameras work just as well — and have even more resolution, usually for less money. I wouldn't use the D500 for weddings; I don't get flash exposure as consistent as I prefer; use a full-frame camera like the D750 instead for the same price.
I would get this D500 only for sports or birds, and only if I was already inseparably bought into the Nikon system. The D7200 is better for everything else due to it's better ergonomics that allow it to be set and adjusted to different shooting conditions faster with its programmable mode dial, as well as taking two normal SD cards.
The D500 is the lowest-resolution DX camera made today by Nikon, but not by much. You're not going to see any difference between 24MP and 20 MP.
Nikon overpriced the kit with 16-80mm VR lens at introduction in January 2016, but as of summer 2016 they fixed that and the kit with 16-80mm is a good buy. If you want the excellent 16-80mm lens, by all means get the kit.
I'd also consider getting the body-only and my favorite DX lens, the 35mm f/1.8, instead — or any DX lens of your choice like the 18-200 VR or 18-300 VR. For sports, the 70-300mm VR is a full frame lens that focuses much faster than any of the DX lenses.
I'd get mine used at eBay (How to Win at eBay), new at Amazon or the kit with lens, used at Amazon.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Nikon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used camera. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken Rockwell.
Top Sample Images Intro Lens Compatibility
Specifications USA Version Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations More
© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
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The biggest help is when you use any of these links when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. eBay is always a gamble, but all the other places always have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.
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Thanks for reading!
Ken Rockwell.
20 Feb 2024 price and sources, 21 April 2023 prices, 16 Dec 2019, Apr, May 2017; Nov 2016, 05 January 2016