D500

Sootchucker said:
Out of interest, for D500 users on here, who uses an XQD card (either on it's own or with an SD card) and who uses just the SD card please ?
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32 g XQD for RAW, 64 g SD for jpeg.
 
Sootchucker said:
Out of interest, for D500 users on here, who uses an XQD card (either on it's own or with an SD card) and who uses just the SD card please ?
Click to expand...

I use both - 128gb XQD in slot 1 for RAW, and 64Gb in slot 2 for jpg.

I managed to get a decent deal on the XQD card (used) on one of the Nikon Facebook groups.
 
SD only for me
 
Sootchucker said:
Out of interest, for D500 users on here, who uses an XQD card (either on it's own or with an SD card) and who uses just the SD card please ?
Click to expand...

32GB 440/400MB/s XQD and 32GB 300MB/s SD, writing RAW to both.

GC
 
I have the Sandisk 150mbs 64GB card and a 400read 299write G SD card both are much quicker than the XQD M cards but haven't tried them against an XQD G card but I reckon the Sandisk is the quickest out of the two SD cards
 
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Sootchucker said:
Out of interest, for D500 users on here, who uses an XQD card (either on it's own or with an SD card) and who uses just the SD card please ?
Click to expand...
SD only here, only because I’m tight and won’t pay for an xqd :p
If any one feels the need to give me one, I’ll cover postage :rolleyes:
 
When I got the D500 I also bought the Lexar 32GB Professional 2933x XQD and a Lexar 32GB Professional 2000x UHS-II SDHC cards which were the fastest (and may still be) cards available at the time. I don't think I have pushed these cards to the maximum, and I doubt I ever will. Nice to have the speed and added buffer depth just in case though. I have a number of smaller and slower Sandisk (but still pretty fast) SD cards for times when they are full when travelling.

 
I've only used 32GB SD cards so far, which can be pain at race meetings shooting in RAW - with only the one slot, especially after having used a D750 for a number of years. I may try an XQD soon as it's close to Christmas.
 
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Im still using SD cards, 64gb 80mbs from Amazon at £10. I have no need to pay the crazy XQD prices. I guess if I had to photograph something important id prefer the security of 2 cards but most of my stuff just isnt that critical, and I have never experienced an SD card failure.

Sorry if this has been asked before, can anyone recommend a 3rd party grip for the D500? I really dont want to pay the £300 for a genuine one!!!
 
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Dave Pickett said:
Im still using SD cards, 64gb 80mbs from Amazon at £10. I have no need to pay the crazy XQD prices. I guess if I had to photograph something important id prefer the security of 2 cards but most of my stuff just isnt that critical, and I have never experienced an SD card failure.

Sorry if this has been asked before, can anyone recommend a 3rd party grip for the D500? I really dont want to pay the £300 for a genuine one!!!
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Meike grip is very good.
 
Thanks Trevor, I've had one on my D300s for years so yes seems to be the one to go for with some amount of certainty!
 
I have a Neewer grip, which has been fine on the few times I have used it. :) I got it off the 'bay' for £32. Bargain in comparison. ;)
 
Have the Neewer grip, on my D500, which works flawlessly. Be aware, that at least in my case, Neewer compatible batteries caused issues with my D500, but work fine on my D610.
 
Sootchucker said:
Well my new D500 body and the 200-500 Nikon arrived yesterday. Gave it a very quick run out at the local woods at lunchtime, and it was everything I remembered, and the Nikon 200-500 is wonderfully sharp even wide open @ 500mm. Here's a couple of the first shots. Not too shabby for ISO 4000 and 4500 on a gloomy and wet November day in the UK :D





Don't get me wrong, it's no sharper or with better colours etc. than my Micro Four thirds set up with the wonderful Olympus 40-150 F2.8 and 300 F4 with teleconveter duo (and especially with regards to size / weight etc.). But, as much as I love the portability and overall image quality of the EM1.2 and G9 combo in good light, in poorer light the D500 obliterates them for high ISO noise and focus acquisition and tracking.
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Interesting what you say Andrew about the High ISO and focus acquisition, I've seriously been considering this setup as a replacement for my EM1 Mk2, for exactly those reasons!

Very nice Nuthatch shot
 
Just managed to acquire a D500. Can’t wait to get my hands on it! I’ve been following the debate on xqd/sd cards. Are there any thoughts on Which xqd card is the most suitable?
 
rogerj said:
Just managed to acquire a D500. Can’t wait to get my hands on it! I’ve been following the debate on xqd/sd cards. Are there any thoughts on Which xqd card is the most suitable?
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I have a Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mbs SD Card and never made is slow down, I would not waste the money on the XQD cards
 
AdamSi said:
I have a Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mbs SD Card and never made is slow down, I would not waste the money on the XQD cards
Click to expand...

Thanks Adam - hmmm,yes, they are rather expensive.....food for thought.
 
I've just purchased a Sony G series 32GB XQD from CVP.com (the cheapest I could find @ £80), and it arrived the other day. I don't have any of the latest 300mb/sec SD cards to compare it against, but against my Sony M series and Lexar 1000x cards, the XQD card is lightning by comparison.

I'm not just talking about burst depths or card write speeds, but hitting the playback button brings up the images instantly and zooming or scrolling the images is as quick as you can physically manage to do it - much faster than my SD cards.

Just really annoys me that I had 3 XQD cards when I last had a D500 and sold them all for much less than I paid for them. Just wish I'd had kept them now so I didn't need to repurchase (especially if a Nikon Z6 is in my future later this year).
 
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I'm using the Sony G 440/400MB/s XQD's in slot 1 and Sandisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s SD's in slot 2, I do see a significant drop in the buffer if I substitute an Extreme Pro 95MB/s SD in slot 2. Guess it comes down to if you need the speed and buffer capacity for your work?
 
I’ve just offered to purchased a used one on here,so hopefully I shall be able to take advantage of the benefits of xqd cards.
 
AdamSi said:
I have a Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mbs SD Card and never made is slow down, I would not waste the money on the XQD cards
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Same cards as I use, I did have the slower M series XQD in the D4 and the Sandisk does seem quicker, but the XQD was the slowest at the time
 
Tried yesterday getting our 18 weeks old Cocker Spaniel pup Daisy to run towards me whist I took some shots. She's lighting quick and I thought I'd use it as a test of all 3 of my cameras. All cameras in Auto ISO, Shutter priority (at 1/1000 sec).

First the Olympus OMD EM1 MK II (gripped with 2 batteries). I tried this with two lenses, my 12-40 F2.8 and 40-150 F2.8 pro. Drive mode set to 10 fps. About a 35% keeper rate. Initial acquisition was a little slow then picked up. It's the only area really where my Olympus kit sort of disappoints. AF-C is average, but everything else about the camera and lenses (for me), is superb. Happy to take any advise from M4/3 shooters if I'm doing anything wrong (or have the wrong settings) i.e. C-AF lock settings ?

Second my Fuji X-H1 with 16-55 F2.8. To be honest, I thought this was smoke the Olympus, but in my tests, it was only slightly better, maybe 40% tack sharp. Drive mode set at 10 fps. Now it could be because I'm fairly new to Fuji and haven't dialled in the proper settings yet (boost mode on, gripped X-H1 with 3 batteries, Zone AF, AF-C). I tried most of the custom settings and got the best results with Set 3 (accelerating and decelerating subjects), and set 5 (Erratically moving and accelerate subjects / decelerate subjects). Work in progress I guess. For landscapes and most other types of photography, it's a superb camera with a set of fantastic quality lenses. I know the X-T3 has a different AF module and better AF than the X-H1 (and X-T2), but in the real world, does it really smoke these two and is as good or better than the D500 ?
**edit** one thing I just remembered which might account for the X-H1 not performing as well as I thought, was that I had image stabilisation set to on. I think for these sort of shots and certainly at the shutter speeds used (1/1000), it should have been off - Think I need to perform this test again with IBIS off ?

Finally I tried her with Nikon D500 (gripped with 2 batteries) with the "kit" Nikon 16-80 2.8-4 lens. AF-C, Group AF, continuous High (at 10fps). Hit rate suddenly went up to about 85-90% tack sharp. I couldn't believe how quickly the D500 locked on then just stayed locked on like a limpet. It's the first time I've ever really put all 3 cameras up against one another. Another thing I found was that even though the X-H1 and D500 are both APS-C sensors, as it was quite a dull overcast day, my ISO's in some instances went over ISO 5000 (though not for the 3 images below), and the D500 images were by a margin the cleanest of the two. Surprisingly, the EM1 MK II, wasn't far behind at all the X-H1 in the High ISO stakes? I should also mention, one of the other things I really like about the D500's AF system, is that you don't have to mess around with lots of menus settings to "tune" the AF system. I simply set into AF-C mode, then turned the sub-command dial until it said Group AF, and shot away. That was it ?

Anyway a few images of Daisy from the shoot. She really was moving a lot quicker than the images might suggest. Love her expression on No 2. The difference in colour is that images 2 and 3 were done with the cameras auto WB and image 1 set to WB daylight (so is warmer). I could have equalised the colours in my image processing program, but the images are pretty much as it (from raw) with just minor tweaks and cropped to suit.





 
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@Sootchucker Yep, the D500 is a stonking piece of equipment.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
 
I've had the Oly and Fuji and had a keeper rate of around 80-85% on both.

I found the Oly to be a beast at tracking with excellent results. Better than the Fuji but didn't like the low light performance / noise.

On the XH-1 did you use zone or wide/tracking ? Should be zone, AF-C focus on release.
 
Hi Pete, to be honest, I never thought about using tracking on the EM1.2, think I just used standard AF-C - must give tracking a go if it's that good.

For the Fuji, yes, I was in Zone, with a 3x3 or 5x5 grid.
 
my limited experience of tracking modes with the e-m1.2 and the D500 is that they both jump off the subject matter at times but it happens more frequently with the Olympus. It was why i changed to Nikon rather than upgrading
 
I’ve just taken delivery of my D500. I cannot wait to get out with it after I’ve fine tuned my afs 80-400mm and 200-500mm lenses. It sounds as if this is going to be a very interesting experience!
 
I’ve just got the 200-500 I notice a lot of ppl saying about fine tuning, is this required ? What’s the easy way to test if it’s needed ??
 
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Sootchucker said:
Tried yesterday getting our 18 weeks old Cocker Spaniel pup Daisy to run towards me whist I took some shots. She's lighting quick and I thought I'd use it as a test of all 3 of my cameras. All cameras in Auto ISO, Shutter priority (at 1/1000 sec).

First the Olympus OMD EM1 MK II (gripped with 2 batteries). I tried this with two lenses, my 12-40 F2.8 and 40-150 F2.8 pro. Drive mode set to 10 fps. About a 35% keeper rate. Initial acquisition was a little slow then picked up. It's the only area really where my Olympus kit sort of disappoints. AF-C is average, but everything else about the camera and lenses (for me), is superb. Happy to take any advise from M4/3 shooters if I'm doing anything wrong (or have the wrong settings) i.e. C-AF lock settings ?

Second my Fuji X-H1 with 16-55 F2.8. To be honest, I thought this was smoke the Olympus, but in my tests, it was only slightly better, maybe 40% tack sharp. Drive mode set at 10 fps. Now it could be because I'm fairly new to Fuji and haven't dialled in the proper settings yet (boost mode on, gripped X-H1 with 3 batteries, Zone AF, AF-C). I tried most of the custom settings and got the best results with Set 3 (accelerating and decelerating subjects), and set 5 (Erratically moving and accelerate subjects / decelerate subjects). Work in progress I guess. For landscapes and most other types of photography, it's a superb camera with a set of fantastic quality lenses. I know the X-T3 has a different AF module and better AF than the X-H1 (and X-T2), but in the real world, does it really smoke these two and is as good or better than the D500 ?
**edit** one thing I just remembered which might account for the X-H1 not performing as well as I thought, was that I had image stabilisation set to on. I think for these sort of shots and certainly at the shutter speeds used (1/1000), it should have been off - Think I need to perform this test again with IBIS off ?

Finally I tried her with Nikon D500 (gripped with 2 batteries) with the "kit" Nikon 16-80 2.8-4 lens. AF-C, Group AF, continuous High (at 10fps). Hit rate suddenly went up to about 85-90% tack sharp. I couldn't believe how quickly the D500 locked on then just stayed locked on like a limpet. It's the first time I've ever really put all 3 cameras up against one another. Another thing I found was that even though the X-H1 and D500 are both APS-C sensors, as it was quite a dull overcast day, my ISO's in some instances went over ISO 5000 (though not for the 3 images below), and the D500 images were by a margin the cleanest of the two. Surprisingly, the EM1 MK II, wasn't far behind at all the X-H1 in the High ISO stakes? I should also mention, one of the other things I really like about the D500's AF system, is that you don't have to mess around with lots of menus settings to "tune" the AF system. I simply set into AF-C mode, then turned the sub-command dial until it said Group AF, and shot away. That was it ?

Anyway a few images of Daisy from the shoot. She really was moving a lot quicker than the images might suggest. Love her expression on No 2. The difference in colour is that images 2 and 3 were done with the cameras auto WB and image 1 set to WB daylight (so is warmer). I could have equalised the colours in my image processing program, but the images are pretty much as it (from raw) with just minor tweaks and cropped to suit.





Click to expand...
The only thing that surprises me with this is how low the keeper rate is of the Olly tbh, not in the same league as the D500 in my experience but 35% is a bit low. That being said I've found mine did struggle to focus on predominantly black subjects so maybe it's more this 'unique' scenario. I'd be interested to know what the keeper rate would be if you focussed on the bridge of the nose so you got the contrast of the black and white?
 
Although I bought the D500 to use purely with the Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport I couldn't resist the Amazon deal on the full frame version of the 70-300mm posted in the deals section last week. Went out with the camera and lens this morning and even though it's only 300mm I am suprised at how well it crops. The shots needed very little sharpening as well.


Stonechat (female) by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


DSC_5586_DxO by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


Egret by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr
 
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