Changing my Nikon D750 FX for a Nikon D500 DX...

[Richdog]

Well, I just sold my D750 and my 24-120 and will look to pick up a D500 shortly. I like to shoot animals and sports as well as people and landscapes and also want to do a safari trip next year, so I think the D500 is a better fit for me as with the right lenses it will do pretty much any kind of photography very well. I certainly think the advantage of having FX is now pretty negligible for my own personal uses, and the weight savings from some of the lenses is really appealing (eg:16-80mm is 480g and 24-120mm is 708g).

Where I live I can get the D500 for £1360, and the DX system has the Nikon 16-80mm f2.8-f4 (£672), Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 (£245), Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 (£450), Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 (£310) and the Nikon 35mm 1.8 DX (£120) and between those I don't think I could want for too much more in terms of IQ and flexibility when combined with the champion AF and ISO performance of the D500. They are comparatively inexpensive lenses too.

Anyone else planning on doing the same?

 

[Steve M]

No. I intend to keep my D750 for a good few years to come.

I agree that the difference between FX and DX is not that big anymore, but when I finally change my D750, I'll be looking for a much bigger upgrade (if D750 to D500 is considered as such).

Good luck though, D500 does look to be a fantastic camera, especially the focusing system

 

[Richdog]

No. I intend to keep my D750 for a good few years to come.

I agree that the difference between FX and DX is not that big anymore, but when I fianlly change mine D750 I'd be looking for a much bigger upgrade.

Good luck though, D500 does look to be a fantastic camera.

The D750 is amazing there is no doubting that, however for fast-action it has been less than ideal due to the low fps and buffer size (and the time taken to process them when it's full), and I have missed some good moments as a result. This is a chance to get D5-esque specs for a third of the price in DX format with little compromise in the other areas I like to take photos.

 

[D.P.]

I'm not intending to swap my D800 but might add the D500 to my collection wants rices dip a little. However, I will likely wait and see what the D900 is all about, if it gets a 54Mp sensor and FPS is OK then I might just do that.

At this point in time for what I shoot the D500 would be a far better camera than then D800.

 

[Richdog]

D900 would be nice but would likely cost a bomb, and if the 54MP sensor was used I wouldn't expect FPS to be any higher than the current D810, albeit with a decent sized buffer. Plus with 54MP the file sizes would be pretty damn insane as a D810 is already around 55MB per RAW uncompressed 12-bit file. Eek.

 

[D.P.]

Why on earth would you ever use uncompressed, absolutely zero advantage. Canon don't even provide that option. Average 12bit file sizes for me are 34MB.

Even so it is fairly irrelevant since hard disk size and memory capacity has increased at a far faster rate than image resolution. Processing 54Mp images with today's computes is a far faster and simpler task than processing the 6MP photos of my first DSLR (D70). The relative HD size are far bigger.

54MP is only 1.5X the total size of the D800 image, int eh tome since the D*00 was released average HD and memory size has doubled several times over.


I expect the FPS will largely be artificially limited so the D900 doesn't take sales away from the D5. Nikon lost a lot of D3 sales with the D700 and they wont want to repeat that.



Not that I;m saying a D900 will be a god match for you. Its a very expensive way to get a crop camera if you are shooting wildlife and can't afford a 600mm f/4.

 

[Richdog]

Memory is no concern nowadays but HD space is always an issue (combined with all other media requirements) unless you have a large capacity NAS, and online backup is a further pain. Even 50mb files would start taking a lot of GB per shoot. Anyway it's all relative to funds and equipment I guess, but 54MP is certainly overkill and uneconomical for my own non-professional uses.

I hope local stores start getting demo kits in soon so I can play with one.

 

[D.P.]

Hard disk size has also progressed though so it is much cheaper for me to store 54MP photos now than the 6MP photos I got form my D70. Plus the cost of additional HD space is peanut compared to the cost of lenses and cameras in the first place, which is doubly true for a FF camera. For wildlife to really get the FF sensor to shine you most liekly want a 60mm f/4. so buying another 2TB drive for 60 odd quid is not a big deal.

I agree that I don't need 54MP, but what i d want is a 24MP APS-C crop ability form the 54MP sensor, other the likes of the D500 and D7200 will offer greater detail for the subjects I shoot with the longest lens I can currently afford (Sigma 150-600mm Sports).

The D900 will be much more expense than the D500 and will require vastly more expensive lenses to get the best out of the bigger sensor.
The value for me in my D80 is that i can sill get a 16MP DX crop for wildlife, or a 36MP landscape photo, or the low-light ability of a FF sensor all in 1 single camera.
If I didn't do a few professional event on the side where FF helps a little (low light) then i would probably consider selling the D800 to buy a D500.

 

[Richdog]

Let's just agree to disagree on the HD space issue and cost, I have enough experience to form a good opinion in that regard so I think it's down to different requirements and expectations.

I agree a 54MP crop would be nice but only if cost weren't a factor and ultimately it's a luxury that you have to be willing to pay the wongas for, which I at this stage I'm admittedly not. I'm really leaning towards a DX lens system to take full advantage of the format, and I like how comparatively cheap the lenses are despite the good reputation fpr performance that they have. It strikes a good overall balance I think.

 

[avatar12m]

just remember the more practice you get and skill the frames per second extra the d500 does is less of an issues as you will get better at shooting the exact shot you want in frame and pre empting say an incoming flight shot or take off shot, but yes agree the d500 is the way to go, i'll be trading my d750 for a d500 but keeping my d810.

 

[ZG002]

Sports or wildlife it's a no brainer. I pretty much shoot 100% portraits, the D750 is staying

 

[Richdog]

just remember the more practice you get and skill the frames per second extra the d500 does is less of an issues as you will get better at shooting the exact shot you want in frame and pre empting say an incoming flight shot or take off shot, but yes agree the d500 is the way to go, i'll be trading my d70 for a d500 but keeping my d810.

I had a lot of practise with my D750 but it is still not going to be as good as the D500 in that area. I got 70% of what I wanted, but the rest was the issue. It's not like I just stood there like I was holding the DSLR equivalent of a Kalashnikov, spraying photons everywhere, I was selective, but the D750 ran out of buffer incredibly fast and sometimes that really was the difference between capturing the peak of a moment and not doing so.

Sports of wildlife it's a no brainer. I pretty much shoot 100% portraits, the D750 is staying

I still think people and portraits will be fine with the appropriate lens, so I hopefully shouldn't miss my D750 too much. I think the advantages of having a mini D5 will be worth the FX sacrifices.

Thom Hogan did a good DX vs FX back in 2013 http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the-full-frame-debate.html, and then another comparison taking the newest bodies into account http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/consumer-pro-dx-or-fx.html and it seems many of the negatives have been much reduced since the original article.

 

[ZG002]

I still think people and portraits will be fine with the appropriate lens, so I hopefully shouldn't miss my D750 too much. I think the advantages of having a mini D5 will be worth the FX sacrifices.

Thom Hogan did a good DX vs FX comparison and since that has been written the DX situation seems to have improved tremendously since then, cancelling out many of the negatives http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/april-2013-nikon-newsviews/dx-versus-fx-again.html

As you say, you shoot many different subjects, so the pros out weigh the cons.

I shoot one maybe two images in burst, pretty much always use a single centre point of focus and work in tight studios. The D500 offers zero advantages to the type of photography I do, even if it is a beast

Different bodies for different jobs

 

[Richdog]

As you say, you shoot many different subjects, so the pros out weigh the cons.

I shoot one maybe two images in burst, pretty much always use a single centre point of focus and work in tight studios. The D500 offers zero advantages to the type of photography I do, even if it is a beast

Different bodies for different jobs

Agreed, but I'm trying to find one body that will do all jobs, if not perfectly, then enough for me not to notice too much. My livelihood (thankfully, heh) doesn't depend on my photography so a jack of all trades is really what I am looking for. Two bodies is just unnecessary for me and much better spent on decent lenses and accessories, of which I can buy a good amount given the pricing I listed in the OP. Hell, even selling my 70-200 VRII will get me 3 good lenses.

 

[ZG002]

Give us a little mini review as I'd love to see it closer up.
It's a great camera and I'd like to give one a try non the less. The button lay out looks great on them and also the back lit buttons! I'd love to see that on all the future Nikon bodies.

 

[Richdog]

Holy crap, I had no idea that Sigma had released a 50-100mm f1/8... http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?test=obiektywu&test_ob=473

A D500, a Sigma 18-35 and a Sigma 50-100 (£1150 for both lenses) is looking like a really tempting proposition... I have to admit that the Sigma Art 35mm turned me into a bit of a Sigma fanboy, and if these two lenses can give prime-esque levels of quality throughout those entire ranges (and reviews say they do) then that's a pretty awesome thing...

EDIT - Also a Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM which has now been discontinued yet got very good feedback... though very likely not anywhere near the comparable levels of image quality of the 50-100 Art http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/836-sigmaex5015028dcos?start=2

 

[D.P.]

The 1.8 sigma lenses certainly make the difference between FF and DX far smaller. You get the same low light ability and DoF as using the pro f/2.8 zooms. Trade off is smaller zoom range.

 

[Richdog]

The 1.8 sigma lenses certainly make the difference between FF and DX far smaller. You get the same low light ability and DoF as using the pro f/2.8 zooms. Trade off is smaller zoom range.

Smaller zoom range is indeed a trade off, but the question is how much of one? I also still have my Nikon 70-200 VRII that could fill in that gap and I lose nothing by keeping it as the value doesn't seem to be going anywhere but up at the moment and has in fact increased by around 20% since I bought it.

EDIT - However, there is always the obscene weight of these lenses as the trade-off...

 

[avatar12m]

my d500 is waiting at home atm , got it from a place in china beginning with P and ending in Z delivery was 2 days ordered 30th may turned up today 11:30

will be testing it against the d750 / d810 for focus acuracy and speed mainly, the crop factors no real issue to me as the d810 36mp 100% is like having another 0.5 zoom anyway its just slow.

i'll update it this sunday with similar shots but with the d500 https://www.flickr.com/photos/hammyuk/

 

[Richdog]

my d500 is waiting at home atm , got it from a place in china beginning with P and ending in Z delivery was 2 days ordered 30th may turned up today 11:30

will be testing it against the d750 / d810 for focus acuracy and speed mainly, the crop factors no real issue to me as the d810 36mp 100% is like having another 0.5 zoom anyway its just slow.

i'll update it this sunday with similar shots but with the d500 https://www.flickr.com/photos/hammyuk/

Cool, looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing your photos!