I had a marvelous weekend home in the Eastern Sierra so took the luxury to shoot the brains out of the D500. The hefty DX format camera is a handful of fun and is packed with features I see photographers just loving. In case you didn’t catch the last post, B&H was able to get to me the D500 / 16-80VR kit for my first body to test. I went with the kit because it seemed like the perfect match up. As it turned out, it is! We had some great weather which brought some fun photo opps. The clouds at sunrise produced lots of photographs, the above is just a sample.
I spent most of my time with the D500 shooting birds. This is because of what I’ve heard from you folks, the desire to find the best wildlife kit (body & lens). I don’t have a 200-500 in the office at the moment but do have the 300PF with TC-14eIII. The combination of D500 / 300PF / TC-14eIII is freakin stunning! Small, light, easy to move and most importantly, bloody sharp! The 300PF is a wickedly sharp lens and the D500 produces a beautiful file. The Cassin’s Finch above shoot out our office window is just one example of this.
Taking the D500 / 300PF for a field shoot is where some of its finest features shine. These are two of the most important when it comes to wildlife photography. Photographing Cliff Swallows flying back to their nests has always been a challenge for me. In the past, while I got some shots they were never, ever anything I would post. The D500 had no problem in Auto Area AF mode locking on and holding focus as these flying darts screamed by. Oh, I missed plenty of shots but that was my fault, not the cameras. Along with the gorgeous AF, the D500 frames per second and huge buffer is just a thing of joy! I love the sound of the shutter when it’s blasting away. The buffer never stopped during all my shooting and that was such great fun (loaded with Lexar 128GB 2933x XQD). Those who know me know how I love to hear a shutter ripping away!
The D500 works with the SB-5000 wireless just like the D5 and that’s brilliant and for the wildlife photographer, a dream come true. But will the D500 replace the D5 in my camera bag? Nope, I’m simply not a DX format shooter. I understand how folks love the D500’s DX format because of its extra “reach” and that makes perfect sense to me. That’s just not a need I have in my photography. I do love some of the D500 features not in the D5, and that includes its built in wireless and bluetooth and all the features that opens up. If you’ve been waiting, and many of you have told me you are, wait no more. You will love the D500!