# Nikon D500 Camera Store TV Review



## ahsanford (May 7, 2016)

A typically thorough user-experience review of the D500 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC5jQgc_-w8

Also: that's a 300mm f/4 lens in the picture below. Tiny! (I don't know Nikon lenses, how was this witchcraft possible? Is this is DO design like Canon's?)

- A


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## ahsanford (May 7, 2016)

Interesting video findings:

* As with all CSTV videos, they are pro-product in general (10-20% of these videos are a sales pitch to move units at the store). Heretofore they have very much aligned with the popular opinion that Sony and Nikon excel in DR and offer better sensors than Canon, but that's not the sole target of their reviews. They will absolutely pounce on a poorly performing product, though.

* He claimed early in the video that (at least in Canada) the D500 costs _more_ than the mid-level FF D750. 

* With so many AF options now, they too have had to add an AF select joystick on the back.

* He hangs the entire weight of the body + lens on the tilty-swively screen at 3:30 or so and shakes it around a bit. Half of this forum that has been lobbying for pro-level-gear to get tilty-flippy screens will pump their fists at that. Possibly, with this offering, the first cracks in the foundation of the argument against such screens are starting to show -- Nikon is putting these things on durable professional field gear. (Canon surely will offer them on higher end rigs before too long, no?)

* Standard shutter was quite loud and spooked a deer at 300mm range around 7:10 in the video. (There is a silent shutter mode, but you torch your burst rate down to 3 fps to get it.)

* High ISO comparison sequence starts around 11:25 -- including a comparison against the 7D2 and 80D. Not sure what settings were used, but the 7D2 clearly outperforms the 80D, but the D500 is slightly better than the 7D2. Zero evidence to support usage of anything higher than 12,800 with this camera, so boo hoo if anyone was actually hoping for useable ISO 1.6 million photography with the D500. :

* Around 12:15 he claims the D500 and D750 have the same IQ at high ISO, and I very much disagree. The D750 looks much cleaner. Again, no settings/processing discussion.

* Around 12:30 they get into pushing shadows on high contrast shots.

* I"m not a video guy, I skipped Jordan's normal video discussion -- it starts around 13:30.

- A


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 7, 2016)

ahsanford said:


> Interesting video findings:
> 
> * As with all CSTV videos, they are pro-product in general (10-20% of these videos are a sales pitch to move units at the store). Heretofore they have very much aligned with the popular opinion that Sony and Nikon excel in DR and offer better sensors than Canon, but that's not the sole target of their reviews. They will absolutely pounce on a poorly performing product, though.
> 
> ...



I tend to agree, its not a review but a sales pitch.


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## ahsanford (May 7, 2016)

I generally use these CSTV videos for a general read on handling, ergonomics, button layout, and pet peeves. Occasionally, they've brought in Calgary-local professional photographers and videographers to kick around products and get their thoughts. 

And I do think they capture the 'voice of the mirrorless enthusiast' pretty well -- the _nice_ kind, not the napalm-like trolling, DXO touting, 'mirrorslapping end is nigh' folks. 

I don't take them terribly seriously for IQ work, but I learn something about the products in most of the videos I've seen.

- A


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## neuroanatomist (May 7, 2016)

ahsanford said:


> Also: that's a 300mm f/4 lens in the picture below. Tiny! (I don't know Nikon lenses, how was this witchcraft possible? Is this is DO design like Canon's?)



Yes, Nikon has a 300mm f/4 PF VR, PF = Phase Fresnel, their version of Canon's DO lenses. At least Nikon's pace of innovation is improving – it took them several decades to copy Canon's use of fluorite in supertele lenses, it only took them about a decade to copy DO lenses. In what has become sadly typical for Nikon, they launched the lens then soon temporarily suspended shipping it and issued a recall (for a flaw in the VR system). It was supposedly only a firmware fix, but required owners of the new lens to ship it to Nikon for the update.


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## ahsanford (May 7, 2016)

neuroanatomist said:


> ahsanford said:
> 
> 
> > Also: that's a 300mm f/4 lens in the picture below. Tiny! (I don't know Nikon lenses, how was this witchcraft possible? Is this is DO design like Canon's?)
> ...



Kind of bummed in the video -- Chris brought the 200-500 f/5.6 VR but never showed it in action.

- A


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