Nikon D500 DX-Format Digital SLR (Body Only)

Went 2+ years using an entry level camera (D3300), and upgraded to the D500 recently. After 5k shots, I am just as happy with my purchase as I was on day 1 with it. Although shutter speed and burst mode are big selling points, the best thing for me is the auto-ISO and low grain at high ISO. Video tutorials on YouTube were good to get started, but they werent enough to really understand the cameras features. Read the manual; its worth it. This is especially/most true for learning about all of the auto-focus options; the shots will likely come out blurry unless you have the correct autofocus option. (Some af options are only available in "live mode"). I use a Nikon 70-200mm with a 1.7 teleconveter for nearly all of my shots. Some day Ill bite the bullet and buy the 200-500mm lens. I initially worried that this camera may not work well for portraits, especially in low light, and although it wasnt perfect with portraits, it performed better than I anticipated. I still bought the cheapest Nikon speedlight/flash (300) and it does help with the shadows in portraits.

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I my opinion the best all around digital camera. This is a real camera. No waiting. It focuses and takes the shot right when you press the shutter. Equal to the D5. Faster focus than any other pro camera Nikon makes at the time of this review. Focus speed is amazing. It is also super customizable. So, go way beyond default settings. Dig into it. This camera has options most Pros never thought of. Many "Pros" (people who earn money with their craft), are specialized into respective niches. This tool is highly adaptable to many specialized situations, and has "banks" to store those specialized menus. Many "Aha!" moments reading the manual, and viewing YouTube secrets. The build is solid / heavy duty. Weather resistant. This camera also blurs the results between a crop sensor camera, and a full frame. In the hands of an artist /craftsman, the image quality difference can be undetectable when compared to the D750 full frame. The only visual difference, during high magnification "pixel peeping", is the noise levels are higher in certain specific circumstances in the D500. But, one second of post de-noising, in a program like Lightroom or Topaz, makes this indistiguishable. Plus, the file size is managable compared to full frame hard drive eaters. As in the case of even the much respected D810, the D500 performs way better mechanically, as a camera. Many argue that as a Portrait or Landscape camera, the full frame models are superior. I believe the truth in it lies in the camera operator. And their experience in lighting, composition, and software savy. Another factor is the "Glass" you put on the camera. So, if youre deciding between moving up to, say a full frame D750, now you can consider a different path. Upgrade to a D500. Unless you are building a professional indoor Portrait studio. Then save up a bit more for a D810. Or just wait to see what Nikon brings out next. My "Kit" includes D500, Nikkor DX 17-55mm f2.8G ED, Tokina DX 11-16mm f2.8 Pro, Nikkor DX 35mm 1.8 prime. Keep your crop sensor lenses.

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Been shooting with this camera for about 12 days. Its a rugged work-horse like the D300, its fast - and fast to focus (if its not focusing fast - check your setting), and excellent in low light conditions, but in bright light conditions, images can be a bit washed out. Also shooting a D810, and Ive read reviews that make the claim that the images are just as good as the D810, but I have to disagree here. Tested both cameras against each other, shooting with the same settings, lens & conditions and the D810 is the clear winner when it comes to image quality, with that said, the D500 is close behind. If you are used to looking at D810 images, you will notice the difference in image quality between them. The D500 is a nice compliment to the D810 and it fits my need for shooting birds in low light conditions. Images shot at ISO 4000, F5.6, speeds between 2500-8000. Only cropped & brighten. This is not a noiseless camera, it still produces noise at high ISOs, but much less then the majority of cameras out there, and the details at high ISOs are extremely good. Watch Tony Northrups review & comparison of the D500 on YouTube to help put this in perspective.

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For those of us whove been waiting nine years for the D300s replacement, its here, and exceeds expectations. Itll take you time to digest all this new DX body can do, but it truly does blast off accurately focused and exposed 10 frame-per-second bursts, do 4k video and time-delay sequences with aplomb, and shoot in impossibly low light. Robust build quality, menus familiar to Nikon shooters, and the flippy screen is more useful than you can imagine until you use one. Recommendations; Lexars 2933x XQD card for main memory works great; the Lexar 1000x SD card for backup had initial problems talking with the D500 but Lexar replaced it promptly with a newly revised card (new firmware) and that now works great. Most important: the 16-80mm Nikon VR lens released with this body is fantastic, a must-buy new normal lens for Nikon DX. Not the build quality or weight of the mid-range FX lens, but sharp, contrasty, quick enough in focusing, great smudge-resistant coating, and unreal VR capabilities. I repeatedly have shot tack-sharp 1/8 second exposures with it at 16mm, 1/15 at 80mm. See attached. 1/8 sec at f7.1, ISO 100, hand-held with the D500 and 16-80 at 16mm. Not bad for a 5x zoom walk-around lens.

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I am blown away by this wonderful camera. I purchased this as an upgrade to my D90 and have already shot 2 magazine features and covers with it. This camera has the fastest and most accurate auto focus I have ever seen. Also the low light capabilities are mind blowing. I am finding more and more capabilities every day. This camera is making me look really good and I like that! If youre looking for a camera in an affordable price range that gives pro level results, you cannot go wrong with this absolutely wonderful Nikon D500. Also this seller was fantastic and the shipping was fast. CONS: while this camera comes with great networking capabilities an Bluetooth, Nikons SnapBridge is worthless. One of the reasons I decided to pull the trigger on this purchase was so I could use my iPad Pro as a live monitor on live shoots, but I was highly disappointed to find out that SnapBridge is nothing more than a marketing ploy by Nikon. The level of difficulty in pairing devices and keeping them paired makes it unusable. This is not an issue with the wonderful D500, but an issue with Nikons less than honest promotion of their extremely lame software, SnapBridge. While Im disappointed inNikons lack of attention to their obviously faulty software, I take nothing away from the D500 and give it my 100% enthusiastic recommendation! Maybe someday Nikon will take their software seriously and put out something worth downloading that will actually stand up to their as of yet false claims....(Fingers crossed!)

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The D500 is finally here. Without any hesitation I can recommend this camera to any professional needing a fast, somewhat compact, fully capable DSLR. Ive shot Nikons since 1967. My last Nikons were a D4 and D750. The build quality of the D500 is definitely comparable to the D4 and much more robust than the D750. The button layout is perfect for me. I love the size and weight. The image quality is excellent. I could care less it is an APS-C sensor. Some will disagree. I think the metering system needs getting used to. The "Highlight Protection" meter mode is quite handy. Through consistent use, one will learn how to adjust the metering via the EVF function. The folks that complain about blown highlights may not entirely understand how the metering system works. I noticed on my D750, I virtually could not blow a highlight. The D500 meter does not appear to react the same. The camera is wonderful to use and shoot. I bought a used 17-55mm f2.8 DX Nikkor lens to use with it. The only knock I have is on Nikon, not the D500. Nikon needs to update the 17-55mm DX and the 12-24mm f4 lens for this camera. (Nikon has ignored the pro DX lens line for years!) This camera is finally the professional grade DX camera body many of us have been waiting for.

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The D500 is the perfect camera for nature photography. It feels good in my hands, it performs exceptionally well. The viewfinder is large and offers a good view of the subject and the screen is great for times when using the viewfinder might be awkward. The setup of buttons makes it easy to make adjustments on the fly, and while all the varied menus seem confusing at first, with practice and patience it all makes sense and the camera can be set up to my personal specifications. This is clearly the best professional crop sensor camera and it has helped my photography to move up to a new level.

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This is an amazing camera! Its basically a $6,500 Nikon D4 with a crop-frame sensor. That may seem like a serious limitation, but its really not that big a deal -- especially given the price! Especially impressive are the coverage of the autofocus points -- they cover almost the whole frame, horizonally -- and the low-light performance -- exceeding the abilities of my old, full-frame Sony a99. Just about the only thing I can complain about is that the controls are very hard to learn (at least if you are new to Nikon) -- I dare say inscrutable! But once you get used to them, they are amazing. So its not a big problem. Just know that you wont often be handing the camera to a friend and saying, "take a few pictures of me." This is a serious camera for a serious photographer.

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I have been shooting on a Nikon D3400 for a little over a year and was ready to upgrade my camera body. The D3400 has been a GREAT camera and I still have it. I spent about 4 months researching a full-frame mirrorless (Nikon Z6 exclusively) and the D500. I went with the D500 because I liked that my current lens collection would work with this. The D500 hits the sweet spot for landscapes and sports, two genre’s I shoot in. The Z6 only has 3 native lens and no telephoto. The cost of going full-frame and mirrorless and purchasing new lens was too much. So what I LOVE about the D500. It’s shines in low light. I regularly shoot landscapes and astrophotography and you can push the ISO will little noise at night. There was a bit of a learning curve but that was erased by simply using the camera and watching some tutorials. The camera was been great at freezing the photo for sports photography as well. Auto-focus is very good and you have options on how/where our want to focus. You are able to customize almost everything! If you shoot with a variety of scenes you can create customizable scenes so you’re not resetting the camera from sunset, to astrophotography, to sports. The camera feels like a professional body. It has some weight to it so you know you’re holding a camera, but not too heavy that you can’t hold it still. This is an established camera in Nikon’s repertoire that is not going away. You get a ton of power for the price. I HIGHLY recommend. Feel free to ask any questions you may have!

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the D500 has been on my "get" list for more than a year; I was disappointed when the 2nd Christmas season brought only the same discount as the 1st Christmas... SO, I bought one used, very reasonable here on Amazon,with a package that included XQD card & reader, extra battery, generic battery grip... price was good; camera was in excellent shape. learning curve is becoming manageable. (Mainly changes my post processing workflow...). spending a bit of my "learning curve" time on auto -focus issues. its beginning to all come together. there are many good reviews for the camera. what can i add? the xqd technology is really quick. the CH burst mode is quick. im surprised at how smart "group" AF-C is with flying birds, or other fast movement.

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