Nikon New Camera Announcement - the Nikon D500

Nikon announces the new D500 to replace the tired D300s

I'm happy to inform you all that Nikon has finally replace the old and tired D300s. It has been a long time waiting for us pro body Nikon users to replace this camera, in fact the production date of the D300s was July 30th 2009. In the mean time since 2009 Nikon has made many dx crop sensor cameras but none that offers the new features I'm about to tell you about.

Many wildlife and sports photographers have been waiting for years for a high fps (frames per second) camera to preform them justice in the field. Why have they been waiting you ask when they already make the D4s and now the announcement of the D5? Because of one great reason.... a crop factor. Let me quickly explain a crop factor to all of you that don't understand it. There are two types of cameras in Nikon's line up a DX crop sensor and a FX full frame camera. A full frame FX sensor offers you the focal distance equivalent of whats located on your lens. Meaning on a 20mm lens you are shooting at a true 20mm, this is great for landscape photography and some close wildlife as the usual large MP size offers a no crop. But a dx crop sensor offers something called a crop factor, on this camera the crop factor is 1.5x meaning if you shot with a 150-600 lens you do the multiplication of 1.5 times the focal distance, turning that lens into a 225-900. This allows photographers to get a closer image of a subject and still have a large.

So lets get into some of the new specs that this Nikon D500 has to offer. For the past few years Nikon has used the expeed 4 processor chip in the majority of their cameras offering a higher megapixel to the DX and FX models. They have now released the making of the new expeed 5 processor chip to handle high MP, with an ISO range of 100-51,200, expandable to 50-1,640,000 equivalent,  and now offering touch screen and wifi Bluetooth capabilities to your phone.

At a large size of 20.9 MP the D500 hits the market offering file sizes that can render large images at a faster syncing speed. The frame rate has now bumped up to 10 fps offering photographers almost double what has been offered in the past models. The write speed before hitting the buffer is up to 200 shots at 14 bit lossless uncompressed raw images. Images will be stored in the bank of SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II compliant) + XQD.  But that's not it, the AF systems is now built up with the new 20k module like the D5 to keep up with the fast processing time. And for all you that like to compare how many focus points your camera has, this one will have 153. So far on paper this camera has proved leaps and bounds over previous dx models, but just wait there is still more to share.

On the rear we now have the new flip screen to help adjust for better viewing, this really can come in handy for image review in harsh light conditions and for landscape photographers. This 3.2 inch LCD screen is not only adjustable like the d750 but its also a touch screen. The D500 offers a new way to share photos wirelessly with the new Nikon SnapBridge, making this camera’s built-in connectivity easier to use than ever before. SnapBridge allows for Bluetooth2 supported connections between your camera and compatible smart device, thus making automatic upload of your images possible. Once enabled, the camera stays connected to the smart device and transfers photos, eliminating the need to re-connect devices. Those looking to share images from their travels or from the field can also tag images for transfer in camera and can password protect their connection for added security.

The body features an enhanced level of build quality, offering the same amount of weather sealing as the Nikon D810. The durable body is a structurally composed of magnesium alloy for the top and rear, while the front is reinforced with lightweight carbon fiber. The shutter has been currently tested for approximately 200K actuation's.

The D500 can record 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)/30p/25p/24p as well as 1080/60p video for up to 29 min. 59 s, with simultaneous output via HDMI available. It is also possible to generate 4K UHD time-lapse movies within the camera. In Full HD or HD mode, the D500's electronic Vibration Reduction function 2 reduces the effects of camera shake in the horizontal, vertical and rotational directions during hand-held movie recording, while Active D-Lighting preserves details in highlights and shadows to capture footage with natural brightness.

With a rumor of a suggested srp of 1995.95 body only. Or the bundle with the 16-80 f2.8-4 and body @ a rumored srp of 3069.95 This camera seems like its right in line with the proper budget of what some might consist as a pro body dx camera. 

What can I say this camera is what us Nikon users have been waiting for. Now all we need is one in our hands to put it to the test. 

Happy shooting!!

To see trips you can test the D500 out on, see this link :)  http://northof49photography.com/photo-workshops/