Photography News Issue 35

Photography News | Issue 35 | absolutephoto.com

Camera test 48

NikonD500 Taking a camera out and shooting in real-life situations is the best way to really get to know it and see how it deals with a wide variety of challenging conditions. For this review, features writer Jemma Dodd and the Nikon D500 went to Croatia

Specs

Price £1729 body only, £2479 with 16‑80mm f/2.8-4 VR Sensor

20.9 megapixels effective, 21.51 megapixels in total Sensor format DX, CMOS, 23.5x15.7 mm ISO range 100-51,200 expansion to 50-1,640,000 Shutter range 30secs-1/8000sec, flash sync at 1/125sec Drivemodes Single, continuous low, continuous high, quiet shutter release, self- timer, mirror up, quiet continuous shutter release Metering system TL exposure metering using RGB sensor with 180k pixels. Matrix, centre-weighted, spot and Exposure compensation –/+5EV, in 1/3, 1/2 or 1EV steps Monitor 3.2in, 2359k dot, tilting TFT touch- sensitive Focusing 153 focus points of which 55 or 15 are selectable. Single-point 25, 72 or 153-point dynamic AF, 3D-tracking, group-area AF, auto‑area AF Video 3840x2160 (4K UHD) 30p, 25p, USB 3.0 Micro-B connector, HDMI type C, audio in and out, Ethernet Storagemedia 1x XQD and 1x SD Dimensions (wxhxd) 147x115x81mm Weight 860g with battery and XQD, 760g body only Contact nikon.co.uk highlight-weighted Exposuremodes PASM 24p. 1280x720 Connectivity

post-processing so I left the camera mostly in Matrix metering. For a couple of very contrasty scenes, I did engage the spot meter and used the exposure lock to take readings from a mid-tone. Generally, the Matrix meter did impressively well especially bearing in mind the huge contrast range I was dealing with, although I did find there were occasions where it struggled. Predominately dark scenes would come out lighter than I expected but as this seemed a consistent trait, I knew to set some minus exposure compensation even before I raised the camera to the eye. With the exposure system performing well I decided to try my hand at some street photography to test other aspects of the D500 including the AF system. Street photography isn’t something I do often, but I was open to the challenge and I certainly found the D500’s flip-out monitor a real benefit. I could easily take street portraits unobtrusively thanks to the touchscreen. I was able to tap the screen to autofocus and take a shot without having to press the shutter release at all. The camera’s low pitch shutter sound helps too and it was not really noticeable amid normal ambient street noise. The D500’s AF system is straight out of the D5, Nikon’s top pro camera, and I already knew it was swift, accurate and responsive when light and contrast levels are low. The majority of the time I shot

Written by Jemma Dodd

The D500 is Nikon’s APS-C format flagshipDSLRwhich I tested back in issue 33. In the short time I had to test the camera, I have to say that I was really impressed, in particular with its autofocus performance and its ability to shoot noise-free pictures at high ISO settings. I appreciate that it is pricey for an APS-C DSLR and that a full-frame Nikon, the D750, is available at a lower price, but I rated it highly. I was keen to give it a more thorough going over, though, and last month, I had the chance to visit Dubrovnik with it. With its beautiful old town, Dubrovnik offers plenty of photo opportunities from its old architecture and popular Game of Thrones filming locations, to interesting characters and cats (no, really there were lots of cats about). With bright sunshine throughout the trip I mainly shot at ISO 100, switching to ISOs of between 1000 and 2500 when shooting during the evening. Noise was very minimal at these ISOs and I’d be happy to use them for big enlargements with some small noise reduction adjustments in Lightroom. The bright sun and high contrast did mean the D500’s exposure system got a great workout. I knew the D500’s Raw files have good exposure latitude, about +/-2EV, frommytestsoIknewIcouldrecover highlights and boost shadows in

I could easily take street portraits unobtrusively and with the touchscreen I was able to tap to autofocus

in single-shot mode and used the central focus point to focus and then recompose the image. Moving the AF point around is easy with the four-way thumb pad so I used that feature too. I found that the D500 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4G AF-S VR ED DX lens that came with the camera produced sharp results that I’m really happy with. Given the contrasty light, I thought I’d get flare on occasion but I didn’t have that problem. Weighing 1240g, the D500 and lens is heavier than my usual camera, but with so much to shoot I hardly noticed. I do tend to use a sling strap that goes over the neck and shoulder for more convenient carrying so the weight doesn’t pull onmy neck somuch. Overall I found handling very comfortable and the D500 has a well designed handgrip. With so much to shoot, battery life was something I was quite conscious about so I made sure to have a spare battery on me at all times. One fully charged battery lasted a full day of shooting, while also transferring photos to my tablet via SnapBridge throughout the day.

As I always shoot in Raw I converted some of my images to JPEGs in-camera and made some small adjustments to the exposure in the retouchmenu, just to brighten the images a little. In-camera Raw processing is a great feature for when you want to upload an image instantly, but want to brighten or darken an image. Summary The Nikon D500 did really well when I tested it and I was left with the feeling that it could cope really well with anything I cared to throw at it. That impression has been reinforced further by spending more time with the D500 and giving it a wider variety of subjects and lighting to deal with. The very effective AF and exposure systems and the ability shoot in low light at high ISO with minimal noise are the cornerstones of the D500’s performance, but factor in the touch sensitive adjustable monitor, SnapBridge and on-board Raw processing and this is a camera that is on my very short shopping list.

Features writer Jemma Dodd took a Nikon D500 outfit to Croatia a real-life field test. In a wide range of lighting situations, the camera performed impressively.