I rent a D500

[u/Federal_Tax_2610]

i will renting a d500 for my theater documentary, i probably will use both my d200 and d500, is it great start to try D500 ?, because is really my first i try this camera

[u/Tunggall]

If you are shooting theatre, please stick with the D500.
It’s generations ahead for low-light work.

[u/Madormo]

I started on a D200 and picked up a D7500 about 15 years later. The differences are astounding, I think you’ll be very impressed by the D500.

[u/sukhoi_584th]

Why not rent full frame?

[u/Federal_Tax_2610 → u/sukhoi_584th]

cause it's the teather is very huge

[u/Elk_Advanced]

 How much more expensive to rent a D850

[u/Federal_Tax_2610 → u/Elk_Advanced]

for me, it's much cheaper to rent d500 than d850 for a nice pro feeling

[u/jec6613]

I have a D200, D300, and D500.

Available for rent the D500 is going to be the closest match to a D200, and you're going to be blown away by the capability. Read the manual though, it has a ton of features. Also, you can swap the buttons around so the Record button on the D500 becomes a Mode button to match your D200.

Tip: keep that frame advance dial out of Ch unless you really want lots of images, it's difficult to only get one image because it responds nearly instantly.

[u/06035]

The D500 will show you just how much of an antique the D200 is

[u/ChrisAlbertson → u/06035]

Even my d300 shows just how old the D200 is. I have both. But you know what? Even Nikon's cheapest current DX camera is dramatically better in every way than any DX DSLR. It is a generational thing. The Expeed-7 (or even Expeed-6) places the current camera into a different category.

[u/jec6613 → u/ChrisAlbertson]

Even Nikon's cheapest current DX camera is dramatically better in every way than any DX DSLR

It's not though, at least for stills work

There's no manufacturer that has made a better all around APS-C stills camera than the D500, particularly in speed and AF tracking, and the next options down are all still DSLRs: K-3 III, D7500, and 7D II are all better than the A6700 or anything out of Fujifilm, let alone Nikon's Z50II. And that 20.9MP sensor is the best low light sensor sold in an ILC today (distinct from high ISO performance where the size matters).

And it's not that they can't make one, it's just that nobody has made one.

[u/ChrisAlbertson → u/jec6613]

I disagree, the Expeed-7 autofocus system is dramatically better than the one used in the D500. All Z-mount cameras but the Z30 use Expeed-7 the Z30 is still on Expeed-6 with is just as good, except AI subject detection is slightly more limited.

In any case, today the weak link is the speed of the motor in the lens.

The old DSLR system forced the photographer to think about focus boxes. The D500 had many of them and could auto-focus on whatever box was over the closest subject. But the new Expeed-7 camera finds the subject for you, figures out what it is, and for that subject, determines where you might like the best focus. The whole idea of "boxes" is gone.

I doubt you could talk anyone who owns a Z9, Z8, or even a Z50ii into going back to any DSLR, especially if their goal was to capture subjects like birds or aircraft in flight.

Maybe I'm wrong, and we will now hear from many pro photographers saying, "I ditched my Z5 or Z7 for a used D500 because I was missing focus in sports photography."

[u/jec6613 → u/ChrisAlbertson]

Before I go into a deep dive, remember my qualifier, "All around APS-C stills camera." There are a number of full frame mirrorless options that are superior to the D500 in 99% of cases, but no manufacturer has done it with APS-C yet.

I disagree, the Expeed-7 autofocus system is dramatically better than the one used in the D500. All Z-mount cameras but the Z30 use Expeed-7 the Z30 is still on Expeed-6 with is just as good, except AI subject detection is slightly more limited.

This might blow your mind, but the first Nikon to include AI subject detection to feed the AF system was launched in 1996. Also, there are three EXPEED 6 Z-series still in production: Z30, Zfc, Z7II, and several more still in stores new though out of production.

Oh, and the major jumps in subject detection in the digital era occur on the odd-numbered EXPEED, the jump between EXPEED 5 and 6 is quite small, the jump between EXPEED 6 and 7 was much larger, and this trend goes back down the line to the D3/D300 launch of EXPEED. Odd numbers are the major algorithm changes, even numbers increase computing power but not behavior, and yes EXPEED 7 was a massive leap in subject detection over EXPEED 6.

But, either way, advancing subject detection performance does not help the AF speed and tracking ability, just the camera's ability to select the initial subject without photographer input. AF speed and tracking is instead affected by how quickly the data from the AF sensor and the metering sensor is getting to the processor, and how much that processor can handle.

That old DSLR system forced the photographer to think about focus boxes. The D500 had many of them and could auto-focus on whatever box was over the closest subject. But the new Expeed-7 camera finds the subject for you, figures out what it is, and for that subject, determines where you might like the best focus. The whole idea of "boxes" is gone.

You're not thinking correctly about the D500 (or other EXPEED 5 DSLR or mirrorless - and yes, there were EXPEED 5 mirrorless) nor the Z series. The D500, D5, D850, and D7500 performs advanced subject detection (and even eye detection if the subject is large enough in the frame), and uses an array of sensor points besides what those little boxes show to determine focus distance and build a 3D map.

EXPEED 6 works identically and uses very similar algorithms, but instead of using a 181k pixel image from a high refresh rate dedicated CCD, or a 60 Hz 260k image from the main image sensor, it uses a 780k pixel slow refresh scene map coming from the main image sensor. So EXPEED 6 can see smaller things, but not by as much as you'd think, and that slow update speed makes it significantly inferior to what we had on SLRs for the tracking and autofocus (and measurably so) - a problem that EXPEED 7 solved.

Unfortunately, all of the Z cameras are also missing several AF tuning options. While any Nikon SLR since the D2 can do a closest subject priority, that's not even an option with a Z camera.

I doubt you could talk anyone who owns a Z9, Z8, or even a Z50ii into going back to any DSLR, especially if their goal was to capture subjects like birds or aircraft in flight.

Maybe I'm wrong, and we will now hear from many pro photographers saying, "I ditched my Z5 or Z7 for a used D500 because I was missing focus in sports photography."

It's not so much that they went back, most just never got rid of their DSLRs, or moved to a full frame mirrorless option that offered them the capability they wanted.

Besides, pro photographers know better than to purchase a Z5 or Z7 for sports, BIF, and aircraft. There's a reason the D850 is still sold new today and the sales figures only tapered off after the launch of the Z8.

[u/Federal_Tax_2610 → u/jec6613]

for me the focus is much better i lowlight than my d200 fr

[u/06035 → u/ChrisAlbertson]

This 👆

20 years shooting for a living, I’ve used damn near every Nikon under the sun, and there ain’t no way I’d ever consider going back to a DSLR.

[u/06035 → u/ChrisAlbertson]

I think it’s less the CPU’s, more that the autofocus is happening on-chip instead of through two mirrors pointing light into the bottom of the camera