The optical viewfinder offers 100% coverage, and 1.0x magnification, with the widest viewing angle amongst APS-C DSLR cameras, at 30.8 degrees.

The D500 is large for a DX camera. It is significantly larger and heavier than the D7200 and absolutely dwarfs the D5500. But for me the relatively large size is a good thing. The D7200 is just too small to feel really comfortable in my hand. There is not quite enough to grab onto and my little finger feels like it’s about to fall off the bottom. By contrast the D500 has a tall and deep, though slightly narrow, grip which is very comfortable. Things improve when adding a vertical grip to each camera. The MB-D15 for the D7200 transforms it into a full-size camera. Now all my fingers fit and when held vertically I actually find it slightly more comfortable than the MB-D17 on the D500. For my photography, I consider vertical grips essential and shooting the D500 vertically without one is something I find to be quite awkward to the point where I shoot less verticals, which is not a good thing. Equipment should not dictate the kind of pictures taken. So the MB-D17 goes on and stays there. As a bonus, you can load an extra battery to help with “range anxiety”. Having to remove the vertical grip to get at the in-body battery is a small annoyance that comes with using the accessory grip. I always set the camera to use the MB-D17 battery first which often means at the end of the day there is no need to remove the primary battery for charging. Recommended Camera and Menu Settings If I had a few thousand dollars to invest in a kit for sports or wildlife photography, I wouldn’t go with one of the newest mirrorless cameras. Instead, I’d buy a Nikon D500, an older generation 70-200mm f/2.8, and an F-mount supertelephoto. NIKON D500 + Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 1250, 1/5000, f/5.6 Nikon D500 Review: Camera Size Comparisons One of the other big features Nikon is touting is its Snapbridge system that uses Bluetooth LE (a low-power variant of Bluetooth also known as Bluetooth Smart), and Wi-Fi to maintain a connection between the camera and a smart device. This includes the ability to auto-transfer images from the camera, as well as initiating the Wi-Fi connection for remote shooting or manual image transfer. ContextThe shutter release button is the only disappointment. Tactile wise it does not feel good to push. it feels cheap and not as responsive than the main camera body's button. It seems like every week there’s a new mirrorless camera on the market with impressive features. Subject-recognition autofocus and bursts over 20 FPS are practically the norm these days. Is there still room to get the Nikon D500 now that we’re living in a mirrorless world? From what I got from the specs, none of the 3rd party grips has trays for En-EL18. If this is the case, that would be a factor in favor of the Nikon grip.

The Nikon D500 makes time-lapse video incredibly easy. Set-up is simple: just choose the interval (time between shots) and the total shooting time and you’re good to go. One of the really nice features is the “smoothing” option, which compensates for extreme changes in exposure during the recording. Once all the images are captured, the camera combines them into the final video like the one you see below. Nikon D500: Performance I have been using Nikon D500 from past one month now. The camera starts warming up in first 30-60 secs from the right side where the thumb is placed. If i allow the camera to keep filming up to 5 mins, it becomes a hot cake from the right side as well as the steel plate/ area below the tilted screen.Also, it’s best to shoot in aperture priority mode with Auto ISO for wildlife photography. An alternative is to shoot in manual mode with Auto ISO, but that can lead to overexposed photos if you shoot in bright environments, because the Auto ISO won’t be able to go below 100. Nikon D500 + 500mm PF f/5.6 @ 500mm, ISO 3600, 1/400, f/5.6 Below are comparison shots with the D500 side-by-side with other Nikon DSLR cameras. The images are to scale giving an idea of the relative sizes.

The novice scene modes (which I never used and got in the way) on the left dial are replaced with more useful controls keeping in line with the other Nikon pro bodies. To setup your own custom shooting modes you have to use Nikon's "Photo shooting menu bank" and "Custom settings bank" and there are four here, named A, B, C, and D. It's a shame that you can't setup a custom shooting mode, like you can on the Nikon D7200with two user modes (and other cameras with a normal mode dial, such as the 7D Mark II with 3 user modes), and you can only switch between shooting modes of P, A, S and M. The screw thread it metal but the surrounding support plate is plastic. There's a small strip of weak thin metal on the inside of the grip where the screw thread is attached to. I would not mount this to a tripod with a long lens! I just dont trust its sturdy enough. The PIXEL Vertex MB-D17 is a battery grip that is compatible with the new Nikon D500, and lets you use either the original Nikon EN-EL15 battery or 8x AA batteries, and is also dustproof and weather-resistant to match the DSLR. A battery grip can double the battery life of your camera, as well as improve handling when using the camera in a vertical position. PIXEL Vertex MB-D17 Features: As might be expected, the D500 stands out from the D7200 and D300S in almost every way. Performance improvements include a very fast top frame rate with a huge buffer. The metering module is very high resolution compared to the older cameras and is also far more capable in low light. On paper, at least it has 3 stops greater sensitivity.

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Stepping outside the world of Nikon, one close competitor to the D500 is the 7D Mark II from Canon. However, the D500 has the advantage of being released about 15 months after the 7D Mark II, so it’s undeniably the more advanced camera.