CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Only 20.8 MP? What happened to 50MP? Aren't all you pixel peepers out there seething with frustration?

juicesqueezer Loc: Okeechobee, Florida

Why 50? 16MP is more than enough and at 50MP, everyone would have to upgrade their computer to process it! lol
Maybe I am missing something here, just like ridiculously high ISO. Yes, when you need the shot, no matter what, but really? 125,000????
I know what my D4 photos look like at 125K and I will pass!

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

It is aimed at photojournalists and sports photographers. They need low light capability not more megapixels. The higher megapixel sensors do not have very good light capability compared to 18-24 megapixel range.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

It's also intended as a sports and action camera and will have a 12 to 14 fps rate depending on the mode. The larger the pixel count the harder it is to maintain the fast burst rate needed for sports. The now long in the tooth Canon 1Dx has a similar fps rate with an 18mp sensor and takes fabulous images. I suspect it's replacement, probably before the end of this year will max out at somewhere between 20 to 24 MP. Besides being a blazing fast professional body, the D5 will support insanely high ISO capabilities.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

You know that, and I know that, but I have seen quite a few posters here harrumphing about how 36MP was so superior to 24 MP and now the Nikon Pro flagship has only 20???? Heresy!!! I am quite satisfied with my Fuji 16 MP, but am told I am a backward Yokel for thinking that is enough. And the new 500 has a touchscreen! Another thing the purists have been sneering at. I think it's great - got the 5500 just because of it.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

You don't do surgery with a bread knife? Or cut a loaf of bread with a scalpel. Both tool cut, but for different purposes they are designed very differently.

A D810, with 36MP, has a purpose that is served well by those pixels. But as a result it can only shoot at 6 frames per second, and the buffer fills up all too soon (locking up the camera for a few seconds). But wow, can it shoot nice portraits and landscapes for huge prints!

The D2x, the D3, D3S, D4, D4S and now the D5 are targeted at fast action sports. Shoot Olympic sports is the prime example! The fastest possible frames per second that can be accomplished makes a difference. The D4, D4S and D5 can all shoot at high frame rates nearly twice that of the D810, and they can shoot dozens and dozens of shots continuously without ever locking up or slowing down.

The basic reason one camera cannot do both jobs is the current technology available for the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). ADC's are a balancing act that counter noise and speed against each other. Today, the speed that is available at a reasonable noise level simply will not process 50MP images at faster than about 6 FPS. The largest image that can be processed at 14 FPS is 20MP... so that is what the D5's image size is.

Hence two different tools for the two different jobs. Nobody expected a high megapixel D5, but everyone was watching the frame rate! And we can expect in the next few months that Nikon will replace the D810 with a new 5th generation model. I won't shoot at 14 FPS, and nobody is expecting that. We are all expecting 50MP on that model though!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Exactly. The Canon 5Ds/r has a 50mp sensor but it's normal ISO tops out at 6400 which is 2 stops less than the 22mp Canon 5D III's normal ISO of 25600.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

If you have to ask that then it's clear you have no idea as to the purpose nor intended audience of the Nikon single digit Pro cameras.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

In fact there is little high ISO difference between Nikon's D4 or D4S models and their D800 and D810 models. It is true that Nikon let the D810 slip back in high ISO performance a little, and they wouldn't have even considered such for the D4S, but in practice there really isn't much difference between all of them (or the D750 and D610 too, for that matter).

But there is a huge difference in the speed at which an 18 MP image can be processed on the D4S and the speed that a 36 MP image is processed with a D810. The D810, in continuous mode, can fill the buffer and lock up until it writes data to the memory card. A D4 or D4S shoot at full speed for dozens of shots without that happening.

The significant difference is data processing speed. Lower megapixels means higher speed, and that is what sports photographers want. Higher megapixels, regardless of the speed, is what landscape and studio photographers want.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Well yes but it wasn't my first thought when responding

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

That's what I took away from the write up. It looks like a very nice camera indeed, and quite possibly intended to reduce the percentage of white lenses at sporting events. Canon's 5DS / 5DSR seems to be very specialized for certain purposes.

Many people seem to forget that a single camera (or camera type) worked just fine with film, but that does not apply with digital, there are so many specialized variants depending on sensor sensitivity, focus speed and accuracy and so on.

Other than professionals (or the wealthy), how many people can afford multiple DSLR bodies with different characteristics. The majority of UHH members seem to have two or three at most, and just one main body matched to their primary interest.

Anyhow, as a Canon user, this new NIkon and its DX sibling look like extremely nice products that should serve Nikon and its customer base very well.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Didn't apply for film either. Can you imagine shooting a basketball game with 4x5. I wouldn't, I would use 35mm, but I would use 4x5 over 35m for landscape.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You are completely correct, I should have specified 35mm SLR, since I was thinking about people that used rangefinders as well as SLRs, but not for sports. An implied context, but I should have been explicit.

However, that said I think the primary point is still valid that with 35mm film you could vary the sensor type (film) for different situations, but you cannot do that with digital, you need a completely different camera, which is a significant investment for many people. Most amateurs are limited to how much investment they can make.

In addition, as a Canon user I wanted to say something good about what looks like a very nice Nikon offering or two.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Ok, the d5 is for speed, the 810 for quality. So what gives with the 500? It is the top of the APS-C line to replace the 7200, and it TOO is a 20 MP instead of 24. !!! I seems Nikon is not playing the "more is better" game.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Same high frame rate too, which is the significant issue. More speed is better for this, while more pixels are better for that.