Zeke4351 Loc: Kentucky

Have any of you you had any experience with replacing your D500 with with the D850 used in DX mode? From the videos I have watched the D850 actually produces as good or better images than the D500. Would like any first hand knowledge any of you might have. I know some on here stay locked and loaded to way in on any subject with only an opinion not based on actual experience. Please save it for someone else. Thanks

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I had a Nikkon fisheye lens leftover from my D7100 and used it on the next camera, a D810. All that happens is, there is an icon on the live view that says DX and in the viewfinder, the portion of the image that is covered by the Dx crop is greyed out. This assists in composition so you do not include anything out of the lens field of view.

You get the benefits of the D850 focusing and low light capabilities with your Dx lens.

Zeke4351 Loc: Kentucky

I didn’t mention anything about a DX lens but thanks. I am replacing a D500 with D850 and use all FX glass.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I have no personal experience because I don’t own an 850. But if I did, I would never shoot it in DX mode.

Bill_de Loc: US

I have on a few occasions put a DX lens from the D500 on my D850. When a FF lens is mounted I see no reason to shoot in DX mode, I'd rather crop in post where I can tweak composition.

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martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

You would actually lose a few pixels in the DX mode when using the D850. You only get about 19.4 pixels and on the D500 you get 21. Not to mention the frame rate would be Much slower. To increase the frame rate on the D850 you would have to purchase the extra battery grip and if you use all Nikon parts and batteries that's another $1000 and you only get 9 frames per second.. I owned both, but returned the D500 and only shoot with the D850. I Never use in the dx mode as I can selectively crop down to fill the frame if desired. You whole trick to wildlife photography is getting CLOSE. I mainly shoot wildlife. If you want to use the D850 in DX mode by all means use it that way but you will not gain any advantage. The advantage of the D850 is the pixel count, the dynamic range and it's ability to handle noise. Best DSLR for low light early morning shooting by far. These are the reason's I purchased the camera..

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I have and shoot both a D500 and a D850. I would challenge anyone to visually identify the difference in the images produced by the two cameras for the circumstances you are asking about. The resolution of the D850 in DX mode is almost identical to that of the D500. The D850 provides a little bit better low light performance in some cases, but it's not huge by any means (maybe one stop or less). Image quality is almost identical when adjusted to be so.

I prefer to use the D500 when 20 MP images are called for, simply because it feels a little better and a little quicker to shoot even though I do not shoot long bursts, and slight differences in continuous frame rates are of no significance to me. The DX frame rate of the D850 is very close to that of the D500. In difficult situations, I'd prefer to shoot in full frame and crop later for the better situational awareness through the viewfinder. The viewfinder of the D850 has a "blackout" mask, not just a frame indicator when shooting in DX or other reduced format. To those who will insist on bringing up DX lenses (which I heard you say that you don't have), the D850 offers at least three or four format options when using DX lenses (or FX lenses, for that matter), depending on how much actual coverage each specific lens provides and what effect you would like to achieve.

If you have not already disposed of your D500, I suggest you wait before doing so. There are multiple reasons why you might want to keep it, none of them related to image character.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It is hard to fail, but it is worse to have never tried to succeed with a full-frame camera.

Zeke4351 Loc: Kentucky

Thanks for the information. I haven’t seen any image quality difference between the D500 and the D850 using DX mode. As usual some agree and some don’t which is normal on any kind of forum. I think the backlit sensor in the D850 produces great results FX or DX mode. I do have the Nikon battery grip on my D850. I also have a D5 so the speed is not a problem for me. I find it less time consuming shooting in DX mode instead of cropping in post. The D850 image does crop down very well and I do agree with that.

Zeke4351 Loc: Kentucky

Lol thanks for proving my point about people ready to give an opinion with absolutely no experience with the subject at hand.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The D500 is going to be roughly the same as the D850 in DX crop mode. The reason for this is that there is no magic to a full frame camera providing better image quality and better low light capability. It's because of the larger sensor and in the case of the D850, the extra pixels. Crop the sensor to the same size and similar pixel density, it will be the same. The D850 has a pixel density of 5.32 MP/cm², and the D500 5.68 MP/cm², giving a slight edge to the D850. For a while it was possible to get an extra 1-2 fps bump in the frame rate which used in crop mode - but not in the D850. The only way to bump from 7 fps to 9 fps is to use the battery grip with the higher voltage EN-EL18 battery.

At the end of the day, you will need to enlarge the image from a D500 just as much as you would a cropped image from a D850, so there is not a meaningful difference.

I have D800 and D810 and routinely shoot in 30x20 mode when shooting wildlife and other active subjects - it is easier to keep the subject in the frame and I like the slight boost in fps.

Red Sky At Night

Ask Steve Perry. A fellow UHHer and pro. He can answer this.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I am 100% in agreement with the above statement.

tcthome Loc: NJ

uhaas2009

I tried it with my 810 long time ago. For me was it better to crop a image vs shooting in DX mode. In DX mode I couldn’t crop like I can in FX mode.
I got told the focus system on on the 500 is the same as D 4/6.....