dyximan

I have the D 500 and used the Sony XQD card reader it also can read my SD cards and have had good luck with it

motionbymarvin

When working with a camera a backup is priceless. I've had failures and being able to pickup another camera and continue is a relief.

motionbymarvin

Full disclosure, when I sold the D7200 and all DX lenes I still had 2 D750s and 1 D810 with about 20 fx lenes. Needed to use them more. Also have 3 Panasonics, GX85, GX8 and G9 with a bunch of lenes. Got bored and needed a challenge so picked up a D500 for the crop factor and no low pass filter. Will use fx lenes with the d500. Selling the D750s. Both have shutter counts under 4,000. Also letting the GX8 and GX85 go. The D500 is great.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Sometimes it’s just GAS! (Gear acquisition syndrome) I was a long time crop shooter, starting With a Nikon D40. My first upgrade was the D7000. I kept the D40 as a backup. When I upgraded to the D7200 I gave the D40 to my brother. A year and a half ago I picked up a D500 because I started getting into wildlife. I upgraded my brother with the D7000. I B also picked up a Panasonic G85 because my other big hobby is kayaking and the Nikons are unwieldy in a kayak. I really liked the M4/3 format but decided the G9 fit my shooting better. (I still need to sell the G85). Besides shooting from a kayak, the G9 has turned out to be a great travel camera if I fly. I’ve always had a reason besides GAS to upgrade until early this year when the Z7 was an impulse buy. I’m loving that camera more every time I use it. The D500 pretty much lives with the 200-500 for wildlife and the G9 is for kayaking. I just gave the D7200 to my nephew as a graduation gift.

Randyfrieder Loc: Long Island, New York

[quote=NikonRocks]I beg to differ. It is a great idea to be able to have a set of full frame lenses to be used on both FX and DX bodies. Even though the FX lenses are more expensive to start with there are savings at the end of the day. However, effectively you do end up with two differing sets of lenses. You have to remember that when a FX lens is placed on a DX body the effective focal length increases by 50%. For example a 100mm FX lens will present as 100mm on the FX body but 150mm on the DX body. So you have to train your muscle memory to take that fact into account when selecting the right focal length lens to put on the DX body.

Are you aware that Nikon DX lenses are labeled as the 35 FF equivalent.
Meaning that if you put a lens labeled: 16mm-80mm DX on your D500, you are getting the effective focal length which is also increased by the same factor to that of a 24-120 lens.
So, it’s the same as if you put a 14mm-24mm FF lens on the D500 you basically get a 21mm-36mm.
Either way, FF or DX, each lens has an effective focal length factor of 1.5, compared to the labeled focal length on the lens.
Another factor is that a DX lens’s circle of confusion, just covers the 24x36 image size. So if a lens is soft or vignettes around the edges, you see it.
Conversely, a FF lens projects a larger circle, meaning that you are basically just using the center part of the lens’s image, which is usually sharper and without vignetting.
Lastly, I think this might be what you meant about the value, the FF lenses hold their value far better than DX lenses, so when it comes time to sell, (“at the end of the day”?) you usually get the premium dollar difference from the original purchase amount back.

So, I think that it’s a win-win, better image quality, larger selection of focal length ranges, the ability to use the lenses on FF or DX cameras, additionally, with the FTZ adapter, the same FF lens will also work on a FF mirrorless camera, and when you do eventually sell the lens, you get back a better percentage of the lens’s value.

motionbymarvin

You nailed it. I needed some excuse to keep from getting admitted.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

[quote=Randyfrieder]

So much misinformation. They aren’t “labeled” the same way as 35mm. The focal length is an actual characteristic of the lens and has nothing to do with sensor size. They are labeled with the actual focal length. Now any lens of a certain focal length will give you different results based on the sensor size. And yes, as a result a lens on an APS-C camera will give you the same result as a lens 1.5 times longer on a full frame sensor. Also, the “image circle” and “circle of confusion” are two completely different things and have absolutely no relationship, except that they are both related to the lens. The image circle is the circle created by the lens to cover the sensor. A full frame lens generally creates a bigger image circle than a DX lens because it needs to cover a bigger sensor. The circle of confusion is about focus. When a lens is in focus, every point of light in the scene that is the exact focal distance from the sensor will be a point of light on the sensor. Those points not that exact distance will create a circle of light rather than a point. It’s the basically the size of a circle of light that still appears in focus although it’s not exactly in focus.

motionbymarvin

Does this mean my FX lenses will be more effective on my d500?

motionbymarvin

Does this mean my FX lenses will be more effective on my d500?

CO

I leave them with different lenses already mounted. Don't have to swap lenses in the field.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

“More effective” is subjective. It depends on the effect you’re going for. A telephoto lens will give you more of a telephoto effect. A wide angle lens will give you less of a wide angle effect.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

There could be an entire discussion around your question, but it is valid, and I'll try to give you a quick reply here.

There are a number of reasons that a photographer might want to have multiple cameras...even identical multiples. Even though I am not a professional, I shoot some events, including some presentations for my church. It is necessary to be able to capture a wide shot of the entire platform, then quickly switch to a long lens to capture a soloist, with no time to change lenses. Having another very similar camera already set up with the long lens is the answer.

For professionals, of course, it is important to their livelihood to have a backup camera. If they are hired for an event, failure of a camera is generally not accepted by the client as an acceptable reason for failing to deliver photographs.

Also...full frame cameras with high resolution produce very large files, especially raw files. My D850, which I use for night sky and other photography, produces 90MB raw files. This means that 11 shots produce a gigabyte of data. That's not necessary, reasonable, or sustainable when I'm on vacation taking lots of pictures just to record memories of the experience. So I use my D500 for that. The raw files are still quite large, but it takes something like 25 of them to be a gigabyte. Now you can be sure that if I were on vacation and touring Carlsbad Caverns that it would be the D850 that made it through the caverns. The full frame format would allow more flexibility at the wide angle end, and it is ever so slightly better in low light situations. I would make a compromise and take the 24-120mm zoom, though. It's 3.5 miles of walking to get through that tour, with lots of up and down (mostly down, which is harder for me).

It is also true that as an engineer, I find well designed and executed devices and systems fascinating. I love the notion of a perfectly functioning, self-contained photographic system that can go everywhere with me. I did buy a second D500 just as insurance against anything happening to the first one or against the model being discontinued by Nikon.

So the answer to your question is that the reasons vary. Sometimes they are very logical, sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are emotional, and sometimes there is simply not any "real" reason.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"... I always am intrigue about a photographer owning several cameras including more than one of the same. I know there must be a reason..." A reason? augieg27 there are many reasons for having your shooting platformed mirrored if you are a commercial photographer i.e. derive a revenue stream from your same.

That said hobbyist will not likely get their head around this immediately but only after they are shooting for clients and have to exceed their clients expectations without fail.

augieg27 the easiest reason for hobbyist to understand is why commercial shooters overwhelmingly refuse to use a camera with a single card slot. If you don't understand this stop reading and move to the next post.

My shooting workflow mandates that I verify functional parody between both bodies days before the shoot. This allows me to determine that I have the precise settings I need fully operational... The last thing a commercial shooter needs to do is having to waste valuable time on site or set trying to determine why images are not as expected.

What this means is I Focus Fine Tune my lens on two different bodies... if issues in acuity are noticed in imagery then I know if it is the body, the lens or the operator that is causing the issue... Also I purchase virtually all my optics (previously owned) so I'm constantly evaluating lens and sending back ones that are decentered or have other optical problems not related to the camera body I'm testing it on. This has been a godsend in streamlining my bench testing of lenses.

And like CO mentioned... to avoid changing lenses on site... Commercial work often involves shooting under terrible conditions... enough said.

augieg27 if you are remotely interested in working commercially I would strongly suggest you assist other commercial shooters in your market... this is how I leaned and has been a fountainhead of knowledge which has lend to wisdom. But be forewarned... Photo Assistants are to be seen not heard... asking questions is the Kiss of Death for a Photo Assistant... doing so will likely result in you never being considered for another assignment. Also the UHH is not a source of reliable knowledge... there are very few who shoot commercially on this site and those who do claim to do so have long given up since competition is more than fierce... For any one offering advise, check to see what images they hare posted here... you immediately know if they are at a commercial level...

by the way augieg27 I have 2 Nikon D3X bodies, 2 Nikon D3 bodies and 2 Nikon D7200 bodies... All purchased as refurbishment from Nikon USA... enough said.

In keep with UHH "Etiquette" my thoughts on the Nikon D500? This is the only Refub I sent back after testing it against my D7200's. It simply lacked the dynamic range I need for studio work... (DxOmark confirms this, the D7200 is much better suited for Studio)... it also is somewhat crippled with want of a built in flash which I use occasionally as fill illumination (or in the Commander Mode). I totally understand why many hobbyist love the D500... it's frame rate is up there with that of my D3 albeit the vintage D3 has epic dynamic range... The D500 has stellar focus tracing which is cherished by sport and wildlife shooters albeit there is virtually no paid work in wildlife and fierce competition in sports... again enough said.

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you Thomas 902 for your dissertation on business photography. And yes, I understand the reasons for commercial photographer to have cameras with 2 card slots and back up cameras.
I am a hobbyist and have no interest in commercial photography, so my question was more directed to non-professionals. Perhaps I should have said so in my question.

motionbymarvin

Well, I've had the D500 for three days now and find it to be quite an improvement over the D750s. Using the 24-120 f4, 28-300, 80-400g gives me quite a range. Also have a 17-35 f2.8 and 16-35 f4 for the wider view. Ordered the Sony 64g xdq cards and reader. I'm keeping my D810 and selling the D750s.