I occasionally smile at posts from new members whose first question is “what camera should I purchase.” I’m not quite in the same boat but now I too have the question, “what camera should I purchase.” I have the greatest respect for the skill and knowledge of fellow hedgehoggers and I am hoping that once again they can help me avoid a decision that I later regret. I have owned and enjoyed the Nikon D70s, D7000 and more recently two D7100s. I have more lenses than you can shake a stick at—mostly DX but a few FX as well. So, as I am about to upgrade once again, I am torn between the D500 and the D850. I will most likely never use all the capability of either of those cameras, but I will enjoy owning and shooting with either—so, which one? Because of the plethora of DX lenses that I have acquired, I had been leaning towards the D500, although I have often thought it would be interesting to move towards full-frame. Now, however, I read on Ken Rockwell’s site that the D850 “works with DX lenses and automatically crops to the central part of its sensor (and shows a smaller frame in the finder) to give 19MP DX shots." Thus, I would have time to transition to a collection of FX glass and still be able to use my current collection of DX lenses in the meanwhile. (And I will keep one of the D7100s as a backup.) If I were to purchase the D500, I would probably buy the Nikkor 16-80 f/2.8-4 E lens to go with it. For the D850 I was going to pair it with the Nikkor 24-120 f/4 lens although in reading the Rockwell analysis, he seems to prefer the Nikkor 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 G given that a single lens covers so much more territory. Any thoughts on which of these would be appreciated as well. A final consideration is that fortunately, I am able to afford either of the two cameras. Having said that, no one likes to make a mistake where a fairly large expenditure is being made. Please be patient in your responses. I have done quite a bit of reading but, again, I have great respect for the community knowledge of my friends. Thank you for your help.

I occasionally smile at posts from new members whose first question is “what camera should I purchase.” I’m not quite in the same boat but now I too have the question, “what camera should I purchase.” I have the greatest respect for the skill and knowledge of fellow hedgehoggers and I am hoping that once again they can help me avoid a decision that I later regret. I have owned and enjoyed the Nikon D70s, D7000 and more recently two D7100s. I have more lenses than you can shake a stick at—mostly DX but a few FX as well. So, as I am about to upgrade once again, I am torn between the D500 and the D850. I will most likely never use all the capability of either of those cameras, but I will enjoy owning and shooting with either—so, which one? Because of the plethora of DX lenses that I have acquired, I had been leaning towards the D500, although I have often thought it would be interesting to move towards full-frame. Now, however, I read on Ken Rockwell’s site that the D850 “works with DX lenses and automatically crops to the central part of its sensor (and shows a smaller frame in the finder) to give 19MP DX shots." Thus, I would have time to transition to a collection of FX glass and still be able to use my current collection of DX lenses in the meanwhile. (And I will keep one of the D7100s as a backup.) If I were to purchase the D500, I would probably buy the Nikkor 16-80 f/2.8-4 E lens to go with it. For the D850 I was going to pair it with the Nikkor 24-120 f/4 lens although in reading the Rockwell analysis, he seems to prefer the Nikkor 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 G given that a single lens covers so much more territory. Any thoughts on which of these would be appreciated as well. A final consideration is that fortunately, I am able to afford either of the two cameras. Having said that, no one likes to make a mistake where a fairly large expenditure is being made. Please be patient in your responses. I have done quite a bit of reading but, again, I have great respect for the community knowledge of my friends. Thank you for your help.

A 19MP image is roughly the same, but still smaller, than the 21MP of the D500. Both these DX options are a step down in resolution from your 24MP D7100. Honestly, you appear to have a GAS problem. We all have GAS problems, so that is meant as an observation, not the casting of a stone.

The D850 is Nikon's top FX camera. You should focus on only the best lenses for this body. Get rid of everything else and just focus on this platform, skipping the super zooms. Unless you have a paying job, you don't need a "back-up" camera. That's just a rationalization for not addressing the root GAS issues.

Given the year-end is approaching, have you looked at your images and identified any equipment that went unused this entire calendar year? These are candidates to jettison. The D70 and D7000 won't fetch much, but I'd think these are just gathering dust. There's probably some lenses in the same situation. The D500 is Nikon's top crop body, but you're paying for a professional-grade frames-per-second speed. Are you shooting sports and / or birds in flight and have a quality 400-600mm lens? Do you need to pay a premium for these capabilities and smaller resolution sensor if they are not part of your usage?


"Summary: look at what you have and decide what you're looking to accomplish. Is photography the goal or the equipment? Then, do whatever you want.