Rineal Loc: Copake NY

For most wildlife I am happy with the D500 with the 200 - 500 from Nikon. With birds I sometimes wish for more reach and am considering adding the 1.4 TC at some point.

Carnpo Loc: North Carolina

Nikon 17-55 F2.8 DX for your normal lens.

Tommy II Loc: Northern Illinois

Two years ago I splurged and bought a D500, that came with a bundled 16-80mm. I like it. Also picked up a 16-300 Tamron lens, which ( as the Liberty Insurance commercial states) is “Just OK.”
I also bought a Sigma 150-600 Contemporary for shooting wildlife. ( mostly birds in flight) you are going to LOVE the D500. I also had a D7000, and the D500 is So Much better. Have fun with it

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

For wildlife the Nikon 200-500 5.6 cannot be beat. In fact, Nikon offered the D500 boxed with the 200-500 for a year or two as there wildlife camera. Your angle of view is 300-750 mm. Not bad for most photography. For landscapes, I use two Nikon lenses mainly because they share the same filter size and cover almost all of the field I need, the Nikon 16-35 f4 and the 24-120 f4.
If your thinking about flash there are many, many inexpensive TTL flash units out there to choose from. Make sure you get a flash head that can tilt and swivel. I aim my flash head up and behind me for very pleasing results.
Below is a sample shots using the Nikon D500 with the 200-500 mm lens. It is a honey. First is a Cattle Egret in mating colors carrying nesting material. The second is of a Great Egret and the last one is an Anhinga in mating colors carrying nesting material. Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Del Ray Beach Florida. I choose these three because the first one the bird was panned as in went from right to left, the second is of a bird sitting at quite a distance (cropped to show detail) the last image was of the bird coming almost right at the camera. Tracking was done with GROUP AUTO FOCUS, I use this on all moving birds and it is a focusing option on the D500. My keep rate with GROUP AUTO FOCUS is almost 99%. Enjoy.

Attached file:
(Download)

tinyman Loc: oil city la.

duffy021049 Loc: Colorado

Two lenses 1. Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 2. Nikon 200-500 f/5.6, flash SB700

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Here are images with the 18-400 on D500

(Download)

Toment Loc: FL, IL

Best answer. Might want to include a wider angle prime say 10-18 to cover the 1.5 crop.

pahtspix

DITTO on that DK19..A really inexpensive but valuable add-on for your D500 body!! Also, I purchased a Tamon 150-600mmG2 at the same time I acquired my D500 just over 3 years ago, and I have not once regretted the marriage of that lens on my D500. It's lighter and has both more reach and lesser reach than the 200-500, which I also found quite heavy to handle!. I already had and use my Nikkor 18-70mm, a Nikkor 12-24mm, a Micro Nikkor 105mm, a 50mm f1.8D, and a Tamron 70-300 SP VC ..BUT the Tamron 150-600mm G2 pretty much stays on my D500 for the kind of shooting I do right now! And YES, I do occasionally do use flash on camera as a "fill" on contrasty subjects....BTW, I had my D7000 converted for use as 720nm infrared camera!..

wetreed

The Nikon 16-80 that is the kit lens for the d500 is excellent. Also the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 is very,very good and half the price of the comparable Nikon, many reviews rate it better.

wetreed

This is an excellent lens.

garrickw Loc: Wyoming Mn.

I have the D500 and the D850 for wildlife I would suggest the 200-500 Nikon a 1.4 extender and a 24-120 F4 for all around.. micro adjust the 200-500 with the 1.4 extender and without .. there are some really good deals on the 200-500 right now its one of the best lenses that Nikon has out

SteveR Loc: Michigan

queencitysanta has a good starting list. Shooting wildlife and landcape I'd get the 70-200mm last. The 24-70mm will cover much of what you need, but since it's on a crop sensor camera you DO need something to cover the lower ranges. I don't think 10-18 is wide enough. I prefer a 10-24mm because I DO use that 24mm selection for landscape on my crop D7000 quite a bit. Tamron makes one that is a second version that is supposed to be excellent. I have the first and have enjoyed it. Nikon makes one also. I have a friend who uses the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary on safaris and takes excellent photos with it. He previously used the Sigma 50-500 to the same effect but wanted more range. You could pick up a Bigma (50-500) used for a song, I'll bet.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

You have received some good replies here. I would encourage you to recognize that the D500 is an outstanding camera that will do a great job for you far beyond the bounds of wildlife photography. Be careful not to limit yourself when you are selecting lenses. I do not photograph wildlife as one of my primary genres, but have two of these cameras that get extensive use alongside my full frame bodies.

There are two guidelines to keep in mind as you select your lenses. The first is that any lens you own or buy will give better results on your D500 than on just about any other camera...certainly any other DX body. The second is that the D500 is completely able to take full advantage of any great lens you put on it. With latest firmware, it is the Nikon DSLR that is fully compatible with the longest list of Nikkor lenses.

I endorse the suggestions you have already received for the 17-55 mm f2.8 DX zoom as your primary "normal" lens. It is a fully professional grade lens that delivers outstanding image rendition. Sometimes I feel that it is better than the 24 - 70mm f2.8 to which it provides equivalent full frame field of view.

I can also second the recommendations for the 200 - 500mm f5.6. It's not built to quite the same standards of ruggedness and durability as some other similar zooms, but it is optically excellent and comes at a great price. If you ever ended up having to replace it, you'd still be financially ahead of a lot of other options.

I cannot endorse the 16-80mm zoom. It is sold as an f2.8-f4, but ends up being f4 over almost all of its zoom range. Because of that, and because it's really pretty average (in my opinion), I feel that it is pretty severely overpriced, even on the used market.

When I need a little extra versatility, I've been using a 24-120mm f4 G zoom that I bought used for $425 at my local camera store. This is the lens that the 16-80 is intended to emulate. On the D500, it covers a full frame equivalent of 35-180mm, which I find very useful. I'm not sure it renders images that are as good as the 17-55, but it is very good. I've taken some images with it that did pretty well in contests.

You have a lot of good choices available to you. I'd suggest not getting in too big a hurry and taking time to look carefully.

turp77 Loc: Connecticut, Plainfield

For wildlife the nikon 200-500 f5.6 you will never be disappointed lot of lens for the price. Has an excellent VR so you can hand hold at 500mm with excellent results. For your landscape photos you need a nice wide angle the Nikon my preference is the 14-24 f2.8 is excellent for landscape but I use mine most for real estate but there are others that I haven’t tried but others have that would go down to 10mm and a lot cheaper in price. An excellent walking around lens that is light enough not to wear you out is the 24-120 f4 it’s sharp and very reasonable in cost. All three of these are FF if you ever upgrade.