great idea!

Hey fstop, make sure that you classify your D500 success with the light levels in the areas that you shoot by giving a typical ISO value that you get. The D500 and an f/2.8 lens is not necessarily good in all situations. We don't always know the levels of light that are available in the venues we shoot in. Apparently, there is enough light where you shoot for it to be a success. Do you mind sharing what those ISO values would be?

The D500 and neither of those f/2.8 lenses would work in my high school gym because the ISO values would be 18,000-20,000 with a 2.8 lens. The lighting level is equivalent to a church at night. The light is just barely above the acceptable level for an occupied building. The D5 also gives very poor images in this light. The only success that I had was using the D3s with an f/1.8 lens---a combination which managed to get the ISO down to an acceptable 12,000 range. The D3s which was Nikon's top performer in low light--until the Z6 came out.

Thanks for your consideration.

naw, we ain't.....

I have turned the Beep off totally. When in AF-S, at an event, like a Christmas play, some audience members would look at me when the beeps would go off. So I just look for the red box to turn into a green box in AF-S. Of course, when shooting sports, in AF-C, I don't even look for focus confirmation. I've read that the focus will look on at the initial or subsequent exposure when in Continuous mode and it happens so quickly, that you're taking the 3rd shot before the camera's electronics can acknowledge that the 2nd one was in focus--makes sense to me. When shooting sports, I'm looking only at where the subject is going and I don't have a clue what else is happening in the viewfinder. I just those good old Nikon AF systems to work and they do......

Basketball and volleyball right now. I've been hit a couple of times in the past, and the worst one was a soccer ball. I learned a few years ago to watch the basketball referees and see which one was at half court. Then I'd know which one was going to block my view when the offense came back down the court and I'd move over to the other side. I don't have enough funds to put strobes in the gym. I did notice that our Carolina Hurricanes have them and it bothered me the first game that I went to, but after I got used to it, now I don't notice them going off.

I would have enjoyed it more if I could understand what they are saying. Mom just talks way too fast for me. I recognize it as English sometimes, but I cannot follow her rapid dialog..ha. Definitely not southern

You've had quite a lot of advice here, but I want to mention one thing that's not be covered enough. Low light. Does the gym you are shooting in have bright lights like a professional gym for tv or is it lighting like you would see in a church? I have a D500 and I only used it one time--- one time--- in the high school gym where I am their sports photographer. The pictures were so noisy because the ISO was in the 12,000 ISO range. The gym was so poorly lit. I shot the volleyball and basketball pictures right there on the floor and had access to roam where I wanted to since I was contracted to do this for them, so it was not an issue getting close to the action. I was right there within arm's reach (and harm's way for me). I eventually bought a used D3s and it was like going from night to day. The image quality was incredible--no noise and sharp pictures at ISO 12,000. That camera for many years was rated the top camera for low light high ISO shooting. There is no crop camera in the Nikon arsenal that can shoot acceptably above ISO 5000 in the dim gym.

Now the D500 is great for soccer and baseball and indeed every bit as fantastic as the previous posters have mentioned, but only you know what your typical ISO is for your gym. I use my D500 extensively for soccer, but when it gets cloudy or late in the day, the images pick up noise. I cannot use it at night.

So you have to ask yourself if the ISO is greater than 5,000 where you shoot, would you want to invest in a camera that's going to disappoint you? There are some camera stores in the Triad/Triangle area that should rent you a D500 for a trial. If your budget allows, get the D500 for outdoor sports and get a used D3s/D4s for the indoor stuff. That's what I did for a couple of years.

If you really want to shoot great indoor pictures in the gym, and your budget allows, the best combination out there right now from Nikon is the Z6 with the Nikkor Z 85mm S lens. I am now using this Z6 combo at f/1.8 and my basketball and indoor events images are spectacular. I no longer use the D3s for indoor sports. There will be great deals on the Z6 body as folks trade them in for the Z6II.

Won't matter with AF-C. Great question though.

She is the Yearbook Editor for the school, so the school was gracious to buy her an 85mm lens, Nikkor 85mm AF-S, f/1.8 which the same lens I was using before I went Z6. I bought her a copy of David Busch's Guide to the D3300 (also to save my sanity, ha ha). The book has been a life saver because the Nikon manuals are useless for any advanced shooting. The hardest problem right now for both of us is to be able to see those 11 focus points in the viewfinder--they are dim and tiny. She is sending the images to me after the games and I'm processing them for her in LR and then sending them back with critiques. She has really come a long ways but a faster focusing camera will be the biggest help for her in the long run. We both talked about her Yearbook plans from the very beginning, which is to get a few that would be suitable for publishing. She has those now, but since she is enjoying her new hobby and becoming an "essential" part of the school's sports program, I'm giving her plenty of line and letting her run free. I believe she is enjoying her new role now and I'm enjoying it for her.

Thanks. She is shooting her hobby camera, the Nikon D3300, which has limited choices, but I am surprised at how good that camera is. I was pulling my hair out though, trying to find her equivalent camera settings that match my D3s and Z6 and "some of 'em just ain't there".

The biggest problem is that the viewfinder focus targets just don't light up bright enough and large enough in red like we are accustomed to in our Pro stuff. It's even hard for me to see them and I know what I'm looking for. But she's learning. I would love to loan her my D3s, but I don't know how to clean it after it's been in a potentially covid-19 exposure environment.

I had a conversation this morning with a photographer friend of mine, a young mom, that is struggling with teenagers, covid-19 quarantine, aging parents. I am helping her learn sports photography at her high school so that she can take their indoor sports pictures instead of me. I have no plans to enter a gym. She's struggling with trying to learn how to anticipate the action and focus on the players (her daughter plays, but the mom says all she has done in the past is just "watch" the game and has no understanding of how the action and game plan flows). I am happy for her that she has come a long way from 2 months ago and she is getting much better. She said right now her photography focus is often OOF and blurry like her life focus.

Got me to thinking and I gave her this advice: This is me talking to her:

"I’m finding that focus on my life in my waning years is indeed a lot like taking a picture——adjusting the focus target to keep it centered and “shooting the important life events at f/1.8”——if I may create an analogy. This allows the unimportant background view of everyday clutter to stay out of focus. I can’t continue to shoot my life at f/32 and keep everything sharp, centered, and in focus. As a fellow photographer you get that. Only God can do that.

Feel free to add your own takes.....

My son and daughter-in-law are currently attending and working at Columbia. On a visit a few years back, he took us to Juniors', I think on 45th or 49th street. Ever since that meal, I have been hooked on the quality of Juniors'. I have never had a cheesecake as good as this is. I just placed an order for our Christmas cheesecake earlier this evening. But I doubt that it will last until then.....

You're welcome. Now, let's go get us a piece of Junior's strawberry cheesecake.

I got this idea while drinking some iced tea and looking at the Christmas tree.

Z6 with Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens at f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 3600

(Download)

Jesus has no EARTHLY Father. But his Heavenly Father is even better than anyone on earth..... This way he remains sinless since he doesn't have the sinful compliment of chromosomes. I'm gonna ask Him this one day, because I have a long list of other biological questions to ask.... like why don't our prostates shrink and wither away once we don't need them any longer--after the babies are born.......