Nikon D500 review

Nikon's pro-quality DX format DSLR is a real class act

Digital Camera World Verdict

The D500 is a dream camera. It has a fast, effective autofocus system, 10fps shooting capability and first-rate metering and white balance systems. For the money, this might be the best digital SLR Nikon has ever made. Its 4K video, high-tech autofocus and overall image quality raise the bar for APS-C SLRs.

Pros

  • +

    10fps continuous shooting

  • +

    Huge raw buffer capacity

  • +

    Robust, professional build quality

Cons

  • -

    Live View autofocus improved but still hunts

  • -

    Highest ISO expansion settings show banding

  • -

    Expensive

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Nikon might be one of the world’s top digital SLR makers, but for some time it had a big gap in its camera line-up. Canon has an affordable high-speed, professional-quality APS-C format digital SLR for enthusiasts in the EOS 7D Mark II, but Nikon’s had nothing to match it. There was the much-loved Nikon D300S, but that was discontinued long ago. So for Nikon users, the D500 was very big news indeed. The spiritual successor to the D300S has the same rugged build but much faster 10fps continuous shooting, a high-tech 153-point autofocus system and 4K video.

The D500 delivers more than many had hoped for: it’s much more closely aligned with Nikon’s pro-level full-frame camera than the D300 was. Apart from the fact that it has a DX- rather than an FX-format sensor, the D500 has a similar specification to the D850 or even the D5

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