This year I’ve been honoured to be chosen as a Nikon New Zealand Featured Photographer. As part of the feature I get to play with some new gear – and Nikon NZ have let me borrow the new D500 for my trip down south. It’s always exciting to test out a new bit of gear – and I think this is possibly the newest camera I’ve ever had my hands on! As with anything, I need practice with something new before I embark on an adventure with it  to get comfortable with where all the controls are and the way the camera works. So the first thing I did with the D500 was head down to the lakefront at Rotorua’s Sulphur Point to get my eye in on flying birds. 

I’ve tried out the D500 with two lenses so far – the 80-400mm that is my mainstay on expeditions, and the 200-500mm f.5.6 that Nikon NZ have also lent me for the trip. Both are stunning lenses – although the 200-500mm is a bit of a beast compared to the 80-400mm, and it makes me glad that I’ve been lifting weights this year! With the 200-500mm on a crop sensor body like the D500, you get an effective focal length of 750mm – which is more than enough for any sort of bird photography. 

First impression – the autofocus speed is something else. Bear in mind I’ve been using 6-7 year old cameras (the D300 and D700) for however long. The D500 just grabs focus, and even against difficult background like choppy water I know I can get sharp images that I wouldn’t have been able to with the older bodies. It also hold focus better, even if my subject is flying directly towards me. In short, it has been a bit of a revelation. I can’t wait to try it out on seabirds skimming the southern ocean!

I’m using the D500 without an additional battery pack, so it’s also a lot lighter than either of my old bodies. This is great, especially for hand-holding with the 200-500mm, which is a serious chunk of glass. With either lens, though, it makes a well balanced combination that is easy to hand-hold for long periods of time.

I love the big circular eyepiece around the viewfinder on the D500 – making it more like the D700 than the D300. It’s more comfortable, and it doesn’t have any parts that can fall off accidentally – and I’ve lost a few eyepieces for the D300 (one in the subantarctic at the start of this year!). A thing I love less is the articulating LCD on the back – it makes me nervous in terms of weatherproofing, because I often get very wet when photographing, and my cameras get exposed to salt-spray regularly. I’m going to be fastidious about using a waterproof cover with this body down south, and also cleaning it at the end of every day – both things I do normally, but will be more careful with than the D700, which has no nooks and crannies for anything to get stuck in. I’m sure a moveable LCD screen will also come in handy – especially for doing video – so it’s a tradeoff. 

That brings me to the other thing I’m really excited about – the D500’s video capability. While this is not new by any means, it’s new to me as none of my other DSLRs are video-capable. I’m going to be testing this out down south, and I can’t wait to see what the results are like! Obviously it’s not going to be nature-documentary quality, but it will be fun nonetheless. I have played around with this a bit doing little clips of bird drama at Sulphur Point – but it’s a whole new world for me and one I’m keen to explore. 

So that’s it – my first impressions of the D500. As these blogs are all scheduled in advance, I’m currently in the southern ocean testing it out in the field – so there’ll be more to add when I get back!