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Thread: Nikon camera for bird photography

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    Default Nikon camera for bird photography

    Hi

    Kindly suggest which will be a better option for shooting birds(in various conditions like open light, water bodies, flight and forest) Nikon D500 or, D 850.

    Best
    Debapratim Saha

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    If you can afford it, the D850 with a grip is the way to go. You're actually getting a D500 built in to your D850 (reducing image size to that of a 1.5x crop sensor leaves you with the same number of pixels as a D500), but you have a 46 MP sensor for those times that you don't need to crop as much. The dynamic range is outstanding, and so is the AF. If I could have only one Nikon body it would be the D850 without a doubt.
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    Thanks Doug Brown. The FX D850 is a star but is the body can be used easily with a 1.5x crop like a DX body,I mean does it perform fast like a D500 in crop mode? Please answer because sometimes for distance subjects I will need to use crop mode for better exposure metering in a small frame.
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Brown View Post
    If you can afford it, the D850 with a grip is the way to go. You're actually getting a D500 built in to your D850 (reducing image size to that of a 1.5x crop sensor leaves you with the same number of pixels as a D500), but you have a 46 MP sensor for those times that you don't need to crop as much. The dynamic range is outstanding, and so is the AF. If I could have only one Nikon body it would be the D850 without a doubt.

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    Forum Participant Somdeb Biswas's Avatar
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    If I crop a D850 RAW file down to D500 1.5x crop, will the file be of better quality than the D500 one??

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    yes the image sensor in the D850 is superior to that of D500 so when you crop its files you get a better IQ.

    D850 is a no brainier if you can afford it
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    yes the image sensor in the D850 is superior to that of D500 so when you crop its files you get a better IQ.

    D850 is a no brainier if you can afford it
    Not based on actual measurements by Bill Claff: http://photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Nikon%20D500,Nikon%20D850(DX) ...the D500 has more DR and better ISO than the DX of the D850....it isn't much and probably meaningless in a real image but the D850 is actually the one that tests worse.
    If you have other measurements to base your claim on I'm open to exploring them. I have both cameras and my own tests showed the slight better noise control on the D500 shots versus my D850 in DX crop mode....again it is fairly meaningless in a real world shot.

    IMO based on using both D500 and D850 on a regular basis, I have found benefits to both cameras and so far haven't wanted to sell the D500. The D500's shutter button is quicker to respond, the shutter sound is much less obtrusive to perched birds and the AF has a higher hit rate in my hands. The D850 is nice to use for lenses/TC combos that push the aperture above f/5.6 as even if you aren't going to fill the frame more than a DX crop you can still compose using the centre AF sensor which at f/6.7 and f/8 works better than using off-centre AF sensors on the D500 to get a proper composition if the subject will be getting close to filling the D500 frame. The D850 requires a lot of extras to get 9FPS to almost match the D500's frame rate....depending if one is comfortable with 3rd party grips, batteries and chargers that can be a small investment or a large extra investment....(personally I went with 3rd party charger and grip but Nikon battery). As already mentioned D850 is more versatile for sure and if one has the money and is sure they can actually use more than the DX frame of the sensor than it is a better camera for only owning one or the other. However, if someone is shooting a lot of reach-limited subjects and won't ever or seldom go over a DX frame with their lenses then the D850 doesn't make much sense for the money.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff Newhouse View Post
    Not based on actual measurements by Bill Claff: http://photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Nikon%20D500,Nikon%20D850(DX) ...the D500 has more DR and better ISO than the DX of the D850....it isn't much and probably meaningless in a real image but the D850 is actually the one that tests worse.
    If you have other measurements to base your claim on I'm open to exploring them. I have both cameras and my own tests showed the slight better noise control on the D500 shots versus my D850 in DX crop mode....again it is fairly meaningless in a real world shot.

    IMO based on using both D500 and D850 on a regular basis, I have found benefits to both cameras and so far haven't wanted to sell the D500. The D500's shutter button is quicker to respond, the shutter sound is much less obtrusive to perched birds and the AF has a higher hit rate in my hands. The D850 is nice to use for lenses/TC combos that push the aperture above f/5.6 as even if you aren't going to fill the frame more than a DX crop you can still compose using the centre AF sensor which at f/6.7 and f/8 works better than using off-centre AF sensors on the D500 to get a proper composition if the subject will be getting close to filling the D500 frame. The D850 requires a lot of extras to get 9FPS to almost match the D500's frame rate....depending if one is comfortable with 3rd party grips, batteries and chargers that can be a small investment or a large extra investment....(personally I went with 3rd party charger and grip but Nikon battery). As already mentioned D850 is more versatile for sure and if one has the money and is sure they can actually use more than the DX frame of the sensor than it is a better camera for only owning one or the other. However, if someone is shooting a lot of reach-limited subjects and won't ever or seldom go over a DX frame with their lenses then the D850 doesn't make much sense for the money.

    Sorry but I don't read or care about all the measurement done by various internet experts. I only trust my own results or those that I know personally. The D850 image quality, when converted with the right RAW converter is superior.

    the D850 buffer is quite good with the XQD, I can shoot about 4 seconds before it slows down, if that is not enough one should start questioning their skills. The frame rate itself is not fast enough for some subjects but neither is the D500. For that you need the D5.

    Again, IMO if you can afford it, the D850 it is a no brainier. In fact for many situations I prefer the D850 over my D5. The grip cost is nothing in the overall system and I like that it uses the same battery as my D5, I don't have to carry two kinds of batteries and chargers. The D850 is the jewel of the Nikon brand.
    Last edited by arash_hazeghi; 06-24-2018 at 02:47 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    Sorry but I don't read or care about all the measurement done by various internet experts. I only trust my own results or those that I know personally. The D850 image quality, when converted with the right RAW converter is superior.

    the D850 buffer is quite good with the XQD, I can shoot about 4 seconds before it slows down, if that is not enough one should start questioning their skills. The frame rate itself is not fast enough for some subjects but neither is the D500. For that you need the D5.

    Again, IMO if you can afford it, the D850 it is a no brainier. In fact for many situations I prefer the D850 over my D5. The grip cost is nothing in the overall system and I like that it uses the same battery as my D5, I don't have to carry two kinds of batteries and chargers. The D850 is the jewel of the Nikon brand.
    Sorry for the super late reply...haven't been on BPN for awhile...

    DR and SNR are measurable variables are they not?....you can use C1P for both D500 and D850 files so how would the "right RAW converter" make a difference?
    Could you post some comparison shots from the D500 and D850 demonstrating the superior IQ when you crop a D850 file to a D500 size or smaller...thanks...
    And to be clear I am not talking about a full D850 file....a full D850 file is superior in every way to a D500 file, no argument there.
    My question only pertains to the D850 file cropped to DX frame or smaller and the affect on DR and SNR. Color may still favour the D850 file but I haven't noticed such in my own files (I shoot about 75% D850, 25% D500 but had owned the D500 for 1.5 years before the D850 so have a lot of files look back on). When I first got the D850, I setup a scene with a recently deceased (hit the window) bird and shot a range of ISO shots and compared them in C1P and LR....as I said in my earlier reply the difference in noise is slight, meaningless in the real world but it is the D500 that has the slight edge. Otherwise the files were indistinguishable. You can see for yourself just downloading the DP Review test scene RAW files from both cameras and processing them as you like in C1P.

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    Like Arash, I have never once looked at any type of lens or camera body chart. My answer is D850 all the way.

    Do consider using this link:

    Nikon D850 DSLR Camera (Body Only)

    with love, artie
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