architect7 wrote:
I got some great pics of a Great Blue Heron at dusk last night but I'm an idiot and did not enable RAW shooting in time. But I am very impressed with the SOOC high ISO JPEG quality, shooting wildlife 5000-12800ISO does not seem like it will be an issue for this camera. Seems like a perfect match for my 200-400mm f4G VR1. Testing with my 200-500 today!
Has anyone tested auto AF fine tune yet? I'll be attempting this afternoon as well.
I am also interested in your thoughts on the D500 + 200-500 combo in the areas of AF speed and acquisition! Looking forward to what you have to say. TIA
Thang wrote:
I am also interested in your thoughts on the D500 + 200-500 combo in the areas of AF speed and acquisition! Looking forward to what you have to say. TIA
It's going to be an absolute beast of a budget combo.
I sold off all my gear(just needed a break, best way for me ) but when I buy again(6Months- yr) this will be the combo first of the combo. I loved shooting the 200-500 on the D810, the D500 I would have to imagine would be awesome!
Laslo Varadi wrote:
I got my 200-500 from them. They have a big store in Sterling. I usually buy from District Camera in Burke, Va. Well stocked, great service, very nice people and very reasonable prices on trade-ins (better than KEH usually).
after being to District/Photocraft the first time the other day, though I purchased quite a bit from them over the past few years, i came out reminded of B&H circa 1977 but with better lighting. the place is chocked full of hardware with good people running and working there.
I have discovered another issue with the D500. Auto Fine Tune will not work with the TC20IIIE. It failed to fine tune my 300mm f4 AF-S, 400mm f2.8 AF-S, and 600mm f4 VR. Auto Fine Tune works with the TC14IIE and the TC17IIE as expected on all three lens.
Can someone with a D500 and a TC20IIIE confirm this issue? Thanks
ShutteredMe wrote:
I have discovered another issue with the D500. Auto Fine Tune will not work with the TC20IIIE. It failed to fine tune my 300mm f4 AF-S, 400mm f2.8 AF-S, and 600mm f4 VR. Auto Fine Tune works with the TC14IIE and the TC17IIE as expected on all three lens.
Can someone with a D500 and a TC20IIIE confirm this issue? Thanks
-Quang
Quang,
What is your target like? I had auto af fine tune issues with my D500 until I used my Spyder LensCal. I used a 200-400mm f4 (close enough to your gear). When I tried to use a license plate I kept getting the same notice. When I put my lenscal on a second tripod I was able to calibrate my target at about 30 meters. I did this yesterday and shot the snot out of my camera this morning. I have never had better sharpness from my 200-400mm lens. I did some long throw landscapes (at least two miles away) as well as tight shots of a beaver (the rodent for those who are now smirking), and am really pleased with the fine tune process.
Note,.. there is some inconsistency, so do at least 3 AF fine-tunes until you get a repeatable value.
cheers,
bruce
OwlsEyes wrote:
Quang,
What is your target like? I had auto af fine tune issues with my D500 until I used my Spyder LensCal. I used a 200-400mm f4 (close enough to your gear). When I tried to use a license plate I kept getting the same notice. When I put my lenscal on a second tripod I was able to calibrate my target at about 30 meters. I did this yesterday and shot the snot out of my camera this morning. I have never had better sharpness from my 200-400mm lens. I did some long throw landscapes (at least two miles away) as well as tight shots of a beaver (the rodent for those who are now smirking), and am really pleased with the fine tune process.
Note,.. there is some inconsistency, so do at least 3 AF fine-tunes until you get a repeatable value.
cheers,
bruce...Show more →
Thanks Bruce and just to confirm, you are using the TC20IIIE with your 200-400mm f4?
My target is the stop sign 47 meters away (I use my Bushnell golf range finder to measure the exact distance). Auto AF Tune will not work with the 2x TC III on any of my lens. The 1.4 and 1.7 TCs worked on all my lens, using the same target.
Thang wrote:
I am also interested in your thoughts on the D500 + 200-500 combo in the areas of AF speed and acquisition! Looking forward to what you have to say. TIA
It is fast, very fast. Much faster than with my D810, especially acquisition speed. It has made my 200-500 VERY similar in speed to my 200-400mm f4G VR1 which to me is a huge deal; acquisition speed with the 200-500 can be painfully slow on other bodies as it sometimes racks to infinity and back. I spent 3 hours kayaking with the D500/200-500 today and the results have blown me away. I'll post some examples in about an hour or so after I have some dinner. This combo just has me so excited! Next, I'll try this combo with the TC-14E III.
Edit, as promised, a couple shots from my outing today. Mild crops, I didn't think I'd have much crop latitude since I've been so spoiled by the D810. I have been pleasantly surprised! The Eagle had to be pushed another couple of stops in LR to bring out wing detail so it has a bit of grain but still really good compared to the same activity with my D810. The duck pic was a total fluke and happened just as I was pulling up to the dock to get out of my kayak. I quickly raised the camera and shot the pic, the D500 acquired focus extremely fast, starting from near infinity from me looking at the local Great Blue Heron rookery from far away. The D500 founds it's head and locked on, I am absolutely amazed by that because the 200-500 always seemed too sluggish on my D810 for birds flying directly at me. Not an issue anymore
It looks like AF fine tune matches pretty close on my D500 though I haven't calibrated with the 200-500 yet. Totally forgot to do this until I was already on the water but I plan to go through the auto fine tune process in my backyard tomorrow with all of my lenses. So maybe I can squeeze even more sharpness out of this lens/body combo.
OwlsEyes wrote:
Quang,
What is your target like? I had auto af fine tune issues with my D500 until I used my Spyder LensCal. I used a 200-400mm f4 (close enough to your gear). When I tried to use a license plate I kept getting the same notice. When I put my lenscal on a second tripod I was able to calibrate my target at about 30 meters. I did this yesterday and shot the snot out of my camera this morning. I have never had better sharpness from my 200-400mm lens. I did some long throw landscapes (at least two miles away) as well as tight shots of a beaver (the rodent for those who are now smirking), and am really pleased with the fine tune process.
Note,.. there is some inconsistency, so do at least 3 AF fine-tunes until you get a repeatable value.
cheers,
bruce...Show more →
Excellent info. I was getting the failure message too but my focus subjects were not anything formal like a lens chart.
Laslo Varadi wrote:
That's interesting. I was talking to a salesperson at a big camera store in PA and he stated that one of the Nikon, oem batteries manufactured in 2012 did not work with the D500, but otherwise do worked fine. Condition was 1.
I have also heard a couple of other reports of people with the older batteries, Li-ion01 on the back, that do not work. All I can tell you is that both of mine with that designation do work. Not sure why that would be.
Now, I spoke with the Wasabi folks on Friday. Apparently I was the first to report this, not surprising since the camera just came out. Now that they need know this they need to acquire a D500 to test with so they can rechip their batteries. Hopefully not too long until Wasabi gets them out, including EN-EL18. I wonder if the same problem occurs with the D5? I would think so.
mine arrived Friday, Automatic AF fine tune is awesome, my 300mm PF with 1.4x III needs +5
High ISO is 1/2 to 1 stop better than D7200, noise has a grainy look rather than color blotches
How long does it actually take for the fine tune? I shoot a lot of different MF primes with an autofocusing teleconverter (camera reads the lens at 70-210 @145mm min aperature of whatever lens reads as f/4) and if this only takes a couple minutes would be pretty awesome. I wouldn't be above making a wallet card with predesignated correction numbers.
morrismike wrote:
How long does it actually take for the fine tune? I shoot a lot of different MF primes with an autofocusing teleconverter (camera reads the lens at 70-210 @145mm min aperature of whatever lens reads as f/4) and if this only takes a couple minutes would be pretty awesome. I wouldn't be above making a wallet card with predesignated correction numbers.
) but when I buy again(6Months- yr) this will be the combo first of the combo. I loved shooting the 200-500 on the D810, the D500 I would have to imagine would be awesome!
