Nikon D500 review – a joyful experience with rewarding results

Image quality

There’s not much to say about photo quality, other than that it was reliably excellent. The 180,000-pixel RGB metering sensor helps the camera to understand the range of colours and brightness in the scene and set the exposure accordingly. This was borne out in some expertly chosen settings in tricky high-contrast scenes. Shutter and ISO speeds are adjusted automatically taking into account the increased likelihood of camera shake at longer focal lengths. One thing this camera won’t do is to increase the shutter speed automatically for moving subjects, but most people at this level will be happy to take manual control.

Details in JPEGs were seriously clean and sharp, with smooth colour gradations in skies and buildings and crisp definition to dense textures such as foliage, skin and hair. Noise levels were impressively low as the ISO speed went up. It was roughly on a par with the superb Fujifilm X-Pro2, and while it couldn’t quite match the full-frame Nikon D750 for low noise levels it was closer to the D750 than to the Canon EOS 7D Mk II.

^ The exposure is spot on, with clouds just shy of clipping. The fine detail in the grass is handled exceptionally well. (1/320s, f/9, ISO 100, 37mm equivalent)

^ Another faultless shot, with smooth, accurate colours and crisp fine details. (1/125s, f/4.5, ISO 100, 120mm equivalent)

^ The 16-80mm lens delivers sharp focus from corner to corner. (1/80s, f/4, ISO 100, 30mm equivalent)

^ In-camera lens distortion-correction has successfully removed the barrel distortion in this wide-angle shot, and applying it doesn’t damage performance. (1/50s, f/3.5, ISO 100, 24mm equivalent)

^ Skin textures in well-lit conditions are extremely detailed and natural, and focus is razor-sharp. (1/160s, f/6.3, ISO 100, 120mm equivalent)

^ Shutter priority at 1/250s to freeze motion has pushed the ISO speed up to 800, and there’s barely any sign of noise or noise-reduction artefacts. (1/250s, f/3.8, ISO 800, 78mm equivalent)

^ Out-of-focus parts of the frame are particularly tricky for noise reduction, but the D500 has done an excellent job here at ISO 1250. (1/60s, f/3.5, ISO 1250, 60mm equivalent)

^ There’s a fair amount of grain at ISO 5600, particularly noticeable on skin textures, but quality is as good as I’ve seen from a cropped-sensor camera. (1/100s, f/4, ISO 5600, 93mm equivalent)

^ I rarely bother to publish sample shots at ISO speeds as high as 10,000, but the D500 can turn in useable results at this setting. (1/25s, f/2.8, ISO 10000, 24mm equivalent)

Conclusion

Nikon appears to be on a mission to pack the best of everything into this camera, and by and large it has succeeded. It looks, feels and behaves like a quality piece of kit, it rarely keeps you waiting and it’s unfazed by tricky shooting conditions. The small trade-off in image quality that comes from the cropped sensor is more than compensated for by the superb features and performance. It’s not the best video camera at this price, but I’ll stick my neck out and say that this is the best stills camera under £2,000. Using it is a joyful experience, and the photos it captures are equally rewarding.