CP+ 2016: Nikon shows off new D5, D500 and DL compacts

Published Feb 27, 2016 | Barney Britton

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CP+ 2016: Nikon shows off new D5, D500 and DL compacts

Attendance is up at this year's CP+ show in Yokohama Japan, and that's partly thanks to new products from some of the biggest camera manufacturers, including Nikon. We're at the show, where large crowds are gathering around Nikon's booth to get their hands on the new DL-series compacts, and two new DSLRs, the D5 and D500.

Tags: cp-plus-2016, hands-on, nikon, nikon-dl-launch

Gear in this story


Nikon DL18-50	Nikon DL24-85
4 I own it 195 I want it 14 I had it Discuss in the forums	3 I own it 167 I want it 13 I had it Discuss in the forums

Nikon DL24-500	Nikon D5
7 I own it 79 I want it 13 I had it Discuss in the forums	30 I own it 296 I want it 37 I had it Discuss in the forums

Nikon D500
53 I own it 709 I want it 53 I had it Discuss in the forums

Body (CF Version), Base	Pre-order now	From $6,496.95	Shop now
Body (XQD Version), Base	Pre-order now	From $6,496.95	Shop now

Body Only, Base	Pre-order now	From $1,996.95	Shop now
w/ 16-80mm, Base	Pre-order now	From $3,066.95	Shop now

Nikon DL Premium Compact Camera with 18-50mm f/1.8-2.8 Lens

Pre-order now

$846.95

Shop now

Nikon DL Premium Compact Camera with 24-85mm f/1.8-2.8 Lens

Pre-order now

$646.95

Shop now

Nikon DL Premium Compact Camera with 24-500mm f/2.8-5.6 Lens

Pre-order now

$996.95

Shop now

Comments

Total comments: 85

Nikon DL 18-50/1.8-2.8 .... it seems very nice (a wide angle of over 90 degrees at 1.8 with 20 MP) .... looks very good for low light ....
But... then, there is no EVF (you have to buy one for $350) and the max ISO is only 6400 ....
For someone it would have been better to limit the sensor at 16, (or even 12 MP) and increase the ISO to 25,600 and try to squeeze an EVF, even if the camera size would be a little bigger...

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 4 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

The 20mp sensor is the best they had on the shelve.
The lower mp Nikon 1 sensors are worse. Much worse.

0 upvotes

Now Nikon bring the 18-50 or something in this range for my V1!! :)

The v1 does have a viewfinder and EN-EL15 .... and half the price please, for all this what you never fixed on the v1. :)

Also i will never ever speak bad about the v1 or the missed chances to establish a really powerful system. :-)

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 7 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Nikon moves aggressively this year. I have my interest with Nikon DL, but Canon G7 Mark II is also tempting.

0 upvotes

Reason I dont buy a 1" compact despite wanting to: 20 megapixels crammed into a tiny space, to many megapixels.

0 upvotes

Small error on page 3 "All points focus down to -3EV. " The middle point is in fact -4.0 EV on both the D500 and D5, twice that of the competition outside of single shot mode.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 9 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

The DL is very impressive but I wish they also had a V5 (to sync with the d5/d500 naming) which mirrors the body of the DL 28-500 and the sensor from the rx10 II and rx100iv (or something better).

0 upvotes

Nikon already establish THE CAMERA OF THE YEAR for 2016 with DL18-50. Long time waiting for Nikon to wake up. Now we can imaging what other pleasant surprise Nikon will do for us.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Definitely an impressive showing from Nikon at this point.

0 upvotes

a strong display of Nikon innovation. now they just need to keep it up.

8 upvotes

Three point-and-shoots, a $2,000 APS-C DSLR and a flagship that looks set to be handily outsold by Canon?

2 upvotes

I'm sorry did the D4S not sell? Too bad Canon can't keep up for higher ISOs.

Also people, not me, have been begging for a D300S replacement for years. Did you expect it to sell for $1200?

4 upvotes

Given the Nikon sensor in their DSLR's, it's Canon who has to worry about. They have been having the same type of underperforming sensor for years now. We'll see how the latest high end ranks in Dxo since they finally tried to do something new in the sensor design.

1 upvote

Someone's feeling the need to validate their Canon purchases...

8 upvotes

Wow! .. physically.. that camera is way too huge.. given it's pixel resolution.

1 upvote

I don't see what pixel resolution has to do with the size of the body?

11 upvotes

Well ok ... it's a darn big camera compared to Olympus's 20MP/50MP Pen-F.

1 upvote

It's a tank of a camera built for huge battery life, robustness in the field and fast auto-focus. The opposite of a mirrorless camera.

6 upvotes

"Wow! .. physically.. that camera is way too huge.. given it's pixel resolution."
Exactly! But, when you push all these pixels into the camera, a few may overflow or get squeezed out. Some companies stir the camera and pixels to make more room.

Seriously now, some folks have no idea what a camera like D5 is about.

5 upvotes

Morpho:

And those cameras you cite have sensors 1/4 the size of the sensor in the D5.

1 upvote

Some cell phones have 20+ MP, what is your point? There is no correlation whatsoever between body size and megapixel count.

2 upvotes

Why aren't they using SD cards? SD format seems to have the fastest and largest capacity memory cards at best prices, including rugged pro versions. What's the point of still using other formats like CF?

1 upvote

XQD cards can go a lot fastest than UH-II SD cards, but I agree with you because how fast do we need? The D500 can shoot around 76 frames at 14-bit on a UHS-II cards before the buffer fills, but I don't know yet how long the buffer takes to clear after that. But who needs to shoot that many shot in one go anyway.

The buffer on the D7100 is to small for me, but even at 10 fps, I can't see me shooting more than 30 frames in one go and on a fast UHS-II SD they should be able to be written to the card no more than about 4 seconds. But I guess there are some pros that need more.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 11 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

I just bought my D750 with two SD Extreme SanDisk after many years of using CF and I absolutely hate SD. Flimsy, they gave me errors in the first hours of usage. I want my CF slots!

2 upvotes

nicolaie:

Then you need better quality SD cards. I've never had errors with SD cards, even when the casing has broken.

CF card slots have pins, there's a reason to avoid them.

3 upvotes

nicolaiecostel - Have you tried cleaning the contacts with something like a Q-tip? It worked for me once. Sometimes the contacts have a thin film of dirt or contamination, perhaps from plastic packaging outgassing.

0 upvotes

@HowaboutRAW: Better SD cards than Sandisk Extreme 95 mb/sec ? I guess I coud consider the Extreme Pro but they are really expensive !

About the pins in the CF, I had my D700 for 5 years, used it with 4 cards, 2 8 gig and 2 16 and never have I bent any pins.

I only had a pin problem with an agency D700 and a Sandisk card that had been damaged. I tried to swap cards and insert the damaged card, it did not go all the way and when we looked at it, it had a side bent, from a drop presumably, and it bent one pin that was straightened with a sewing needle and that camera never had an issue. The cleaning lady most likely dropped the card at the studio or something.
I swear by CF cards and I currently have 2 16 gig and 3 8 gig cards that have been rendered useless by the D750.

I want my CF back !

0 upvotes

nicolaiecostel:

That's a very strange failure rate for SD cards, or cards in general.

Something is likely outlier about that particular D750 then.

0 upvotes

The problem with these 2 SD cards that I have now is this:

- I have copied pictures off them thru my card reader, Transcend USB2, and some have been corrupted, partially unreadable. I deleted them, copied again, worked fine. It might be down to the reader, it's a few years old now and maybe a Lexar Pro reade will do a better job, but I never had this problem with any CF card including a newer Extreme CF, kinda similar to the SD ones I have.

- whenever I try to copy some files on the SD card, it disconects and reconects again, I get a bunch of errors and I get the message that cannon write, please remove the write protection.
but the card is not write protected in software nor with the phisical toggle, and the files are not as well. I never had this problem with my CF, and again, a new reader might be needed but the CF ones worked perfectly and they still do.

0 upvotes

I've used CF and SD cards a lot and never had a problem with either.

Flimsy? What are you doing with them?! I change SD cards often (I don't like to many shots on one card) and have never had a problem with "flimsy" cards.

Have you run check software on your cards to make sure they are OK and not fakes?

0 upvotes

nicolaiecostel:

It sounds like the reader or the cable, not the cards.

Just by way of example my Delkin USB3 card reader is trouble, though it doesn't lose files. The problem isn't the reader itself; it's the USB3 cable. They can be quite sketchy. But I don't feel like spending $75 on an AudioQuest cable.

I just use the reader in my Epson Multifunction, it's USB2 and works just fine for SD and CF cards.

In 15 years I've had one card with a minor failure on it. It was a CF card. And it was only one corrupted file.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

I don't like it, but with the DL series, Nikon is choosing to aim at a disposable market. While good for the short-term, it doesn't "hook" new photographers by establishing a system based on lenses and accessories. That's been Nikon's take in the past, and photographers like me have bought Nikon long-term and remain within the system because of excellent optics that are not only backward but forward-compatible.

Nikon is just shooting itself in the foot. In 2 or 3 years, those who buy a DL model will be looking at Canon, Olympus..., not just other Nikon offerings. Yes, there are enough DX and FX options that they won't lose that client base, but a good slice of the market (especially those who grew up only with cell phones or Instamatics) will be gone.

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Both Sony and Canon have 1" fixed-lens compact cameras. I don't think that Nikon could afford not to compete in that sector.

As a practical matter, I don't think that Nikon 1 was "hooking" many people anyway.

3 upvotes

No, I don't quite agree with you. I think that those who bought a J or S-series Nikon 1 camera did so intending to get another lens sooner or later (if it didn't come as part of a bundle when they bought it). As pointed out in the Nikon 1 forum many times, V-series owners were far more likely to own other CX lenses.

No matter what, "hooking" new photographers was the intent with many of the CX models, as they had the option to just buy a point-and-shoot or continue to use their smartphones. For normal purposes, with the basic lens, smartphones simply did just as good a job and were much more convenient. That's why you see them for sale used in great shape all over the place, and that's why I bought into the system myself!

0 upvotes

It looks like Nikon is on a roll. Those appear to be some really nice cameras.

9 upvotes

But where is the innovation?

0 upvotes

If you mean mirrorless, that's no innovation.

5 upvotes

17-50mm equiv. lens on such a small compact has never been done before. That's innovation.

The Speed of the J5 sensor is still unrivalled. It was wasted potential given pathetically slow zooms in the N1 line-up.

But great for these 3 camera's.

1 upvote

Dang! that D5 needs a few more buttons on the back! Sheesh!

0 upvotes

Seriously, the lack of a dedicated AE-L button puzzles me (and yeah, I know the joystick can be used for that).

0 upvotes

D5....
With all these drawers & compartments...Humongous toy...!!!
Didn't they think about one sandwich compartment?
I hope next year they will add booster cables, mini fridge plugging, and a mini micro wave just under the battery block.

0 upvotes

Fire your joke writer, the D5 is built for actual work and to balance with fast pro galss. It's not a fashion accessory like most mirrorless cameras, it doesn't tip down to the south pole any time you mount a fast lens on it.

17 upvotes

Hahaha! Good one :-)

1 upvote

Obviously you are not the target group for that camera...

0 upvotes

@marike6 - The problem is that its just another iteration on the Nikon pro series. And I get thats what working pros need but whos is going to buy it? Pros with a worn out D3/D4? Sure, why not. Nikon used to be about innovation, now they seem to be nothing more that "Canon has this, so we'll have that".

2 upvotes

@String
I don't see this as a bad thing. Nobody is forced to buy a new body when it hits the market. It simply shows that you can get the newest technology of Nikon which is in terms of the new autofocus system cutting-edge performance. And pro users have less of a problem to sell their body and get the new gear. Would you for example prefer that computer hardware gets stuck in the 90ies in terms of calculating power? There is everywhere a constant iteration of technology in electronic products.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Hey marike6,
My humor is not for little minds.
By the way, have you EVER heard of PROOF READING?
"..galss.."(?)

0 upvotes

@papa natas
That's not about humor. That is about people that are having absolutely no clue why a manufacturer creates a camera like a D5 along all those other products. Ever heard about target groups that have a need for that? And not all professionals do shoot D5, plenty of them use a D750 even without battery grip... whoha! unbelievable isn't it?

0 upvotes

That 16-50mm cam would be a FANTASTIC UNDERWATER CAMERA ! Please make an underwater housing to that, wake the nikonos up!

2 upvotes

The autofocus capabilities of the D5 and D500 are impressive. Never thought that a DSLR will be capable to follow and track a subject that good while using it's optical viewfinder.

2 upvotes

Exactly.

1 upvote

Will there be any interviews with Nikon senior management? I'd like to see some proper hard questions about the direction of the Nikon 1 system!

And DX lenses too. It's been years and the lineup is shamefully incomplete - at present moment it's easier to build a DX system with 3rd party lenses than it is with Nikon lenses.

Comment edited 46 seconds after posting

3 upvotes

We had a lengthy interview with senior figures from Nikon on Thursday and we'll have that published on the site in the next few days.

11 upvotes

Just get a D610 already.

1 upvote

@nicolaiecostel You must be joking.

3 upvotes

what are you talking about. they just put out that elite POS 16-80 PE lens. best dx zoom value lens out there for $1100.

Comment edited 14 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Seesh D5 & 1DX are Prog Rock of cameras.

3 upvotes

Olympus has just killed those 1'' sensor point and shoot like too expensive cameras with pen-F. D500 wont sell much although it is very good. Bec you have D7200 for birding. Pros wont use it for other purposes than birding. Pros will buy an extra D750 to carry to weddings instead of D500. If D500 was a fullframe it would sell enormously but it would kill D750. This is a show business to prove that I can do what Canon can do or cant do. For birding pros are changing to 3/4 systems, bec the long lenses are very small and you dont get neck disk hernia. Nikon has to produce a new mirrorless full frame, cheap and low weight around 1300 bucks to kill its rivals especially Sony.

0 upvotes

Fitted with an equivalent lens, the Pen-F is over 3x as expensive and 3x as large as the DL 24-85 and there is no lens that would match the DL 18-50.

9 upvotes

I am an amateur wildlife photographer and changed from Canon 7D mark 11 and 70D to Olympus OM D EM1 bodies for that very reason - weight. I do feel, however, that many APS-C and FF users still look at M43 as a toy system. I would not have changed if I had still been able to carry my APS-C gear comfortably. Now I have I am very happy with M43. But the point I am making is that most APS-C/FF users will not have the opportunity to field test a M43 system and will not consider changing to it unless forced to do so - like me. If that is the case I think the D500 will fly off the shelves. Amateurs and enthusiasts are the biggest customers. I would seriously have considered changing from Canon to Nikon for the D500 (if the full reviews matched the paper spec). I have now had my Olympus sytem for three weeks and know how good M43 is. I have the Olympus 40 - 150mm f2.8 + 1.4TC, 60mm f2.8 macro and 12 - 40mm f2.8 with the Olympus 300 f4 and Panasonic/Leica 100 - 400mm on order.

2 upvotes

"For birding pros are changing to 3/4 systems"

4 upvotes

Yes, 3/4 x 4/3 = 1 = FF

2 upvotes

What do you know what “pros” will and will not do?

I currently cover weddings with a D600+70-200mm II and D800+16-35mm f4. I also use the 105mm f2 DC for portraits.

My D600 is up for sale because I want to use the D500 with the 70-200.

How many pros do you actually know?

2 upvotes

At the end, it's everything abot the sensor. M4/3 is simply not enough. Amazing ideas but lack of quality.

Good M4/3 are too expensive to compete with small 1" cameras.

3 upvotes

m/43 - sensor too small, lenses too expensive, bodies are near rebel size anyways.

Whatever the point was with m43, im not sure if it still exists.

You can point to evf's all you like, but a rebel or tiny 5300 still trumps.

2 upvotes

I dont belive! I want/have big houses for my big pices of glass. Im work in nature 4 days a week and I dont see any problems:-)

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

@Arn

So you pick the just released luxury street shooter with no weather sealing to add a zoom too for birding and price comparison?

More interesting is those that upvoted you.

1 upvote

The Pen F and the Nikon DL do not comets with each other. At all. At all. Yes I said that twice. The DL is intended for the DSLR user that does NOT want to change lenses or have a second system to deal with. The 1" sensor also outputs at a 3:2 image dimension ratio which stays familiar with APS-C and FF users. Other than the inability to change lenses, the new DL actually out specs the new Olympus Pen F by a lot. Go watch the Pen F review that The Camera Store did. Auto focus is not great. Even with their new 300 f/4 lens. And video..... not many kind words.

And I disagree with your assessment of what the D500. It's not just for birding. Sports is an obvious use, but with Sigma's 1.8 zooms, I foresee wedding photogs using this too. (Shhhh, people use the D810 "landscape and portrait" camera for weddings too). But go on, tell us more. You've obviously spend time in marketing. Lol

2 upvotes

@ScanSpeak
Perhaps you should read more carefully? My response was to endofotos comment "Olympus has just killed those 1'' sensor point and shoot like too expensive cameras with pen-F".

0 upvotes

@Arn

I stand corrected. I had to move to my Mac from my phone to read the comments.
I didn't see that the poster mentioned the Pen F.

Apologies

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 10 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

It might not fit your needs, but it does answer to the needs of many others.

0 upvotes

You dont need D500 for weddings, this is for wildlife, unless your brides are really mean and wild. D750 would be better I think for DOF. You cant get the same DOF with crop sensor. The pros that I contacted are on the web not personally.

0 upvotes

You have no "real world" idea what your are talking about.

A wedding moves fast. There is no time to change lenses. For example, the bride gets in a carriage and you are a few feet away. You shoot with a wide angle lens one second and 5 seconds later you are shooting with a tele.

No one shoots an entire wedding (or anything else) that needs shallow depth of field 100% of the time.

My partner sometimes stay down inside the church close to the couple while I am up high way behind with the chorus shooting only with a long tele.

Don't make stupid comments unless you actually have first hand experience.

0 upvotes

The D5 uses the same AF system as the D5 - it is not wrong, but maybe you wanted to write something else...

Comment edited 18 seconds after posting

13 upvotes

Very logical that the D5 AF system is the same as the one of D5:-)

5 upvotes

And it's hard to write anything else when D5 uses the same AF system as D5. Just nothing to add here.
We should be glad that it's not wrong.

0 upvotes

Well I guess the D500 use the same AF system as the D500 then

4 upvotes

I had a good chuckle, but they've fixed it already. Took about an hour. Not bad in the chaos of a trade show (I've been there, it can be disorienting).

1 upvote

The numbering game of Nikon is a bit strange. You would expect that a D500 is a product below a D600.

1 upvote

It is below, its an APS-C camera. The D600 is fullframe. And Nikon is perhaps reverting to an older way that they used with the D3/D300 combo?

0 upvotes

Can anyone compare D5' AF capabilities to D5 please and why not side to side comparison?

1 upvote

@Murat Sahan
Okay in that way it makes sense but a D500 is at a pro level while the D600 is semi-pro. But in reality it doesn't matter they all deliver performance.

1 upvote

Jorge:

The D500 is a pro body replacing the pro APSC D300S.

The D600 is a consumer grade full framed camera.

0 upvotes

@HowaboutRAW
I know that but somebody who is new to Nikon would be confused about those lower and higher numbers (for example in the DX range it is D7200 -> D500 while it is D610 -> D750 -> D810 in the FX range).

Comment edited 35 seconds after posting

1 upvote

I don't believe the model designation is a problem for anyone. If someone new to Nikon wishes to make a purchase a visit to the Nikon website will show the different formats - DX and FX. The cameras are then shown in order of sophistication. Generally, the greater the sophistication the greater the price. Alternatively, a visit to a photography retail shop or a forum would provide details of the range designation.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 85


CP+ 2016: Fujifilm gets new X-Pro2 and X70 into photographers' hands Feb 28, 2016	CP+ 2016: Hands-on with Nikon DL compacts Feb 25, 2016	Video: Hands-on with the Nikon DL trio at CP+ 2016 in Japan Feb 25, 2016	Opinion: Enthusiast compacts have finally come of age Feb 28, 2016

	Nikon DL compacts
	Sigma mirrorless
	Sigma 50-100mm F1.8 A
	Sigma 30mm F1.4 DN
	Sigma E-mount converter
	Panasonic 12-60mm F3.5-5.6
	Pentax K-1
	Pentax FA 15-30mm F2.8 and 28-105mm F3.5-5.6
	Canon EOS 80D
	Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II
	I don't care / what's CP+?

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66	**This week with your A7x, 02/27/2016**
64	We need to get real about the DL range
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39	D810 or 5DIII or 5DSr?
38	Part 2: The Pentax K1 and the Professional Photographer
37	Strange, isn't it....?