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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

My new used d5 (1 Viewer)

marcsantacurz

Well-known member
There's quite a few used d5 on the market now and I got a deal on a < 20k shutter count one in great condition. Wow, this is a great camera!

I wanted something to compliment the d850. I can use the same batteries in them (the EN-EL18 series) which is a big plus. The d5 focuses so well and has such low noise. It weighs about the same as the d850 with EN-EL18 battery grip.

I also wanted to try the d5 before I make any changes to Canon or Sony. they both have much lighter lenses and seem to be ahead of Nikon in sports mirrorless (assuming the R5 is a reality). I think that if I were to switch to Sony, I'd need to get the A9. Maybe Nikon will pull a rabbit out of their hat with the Z8/9 or whatever their "pro" model will be.

This uninspired photo was at ISO 25,600, shot in raw. In lightroom, I fixed up the white balance (using the eyedrop tool), did auto settings, then removed noise in Topaz Denoise AI with auto settings and low-light enabled. All-in-all maybe 1 minute of editing, pretty normal. This is a full-size crop, but downsampled to 1136px on the long size to post in the forums.

Another thing I like is there are so many buttons to re-program! I can set the camera to matrix meter + 3d tracking as the default mode. AF-ON button -> AFON + d25. Pv -> AFON + single. FN1 -> Single point meter. FN2 -> AFON + Auto Area. 2nd AFON (for vertical grip, which can still be used in horizontal) -> AFON only (keeps 3d tracking). I can double press PV + FN1 for single point AFON + single point metering.

I'm sure this is all old news to some of you, but its my first dip in the d5 pool. Pretty fun, and nowadays affordable at the high-end pro-sumer pricing. And I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sell it on for not much of a loss if I tire of it.

Marc
 

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There's quite a few used d5 on the market now and I got a deal on a < 20k shutter count one in great condition. Wow, this is a great camera!

I wanted something to compliment the d850. I can use the same batteries in them (the EN-EL18 series) which is a big plus. The d5 focuses so well and has such low noise. It weighs about the same as the d850 with EN-EL18 battery grip.

I also wanted to try the d5 before I make any changes to Canon or Sony. they both have much lighter lenses and seem to be ahead of Nikon in sports mirrorless (assuming the R5 is a reality). I think that if I were to switch to Sony, I'd need to get the A9. Maybe Nikon will pull a rabbit out of their hat with the Z8/9 or whatever their "pro" model will be.

This uninspired photo was at ISO 25,600, shot in raw. In lightroom, I fixed up the white balance (using the eyedrop tool), did auto settings, then removed noise in Topaz Denoise AI with auto settings and low-light enabled. All-in-all maybe 1 minute of editing, pretty normal. This is a full-size crop, but downsampled to 1136px on the long size to post in the forums.

Another thing I like is there are so many buttons to re-program! I can set the camera to matrix meter + 3d tracking as the default mode. AF-ON button -> AFON + d25. Pv -> AFON + single. FN1 -> Single point meter. FN2 -> AFON + Auto Area. 2nd AFON (for vertical grip, which can still be used in horizontal) -> AFON only (keeps 3d tracking). I can double press PV + FN1 for single point AFON + single point metering.

I'm sure this is all old news to some of you, but its my first dip in the d5 pool. Pretty fun, and nowadays affordable at the high-end pro-sumer pricing. And I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sell it on for not much of a loss if I tire of it.

Marc

A very impressive result for ISO 25,600!
You happily have the post processing skill that makes that happen. Not many birders are that capable of making Lightroom sing so well, unfortunately.
 
Congratulations Marc - it certainly is a low light beast ! :t:

COVID-19 has really thrown a spanner in the works - it may even be the better part of 12 months before we will see the rumored 61MP Z8. I reckon Nikon will have a good look at what the R5 brings and make sure they have that covered with something before finalizing the design and releasing it to market. I have heard unconfirmed rumours that it would 'twin' with a D880 - development work for which was presumably well under way.

All bets might be off though. Nikon released the D780 into the perfect global storm. Maybe they will see how sales of that go, before completing any further expenditure on DSLR. I would hope that we will see that D880, and an upgraded D500S (or whatever they will call that too) .......

As for a Z9 ....... I wouldn't like to be holding my breath ......
It will come one day, but that might be quite a way off now. I wouldn't expect it until the end of 2022 at earliest.

I'm pretty sure Nikon will try and get the Z5 (entry level FF D610 equivalent) out the door as soon as possible for some bread and butter revenue. I imagine too that they will keep all the models on the market - a la' SONY. So that would be 24, 45, and 61MP .....

The good part is that you don't have to worry about any of that - just go and enjoy your D5 !






Chosun :gh:
 
Thank you, both of you.

I am having fun with the d5. I can't get the crazy 2.5X - 3X crops like from the d850, but I can get 1.6x - 2x pretty well (2x crop = 5MP output). And the low noise is really awesome.

Unfortunately, I'm mostly shooting the same hummingbirds and bushtits from my backyard.

I think some of my problem with buying more new Nikon stuff is it's so uncertain what will happen with the lens lineup. If I'm going to go S-mount, then I'd prefer to sell off F and buy S, but they just don't have the lenses. Canon at least has a better lineup that's out now in RF. And ofcourse Sony and Sigma and Zeiss and Voigtlander have very nice E-mount.

Marc
 
Thank you, both of you.

I am having fun with the d5. I can't get the crazy 2.5X - 3X crops like from the d850, but I can get 1.6x - 2x pretty well (2x crop = 5MP output). And the low noise is really awesome.

Unfortunately, I'm mostly shooting the same hummingbirds and bushtits from my backyard.

I think some of my problem with buying more new Nikon stuff is it's so uncertain what will happen with the lens lineup. If I'm going to go S-mount, then I'd prefer to sell off F and buy S, but they just don't have the lenses. Canon at least has a better lineup that's out now in RF. And ofcourse Sony and Sigma and Zeiss and Voigtlander have very nice E-mount.

Marc
I don't know if you mean 'S' or 'Z' mount ?

I think if you consider the lenses for the Canon R mount and the Nikon Z mount, it's just about a wash. Canon has come out with the bigger and faster f1.2 etc lenses first, and will now get to work on 'more compact' f1.8 ones. Nikon has come out with the f1.8 range first, and will now work on f1.2 ones. Both brands have hit home runs so far. Both of those road maps seem pretty locked in even considering global chaos.

The big question will be if? and when native mirrorless longer telephotos come out. There's big question marks around that, and I think we end up beyond even educated guesswork. What we know so far is that the longer lenses on the way will be of the slower and smaller variety. Anything else is just a fiction or wishful thinking at this point. At least the 'Big Whites' and Nikon's FL supertelephotos work well via adapter on either the R or Z mount respectively.

Nikon's issue seems to be that they are a generation behind Canon (and Sony) weightwise for those longer supertelephotos. I honestly don't know if they will invest in another generation of lightweight F mount for them. Perhaps they will leapfrog to Z mount ? Who knows in this current climate.

You have to base any decisions purely on what's here now with lenses and bodies (I think we could also lock in R5 and Z8 over the next 12 months). Things like an R9 /Z9, and native mirrorless supertelephotos, or any further generations of lightweight DSLR supertelephotos are just complete unknowns - you could easily wait 4, 6, or even 10 years of your life away trying to 'pick the cycle'. Just look at how many have become old and grey waiting/wishing on a 600 f4 DO ! ........






Chosun :gh:
 
I don't know if you mean 'S' or 'Z' mount ?

I confused the S-line of Z mount with the Z mount.

Of course if you go E-mount, you have the long teles in a very fast mirrorless mount right now.

If I remember correctly, diglloyd was not too impressed with the S line lenses. I think his opinion was that they had a fair amount of distortion and only look good when you enable in-camera distortion correction, which has its own side effects. e.g. [1] and [2]. Compare that to his description of many of the Sigma Art lenses or the Voigtlander APO-Lanthar for E-mount, where he finds them very good without mandatory distortion correction.

That said, I don't know if for the type of shooting I do that's enough of a difference to make a difference in the lenses. But I still do not like the Z7 focusing -- maybe I should try the Z6 or wait to see what a new Z will do.

I'm really loving the output from the d5 and it focuses much easier than the Z7 for what I'm shooting.

Yes, the weight issue of Nikon's 400-500-600 lenses also keeps me from buying into that system. Even on the FL versions, the resale price has been falling quite a bit. I saw a 400/2.8e go for $6500 and the 600/4e go for $7200.

[1] https://diglloyd.com/prem/prot/ML/NikonZ/NikonZ24_70f2_8S-distortion.html
[2] https://diglloyd.com/prem/prot/ML/NikonZ/NikonZ24_70f2_8S-distortion-24mm.html

Marc
 
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