Why The DL24-500 Appeals To Me

I've shot with DLSR's for 25 years and have used a variety of brands. Currently my main camera body is a Canon 1D professional body with a collection of Canon L lenses. The camera takes excellent photos and is a joy to use. But, the camera and lens are heavy and a pain to lug around.

I also have a Leica V-Lux 4 bridge camera with a 24-600 2.8 constant aperture lens and since buying it I've used my Canon less and less. The Leica is light, compact and produces excellent photos. However, it's only 12 mp, doesn't have truly functional manual focus and is limited to low ISO's. Enter the Nikon DL24-500. It ticks all the boxes I need. A larger 1" sensor, hopefully the ability to take useable photos at higher ISO's, wide angle to very long telephoto lens, a functional manual focusing ring, 20mp and a high quality EVF viewfinder. I realize this camera won't be able to compete with the higher end Nikons and Canons, but for my purposes it looks to be exactly what i'm looking for in my next camera. I have printed and framed some large high quality prints from this Leica.

Bridge cameras have come a long way and they're getting to the point of being able to capably replace large, heavy DLSR kits. I'm not a pro and don't need a camera than can take the abuse pro cameras are designed for. What I need at my age is a light weight camera that I can grab and take on hikes or walking the urban trail that's going to produce high quality photos and offer a wide lens range without having to carry a ton of stuff with me. So, after looking at all the competing cameras (the new Sony and Panasonic) I've decided the DL24-500 will be my next camera.

Here is one of the photos I took with the Leica and had blown up and framed.







--
It's not what you look at, but what you see when you look.

Right now I have a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon 18-300mm lens and I am seriously thinking about getting the DL24-500 . The D7000 came out in 2010 and is 5 years old technology but it is still a good camera. I do different kinds of photography including Birds in Flight and with the Auto Focus speed and the continuous focus of 20 frames per sec it may work for me. I know it would take good landscape photos , but as I mentioned before, I do wildlife photography also. I will have to wait for the reviews of the camera as you said having a lighter weight package with this kind of shooting experience I would be very happy.

I too will wait for reviews on the IQ and overall handling, but it also seems to be the all-in-one camera that may replace my m43 kit. A big "pro" for me is not having to change lenses. While I have in the past enjoyed the idea of multiple lenses for different subjects, I realize that I rarely shoot that way. I usually use a 12-50mm and a 40-150mm (24-100 and 80-300 in 35mm/FF terms). I so rarely pull out my two prime lenses or my mf Canon lens with adapter. Add the high-spec'd AF, 4k video, etc of the Nikon, and I am seriously thinking of selling off my m43 gear (I'm not in the financial position of being able to afford two systems).

The only cons that I can think of (for me) are the lack of manual zoom and the unknown (at this point) image quality and shooting experience of average users. Will have to wait and see...

The same for me

i think the DL 24-500 can be a Real Swiss knife +++

The DL 18-50 is very interesting too

For traveling .. But not only

am waiting for the review

best regards

In the same boat, I do love my D7100 and 300mm f4 with tc but it's not something I can take everywhere, if I had garden or backed onto a wildlife haven then it would have to be dslr but I have time restraints and my wildlife photography is walking around so aways have my p610 with which is a joy to use, but the Nikon 24-500 will fit my purposes all round, I just wish some reviews would come out so we can see if it's as good as hoped. All very frustrating having to wait so long.

All good reasons to appreciate the DL24 - 500, I can see why you framed the beautiful image!!

It would be a nice replacement for my SX50 !
It would be my first Nikon ever, after 37Y in photography ;-)

I found your kit interesting. I have a D80 and the Nikon 18-200 and 70-300 plus a Panasonic FZ200. I'm not happy with the FZ and have resisted buying the FZ1000. Been thinking about getting the D7200 and putting the Nikon 18-300 lightweight version on it, but that's getting into some serious cash for me. Hardly ever use the 70-300 because I really hate changing lenses and the 18-200 isn't long enough for my tastes. Are you satisfied with the D7000 and 18-300 and which lens do you have? Heavy or light 18-300 Nikon?

Am also tempted by the new DL as it comes pretty close to giving the true total command that a DSLR gives. I really like to manually focus and zoom.

I still have a Nikon film SLR and two manual lenses, but will likely ebay them before long. Need to replace light seals on the Nikon FA, which is a beautiful camera. So wish Nikon made a digital version that didn't cost $3000. The Df is gorgeous and due for a refresh. I think they will add video, which I think is a mistake. Sign of the times.

Owning a nice Nikon should be on everyone's bucket list :-D

Come over to the light side!

FD said:

It would be a nice replacement for my SX50 !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigwade/albums/72157651368908131
It would be my first Nikon ever, after 37Y in photography ;-)

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Vandyu said:

Owning a nice Nikon should be on everyone's bucket list :-D

Come over to the light side!

Click to expand...

Who knows

If images at 24-28-35mm are oké in this machine it will be my first camera from the dark side, with lenses focus-rotate the wrong way etc

Same here, I have shot lots of cams, including FF, crop dslr and MFT. I am very excited about the DL 24-500, because in the last half year I have discovered what the old P510 can do. Got it very cheap, just to try. And it's more than I expected, you have to really respect the quality of these extreme zoom lenses nowadays. But sometimes these pinhead sensors just don't cut it (noisy, highlight clipping).

Anyway knowing what the megazoom cams from Nikon can already do with the tiniest of sensors, I have very high hopes for the DL 24-500. It looks very good too and it's superfast. Samples I've seen look great. I looked at Sony/Pana but worry about their jpeg colors (and that's a big issue for me) and they seem too big and heavy not to mention expensive.

That DL hits a serious sweet spot I think, it seems an almost ideal do it *nearly* all cam.

Bas

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Jon_Doh said:

Bridge cameras have come a long way and they're getting to the point of being able to capably replace large, heavy DLSR kits. I'm not a pro and don't need a camera than can take the abuse pro cameras are designed for. What I need at my age is a light weight camera that I can grab and take on hikes or walking the urban trail that's going to produce high quality photos and offer a wide lens range without having to carry a ton of stuff with me.

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Agreed - I have purchased the FZ300 after using Nikon DSLRs plus Tamron zoom over many years for travel purposes. Needed a bridge solution before the DL24-500 is released, but will be extremely interested to see all reviews of this Nikon bridge camera over coming months.

24-500 Will be perfect for me ...

I hope it Will be à Great camera

I am a Nikon user since the 60's and have dozens of (Nikon) lenses. I hope they can produce a (low-priced) FF ML that I can use my (dozens) of Nikon lenses with, (including 14mm that was my favorite).

However I was soured when I got a P-500 and HATED it. (worse camera I ever owned - hard to learn and slow to use)

I got the FZ-1000 and LOVE it ... (most "FUN" camera I ever owned).

And am now intrigued by the Nikon P-900 (2000mm optical-tele) -- so not against trying Nikon again.

I don't yet know anything about the 24-500 ...

BUT ... there are some features on FZ-1000 that I absolutely cannot live without, so any other camera is dead-to-me without them ...

1. FULLY-articulating rear-LCD

2. "ZEBRAS" for easy/fast ETTR exposure optimizing.

3. Digital-zoom to 3200mm -- (but part of my P-900 intrigue is it's 4000 digital zoom @ larger file size than FZ-1000's only 5mpx @ 3200mm)

4. Of course "fast" auto-bracketing and HDR ... (P-500 was S-L-O-W and HDR was BAD/UNUSABLE)

5. FLASH SYNC SPEED of 1/4000 -- (a feature I use almost every day)

6. Hand-Held NIGHT-shot (or the equivalent) -- for low-light extended shooting.

7. Multiple-Exposure and INTERVALOMETER.

8. And of course I require at least f/2.8 (wide) and f/4 @ tele.

9. Powerful enough built-in flash to be "useful" (FZ-1000's is GN-42.5')

10. "Q" menu for fast access to frequently changed menu-items.

I do appreciate the 24-500's (1mm) wider WA and manual lens-rings -- but it MUST contain all/most of the above items for me to consider it.

NOTE that Panasonic WILL (eventually and maybe "soon") update the FZ-1000 and have a host of new 4K-video features that will of course be incorporated ... (including "PRE-BURST" for a new paradigm in action "timing").

So I probably will simply wait to see what Panasonic will do. (and hoping they could offer a 20mm WA that I can use a UWA convertor w/ to get 12-14mm equiv since 14mm was my former favorite lens)

I got the Leica 109, a truly great compact, and my dslr is resting more and more since then (end 2014). For travels it's such a great light camera.

It misses the long end though, so the DL becomes a good choice, even though I tend to shoot mostly in the lower FL range. I have to see how the controls work on the DLs, as the L 109 is like pefect for my kind of shooting, very easy to adjust manually.

Nikon has finally done it right, good for all interested in photography.

Obviously depending on reviews and early user commentaries, I will be trading in my Canon T4i along with its EFS 18-135, and Tamron 16-300 lenses on the DL 24-500.

Have enjoyed using the above but do not like lugging all of it around.

Flawed though it was, I really enjoyed my Fuji HS10 and got many good photos with it as long as there was ample light. Even miss my Sony DSC-H2 which was a remarkable "teaching" implement that taught me much that I continue to use to this day.

Will wait a few months and see how good the trade-in prices are with BH Photo where I have purchased most of my cameras and lenses over the years.

Would love to have been a "fly on the wall" during the engineering sessions for the 24-500 when it came to electronic vs. manual zooming at the proposed price point. Not a deal killer, but certainly a disappointment.

--
Harry Zee

The DL24-500 is still too much of a mystery to make any commitment to buy it. The company seems to be deliberately withholding samples from it and not sending out pre-production models to reviewers. It may be that there are no working prototypes or perhaps just one or two. They may not have fully designed it when it was announced, but wanted to get the attention of people, before the RX10 III was announced. It also seems a bit underpriced for what it is intended to be. I would be more interested if it were $200. or $300. more expensive.

Let's say that it turns out to be a very good performer in all ways. The big question for me, is how I would engineer the mounting of a telextender on it, to meet my minimum needs in lens reach. It would probably be asking too much, for Nikon to put adaptor threads in the lens housing. So I'd probably have to make my own outer-sleeve adaptor, that rides on the lens ring, the way many adaptors from commercial accessory companies can do. These really work. I'm using them on two cameras now, with no problems and the control ring will still turn if they're fitted properly.

PhotoTeach2 said:

NOTE that Panasonic WILL (eventually and maybe "soon") update the FZ-1000 and have a host of new 4K-video features that will of course be incorporated ... (including "PRE-BURST" for a new paradigm in action "timing").

So I probably will simply wait to see what Panasonic will do. (and hoping they could offer a 20mm WA that I can use a UWA convertor w/ to get 12-14mm equiv since 14mm was my former favorite lens)

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One thing you can count on with Panasonic, is that whatever they do, you will have to wait a very long time for it.

Glad to see you mention the "extender" possibility.


I still have my Sony VCL-DH1758 which is a 1.7X with a 58mm thread and it is in pristine condition.


Was hoping that the Nikon would be threaded primarily for using a circular polarizer but also with the possibility of using the extender.

Obviously reviews and user experiences will be a major factor in my final decision.