d500: AF improvements over the D7200?

[doonie]

My D7200 now refuses to lock on to any subject in any light under any circumstances. This started happening as soon as the first D500 got into a user's hand.

My monitor and keyboard would require a bit of cleaning :-O:-D;-)

Man, that hurts ... you really should be ashamed.

 

[Bill Dewey]

My D7200 now refuses to lock on to any subject in any light under any circumstances. This started happening as soon as the first D500 got into a user's hand.

My monitor and keyboard would require a bit of cleaning :-O:-D;-)

Man, that hurts ... you really should be ashamed.

 

[mf999]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

 

[mf999]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

--
-------------------
http://timoconnor.photography/

I'll try to answer a couple of questions I have seen in this thread along the way.

To start, the result Roy noted with the Bee match mine. As I reported in my earlier Osprey thread one thing I tried was focusing on smaller objects, less than the size of the focus point reticule. I have found this problematic on all my other Nikon cameras, D810 included. I was flat out amazed. Did this on a sparrow, flying Terms and the Osprey. The last Osprey sequence I did the Osprey was eating a fish on a pole about 200 yards away, very small in the VF. AF locked on immediately and stayed locked on all the way back to the nest. I have never seen that AF confirmation light so steady. I was shooting D72, as the background was not very busy. I will be giving this a real "trial by fire" later today at an indoor Dog Agility meet with crummy lighting, will set D25 as there is a lot more crud in the BG.

Yesterday I was shooting the D500 alongside my D810 for soccer. The D810 is no slouch in the AF department, I would say it is a tad better, not much, than my D7200 was. D500 was the clear winner. To be fair, I need to do more testing prior to now calling my D810 a slow AF pig :-D

I would say the thing that surprised me the most was the ability to quickly lock on to small subjects in the VF, a very nice surprise and bonus in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

--
Bill Dewey
www.thefocusedeye.com

I would love to see results of anyone shooting dark colored birds in flight against a wooded background, to see how good the AF is.

 

[calson]

I am getting my D500 on Tuesday and will be testing it later in the week. Unfortunately according to the D500 User Manual, the D500 cannot use more than the D7200's 15 cross type autofocus sensors with my 3 telephoto lenses, the 80-400mm f/5.6, 200-500mm f/5.6, and 500mm f/4 VR.

The manual may be in error as the Japanese are notoriously bad at producing instructions and manuals in English for the USA market. It has made for a market opportunity for all the third party camera guide books.

 

[RoyC01]

I am getting my D500 on Tuesday and will be testing it later in the week. Unfortunately according to the D500 User Manual, the D500 cannot use more than the D7200's 15 cross type autofocus sensors with my 3 telephoto lenses, the 80-400mm f/5.6, 200-500mm f/5.6, and 500mm f/4 VR.

Humm, page 98 of the D500 user's manual says your f5.6 lenses have 45 cross type sensors working. Where are you getting your information?

If you are looking at the graphic and counting the squares only, thinking only they (the squares) are cross types you are wrong. As Nikon explains, all of the "Dots" and all of the "Squares" are AF focus points. The difference being that the square ones are the selectable ones.

The manual may be in error as the Japanese are notoriously bad at producing instructions and manuals in English for the USA market. It has made for a market opportunity for all the third party camera guide books.

--
George Carlin “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it."

 

[Another birder]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

 

[Bill Dewey]

I am getting my D500 on Tuesday and will be testing it later in the week. Unfortunately according to the D500 User Manual, the D500 cannot use more than the D7200's 15 cross type autofocus sensors with my 3 telephoto lenses, the 80-400mm f/5.6, 200-500mm f/5.6, and 500mm f/4 VR.

The manual may be in error as the Japanese are notoriously bad at producing instructions and manuals in English for the USA market. It has made for a market opportunity for all the third party camera guide books.

--
George Carlin “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it."

As I noted in another thread, there is far more to the AF advances than just the number of cross type. The first is all of the other added focus points, which are also used. Second is the completely dedicated additional AF processor. When I shot soccer yesterday I shot my D810 and D500 side by side. On the D500 I mostly used the 70-200 f4 with a 1.4 TC. On the D810 I used either the 600mm f4 or the 300 f4 PF, with and without a 1.4 TC. The D500 was a very clear winner in the AF dept, both in acquisition and retention. I always found that my D810 was a touch better than the D7200. So, in both cases, exotic 600mm f4 and "normal" f4 with TC, D500 clearly faster, and more accurate. It should also be noted I have yet to do an fine tuning on the D500, just have not had enough time yet.

--
Bill Dewey
www.thefocusedeye.com

 

[Bill Dewey]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

 

[mf999]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

--
-------------------
http://timoconnor.photography/

I'll try to answer a couple of questions I have seen in this thread along the way.

To start, the result Roy noted with the Bee match mine. As I reported in my earlier Osprey thread one thing I tried was focusing on smaller objects, less than the size of the focus point reticule. I have found this problematic on all my other Nikon cameras, D810 included. I was flat out amazed. Did this on a sparrow, flying Terms and the Osprey. The last Osprey sequence I did the Osprey was eating a fish on a pole about 200 yards away, very small in the VF. AF locked on immediately and stayed locked on all the way back to the nest. I have never seen that AF confirmation light so steady. I was shooting D72, as the background was not very busy. I will be giving this a real "trial by fire" later today at an indoor Dog Agility meet with crummy lighting, will set D25 as there is a lot more crud in the BG.

Yesterday I was shooting the D500 alongside my D810 for soccer. The D810 is no slouch in the AF department, I would say it is a tad better, not much, than my D7200 was. D500 was the clear winner. To be fair, I need to do more testing prior to now calling my D810 a slow AF pig :-D

I would say the thing that surprised me the most was the ability to quickly lock on to small subjects in the VF, a very nice surprise and bonus in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

--
Bill Dewey
www.thefocusedeye.com

I would love to see results of anyone shooting dark colored birds in flight against a wooded background, to see how good the AF is.

someplace where I can find them this week? :-D

Come down to Florida and I will show you dark colored birds!

In another month or so I will back at the Burrowing Owls, which will be another good test. Although they are not dark, they very often are close to the same color as the brush they fly around.

Today I was shooting agility dogs in a badly lit indoor arena. AF was great, even when the dog was small. This was shooting with a 70-200 f4, which is not the fastest lens in the world. My biggest problem, and when I had the most focus "misses", was at 1/320th when I was trying to keep up with a dog. That is my fault, not the cameras.

--
Bill Dewey
www.thefocusedeye.com

 

[Bill Dewey]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

 

[JKPhoto2901]

so for those who own a previous generation Nikon, how would you quantify the improvements in AF?

--
-------------------
http://timoconnor.photography/

It's quicker. Simple as that.

What about sensitivity and accuracy with low contrast and other subjects?

My D7200, I discovered yesterday, wouldn't hold focus on a black and white bird that mostly filled the single AF box. (AF-C single point and 9 point.) It kept go back and forth between the background (75yrds away from subject) and the bird every few seconds. I'd move the focus point a foot or to below the bird on the vertical branch and it would hold focus, but as soon as I moved back up to the bird, which was sitting on top of the branch, focus would alternate between the bird and background. VERY frustrating. This happened with a mostly black bird and a black and white bird. Background was trees.

Will the D500 do better or is this a defect?

Here's a focused pic. The background is contrasted very well against the bird.

Maybe the actual focus point is not 100% lined up with the AF point mark shown in the view finder.

--
Philip

I already checked that. I moved the box completely around the bird. It would only lock onto the tree below the bird which might suggest the actual focus is above the box, but that finding is inconsistent with my recent post above in which lock was easily achieved. It's very odd.

The likely reason why it is going for the stump is actually not so complicated. Remember the cross type focus point is going to search for lines (vertical or horizontal) more so than contrast, the Horizontal line of the cross type AF point is going to find it easier to focus on a definite near vertical line such as the tree stump as opposed to the not consistent lines of the bird that are in fact diagonal. The latest tech coming out at present to help with this is dual cross type points, but fortunately it's not unreliable in the case that you had to focus on the tree anyway. Would you have had time to live view focus on this guy? After all this is going to be the most accurate focus method even though not the most practical by any means.