D850 Worth The Upgrade From D500/D4?

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Keegan007

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G'day,

I'm trying to decide if I should move from my D500/D4 to a D850.

Let me start by saying I have been a DX only shooter until late 2019 when I purchased a used D4, the difference in image quality blew my socks off!

So now I'm wondering could a D850 replace both my D500 and D4? Does anyone have any practical experience in regards to ISO performance between the D4 and D850? I mainly shoot early morning/late evening and often in shaded areas of bushland, this was the main reason I went for the D4 last year as I was growing frustrated with the D500.

My main telephoto lenses are a Sigma 150-600 sport and a Nikon 300mm PF (&1.4TC), hence a need the high ISO performance of the D4.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
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I'm no expert on D4, but I own both D850 and D500 and they are two very different cameras. For me I use the D500 for birds in flight and the D850 for most other photos. I usually use D850 at 1.2 crop factor. It is an amazing camera and I love it, but for speed, the D500 is a better choice.
 
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Have you ever heard that answer to photographic questions of "it depends"? ;)

I have not owned a D4 but have two friends who've bought second-hand D4Ss recently to accompany their D850s for much the reasons you're alluding to here: faster action and lower light performance. If those were the main reasons you would be opting for a D850, you might get frustrated or disappointed. One of those individuals is a professional wedding photographer and that's where his D850s see a lot of use but in his spare time he loves to shoot wildlife. Lately, he's using the D4S a lot and he just loves it. Similarly, he's amazed at the output from a 16MP sensor when he has the D850 against which to compare.

I have both a D500/D850 (the 300mmPF too) and I find the D850 difficult to work with at the corners of the day or when light is challenging if a higher shutter speed is required. At lower ISO levels and if you're not struggling to achieve your exposure, the output of the D850 is simply sublime. I have also been a big fan of the D500 and its all-round capability has justly earned it many accolades: FPS, buffer performance and IQ I've all found to be superb. There's good reasons why Nikon has sold as many of those as they have, mated with the 200-500 mm f5.6, to wildlife photographers. I've always liked my D500 for speed, particularly birds.

This may not help, but letting the D500 go for a D850, and keeping the D4, may be a good combo. I like the deliberation you're making about what's the best tool for the job...very much the way I try to approach things.
 
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I have both D 500 & D 850.I use them mainly with 500 PF.For bird action photography i have found D 500 to be much better.D 500 and 500 PF sem to be made for each other & probably the best combination keeping all factors in mind including cost & compactness
My wife is very surprised that i give her the D 850 when we are shooting together :)
 
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Sold the D4 for the D850 after I had the D500 some time. Just remember, Nikon ups the autofocus "brains" every so often and the D500 is as better as the D4 as I believe the D6 is better than the D5 autofocus wise. When we throw away everything about the bodies and look at what most BIF guys wants, it is the abiliy to lock-on focus immediately and keep it. Having shot with both the D4 and the D500 for years, I can say the D500 is way better at acquiring focus than the D4. As for the D850, I cannot find one thing about this camera that is not good, even consecutive bifs of 15 + images are no problem.
I dare say there is no such thing as a DX or a FX camera except that it is a gauge to determine how large your image is in the end. If we shot medium format or postbox format or the monsters Ansel Adams used, it is all the size at the end. So I forget about size and shoot either camera with my main lenses and the D850 for most landscapes too. Go with your heart, the D850 kicks butt! But you need two bodies at least!
 
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I think there are some questions you need to answer. First, how much cropping, if any do you do? If you need to crop the D4 regularly, then advantage D850. Do you need lots of FPS? If so, advantage D4/D500. Do you need snappy af performance? Then D500, D850, D4. BTW, I have used all of them and still have my D4. How important is high ISO? Then the ranking is D4, D850, D500. The D850 is better than the D500 by a stop maybe 2 but still not near the D4. If you were asking if you should trade the D500 for a D850, I'd say yes and keep the D4. I'm assuming you know that the D850 only gets to 9 fps with the grip and large battery so that would add to the cost.
The D850 is still regarded as the best all-around DSLR for good reason. If I could have only one body, as much as I love my D6 I think the D850 would be it.
 
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I'll echo what some others have said with the D850 and D500. I use the D500 for wildlife / birding for distance and frame speed when the 1.5 crop factor and 10fps are advantageous. The D500 has a 7% higher pixel density than the D850 in in DX mode, so you will capture more detail at distance with the D500. I use the D850 for everything else, especially landscapes where the depth of color and sensor size are important. The D850 has an advantage in macro photography (and other situations as well) as it has a focus stacking feature and it has a focus peaking feature that's great for landscaptes (and other situations). I like the fact that the AF and controls on the two cameras are virtually identical, so I don't have to learn 2 different cameras.
 
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Started with a Nikon D90 upgraded to D4 which was a absolute game changer. Bought D800 then a D500 then a D850. Autofocus on D500 and D850 a big jump from D4. Sold the D500 and now shoot sports with D4 and D850. Waiting to see when Nikon is going to come out with a Pro level mirrorless. I still love the D4 in low light. You won't go wrong with a D850. That being said I had a friend that wasn't invested in Nikon lenses and sold his Nikon D500 and went to the Sony A9II and their 400mm and said he couldn't be happier.
 
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I have all three and love all of them and each seems to have it's own areas that it excels. I use the D500 mostly for birds in flight with either the 500PF or the 500f4, the D4 is also great for flight shots except I find it better in lower light situations and I really like the ergonomics of the D4. The D850 just does everything well and because of that camera I haver really resisted moving to mirrorless cameras. You definitely cannot go wrong with a D850.
 
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Nikon introduced a new autofocus system with the D3 in 2007. The next time it did this was with the D500. D850, and D5 cameras which have a dedicated autofocus processor. I saw a great deal of improvement with these cameras and in particular with Group AF performance. I had the D500 which arrived first and later added a D850. A DX crop of the D850 image provides virtually the same resolution as with a D500 camera.
The D850 provides a lot more space around a subject and this helps when having a BIF or other fast moving subject in the viewfinder. Nearly impossible to get a fast moving bird in the right place in the frame with a DX camera and a telephoto lens.
 
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I keep wondering why the Nikon D780 is seldom mentioned for low light photography. I personally find it amazing when used for that purpose and the AF extremely fast.
 
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Keegan007 said:
G'day,

I'm trying to decide if I should move from my D500/D4 to a D850.

Let me start by saying I have been a DX only shooter until late 2019 when I purchased a used D4, the difference in image quality blew my socks off!

So now I'm wondering could a D850 replace both my D500 and D4? Does anyone have any practical experience in regards to ISO performance between the D4 and D850? I mainly shoot early morning/late evening and often in shaded areas of bushland, this was the main reason I went for the D4 last year as I was growing frustrated with the D500.

My main telephoto lenses are a Sigma 150-600 sport and a Nikon 300mm PF (&1.4TC), hence a need the low ISO performance of the D4.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

SIMPLE hard and fast LOL
1) buy a D850 and D6 and be done Period.
2) buy a Canon equivalent to the D850 and a 1DXmk III
3) Sell everything now while you can as the Armageddon of industry model change is coming in 2021/2022 to stop the continuous loss in market share.
The D850 let me get rid of the 300 F4 PF and use 70-200 2.8 FL even at 2.8 brilliantly and tolerated being cropped ever so slightly when needed with significantly lower ISO needs, with the 600mm I could use the 300 2.8 VR II at 420mm with a 1.4, and cropped ever so slightly. I mean this is not for everyone.

The D850 is a great all round parking spot while you unload everything else........they say 100mp is on our door step with more to follow, I cant see this working well on 35mm.
Hypothesis, Conspiracy theory, Nikon will break from 35mm......handy having the drop on the other two by Nikon having the larger lens mount in the Z series, dose this mean what I think it dose, Medium format will be Nikons saving grace it needs to survive, in my mind 35mm is obsolete, the hounds of hell in smart phones and drones will only get better and closer, 35mm still photography cant outrun the grim reaper …... Video. 35mm is the Old earth, Nikon and the others need to find a new planet called Medium format.
Back to reality LOL,
I loved dearly my D4s D5 with little compromise only on frame rate I am so much happier with the brilliant do everything well D850, no regrets, I am sitting with the D850 till 2022, meanwhile liquidating surpluses, if I dint have Nikon currently it would be Canon unless Nikon closes the gap. However its hard to leave the image file quality of Nikon.
Other than that enjoy what you have. Once you use the D850 for a while you may find like many others the D500 will gather dust.
Mind you the D500 for a DX unit is very good, however you have one all ready built in the D850 id the frame rate doesn't bother You.

Only an opinion if it helps
Oz down under
Click to expand...
 
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Sorry, posted to wrong question...I did try Costco for a metal print and didn't like the resolution or the fact that some metal flakes had scratched it. I returned that print and used Pictorem. They did a great job. But again, this was for a metal print.
 
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Keegan007 said:
G'day,

I'm trying to decide if I should move from my D500/D4 to a D850.

Let me start by saying I have been a DX only shooter until late 2019 when I purchased a used D4, the difference in image quality blew my socks off!

So now I'm wondering could a D850 replace both my D500 and D4? Does anyone have any practical experience in regards to ISO performance between the D4 and D850? I mainly shoot early morning/late evening and often in shaded areas of bushland, this was the main reason I went for the D4 last year as I was growing frustrated with the D500.

My main telephoto lenses are a Sigma 150-600 sport and a Nikon 300mm PF (&1.4TC), hence a need the low ISO performance of the D4.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I apologise for the previous response full of typo's and gaps in gramma I was rushing to catch a plane and typed to fast, I should have waited. Please see revision.

SIMPLE hard and fast LOL
1) buy a D850 and D6 and be done Period.
2) buy a Canon equivalent to the D850 and a 1DXmk III
3) Sell everything now while you can as the Armageddon of industry model change is coming in 2021/2022 to stop the continuous loss in market share.
The D850 let me get rid of the 300 F4 PF and use 70-200 2.8 FL even at 2.8 brilliantly and tolerated being cropped ever so slightly when needed with significantly lower ISO needs, with the 600mm I could use the 300 2.8 VR II at 420mm with a 1.4, and cropped ever so slightly. I mean this is not for everyone.

The D850 is a great all round parking spot while you unload everything else........they say 100mp is on our door step with more to follow, I cant see this working well on 35mm.
Hypothesis, Conspiracy theory, Nikon will break from 35mm......handy having the drop on the other two by Nikon having the larger lens mount in the Z series, dose this mean what I think it dose, Medium format will be Nikons saving grace it needs to survive, in my mind 35mm is obsolete, the hounds of hell in smart phones and drones will only get better and closer, 35mm still photography cant outrun the grim reaper …... Video. 35mm is the Old earth, Nikon and the others need to find a new planet called Medium format.
Back to reality LOL,
I loved dearly my D4s D5 with little compromise only on frame rate I am so much happier with the brilliant do everything well D850, no regrets, I am sitting with the D850 till 2022, meanwhile liquidating surpluses, if I dint have Nikon currently it would be Canon unless Nikon closes the gap. However its hard to leave the image file quality of Nikon.
Other than that enjoy what you have. Once you use the D850 for a while you may find like many others the D500 will gather dust.
Mind you the D500 for a DX unit is very good, however you have one all ready built in the D850 id the frame rate doesn't bother You.

Only an opinion if it helps
Oz down under
 
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