Railfan Technology > New Nikons

You have got to check out the new cameras and lenses from Nikon.  D-5 (a couple MILLION ISO), D-500 (looks to be a D-750 with 4k video), and a new sports/action cam (GoPro style, videos 360 degrees!).  Also a new 200mm-500mm lens.  Now, to win the Lotto.

Ed

One difference is that the D500 is DX format sized sensor (23.5mm  x  15.7mm), while D750 is FX format sized sensor (full frame: 36mm x 24mm).
Mark

http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/nikon-goes-back-to-the.html

The news from Thom Hogan.

Then we get more depth from dpreview.

http://www.dpreview.com/opinions/7352408758/nikon-s-new-d5-and-d500-push-the-boundaries-of-dslr

Posted from iPhone

Another difference is a slightly smaller pixel count than the D750...20 vs 25 MP
The new D500 DX is really for action/sports photographers...faster writing speed & larger buffer.
I'll stick to my D750.

I think most people would agree that railfanning has a place for both full-frame and DX.  DX gives you greater depth of field at a given focal length, which is important in many scene shots. Also it gives you greater pixel density when using teles.  Most of us shoot in daylight primarily, so high ISO performance is often not crucial.  On the other hand, full frame does have many image quality edges beyond high ISO such as slightly cleaner images at any given ISO.  With a camera like the D750, you can bring up amazing amounts of detail from shadow areas in a picture. So shooting a bit under to save highlight detail doesn't penalize you in shadow areas as much as many other cameras can and do. Some older sensors will give you banding artifacts in those shadows.  Also for a given focal length, you have better depth of field control to blur backgrounds in those cases where that's desirable. I don't see people really using shallow depth of field in train photography much, in fact greater depth of field seems better for the way we railfans shoot.  (Judging from photos just on this site as an example, we have long strived to get the whole scene in focus, à la landscape photographers generally).  For people photos, especially portraits, shallow depth of field can be a real advantage for taking out distracting backgrounds.  Advantage there to full frame. I really like the look of people portraits done with full frame and wider aperture lenses. OTOH you don't normally want to see half-in-focus 3/4 loco shot.  

The new D500 though is really close in most performance indices to the D5, which may appeal to some train photographers.  Railfanning is, after all, like shooting action sports in some situations.  And if you get the new grip for the D500, you can load up a D5 battery (EN-EL19a) and shoot till the cows come in and afterwards (probably close to 4000 frames per charge).  Anybody want to shoot every car of every train? You could without having to make battery change.   ;~)