The D500 looks to be the long awaited update to the popular Nikon D300S from 2009. The D300s was the Nikon professional’s DX (cropped sensor) camera of choice, and I had my eye on it a few years ago myself. Even when I began researching photography gear in 2012 and 2013, the D300S was already long in the tooth. Evidently, the D500 is a long time coming.

The D500 comes packed with a bunch of new features:

  • 20.9MP DX format sensor
  • 10 FPS shooting
  • 4K UHD video

More importantly, the D500 is largely similar to the new flagship D5, meaning a wide range of professional features have made it into the smaller DX format body. The body is weather sealed and shows impressive attention to ergonomics. Even more incredible is Nikon’s jump into connected camera bodies — the D500 is Nikon’s first ever camera body capable of transferring photos wirelessly to your smartphone.

If I was to jump ship from mirrorless cameras today, I’d jump into a full frame Canon or Nikon body. However, if I was only being introduced to photography today, the D500 might look tempting.