My High School graduation gift was a Pentax K-1000, the standard starter camera for my generation. When I left to attend ASU my grandmother gave me her Nikon F which she had purchased during a trip to Japan. Based on that gift I became a Nikon photographer. I own Canon point & shoot cameras, Fuji Cameras, a Mamiya 7II, a Leica, plus other cameras but my DSLR world is Nikon.
My Nikon D5300 just wore out, literally no more auto modes, and I had to make the decision on how to replace it. I have been wanting a D5 to replace my D3 but I was hesitant based on the price and size (too many people flip out when you photograph with a pro body). As timing would have it the D500 was recently release and I was able to get a kit from Samy's Camera this past weekend. The initial images are impressive. The ISO capabilities are insane, 10 FPS are awesome, and ergonomically the camera is comfortable to use. My initial observation is it has all the features I was looking for in the D5. I did notice the D500 seems to eat up battery power but I hear Nikon is addressing that and will introduce new batteries soon. Nikon also still needs to get their SnapBridge App for iPhones released so you can upload images straight to your phone from the camera.
Some initial test images from the last two nights:
