D500, 200-500mm lens and more: Nikon targets sports and wildlife photographers with their new D500 kit

by Jeremy Gray

posted Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 12:53 PM EDT

As you can read all about in our Nikon D500 Field Test and D500 review, the D500 is particularly well-suited for sports and wildlife photography. In fact, as the person who field tested it, I consider it the best overall wildlife photography camera I've used due to its excellent autofocus system, high-speed performance, high ISO performance, rugged camera body and APS-C sensor (the 1.5x crop is very useful for wildlife work). With sports and wildlife photographers in mind, certainly a large chunk of the D500's target audience, Nikon has released a new Nikon D500 Sports and Wildlife Kit.

This kit, available for preorder now, includes the Nikon D500 body, an AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, MD-D17 Battery Grip, 2 Sony 32GB G Series XQD memory cards and a 2-year extended service coverage warranty plan on the D500 body. All of this can be yours for just under US$3,600. This price includes a $200 instant savings on the D500 camera body which is available for a limited time. In case you're curious, this represents a roughly $100 savings when compared to buying all of the components separately plus you get the 2-year extended service coverage on the camera. If you're looking to a Nikon D500 and Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E lens, you might as well get them together.

As you can see in my Nikon D500 field test, I regularly used the D500 body with my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E lens. I loved the combination because it provided very good image quality and excellent versatility for wildlife photography in a relatively affordable and lightweight package. To read more about the D500, see here. I've included some shots taken with the Nikon D500 and 200-500mm lens below. If you'd like to help support our site and preorder this new kit, please do so through the affiliate link below.