Nikon D600

[nobigdeal]

Fellow Nikonians, what are your thoughts? I played with one at Best Buy yesterday. Feels like my D7000. Snapped a few shots at ISO3200 and on the screen they looked insanely clean.

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D600-FX-Format-Digital-Camera/dp/B0099XGZXA

http://gizmodo.com/5944723/dxo-labs-rates-the-nikon-d600-sensor-the-third-best-ever

A full frame with better high ISO IQ than the D700 for around 2g’s?
Im’a start saving my pennies.

[linguine]

I like the $3 off that amazon is offering, without that it just wouldnt be worth it.

[nobigdeal]

I like the $3 off that amazon is offering, without that it just wouldnt be worth it.

Buy a beer to celebrate your new camera!

[bender16v]

It’s an interesting camera because the D800 is “only” $900 more. I’m not sure what I think about this, or if I’d like one or save a little more for a D800. I’ve been trolling craigslist for a used body to have around and the D700/D300 prices haven’t really come down much. The biggest one that I have seen come down is a new D7000 body for less than $1,000. I have a D7000 now and love it but would like to have a full frame for non-wildlife stuff.

[sleeping]

At the prices D700 bodies seem to be still getting I’m almost tempted to sell mine and get one of these just for the weight savings – the 700 is a beast for a non-gripped body and the 600 is 11 oz lighter.

The thing that bothers me about the 600, though, is the smaller AF sensor array. The one on the 700 has always seemed like it was designed for a DX camera, and the 600’s is *smaller*. I’d much rather have less density but more frame coverage.

I also have to wonder what this means for the Nikon DX line. I’m not sure they aren’t ultimately planning on killing it, at least in terms of mid to high level cameras.

[nobigdeal]

The D800 is just too much camera for me. Not that it’s intimidating but 36. mp? I really don’t need to be working with files that large for what I do. The D600 in my opinion is superior to the D700 in most areas. Just as the D7000 was a better camera than the D300. It may not be as rugged as the D700/800, but who beats their gear up that much? If I needed an indestructible camera I’d have a D4. As for Nikon killing the DX, I’d be worried about that when they offer a FX camera for under $1000. I’m just happy to finally see them in the $2000 range.

I’m still looking at about 6 months before I can even start to think about any camera upgrades so who knows what will be on the market then!

[bender16v]

I’m all of a sudden really considering a D600. My D7000 has had dirty sensor issues since it was new and I finally contacted Nikon about it and they said to send it in for service. From what I gather it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Also on top of the normal dirt dots on images I’ve had a few with a giant black blob show up, with two different lenses. I’m leaning towards the D600 but I just read about the AF coverage and looked it up; here’s and image. That coverage is tiny! I might still go that way anyhow, I wonder if that covers the same area as the D7000 in DX mode?

Edit: And like NBD said, the D800 is too much for me. I really don’t want to deal with files that big, it’s expensive, and the continuous shots per second is slow at 3.

[sleeping]

That coverage is tiny! I might still go that way anyhow, I wonder if that covers the same area as the D7000 in DX mode?

I’m fairly sure that’s the exact same AF module as the D7000, just dropped into the FX frame size. The D700/800 one is bigger than that, but still too small for FX IMO.

[caradoc]

Have you cleaned your sensor? A full-on wet-swab cleaning? I’ll bet your “black blob” shots show up at high apertures, f/16ish or smaller.

(I’m disappointed with the D600’s X-Sync limit of 1/200.)

[bender16v]

caradoc, I have to clean the sensor about every week or two with a wet swab. Those kits are expensive and I’m tired of buying them and doing it. The spots are always with small apertures of f16 or less such as in these photos: Blob 1 and you can see the dirt/oil on the sensor and the blob in this one. The blobs don’t show up often but they really worry me more than the dirt.

[caradoc]

Wow. Haven’t seen anything like that on my D7000… and I shoot in some pretty horrific environments on a regular basis. That’s nasty. What did Nikon say, or have you talked to them yet?

[sleeping]

Agreed. It sounds like there might be a lubricant leak somewhere, that’s not normal at all.

[bender16v]

Nikon said to send it in and I’m expecting it to be covered under the warranty. From what I gather it takes a while for warranty repairs so I bought a D600 after work today. The D7000 will get sent off soon. I haven’t gotten to play with it much so far other than a couple of shots at 6400 ISO that are impressive and still usable. Here is a JPEG-Basic that is still 4.5MB SOOC hand-held at 1/25″. Hopefully I’ll take a walk in the morning and get some outdoor photos.
Edit: Here’s a bird from this morning at ISO 1400 without any noise reduction in post. There’s some noise showing up in the background but it’s not bad.

[caradoc]

Nikon said to send it in and I’m expecting it to be covered under the warranty.

I certainly hope so.

[nobigdeal]

I broke down and grabbed one a few weeks ago.
All I will say is here is an accidental ISO 25600 from this weekend.

DSC_1900915 by MusicInPictures.net (Ken Cote), on Flickr

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