Full-frame SLRs used to be out of reach for
all but the most affluent amateur photographers, but not anymore. The Nikon
D600 and Canon EOS 6D both use full-frame sensors housed in more
consumer-friendly camera bodies and, with prices sitting around the $2,250
mark, they’re tantalizing propositions for amateur enthusiasts and might just
make the perfect backup for professionals, too.
The Nikon D600 sits neatly between the
cheaper Nikon D7000 and the pricier D800 in terms of size, weight and sensor
resolution. Physically, it’s much closer to the D7000, though, with dual SDXC
slots and an almost identical layout of controls. This isn’t a criticism. The
D7000’s sublime ergonomics belie its price, and in practice there’s very little
difference between all three cameras when it comes to accessing key functions.
You can adjust pretty much everything by holding down one of the many labeled
buttons and turning a command dial. Thankfully, this includes toggling Auto ISO
on and off – something the D7000 leaves buried in the menu.
Camera
Nikon D600
The only downside that we discovered during
testing was that reaching for the ISO speed, white balance or JPEG quality
controls directly after shooting resulted in us inadvertently locking or
zooming the previous picture. The D800 avoids this by splitting these shooting
and playback functions into separate buttons.
Meanwhile, those photographers who shoot
fast-paced action may regret the lack of an AF-On button for triggering
autofocus separately to the shutter release. The AE Lock button or the Function
button on the front of the camera can be assigned to this task, but this might
not be enough to satisfy professionals who need to switch regularly between
cameras.
The autofocus sensor has 39 points, nine of
which are cross-type. This matches the specifications of the D700, and the
layout of the points is identical, but they haven’t been modified for the
full-frame sensor. While on the D7000 they cover a large area, on the D600
they’re bunched more in the center. This is good news when using the 3D
tracking mode to follow moving subjects around the frame, but only if they stay
relatively near the center. For subjects towards the edges, the only option is
to focus, recompose and shoot. For us, this is the D600’s biggest weakness, but
it’s something we could live with.
The pricier D800 boasts a 36-megapixel
sensor, but our comparisons with the 22.3-megapixel canon EOS 5D Mark III
revealed that the D800’s massive resolution comes at the expense of slower
performance and higher noise at fast ISO speeds. Predictably, the D600’s
24.3-megapicel sensor can’t match the D800 for details, but it challenges the
5D Mark II for low noise and fast performance.
The
Nikon D600 sits neatly between the cheaper Nikon D7000 and the pricier D800 in
terms of size, weight and sensor resolution
Continuous shooting performance is at 5.5
frames per second, which is just a little short of the 5D Mark III’s 6fps and a
big improvement on the D800’s 4fps. Testing with a UHS-1SDHS card rated at
95MB/sec, it kept going for 68 frames before slowing to 3.4fps. That was only
with lens distortion correction disabled. With it enabled, however, the
slowdown was quicker and sharper, to 2.22fps after 15 frames. Raw mode gave us
16 frames at 5.5fps before slowing to 1.9fps – a fine achievement, although the
5D Mark III has considerably more stamina in this regard.
Noise levels at fast ISO speeds were
impressively low, but by ISO 3200, JPEGs exhibited a fair amount of Chroma
noise compared with the silky-smooth output of the admittedly more expensive
Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Increasing the D600’s noise reduction strength helped a
little, but it was only when we compared these cameras’ raw output when we
compared these cameras’ raw output that the D600 really began to shine. Here,
the two cameras were hard to separate, but if we had to pick a winner, the D600
just clinched it. Considering how bowled over we were by the 5D Mark III’s
noise levels, the fact that this $2,175 camera narrowly beats it is an
incredible achievement.
For enthusiasts and
semi-professionals, the new D600 really is an astoundingly good deal on a DSLR
The D600’s color output threw up no
surprises, with rich, lifelike tones in JPEGs and well-judged exposures in
tricky lighting conditions. It erred towards under-exposure to avoid clipped
highlights, which makes sense, as it’s much easier to lift shadows than rescue
highlights in post processing. HDR shooting is built in and worked well for
static subjects.
The D600’s video mode put in a sterling
performance, with 1080p capture at a choice of frame rates, superb picture and
sound quality, and continuous autofocus that’s passable for casual use. As
usual for an SLR, though, critical use demands fixed or manual exposure
control, but it lacks the pricier camera’s shutter and aperture priority modes
for video.
The
D600 is an appealing backup camera for professional
The D600 is an appealing backup camera for
professional, but we’re more inclined to recommend the D800 for this,
especially since it has already been discounted to around $2,850 inc VAT. Its
controls and autofocus are much more in keeping with the D4, and it’s also
worth noting that, while the D800 sits in Nikon’s professional range, the D600
is from the company’s consumer range and so isn’t subject to the same level of
after-sales service and support.
For enthusiasts and semi-pros, however, the
D600 is an astoundingly good deal. It lacks very little compared with the D800
and 5D Mark III, and on the issues of performance and image noise, it’s better
than the D800. We loved the 5D Mark III, but not enough to buy one. With the
D600, though we’re seriously tempted.
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Nikon D600
specs
·
Full-frame DSLR
·
From: parkcameras.com – Price shown for body
only
·
Pro: Price – Superb image quality
·
Con: a couple of ergonomic niggles – AF points
bunched around the center of the frame.
·
Price: $2,175
·
Verdict: 4/5
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