New Nikon D600

[Quantum Theory]

This camera is very exciting. Will be the cheapest FF camera available. I was hoping for under R20k, but with the dollar price ratio between this and the D800, I get to a guesstimate of R22500. Of course you then still have to upgrade your lens collection, so the cost will be a little more

Hands-on Preview

 

[APoc184]

Just saw it now as well.

Pretty impressive.

So damn hard to be poor

 

[Paul_S]

Of course you then still have to upgrade your lens collection, so the cost will be a little more

I'm not a Nikon owner so can you please explain why one would need to upgrade one's lens collection?
Surely any Nikon F-mount lens used on an entry level crop sensor camera can be used on the D600?

Edit:
I figured it out. DX vs FX format F-mount lenses.
Similar in some ways to Canon's EF vs EF-S mount although with Canon the actual mount is different prohibiting the use of EF-S lenses on EF only mount.
With Nikon the FX camera just crops the image if it detects a DX lens attached.

 

[Quantum Theory]

I'm not a Nikon owner so can you please explain why one would need to upgrade one's lens collection?
Surely any Nikon F-mount lens used on an entry level crop sensor camera can be used on the D600?

A lot of entry level lenses can only be used on crop sensors (DX) and not full frame (FX)... Same with Canon. Also, would you want to use cheap lenses on a camera like this. I sure would not.

 

[AniV]

You won't have to upgrade your lenses.

The D600 features a 24.3 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor in a very compact body, even smaller than the recently announced D800. Here’s a rundown of the key specs:

*24.3 megapixel full-frame FX-format CMOS sensor
*10.5 megapixel DX-format crop mode
*ISO 100-6400, expandable to ISO 50-25,600 equivalent
*Maximum 5.5 frames per second continuous shooting
*39-point AF system with 9 cross-type AF points
*3.2″ 921k-dot LCD monitor
*1080p30 full HD video recording with stereo sound
*Headphone jack for audio monitoring in movie mode
*Uncompressed video-out via HDMI

Also, pre-order price on Orms (where the above is from) is 24k. RRP is 25k.

Of course, if you're buying a 25k body, you'll probably have the cash to invest in some high-quality glass to go with it. But regular DX lenses WILL work on the D600 body.
A couple of folks have pointed out that the D600 only syncs at 1/200, which means that any flash you put on there will be less powerful for balancing. Apparently it's a dealbreaker, and the critics say they could rather have dropped some of the 24MPx in exchange for a sync jack...

 

[Quantum Theory]

You won't have to upgrade your lenses.

Really, so I buy a full frame camera for R24k, then use it in crop mode @ 10MP, with my cheap old lenses. Thanks for that.

 

[AniV]

Really, so I buy a full frame camera, then use it in crop mode @ 10MP. Thanks for that.

Not saying you're going to, or even have to.
Just pointing out that the option is available.

 

[Quantum Theory]

The local price is about R1.5k too high, if you look at the dollar price and compare to the D800.

 

[mic_y]

also agreed that the local price is a bit steep... on top of that the lack of an AF-On button wold drive me insane after only using it on my D300s. Then add to that the lack of AF-Micro adjust and I will still only really be satisfied with the D800... oh well, time to start saving...

[edit] and 10.5 mp in crop is a tad too low... (I will be buying a 10.5 f/2.8 fisheye) and would still want to use it on a full frame body in crop mode...

 

[chrisc]

QT, what are you using at the moment, especially for those photos on flickr?

Did you read my request for a flash reset on Pace 4 tuner PVR? Can only find one for the 2 tuner one. Thanks

 

[Quantum Theory]

QT, what are you using at the moment, especially for those photos on flickr?

Did you read my request for a flash reset on Pace 4 tuner PVR? Can only find one for the 2 tuner one. Thanks

Hi there. I use a D90... I seem to remember replying to your request, in that thread.

 

[fvdbergh]

DxOMark results on D600 out

Looks like the D600 is also based on the same generation sensor technology as the D800 and D7000.
(DxOMark D600)

If you look at something like the per-pixel SNR (what DxO calls "screen" as opposed to "print" measurements), then you can see clearly that the D800 and D7000 perform almost identically per pixel (since their photosite sizes are the same), and the D600 performing slightly better per pixel (since it has 6 micron photosites, as opposed to roughly 4 micron photosites on D800/D7000).

Of course, once you look at the "print" measurements, then the full-frame advantage shows, with the D600 performing almost identically to the D800, as expected. The D600 offers some interesting benefits over the D7000, for example. Consider that the D600 pixels are roughly 26% larger than the D7000 pixels, so linear resolution (in absolute terms) is lower than the D7000, BUT you have for remember that for a fixed print size (say 8x12), the D600 image will require 1.5x less magnification, i.e., it has roughly 19% higher final resolution in print.

All in all, I think the pressure is now on Canon like never before. They really need a significantly better sensor in the 6D (compared to even the 5DIII) if they want to remain competitive, since the D600 is almost one full stop better than the 5DIII / 5DII on many measurements. To illustrate: DxO's "low light" score is the highest ISO that yields a given SNR value (i.e., equivalent amount of noise in the image). On this measure, the D600 can be used at ISO ~3000, which yields the same amount of noise as the 5DII at ISO ~1800. For the 5DIII, the difference is more like 2/3rds of a stop, which is still significant.

I would love to see the 6D's sensor measurements, but I guess we will have to wait 'till the end of the year for that.