D600 observations of a D7000 shooter

MileHighAko · April 29, 2013

I'm a D7000 shooter. I enjoy shooting sports, and some portraits & landscapes. I've been wanting to upgrade to an FX body before football season this year, but haven't been willing to make the investment yet. This past weekend my son asked me to take some shots of his Prom group, so I decided to rent a D600 and see how I like it. Here are my quick observations, and a few sample shots:

The Good:

Full frame performance is outstanding. The 24MP shots have very high quality - a noticeable difference from my DX camera.
Low light performance is what I expected - very good.
The shutter sounds more crisp, more distinct. I know that's not a measure of quality or even important, but it was noticeable to me and I needed more bullets on the "good" list, so there you have it.
The buffer is noticeably larger than the D7000, allowing me to take 15 RAW shots at 5.5fps before the buffer is full.

The Bad:

The focus area is tiny. I know some people say it isn't a big deal, but seriously it is tiny. In nearly 100% of the shots I took, I wanted to put the focus target outside of the focus area for my composition.
1/4000 shutter speed is too slow if you want to take wide aperture shots in direct sunlight. I didn't think I'd ever run into that, but turns out I did.
My class 10 SD cards are apparently too slow to keep up - I found myself waiting for the camera to write to the card at times.
The zoom +/- buttons are reversed from the D7000, so I was always zooming out when I wanted to zoom in, etc.

To be honest, it's a great camera and I'd love to own one, but frankly I'm not all that interested in buying one due to the #1 bad issue above. The focus area is just too small unless you're always putting your focus point near the center of every shot.

Some captures from the evening:
#1

#2

#3

#4

Ed911 · April 29, 2013

Limited, but still producing really good images. Nice bokeh.

Matthew Saville · April 30, 2013

You should try a D7100, considering the issues you mentioned. The buffer is still small but the FPS is at least a little better, and if you set it to 12-bit lossy compressed RAW, you can do just fine for action sequences.

The D7100 fixes many of the issues I had with the D600, including the lack of a 1-click zoom 100% during image playback. I too hate how they've reversed the +/- symbols, but once you get access to 1-click 100% zooming, you never need those +/- zoom buttons again!

My review of the D600 is here: http://www.slrlounge.com/nikon-d600-review-best-all-around-dslr-ever
(By the way in case you notice the URL / title of the review: I NO LONGER consider the D600 to be the best all-around DSLR ever; the D7100 takes that cake by a long shot!!!)

My field test of the D7100 is here: http://www.slrlounge.com/nikon-d7100-field-review-breaking-the-mold-again

=Matt=

jthomas · May 2, 2013

I have used a D7000 for the past 2.5 years, and added a D600 in December. I don't find the limited autofocus zone to be a problem. I often focus and recompose anyway, using the AE-L/AF-L button to acquire focus. At first I was not that impressed with the image quality of the D600, but the more I use it the more I notice the improvement over the D7000. I kept my D7000 for occasions when I want the crop factor for more 'reach', but I find that I grab the D600 by default for most occasions.

Matthew, how do you find the IQ of the D7100 vis-a-vis the D600?

Matthew Saville · May 2, 2013

jthomas wrote: »

I have used a D7000 for the past 2.5 years, and added a D600 in December. I don't find the limited autofocus zone to be a problem. I often focus and recompose anyway, using the AE-L/AF-L button to acquire focus. At first I was not that impressed with the image quality of the D600, but the more I use it the more I notice the improvement over the D7000. I kept my D7000 for occasions when I want the crop factor for more 'reach', but I find that I grab the D600 by default for most occasions.

Matthew, how do you find the IQ of the D7100 vis-a-vis the D600?

I expound a little more in the reviews, but basically the D7100 is every bit as good as the D600 right up until near the very edge of the envelope. At base ISO, I'd take a D7100 any day over a d600 for adventure photography; the dynamic range is incredible and the resolution (thanks to the lack of an AA filter) is awesome and doesn't even really suffer from diffraction even up to f/16...

Let me put it this way: The D7100 has so many things I'm stoked about that the D600 doesn't, that if I really were absolutely needing full-frame, I'd keep a D7100 around and just get a used D700 to complement it.

=Matt=

babowc · May 2, 2013

I returned the D600 after I picked it up and looked through the viewfinder, too.
AF is just way, way, WAY too crammed!

jthomas · May 3, 2013

Matthew Saville wrote: »

I expound a little more in the reviews, but basically the D7100 is every bit as good as the D600 right up until near the very edge of the envelope. At base ISO, I'd take a D7100 any day over a d600 for adventure photography; the dynamic range is incredible and the resolution (thanks to the lack of an AA filter) is awesome and doesn't even really suffer from diffraction even up to f/16...

Let me put it this way: The D7100 has so many things I'm stoked about that the D600 doesn't, that if I really were absolutely needing full-frame, I'd keep a D7100 around and just get a used D700 to compliment it.

=Matt=

(I'm sure you meant complement).

On the basis of the sensor parameters measured by DXO Mark, the D7100 scores only marginally better than the D7000, and the D600 is significantly better than both. The dynamic range of the 7000 is actually slightly better than that of the 7100. But I guess those measured parameters don't capture the effects of the increased resolution of the 7100 over the 7000, and the effect of removing the AA filter.

I don't need a full-frame camera as I am just an amateur. But I do enjoy the better quality pictures I am getting from the D600. I guess ideally I should sell the D7000 and get a D7100, keeping the D600 :heh

endurodog · May 3, 2013

Back in December I bought a D600. I had a D7000 prior. I still have both bodies. I have shot the D600 99% of the time since purchasing it. I think the pictures are better out of it than my D7000 but still love my D7000 too. I'm just a hack and don't have the background of some commenting on here but thought I would throw in my .02. Havn't had a chace to play with the D7100.

Matthew Saville · May 3, 2013

jthomas wrote: »

(I'm sure you meant complement).

On the basis of the sensor parameters measured by DXO Mark, the D7100 scores only marginally better than the D7000, and the D600 is significantly better than both. The dynamic range of the 7000 is actually slightly better than that of the 7100. But I guess those measured parameters don't capture the effects of the increased resolution of the 7100 over the 7000, and the effect of removing the AA filter.

I don't need a full-frame camera as I am just an amateur. But I do enjoy the better quality pictures I am getting from the D600. I guess ideally I should sell the D7000 and get a D7100, keeping the D600 :heh

Actually I think when the D7100 and D700 are in my bag together late at night, they talk to each other. ;-)

I'm sure you're probably right- on paper the D600 sensor may be considerably better than the D7100. I was only able to test it in the real world, and assess it' ability to achieve the types of images I like to shoot in relation to the other cameras and standards that I currently have.

In other words, the D7100 surpasses the D300 that was previously my crop-sensor standard, and comes close to matching the D700 which is my full-frame standard.

By the way, when assessing DXO rankings, never put much weight in the overall sensor score, it is borderline worthless. I believe a coupe beginner Nikon DSLR sensors out-rank a couple recent high-end Canon FF DSLR sensors on their charts, if that's the only score you're looking at.

Instead, consider each separate sensor attribute separately, and compare those based on your own priorities. Then, combine that with some good solid real-world testing, if you have the chance and are serious about buying.

In truth, yeah the D7000 and D7100 sensors aren't that different. If it is image quality alone that you're interested in, a beginner or amateur on a budget should hands-down go for the D7000 instead. However if you do have the extra $$$, (but still not enough to comfortably afford a D600 or used D700) ...then a D7100's extra features and new functionalities are AWESOME! (Again, read my field test for those things.)

jthomas · May 3, 2013

Matthew Saville wrote: »

By the way, when assessing DXO rankings, never put much weight in the overall sensor score, it is borderline worthless. I believe a coupe beginner Nikon DSLR sensors out-rank a couple recent high-end Canon FF DSLR sensors on their charts, if that's the only score you're looking at.

Instead, consider each separate sensor attribute separately, and compare those based on your own priorities. Then, combine that with some good solid real-world testing, if you have the chance and are serious about buying.

D600 observations of a D7000 shooter

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