Nikon D600 v D800

Full Frame on a budget!

Wow… it constantly amazes me how quickly new cameras are brought to market. It wasn’t long ago that Nikon released the D800 and D4, these two camera are milestones in DSLR technology and then what does Nikon do? Bring out another full frame camera, this time at a price point that is less than we paid for a cropped sensor DSLR just a year ago. It matches or has a higher pixel count than any other full frame DSLR on the market bar one… the D800.

I remember when I got the D700, I had been shooting with a D300, and whilst it was good, full frame was better. I had both bodies and the D300 never saw the light of day, so I sold it, and the D700 to buy the D800! The D800 has come under some criticism, mostly due to it’s large RAW file size and slow continuous frame rate. Personally, I have never been happier with a camera in all my time as a photographer, in particular for landscape work I thing the D800 is the best available on the market today.

Nikon have now released a baby brother to the D800… the D600. It is a 24mp full frame camera with a 5.5fps continuous shooting rate. The D600 will be an easy transition from Nikon’s DX format D7000 with the added bonus of features found on the D800. Here are the differences in specs between the two cameras… maybe it will help you decide what is best for you!

D600 v D800

• 24.3MP Full-frame CMOS sensor v’s 36.3MP CMOS
• 10.5MP DX-format crop mode v’s 15.3MP
• 39-point AF system with 9 cross-type AF points v’s 51-points, with 15 cross-type
• Autofocus sensitivity down to -1EV v’s down to -2EV)
• Maximum 5.5fps continuous shooting in FX mode v’s only 4fps in FX mode
• 2,016-pixel RGB TTL exposure metering sensor v’s 91,000 pixels
• 2x SD slots v’s one CF slot and one SD slot
• No ‘Power Aperture’ aperture control during movie shooting v’s ‘Power Aperture’ aperture control during movie shooting
• Shutter rated to 150,000 cycles v’s 200,000 cycles
• Magnesium-alloy top and rear, polycarbonate front-plate v’s the D800’s full mag-alloy
• USB 2.0 interface v’s USB 3.0