Frederik is a photographer, blogger and youtuber living in Denmark in the Copenhagen region. Outdoor photography is the preference, but Frederik can also be found doing flash photography applied to product shoots and stills.
Starting my “career” as a photographer on a Nikon D5600, I quickly built a portfolio of good and less-good glass. One of my favorite lenses was the Sigma 18-35 mm 1.8 DC, and must admit that this lens was one of the reasons why I hesitated to go full frame – it is that good!!
However, someone kind told me that not all is lost. The Nikon F-mount is still the Nikon F-mount and the lens will fit and you will get all the EXIF information still. So what happens if you use the DX lens on an FX camera body?
Limited coverage
As you probably have figured out, the DX lens for the cropped sensor is designed to cover a smaller area than the FX sensor, so when you shoot with the DX lens, you will get vignetting meaning that especially the corners of the picture are darker or pitch black. The lens throws a light intended to cover the DX area comfortably, but when challenged with the FX sensors larger area, the circle cannot cover, and especially the corners are cut off.
However, how much depends on the zoom. The wider you go, the bigger the problem becomes. The first example here is at 35mm, i.e. the most zoom that the Sigma 18-35 mm 1.8 DC can give and as you can see there is some vignetting in the corners:
If you widen the perspective to 22mm (this is not even the widest it will go), you will see that the problems have gotten worse and now more of the corners are cut off:
However, if you study the pictures carefully, you will see that the 22mm has a wider reach than the 35mm despite the vignetting. In the water, top left, there are two buoys and you can see that there is more of the horizon to the left of them in the bottom picture. So although you have to crop the picture in post processing to get something useful, you still get a fairly wide picture using the Sigma 18-35 mm 1.8 DC on a FX body.
So, don’t sell all your DX glass if you decide to go for full frame – you may find that the DX glass is useful on a FX body. But it varies a lot from lens to lens, so the best is if you can test your lenses with the camera body you plan to buy, so you know exactly how useful your DX glass is on the FX frame.
Nikkor AF-S 18-140mm 3.5-5.6 ED DX VR
One of Nikons classic kit lenses is the Nikkor AF-S 18-140mm, and as you can see the vignetting is bad both when zoomed out (18mm) as this shot of a window frame shows:
And it only gets a notch better when zoomed in close – here at 140mm of the same window frame:
If you compare this to the Nikkor AF-S 35mm 1.8G DX, you can see that the vignetting here is much less, actually – I think – hard to see unless you know it is a DX lens on a FX frame:
I think you have to compare it to the 50mm FX equivalent (Nikkor AF 50mm 1.4D) to notice the difference:
So the Nikkor AF-S 35mm 1.8G DX in my mind is highly usable on a FX frame whereas the Nikkor AF-S 35mm 1.8G DX is much less. Finally, lets take a look at another classic kit lens.
Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 G II ED DX
This lens is probably one of the most common kit lenses, and at 18 mm it – not surprisingly – shows the same vignetting as the 18-140mm:
However, at 55 mm there is hardly any vignetting:
So I think this illustrates that you need to test the specific lens you want to put on a FX camera as it is hard to make a conclusion or a guide that applies to all lenses.
Questions and comments
Questions and comments are more than welcome – please post below. Hope you found this blog useful. Thank you for reading! Please share if you find this post useful.
Yes, the Nikon D5600 is not a modern camera. It came out in November 2016 and here in 2023 it is about 7 years old! That is a long time in this day and age, looking at the expedient development of mirrorless cameras with backlit sensors and image stabilisation and what not.
However, if you are willing to live with a camera that will not make the heads turn when you flash it in the local café, you may find that you get a camera that takes some excellent pictures and does so offering a wonderfully easy to use sets of dials and buttons. And for a price that does not break the bank.
The Nikon D5600 with a 50mm AF lens mounted.
But let’s have a look at some strongholds and some shortcomings, based upon my personal experience after owning and using this solid camera for more than a year.
Strong features
Price
Maybe the biggest advantage of the D5600 is the price: 530 EUR new with kit lens (Europe, April 2019) and 389 EUR for a camera body only version. That is less than what a battery grip costs for some mirror-less cameras! And if you further can live with a model that is a little older (the D5300) but with many of the same features as the D5600, then I have found it used on e-bay for 230 EUR and you have entered the world of photography on a budget.
A very good sensor still
It is still a very good sensor that sits in this camera, also compared to standards of today. It has 24 megapixels which is still very common for cropped sensor cameras (e.g. most of the Fujifilm x-series cameras). Despite an anti aliasing filter that it has become fashion to remove because some say it affects picture sharpness, it still produces some very great pictures with Nikon’s well known picture quality and color rendition. And you can shoot both RAW and JPG, and the JPGs are fine as well.
Ergonomics and user friendliness is top
Maybe what I enjoy the most with the D5600 is that the camera body is very light and the grip is deep. Some say the grip is not tall enough and that their pinky lacks a place to rest, but I have a very big hands and I have never had that as an issue. The camera is so light that holding it for hours has never been an issue for me. The user interface it the “good old” Nikon one, and although the D5600 lacks a front dial, the D5600 interface is very similar to other Nikon models, so if you speak Nikon, the D5600 is very easy to use. And if you don’t, you will quickly get familiar with the controls.
Superior ergonomics, especially if you – like me – do not have the smallest of hands.
The LCD screen is a bonus
Maybe the LCD screen by today’s standards does not have the best resolution, but the screen is pivoting, touch sensitive, and it reacts – even compared to a modern smartphone – fairly quick.
Articulating rear LCD
Further, it can turn “inwards” when not used, i.e. protected from scratches and guaranteed not to bother you when using the viewfinder. This is a good thing when you shoot at night or throw the camera into an ordinary bag with other stuff – you don’t have to worry about that side of the camera!
Articulating rear LCD can turn “inwards” for maximum protection.
Crop factor = “longer” lenses
The fact that the D5600 sensor is a cropped sensor (APS-C) means that the length of all lenses you attach to the D5600 are multiplied by 1.5. My 70-300mm Tamron lens suddenly becomes a 450mm at the far end which enables me take loads of pictures of birds sitting at the bird-feeder in the far end of my garden. So although some photographers claim that only full frame sensors will do, it is worth noticing that a cropped sensor also has some capabilities that full frame does not offer.
The full frame versus cropped sensor debate is one of the oldest in the photo community, and I do not want to add to the discussion, but for an entry level camera like the D5600 with 24 megapixels, I think you will find that you have plenty of resolution and picture quality for both social media and an occasional print.
Nikon glass and Nikon f-mount
The Nikon F-mount has been around since Donald duck was an egg, and there is literally thousands of lenses available for the Nikon D5600 and its f-mount. Shop around on e-bay and the local flea market, and you will be able to find some cheap vintage glass for your D5600, provided you are not afraid of manual focus. And the good thing is that if you later decide to upgrade to a higher level camera, then much of your glass can be reused. You can also find some new glass at a fair price – Nikons kit lens is a good start, and a 35mm prime lens can be achieved brand new for a reasonable price.
The 135mm prime from Nikon. A wonderful lens!
It is not a mirror-less
Yes it is a strange headline. But after going mirror-less also, I have come to learn to appreciate some of the features of the D5600 that I miss with the mirror-less cameras:
Battery life is awesome! As the D5600 has an optical viewfinder (and not an electronic one that needs to be powered like a tv-screen), the power consumption of the D5600 is very low, both when it sleeps and when it is switched off. I have my D5600 lying in the windowsill for weeks for an occasional bird shot without charging. That is so nice!
Sensor cleaning. On a DSLR the mirror sits between the sensor and the lens mount and that gives some protection to the sensor that I have never thought of. On a mirror-less the sensor is exposed at every lens change and that leads to dust and dirt on the sensor much faster than a DSLR. In fact, after more than a year of use, I have only cleaned the D5600 sensor once.
Shortcomings
It is a DSLR after all
Yes, a DSLR is a bit old-school and does not give you all the benefits found with a mirror-less:
There is no viewfinder with all the “heads up display” benefits. So you cannot in the viewfinder have aids like focus peek or a level meter or in general see what your picture exposure will be like before the fact.
The DSLR is noisy and it has mechanical elements. So if silent shooting is important to you, you need to look for a mirror-less camera. Many DSLRs have silent shooting modes, but you will find that they are not silent at all!
Live view is SLOOOOOW! The reason being that the camera swings the mirror away when going in live view mode (where the LSD is your viewfinder) and for each picture it swings the mirror forth and back again. That takes ages!
No 4K video
If you do a lot of video and 4K is important to you, this camera is not for you. It only does 1080p and a DSLR in my opinion is best suited for stills. If you want a great video camera, I would turn to mirror-less instead, or maybe simply use your smartphone for starters (my iPhone X offers 4K!).
No in-camera AF motor
Many of the older Nikon lenses, although it says AF for auto focus on the tin, assumes that your camera body has a built in motor to control the auto focus on the lens. The lens itself does not have a motor. Unfortunately the D3x00 and D5x00 series Nikon do not have this motor and you have to look at the D750 or the D7x00 series or higher. Or live with manual focus. Or buy only lenses that have motors built in (AF-S), but that of course rules out the vintage lenses.
The lens needs a motor in the camera body in order for auto focus to work.
If you are not sure if your camera – or the one you plan to get – has a built in AF motor, look for a little metal “ear” that sticks out bottom left on the f-mount ring when you look at the camera front. In the picture above, the bottom camera is the D7500 that has an AF motor (you can see the pen pointing at the metal “ear”), whereas the top one is the D5600 and you can see the AF motor is missing. The pen at the upper camera points to where the AF motor “ear” should have been.
No image stabilization
For years and years photographers have taken great photos without image stabilization in neither the lens nor the camera body. Now both seem to be a big wish from many, all of a sudden. So be aware that the D5600 does not have in body image stabilization (IBIS) so you either need a tripod or to buy lenses with stabilization, if you want to avoid camera shake with shutter speeds slower than 1/80th.
One SD card
People looking for a camera to be used professionally often shy away from cameras with only one SD card. I doubt that this is a concern for you if you are considering the D5600. but if coming home with pictures secured 100% on digital media, then a dual slot camera is key. The D5600 “only” as one. I underline that statistics show that it is seldom that an SD card fail, but it does happen and probably when you want it the least (that important child birthday or passing a long time dreaded exam). So if data security is high on your agenda, then a dual card solution is worth a consideration and the Nikon D7100 and D7200 deliver in this department.
Only one card slot. Often makes event photographers run for the hills….
Snapbridge…?
The smartphone integration (Snapbridge) could be more user friendly and many reviewers love to hate Snapbridge. I think it is better than its reputation, and you can actually remotely control your camera from the smartphone via snapbridge. But compared to say Sonys solutions for integrating your camera and smartphone, Snapbridge is cumbersome and has stability issues.
Conclusion
The Nikon D5600 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens – a good combo at 75mm FF equivalent.The Nikon D5600 with the 50mm 1.4D (a nifty fifty)
So, to answer the question if this is the right camera for you here in 2019, depends on your decision criteria and personal preferences: If you are a video shooter, I would seriously consider alternatives to the D5600. If a silent camera is important, I would look toward mirror-less. But if you simply want to take the step from shooting with your smartphone to a level above that, say for friends, family and an occasional landscape photo, the D5600 should be on your short list, provided you want a solution that does not break the bank. It is a very capable camera still, although the future probably is mirror-less. But some still listen to old Long Play records. And others still shoot 35 mm film based photos. Leading edge technology the D5600 is not, but it is still capable of producing great pictures worthy of social media and an occasional print. But before you make your decision, a few alternatives are worth considering.
Alternatives
I am not an expert on Canon or other brands, but I am sure that Canon and Sony and Pentax and … etc … has alternatives that compete in the same price range. The camera vendors know that if they can get you to like their camera system when you enter the market, it is likely that you will stay with that brand so you can re-use your glass. So typically they price their entry level products aggressive, in the hope they get a life-long friend in you.
If a lower pixel count is not a problem for you, and compact and portable is important, maybe your smartphone will simply do. You can get click-on lenses that fits your smartphone, and I started my photo career shooting with an olloclip lens on my iPhone 7 (the alternative is Moments). The problem with that solution is that if you upgrade your smartphone, you are likely to be in need of buying new glass or mount as well, but it is still a small investment compared to a full camera. The pictures you take can compete with an entry level camera in my opinion, and for example the iPhone X shoots 4K video, so it is actually a capable video camera! If you want the higher resolution but portability and compact is important to you, you may want to look for compact cameras such as the Sony RX100 series.
The entry-entry level camera from Nikon is the D3x00 series, and I believe the D3400 is the current model. The D3400 is available at a lower price point, but be ready to loose the pivoting screen and the touch sensitive screen as well, along with exposure bracketing and time lapses. If these features are not important to you, the D3400 could be your camera – the sensor and hence picture quality is very much the same, but check the full list of specifications to get a full overview of what the D3400 misses compared to the D5600.
Within the D5x00 series you can also go backwards on go for one of the earlier models, say the D5300. You will get very much the same camera, but a few features are different or missing on the D5300 but it is fundamentally very much the same camera.
If you are willing to spend a bit more on a camera an you want to stay with Nikon, then the D7100 and the D7200 are where you should look. These cameras are – as far as I can tell – still used by many professionals, and I have read many posts praising the pictures that these cameras produce. And then you have a camera with which you can grow as a photographer – with the D5600 you may find that you quickly grow out of it if you are bid by the photography bug.
Finally, if you want to go mirrorless, the Z50 is a very attractive alternative to the entry level DSLRs from Nikon. It is a APS-C mirrorless camera with the new lens mount that Nikon developed for the Z-series. If you do not have a lot of vintage or F-mount glass you want to re-use, then the Z50 as an entry level alternative should definitely be on your short list.
In this post I will be looking at Nikon’s enthusiast DSLR camera line up to explain why I ended up buying the D750 after owning the D5600 for a year or so. I look at digital cameras here – film is another story!
If you want to get to know the Nikon camera lineup, this wiki page gives a good overview, both in terms of available models and which were released when.
This post is intended to give you inspiration if you are to buy a Nikon camera. Your decision criteria and personal preferences are probably different from mine. So most likely you will end up making a different decision than me, or arrive at the same decision but for different reasons. So please read this post in that context.
Nikon D5600 and D3400
The 3×00 series is the entry level model whereas the 5×00 is considered a notch above that but still in the entry level end of the Nikon scale. I have no experience with the D3x00 but I would imagine it is a budget friendly (scaled down) version of the D5x00 with very much the same look and feel. My D5600 is solid workhorse that has served me well and I only sold it because I moved to full frame.
The reason why I moved away from the 3×00/5×00 series is the lack of a in-body auto focus (AF) motor. Nikon (and Sony) have been around for ages, and their legacy gives access to a wide range of vintage glass that can be bought for a fraction of the prices of new glass. However, many of these lenses either have manual focus or focus via a screwdriver setup, where a small motor driven pin in the camera body as shown here:
The AF motor pin.
It drives the focus mechanism in the lens. I absolutely love the low prices and high quality of vintage Nikkor glass in combination with the comfort of auto focus – the D3x00/D5x00 series were no longer an option for me.
Nikon D7500
The need for an in-body AF motor literally drove me to the 7×00 series. These APS-C sensor cameras have many fans, and especially when reading blog comments from D7100 and D7200 owners, these cameras apparently serve their owners very well. And both used and new, these cameras are close to unbeatable when it comes to the price/performance ratio – a steal.
Despite these two strong candidates, I went for the D7500 – the camera that the internet loves to hate, as Steve Perry says in his review of the camera. I absolutely loved it – super fast frames per second, stunning low light performance, tilt screen, nice LCD and a deep grip. I felt I got a scaled down version of the D500 for a bargain.
The Nikon D7500.
I would probably have owned and used the D7500 today had it not been for an unfortunate accident where I dipped the camera in salt water to save myself from falling. That taught me always wear a camera strap when out and about, but it also meant that my D7500 was ruined in a cannot-be-saved way (salt water simply eats the thin metal in the electronics inside the camera). So I went back to my D5600 for a while, saving money and contemplating my next move.
Cropped versus full-frame
In the photo community on social media the debate regarding full frame versus cropped sensors (APS-C) is probably one of the oldest around. And it goes on and on. I think that over the years the APS-C sensors have moved closer and closer to the full frame sensors in terms of performance, and many will claim that the differences are small if visible at all. I have no ambition to add to this discussion.
I can see that many – also professional – wildlife photographers prefer the APS-C sensor due to the crop factor. So it is a matter of horses for courses – you cannot say that full frame is this A-team and APS-C is the B-team. It is more complicated than that. A Nikon D500 (APS-C) is by many considered more professional grade than the full frame Nikon D610.
So all this just to say that I eventually went for a full frame model simply because I was curious! I wanted to experience what a full frame camera could do when compared to an APS-C. Is it rational and clear thinking to go for full frame just because you are curious? No, absolutely not. But it is my honest answer, and the reason why you should consult your own personal preferences when making a purchase decision. You can read more here about the arguments for shifting from APS-C to full frame.
The Nikon D750
After deciding to go for a full frame Nikon DSLR camera body, it was really down to 4 different models: the D610, D750, D810 and D850. And before I started to look at reviews, I started with the specs and prices – budget is important to me. In February 2019, this is what a simple table of comparison looked like:
The models are across, starting with the D610 and ending with the D850. In the bottom the last 3 lines gives the prices in Euro, the increase going from one model to the next and finally the index comparing towards the D610. So for example, the D850 is 3 times as expensive as the D610, and you will have to raise your budget by 26% if you decide to go for the D810 over the D750.
Let me start with the easy part: the D850. This one is undoubtedly the DSLR of my dreams, but also way out of my league budget wise. It has an impressive 45 mp sensor and an Expeed 5 processor, so I have every reason to believe that this is as good as it gets. But but, budget budget.
In the other end of the scale is the D610 which is much closer to my budget and what I intend to spend. However, having seen what the modern Expeed processor did in the D7500 camera, I wanted to go for the most modern Expeed processor possible, and here the D750 had an advantage (as marked in the lower red circle). Also, as I often shoot low light, the ISO performance of the D750 also seemed very attractive (top red circle). Of course you should buy as cheap as possible, but on the other hand it is silly spending 800 EUR on a camera body and then missing the features of a 300 EUR more expensive body – then I think it is better to save for a little longer and then go for the better model.
So the final choice was between the D750 and the D810. After going in circles for weeks, I finally decided that I could not defend the need for a 36 mp sensor – it is way more than what I need. Most of my pictures are for social media and the like and are condensed/reduced in resolution to a level where 24 mp is more than sufficient.
With this in the back of my head, I started to study reviews of the Nikon D750, and especially two videos caught my attention. The first one is a professional wedding photographer (“this one will shoot in the dark”). The second one is a video from Seattle Museum of flight. Of course I read many more reviews of the D750 like the one from Techradar.
And piling all this together, I found the choice of the D750 an easy one. So I ended up buying the D750, and I am a happy camper!
Afterthought
Here in 2023, I still have my Nikon D750. I also have a Nikon D4, a Nikon Z6ii and a Nikon D700. But I hold on to the D750. It is just a workhorse that does exactly what you ask it to.
It is still my preferred camera for a product shoot, simply because it is so easy to work with. I once read in a review of the car BMW 320 that the reviewer liked the care more and more, the more he drove in it, and that one of the reasons was that every dial and button sat exactly where he wanted them to. There was no strange design features or experimentations going on here – every button and dial was functional and tested in detail. My feeling about the D750 is exactly the same: it is a workhorse that does what you tell it to. The shooting experience is great!
The D750 does not have the heavy sound or feel of say a professional grade Nikon D4, in fact, some will say it feels a little too light and made of too much plastic. That may well be, but if you judge the camera on it’s usability, features and output, I think you will find that it is an all round DSLR that is hard to beat. Add to that the massive lineup of used / vintage f-mount glass that can be mounted on the D750 and you have a very capable package that is hard to beat when it comes to price / performance.
I have several Z-mount lenses and a Nikon Z6ii. The Z-mount glass is better than the F-mount, I think that is evident when you read reviews and see it for yourself. The question is if you need the better technical performance from the Z-mount glass? It is a pleasure to work with the Z-mount glass, but to be honest, I think most photographers really don’t need the additional performance.
You could of course go for the Nikon Z6ii, which is the mirrorless competitor to the Nikon D750, and then mount F-mount glass on the Z6ii using a FTZ adapter. But than all your AF glass with mechanical autofocus would be manual focus, as the Z6ii has no focus motor!
The benefit of a mirrorless camera is eg. a silent camera with no mirror flicking and the focus peaking highlights (my full list of mirrorless advantages is here). And if this is important to you, the Z6ii may be an alternative to consider. But again, if you look at the price / performance, I think you will find that the D750 is an option that is hard to beat. The mirrorless features comes at a high price.
My only reservation is this: If you want a hybrid camera, the video capabilities of the Nikon D750 shows the age of the camera (no 4K). But for photography it is still a very capable camera.
My copy of the D750 has been with me now for several years, and I think I have enough experience with the camera to give my thoughts on the good and the bad about this camera. It is not going to be a complete or an exhaustive review covering all corners of the D750 but some highlights that I as a happy enthusiast have encountered. I suggest you check the full specs of this camera and of course other reviews if you are considering to buy the D750.
My beloved Nikon D750. A true workhorse.
History
Back in September 2014, Nikon released the D750 camera and back then the retail price was around 2399 dollars. In late 2019, the camera was offered on black Friday sales for prices as low as 1000 dollars, and some comments on various blogs suggest the price was even lower than that (USD 699). So a significant price drop since the introduction of the camera. The D750 is also an aging camera body and the professionals seem to go for the mirrorless camera bodies with the release of the Z6 and Z7’s. But my copy has been with me now for several years despite the fact that I also own several mirrorless cameras. So maybe the D750 could be a good enthusiast camera for you. But let’s start to look at what you will not get if you buy the D750 and then afterwards dive into what you will get.
Big and bulky – just as we know DSLRs..
What the D750 will not offer
I have noted a few things on my list of things that I miss. It is not a comprehensive list – it is just what I have found relevant.
No 4K Video
First of all, if you are a video or hybrid shooter with the ambition to make 4K video, then the D750 will disappoint you. It only does 1080, but it does so very well. However, 4K it is not.
No 4K video option….
No IBIS
If you drink too much coffee like me or simply would like to shoot with a slow shutter speed without getting blurred pictures due to camera shake, then the D750 itself cannot help you. There is no in body image stabilization. You can get F-mount lenses with built in stabilization but the body itself has no stabilization.
The D750 – here the mirror is visible.
LCD screen flexibility
The LCD screen is not fully articulating – it only flips up or down, and the LCD is not touch sensitive, meaning that zooming in and out is done via pushing buttons. I think you can get used to it, but I use swiping and pinching all the time on my smartphone, so I do miss it on the D750.
The rear LCD flips out but cannot pivot.
Auto focus system
The auto focus system is very good and I understand it is the same system that sits in the big brother the D810. But measured towards a modern mirrorless camera, the 51 focus points and the fact that they sit very much toward the centre of the frame, cannot match a modern mirrorless where you easily find several hundred focus points and covering most of the frame. Also, the advanced AF systems with eye detect is not part what the D750 has to offer.
AF points
Optical viewfinder gives limitations
As this is a DSLR, there is no focus peak or focus zoom option to help you focus with a manual focus lens. The D750 has a little indicator in the bottom left of the optical viewfinder, but it not as easy to use as the focus peak systems where you can almost see the focal plan walking back and forth as you change focus.
Live view and the gyro.
Likewise the full blown level indicator is only available in live view – it is not to be seen in the optical viewfinder. However, you can re-assign the PV button (sits on the front of the camera, top right just below the AF assist illumination) via the CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU item f3, “assign preview button” to “viewfinder virtual horizon” which will give you a level indicator in the bottom of the viewfinder, just above the exposure meter. You can also assign the f2 button to do the same – see the manual page 359.
Not exactly quiet
Quiet operation is not a D750 stronghold, on the contrary it seems like the D750 enjoys to be loud and noisy. It has a so called quiet mode, but it is really not very quiet at all!
ISO button
A dedicated ISO button on top of the camera would be nice. You can re-program the video record button on top of the camera to act as the ISO button, but for reasons beyond me, it also activates the LCD which is a bit annoying if you are using the optical viewfinder.
No dedicated ISO button.
What you do get!
With all the negative stuff out of the way, let’s look at the positive with the D750. First of all, this is a very good camera for stills. I know the megapixel war is on and that 24MP may be is in the low end of the scale today, but many manufacturers have 24MP or thereabout as a sweet spot for good and sufficient resolution. Unless you print very large or want to crop heavily, I think you as an enthusiast will find that the resolution the D750 offers is more than enough. On top of this the D750 is a full frame camera and the colour rendition is great, even the JPGs I find to look amazing straight out of the camera. And don’t take my words for it, if you google among written reviews or benchmarks, the D750 is still a top performer.
Vibrant colors.Great contrasts.Getting close to the subject.Winter.Vibrant colors.
Low light performance
Add to this the low light performance of the D750 is outstanding. This camera sees in the dark and this is the case for both the sensor and the auto-focus system. I know that some will argue that photography is writing with light and the low light performance is irrelevant – they will argue that I should buy a flash, but I like low light and low key photography. None of my other cameras that all are mirrorless can compete with the low light performance of the D750 in my humble opinion. And I have several times in post processing recovered details that I could not see with the naked eye when I took the picture.
A night out. Not much light, and a flash would ruin the scene.
Long exposure. Nikon D750.Nikon D750 at night.
Ergonomics
A third area where I enjoy the D750 especially in compare with the mirror-less is in terms of ergonomics. The body is feels solid, it is weather sealed, the grip is deep, most buttons and dials sit where they should. AND the battery life is outstanding. I have never bought a grip for my D750 for the simple reason that one battery can last for a full day of shooting. Not so with the mirror-less – I think it has to do with the power required to feed the electronic viewfinder.
The ergonomics of the D750 is just right for me.
Start up time
On the note of benchmarking towards the mirror-less cameras, I simply enjoy that this camera is ready to go in no time. When I do street photography, I sometime miss a situation simply because the mirror-less camera takes a few seconds to be ready. It is like booting a computer or starting your television set – it takes a little while to be ready. Not so with the D750 – it is ready in no time. I miss that so much on my mirror-less systems!
Back-up of your pictures
Another thing that is important to some is the fact that the D750 has dual card slots. For event shooters, this is key. And to me this also is a strong signal that Nikon back in the days when this camera was launched knew, that many professionals would consider this camera due to its many qualities and the price point. The dual card slot was the little extra thing that made professionals go for the D750 even though it probably was targeted for the serious enthusiast.
Dual card slots in the Nikon D750.
Good glass and plenty of it
The D750 has Nikons old F-mount lens interface that has been around since Donald duck was an egg. Nikons new interface for the mirror-less world is the Z-mount and I doubt that we will see many new lenses in the future for the F-mount from Nikon as such. Maybe from 3rd party vendors like Sigma or Samyang. But the amount of both 2nd hand and new glass and lenses for the F-mount system is huge and you can on a budget get hold of used glass that for other systems would break the bank. You may not get the latest and greatest in terms of coating and super silent and fast focus motors, but if you shoot for example landscape or flowers or macro, I doubt that you will miss it.
Lots of great glass made by Nikon.
And if you buy the right glass with screwdriver auto-focus, you can enjoy the comfort of auto focus via the motor that is built into the D750 camera body.
AF motor built into the camera body
Etcetera…
There are many other things I could mention regarding the D750 like a built in flash, WiFi, it is well equipped with connectors…
External microphone and headset is an option.
…shoots 6.5 FPS, the max shutter speed is 1/4000th of a second, and so on. But I stay clear of that to underline that the main point here is that this is a great stills camera with tons of second hand glass available on e-bay or amazon or wherever you shop. And if you can cave in a little bit on prestige and not owning the latest and greatest, I think you will find that the D750 is a fantastic stills camera, that will deliver great pictures for years to come.
Conclusion
And as you have guessed it is a camera that I am very pleased with. I think it has served me well. If you are considering to go for the D750, you should of course also look to the competition within the Nikon line-up, look to the levels below (D610) and the levels above (D810 + D850). You should also consider some of the competition – I think Canon recently has released the EOS R which price point wise is getting closer to the D750, but the problem for the mirrorless Canon is that there is very little glass out there. But of course that will change over time. And I definitely think the Canon should be on your short list of cameras to look into.
Don’t worry, be a happy shooter
I guess we all like to make informed decisions and the right decisions relative to our decision criteria’s and personal preferences. But I just want to make a little point towards the end of this review, as I can see that a lot of the traffic on my blog and channel relates to camera and gear selection and decisions. And that is all fair. I think we all want to make informed decisions it is natural that we want to spend some time on making the right choices in terms of camera. But don’t overdo it. Don’t spend too much time on a an article like this one. Spend the time on getting out there and taking some great photos!
Nikon the 7th of January 2020 announced the long awaited Nikon D780 to replace the Nikon D750. The D750 has hence been around for more than 5 years, and an upgrade was very much due, although I still consider the D750 a great camera for stills.
The fact that 98% or so of the Nikon camera bodies out there are DSLRs with the good old F-mount, gives the financially stressed Nikon company a great opportunity to upgrade some of the DSLR models so all of us with lots of F-mount glass with no desire for a mirror less can upgrade to a more recent camera body.
The Nikon D780 from the Nikon homepage
The big picture
The big change when it comes to the D780 is a merger of the Nikon Z6 and the D750, so you get all the good stuff you know from the D750 when shooting with the mirror flicking, and all the goods from the Z6 when shooting in liveview.
What stays the same?
It is still a full frame DSLR with an 25 MP sensor and 51 AF points, so the sensor seems very similar to the D750 although back-light illuminated. The AF system is still the one we know from the D810. No image stabilization in body (No IBIS).
The outstanding battery life performance when not shooting in liveview mode continues – Nikon reports up to approx. 2300 shots per battery!
And the dual card slot setup that event shooters are so dependent upon remains.
Major improvements
The video specs now cover 4K and certainly also the capabilities in liveview mode, where all the good stuff from the Z6 is inherited, like the 273 AF points, and eye detect AF.
Although many do not notice, the fact that the processor is the EXPEED6 and hence jumps several generations forward, will be a major improvement, especially for color rendition and JPGs. I really look forward to the performance boost that this will give and also suspect that the low light improvements to some extend will be rooted in the new processor generation.
Many professionals will be happy to see that the max shutter speed is now 1/8000th of a second and that FPS has been lifted from 6.5 to 7, and the continuous electronic shutter speed is 12 FPS.
Another major improvement is the LCD screen with much better resolution, but still not fully articulating – we will have to do with the flip screen. And it is touch sensitive, which is a major step forward compared to the D750.
Minor improvements
As far as I can tell from the pictures from the announcements, the D780 will have a dedicated ISO button, like the D7500. That is a minor thing, but if you missed it like me, then this is a small but important improvement.
The USB-C port and the option to charge via USB is great news. I find that as more and more vendors use USB-C connectors my life becomes more easy, as the number of chargers I have to keep track of drops significantly. This is great news IMO.
And the eye-cup seems to be deeper and stick more out from the body, a thing that shooters like me wearing glasses will appreciate.
What worries
There is no contacts for a battery grip. For many professionals this will be a major issue as a battery grip is key in terms of ergonomics when you work with the camera all day long. I will say though that the leaked pictures to me look like there is a grip available, but I cannot say with certainty.
The jury is still out when it comes to the built in AF motor. I really hope that Nikon does not save the production cost of adding the AF motor – for many enthusiasts with lots of Nikon AF glass with the screwdriver AF, this is key.
A built in flash has been removed and to me this is a big setback. I often use the built in flash to trigger other (non Nikon) flashes in optical slave mode and it is a bit of a nuisance that the flash is gone.
Price and availability
The D780 is available from February 2020.
The price is set to 2299 USD. That will then be double the price for a brand new D750. I think you will have to be a professional looking for the improved specs in order to accept the steep price – a happy enthusiast like me cannot justify doubling the price for better video quality and improved AF in liveview. Good news is that the D750, while on stock, is likely to drop further in price. During black friday sales in November 2019, the D750 was available at prices well below 1000 USD.
What do you think?
Will you invest in a Nikon D780? Or what are your thoughts. Please let me know in the comments below.
