Here at the brink of 2021, Nikon offers the enthusiast photographer more options than ever before. This is both wonderful and frustrating, as the obvious choice seems harder to find as the number of options increases. And there are no simple answers unfortunately, it all seems to come back to the classic counter question: “it depends…”. In this post I will try to distill the options Nikon offers in the 24MP range – typically aimed at the serious enthusiast and/or the freelance photographer.
On my YouTube channel I am a big ambassador for the Nikon D700, a classic and legendary DSLR that although “only” offering 12MP is probably one of the best DSLRs ever made for the enthusiast photographer. As it is no longer in production, it is only available used for around 400 EUR. This camera in terms of value is probably one of the best cameras for the enthusiast. However, many are not comfortable with the 12MP “only” and it seems like the camera producers center around 24MP as the sensor resolution for enthusiasts. If we go up higher to 48MP as found in the D850 or the Z7, then we are more into the professional segment, so in this post I will stick to the Z6, D750 and the D780 as they are all in the 24MP range.
The D750 is the oldest of the 3, but still today a very capable camera. The video specs are not up to what a modern hybrid camera can offer, but if you are into stills only, this can actually be an advantage as you are not paying for features you will not be using. The ergonomics of the D750 is excellent as we know it from Nikon, the menu systems are well organized and intuitive and the image quality is still today excellent. The body only price is around 1500 USD here in December 2020, but black Friday deals or other kinds of offerings can probably get the price even further down. And the camera body has a built in auto focus motor, meaning that you have access to a huge amount of used AF Nikkor glass available on e-bay and the like. In terms of value, the D750 is hard to beat when talking stills only.
The Z6 was the first mirrorless from Nikon, and they did their homework well and hit the mark pretty well with this first generation mirrorless camera. It is known to be a very good all round camera that does most things well, both stills and video. The critique of the camera was primarily that it only has one card slot and that there is no option to add a vertical grip, as the contacts are missing. This was fixed in the Z6 mark II, which in addition to fixing these shortcomings also added more computing power to the camera by adding an EXPEED processor. The introduction of the Z6 II gave rise to a price drop on the Z6, and the Z6 is around 1600 USD with an FTZ adaptor whereas the Z6 II is a 1000 USD more expensive than that. So if you are not nervous about SD cards failing and not planning to use a vertical grip, the original Z6 seems the value choice of the two. And both of them have in-body image stabilization (IBIS) to help you avoid camera shake when you need to keep the shutter open for an extended period of time.
The big disadvantage of going mirrorless is the fact that Nikon changed the lens mount system, so that is is no longer compatible with the notorious F-mount system. The motivation for this move yielding a shorter flange distance is – other than giving the IBIS room to work – that it gives new options for designing simpler and better performing lenses. It quickly gets technical, but that is the gist of it after reading Nikons explanation.
You have to buy an FTZ adapter, that can be had for around 100 USD when you buy it together with the camera body. But, there is a big but: The adapter does NOT have an AF motor, nor does the Z6 camera body, meaning that all the Nikkor AF vintage glass is now suddenly manual focus. This is where things to get complicated in terms of choosing between mirrorless or DSLR: The Z6 cuts you off from using mechanical auto focus on a lot of good vintage glass. And mind you that the glass that fits the new Z6 mount is expensive. You may be able to make a good deal if you buy a kit zoom lens together with the camera, but building your lens portfolio after that is VERY expensive relative to the DSLR options.
The Nikon D780 seems to try to bridge between the two worlds described above. It is a merger of the Z6 and the D750, so that in Live View mode, the camera is very similar to the Z6, whereas shooting via the viewfinder is very similar to the D750. So you get the best of both worlds, and maintain access to vintage glass with mechanical auto focus. And price wise the body alone is around 2300 USD, and hence significantly more expensive than the Z6, but that money could easily be saved when building (or re-using) a lens portfolio.
So what to choose as an enthusiast? “It depends…” – the most annoying answer of all, but unfortunately it is true.
The first thing I would ask myself in choosing between the 3 is: How important is video? One area where the cameras get better and better is video capability and if video is important to you, the D750 is struggling. But also think about how demanding your video requirements are – a GoPro next to your D750 could be a solution? Or maybe 1080p is all you need? Anyway, the more demanding your video requirements are, the less good and option the D750 is.
The second thing I would ask is: How important is auto focus? If you shoot things that are moving fast (sports and wildlife), then using vintage AF glass on a Z6 is a no go. You either have to buy F-mount glass with built in motors (AF-S) or go for glass that fits the new Z-mount directly. If you are on a budget and auto focus is important, your cheapest option is to go for the D750/D780 with vintage AF glass. But again, if face detection and eye recognition is important because you shoot a lot of portraits, then you have to use the D780 in Live View mode or go for the Z6. If auto focus is not important to you, then you are in luck: the Z6 will offer you the option to use cheap vintage glass via the FTZ adaptor and you will get focus peak assistance to help you obtain focus precisely and with great illustration of the focal plane.
The third thing I would ask is: How much vintage glass have I got to re-use? If you have a large portfolio of Nikkor vintage glass, and a good deal of this is with mechanical AF, then you can protect that investment with the D750 or the D780. Provided of course that you love your glass and want to continue to use if. If you are more meh-he, then the better option may be to sell your glass and go for the mirrorless Z6 or Z6 II. Your experience from building a lens portfolio then comes in handy, so you have a more focused mind when building your new portfolio.
What have I chosen to do? I am still with my D750. I shoot video on a Sony A7 RII so I have no need for better video capability currently. And the D750 with the mechanical AF motor built in, makes my collection of Nikkor vintage glass a joy to use. And as I seldom shoot anything fast moving, my auto focus requirements are all solved using single point focus. But mind you that this is what works for me given my situation and what I shoot – yours is different I am sure, so what fits me surely is no guarantee to fit you.
Thank you for reading this far! Comments are more than welcome!
If you are just a little bit into the Nikon universe, you undoubtedly have heard of the legendary Nikon D700. It was released back in 2008, which today is ages ago from a technical perspective. It was the baby brother of the D3 targeted for professionals, leaving the D700 for the serious enthusiast. Since its introduction the D700 has received legendary status for its image quality and build quality, and that was what attracted me to the D700 initially.
I purchased a copy of the D700 mid 2020 for 325 EUR with a shutter count of 28.000, which is very low relative to what you can find out there and knowing that the production was stopped in mid 2012.
In this post I want to share the pros and cons of this camera that I had identified just by studying other blogs, videos, reviews, etc. before buying the camera. It is not a complete list, and I have after my purchase received lots of feedback that the list is incomplete or flawed. However, it was based upon this list that I decided to buy the D700, so I think it at least gives good insight into my process for selecting the D700.
My thinking is that by sharing this it may help you if you consider buying the D700. I have made a few amendments to the original list to reflect what I know today so you get all I know in one go.
The Nikon D700 on top of the box it came in. Still here in 2021 it is a great camera!
The first reason is image quality, of course, and if you have read just a little bit about The Nikon d700 you will know that the image quality is legendary. I don’t know exactly why that is, maybe because it was the last time Nikon used the Panasonic sensor. Maybe it has to do with the Expeed processor and the way it works on on the data. I simply don’t know. I can just see really many people report that image image quality is outstanding, especially the JPGS straight out of camera and the skin toning.
Field of red flowers
The second reason is that it is a full frame camera. I don’t want to go into a long debate with what is best: a full frame, APS-C, micro 4/3rds or medium format. If you’re in the market for full frame camera, then this is really a good option and it’s a cheap one.Third up is the price. I paid 325 Euros. Mine is a copy of with 28,000 shots fired taken and Nikon normally says there’s a hundred and fifty “rounds” in your camera. And I know that there are cameras out there there that shot more than 300,000 without any problem. So I think it is a very very cheap option to get into the full frame.
The Nikkor 24mm AF 2.8 is a great little lens. It is wide, not to heavy, sharp and the minimum focus distance allows you to go close to your subject. It is one of those lenses that I absolutely love and it has AF when mounted on the D700.Number four is the Nikon f-mount. That mount gives you access to glass that Nikon has made since 1957 and it’s probably one of the producers with the most glass out there. You can buy glass at used on eBay, Amazon, flea markets, whatever, so it’s so easy to get hold of really, really good Nikon vintage glass and you can get a nifty fifty for next to nothing and then with a camera body of 325 Euros you are in the full frame game for under 400 EUR. I really recommend the access to Nikon f-mount glass – you can build an excellent portfolio of glass without breaking the bank.
Number five is the built in autofocus motor and if you have older Nikon glass with the auto focus mechanics (screwdriver principle), there’s no motor built into the glasses such. It assumes that you have the motor in the camera body and then via a screw driver principle it connects the motor with the glass and that gives you the auto focus. This is not as fast and as silent as what you see today with AF motors built into the lenses (AF-S or G-series), but definitely you get all the comfort of the AF and in my experience, it works really well.
Number six is the autofocus system. When the 700 came out, this was probably one of the best autofocus system that was available, but this was 12 years ago and the world has moved on. I think it is fair to say that the D700 cannot compete anymore. You have all of those systems today whether the focus points are all over the frame – on the D700 they are centered and there’s not that many of them. However, it is still a good auto focus system.
Number 7 is the build quality. I guess you have heard the terms that it’s built like a brick house or like a tank. And this one is it is really solid quality. It’s the little brother of the D3 and I think much of the quality of the the D3 was inherited down to the D700. That’s probably also why you see that so many copies still in operation, twelve years after the introduction of the camera. Some report they have dropped the camera on tarmac or stone floors and it works perfect even afterwards! Don’t try this, but certainly impressive if there is some truth to these rumors.
Nikon is known for its good ergonomics, and the D700 is from the top shelf.
Number 8 is the ergonomics. There is a dedicated button for (almost) everything! If you had a Nikon camera in your hands previously this one will not disappoint you – it it just is really well-thought-out and especially the fact that there is a dedicated button for most needs, makes it possible to work fast and efficient with this camera.
Number 9 is the weather sealed body. Mind you that if you put a non weather sealed glass onto your weather sealed body, the advantage may not be that big, but the body itself is sealed which could be important if you shoot a lot outdoors.
Number 10 is perhaps not as rational as the other arguments, but if you go and read blogs and see videos you will notices that many many report how sad they are that they left or sold their Nikon D700 and many actually go back and buy and new version of the D700 to have as a backup camera because it has served him so well. This is perhaps the ultimate test of a quality that even though you move on technically to say a D810 or a D850 some of these really really good cameras with higher resolution, you still miss the D700 and want to go back to it. I am not claiming this to be rational, but I just think when you see so many people saying that the D700 is something special, then there must be be some truth to this.
Number 11: There is a built in flash. To some this is super important as they use it for optically triggering off camera flashes or they use it in a pinch. I seldom use it which is why it was not on my list originally, but to many this is important.
Number 12: Battery life is great. Relative to mirrorless, I guess that most DSLRs have a good battery life, but I think the D700 even measured against other DSLRs has a great battery. It has only dropped one bar the first week of shooting, although I have been shooting for several hours. I was afraid that when I bought a used camera, the battery would be a bit tired, but in my case this has not been a problem at all. I also enjoy that the boot time is next to nothing – the camera is ready as soon as you have switched to the ‘on’ position, and even before that, you can use the optical viewfinder.
Number 13: The viewfinder can be closed mechanically with a little button next to it. This is great news if you shoot landscapes with long exposure or stars or the like. False light will come through the viewfinder and find is way to the sensor, which is not what you want. This little mechanical shutter saves you from putting chewing gum in the viewfinder or putting your hat over the camera body or whatever ways you have found to overcome this problem.
Number 14. Many cameras has a max shutter speed at 1/4000. The D700 has 1/8000. If you shoot wide open on a bright day, this may save you from pulling out the ND filter from your camera bag to avoid your picture being over exposed. It may not sound like a big thing, but once you have tried that the light meter goes crazy and you’ve forgotten your ND filter , you will appreciate the fast shutter speed.
Number 15: Smaller files. The 12 MP means that your files will be smaller, they will load faster to your PC, the handling is faster, it will take up less space on your hard disk, you can do with smaller memory cards or store more pictures per card, etc.
The cons – where the D700 could do better
Since I bought the D700, I have come to learn that there is a large group of D700 enthusiasts that will defend any criticism of the D700, so I am a bit cautious to put up a list of cons. However, it was the below list of cons that did not stop me from buying the D700, so the headline here is that the list below is – in my case – not a showstopper at all. And you should not loose sight of the bigger picture here: this is a FF bargain! With that said, to the list:
Number 1. The sensor is “only” 12 megapixels. By today’s standard is not that much, but I think you will find that if you don’t do heavy cropping or print billboards, 12 megapixels will actually serve fine. So I don’t know why so all of a sudden we need all these megapixels, but I just want to make it very clear that it is not a 24 or 48 megapixel camera.
Number 2 is the dynamic range. I think when the camera came out the dynamic range was excellent, but I think it has been superseded by better options like the Nikon d750. This can be overcome be careful metering or bracketing, but it is of course more comfortable to have a camera with a larger dynamic range.
Number three is the lack of video. So if you were hoping for a hybrid camera that could do both video and stills, the D700 is not for you. Many in need of video have a dedicated video camera, and I also use both my smartphone and GoPro, so I think the lack of video in my case is less of an issue.
Number 4 is noise (it is LOUD!). All DSLR’s make noise because the mirror needs to flick, but the D700 is especially noisy. And if you want to shoot in situations where silent camera is important (e.g. wildlife close up) I don’t think the d700 is for you. And the quiet mode option is a joke – the camera is still noisy!
Number 5: There’s no in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and I think it would be unfair to expect that in a 12-year old camera body, and especially in a DSLR. But I’ve just wanted to mention this: you need to cut down on your coffee or buy a tripod if you want to be sure that you don’t get camera shake. Or you could invest in a lens with image stabilization if this is key to you.
Number 6 is the size and weight. It is big and heavy. If you want to travel with your camera because or climb a steep mountain, this camera may be to the heavy side. The camera body itself is 1 kilo and you have to add the weight of the glass and then the total package may be too heavy for you.
Number seven is all the modern things you’ve come like in a modern camera like Wi-Fi integration, Bluetooth integration, GPS data, operating a camera remotely via your smartphone and all of these things that that are really nice in terms of making the connectivity of the camera much better. You find none of that in the d700 and this is really where the cameras age start to show: It is a really good stills camera, but all of the technology advances around the core of the camera is not with the D700.
Number eight. The life expectancy for the Nikon d700. It’s always difficult to say how long my camera will live, but this one has moving parts and eventually they will break. Nikon says that you can expect a hundred and fifty thousand shots per camera. I’ve heard people who have shot twice as much (and more!) and the camera still works. Nikon has stopped servicing the D700 as I understand it, but I also understand that there are plenty of non-Nikon professionals who have taken over and can service the camera. The build quality of the D700 probably means it will live for a very long time, but you may find that you need to go the extra mile to find someone who can service your camera if need be.
Number 9 is all the development that has happened with LCD screen on the back side of the camera. For many modern cameras the LCD is a bit of a gymnast: You can flip it out. You can flip it up and down, maybe fully articulated. You can pinch and zoom and it is touch controlled and super high resolution. None of that with the d700. It’s just it just sits there firmly. You can’t flip it out. You can’t move it. You can can try to pinch and zoom all you like but nothing happens – you have to operate the camera via the buttons. So if you do a lot of shooting overhead, do low-level shooting or you want to do shooting where a flip-out screen is important, you will find that the D700 does not give you much support here.
Number 10. Only one card slot. To me this is not a big issue, but if you are a serious enthusiast aspiring to become a pro, and your plan is to use the D700 on that journey, the lack of a second card slot could be critical. I would not like to be the one debating with a newly wed couple why your cannot deliver pictures of the most important day of their life due to a memory card failure.
Number 11: The viewfinder only covers 95%. This means that there will be more in the frame in the picture captured than what you see in the viewfinder. If you carefully crop or frame your pictures in camera like me, this is a bit of a nuisance, as I try to get my pictures as complete as possible in camera to minimize post processing work.
Number 12: Maybe needless to say, but when you buy used you need to be sure you buy a good copy. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions for buying the camera – if you buy it online so you cannot see the camera in real life before the purchase, make sure you can return it if not in good condition. In my case, I was happy with the purchase, but the camera was so dirty I had to give it a good cleaning – some of the buttons had to be “massaged” to get moving, and the sensor was so full of dust it was a joke. So set off some budget for getting a pro to clean the sensor if you are not comfortable doing this yourself.
Number 13: The Live View mode is quirky. You can tell that this was one of the first implementations of Live View that Nikon did. There is no dedicated Live View button (sits together with the drive modes) and you have to select between two Live View options before you can get going. I am happy to report that the later implementations of Live View are much easier to work with.
Conclusion
So if I was to answer the question from the top of this blog, it would be a definite: yes! But you have to balance the pros and cons against your list or set of requirements, to see if you reach the same conclusion. The Nikon D700 is a wonderful camera, but it is not perfect, and the question is if some of the listed cons weighs in so heavy in your basket, that it is a showstopper. We are all different, and just because this shoe fits my foot, there is absolutely no guarantee it will fit yours. I hope this blog has brought you a little closer to making an informed decision to conclude if the Nikon D700 is for you or not.
Manual mode is to many an off limits discipline, but there is no need to shy away from manual mode as it is a small investment to learn, and it pays off in great dividends in terms of better control of the camera and hence the pictures you take. And the good side effect is that by knowing manual mode, you also automatically know Shutter priority and Aperture priority, as these are “sub sets” of manual mode. But I advice you to practice manual mode until you have it “under your skin” and the controls and dials are – if not second nature – then at least part of your muscle memory, so you don’t have to think too much about the controls when you start shooting in manual mode for real.
If you want more detail on the exposure triangle, this post may be of interest to you.
Manual mode selector
To initiate manual mode, you need to select mode “M” on the mode dial, located on the top left of your D750 camera. Remember to push down the center button while turning the dial, otherwise your camera is less cooperative.
The Nikon D750 set to manual mode
Aperture
The aperture is controlled via the command dial on the top right front of the camera. By turning the wheel left and right, the aperture changes accordingly. In the LCD display on the top right of the camera, you can see the selected aperture. In the picture below, the aperture is set to F/10:
f/10, 1/100th shutter speed and ISO 12800 (auto).
Shutter speed
The shutter speed is c controlled via the command dial on the top right rear of the camera. By turning the wheel left and right, the shutter speed changes accordingly. In the picture above, the shutter speed is set to 1/1000th of a second, which is pretty fast. This is shown as 1000 – the “1/” is implicit. So a quarter of a second (1/4) is shown as 4.
ISO
The ISO has a dedicated button at the bottom left if the camera, the second button from the bottom.
The ISO button on the left side of the D750
When you push and hold that button as shown below, the ISO selection menu appears. Notice that only bottom half of the screen relates to the ISO – it is boxed in by a thin frame. The front command dial now controls the ISO auto setting (on/off) and the rear command dial controls the ISO value. You can see the graphics illustrate this to the very right. The selected value here is ISO 125 and ISO Auto setting to on.
When ISO setting is on, the camera selects the ISO as it sees fit (remember, you still control the Aperture and Shutter speed). If Auto ISO is on, the selected ISO sensitivity is ignored by the camera, but as soon as you set Auto ISO to off, then the camera uses the value selected here.
ISO sensitivity settings
You can re-program the record button on the top of the camera (the one with the red dot, sitting right behind the shutter release button) to act as the ISO button. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera, top left, select the custom settings menu (aka the pencil menu), select f for controls and scroll down to F9. Here you can set the record button to act as an ISO selector:
Using the movie record button for ISO
Many find this configuration useful, as the entire exposure triangle can no be controlled with the 3 buttons/dials sitting right next to each other on the top right of the camera, with no need to move the eye away from the viewfinder.
Ok, that concludes the walk through of the controls and dials on the Nikon D750. Please don’t hesitate to drop a line in the comment section below if you have any questions or the like.
You select manual mode on the mode dial top of the camera, right next to the right of the viewfinder. Turn the dial to position (M) for manual mode:
Make sure the pivoting LCD screen is facing outwards (i.e. not towards the camera body) and press the Info button located right next to the viewfinder and just above the LCD screen. This should give you a picture with an M top left, and the shutter speed, aperture and ISO values shown (your picture may be different, but the information content should be the same):
Here the shutter speed is 1/160th of a second, the aperture is f/5 and the ISO is at 3200
Shutter speed
The command dial is located on the camera top right. The command dial controls the shutter speed – turning the dial increases and decreases the shutter speed. The slowest shutter speed is 30 seconds, after that follows bulb and time mode (will not be addressed here). The fastest shutter speed is 1/4000th second. To avoid camera shake, be careful not to use a shutter speed slower than 1/80th of a second, unless the camera is mounted on a tripod (or you have a very steady hand!).
Aperture
Just in front of the main dial, a smaller button is located:
You can see the graphics is +/- and also a circle illustrating a shutter:
This button, when pressed down, alters the effect of the command dial, so that instead of controlling exposure compensation, it changes the aperture. So hold down the +/- button while turning the main dial, and this changes the aperture. The aperture values are subject to the lens mounted, but typically range from f/1.8 to f/22 or thereabout. The larger the number (the f-stop), the smaller the aperture and the less light is let in by the lens.
ISO (sensor sensitivity)
Finally, to change the ISO setting, find the “Fn” button on the front left of the camera. Pressing this button while turning the command dial changes the ISO value, the same way holding down the +/- button did for aperture:
The Fn (function) button is located on the front left of the camera.
You can also change the ISO setting using menus: press the information button (i) as shown here, and a menu appears on the LCD screen:
In the top right corner is the ISO value. Use the multi selector (the large round button just below the (i) button) to move the cursor to the top rightmost cell in the screen. It says “iso” with small letters in the bar just above the cell. In the picture above, the ISO is set to 250. Place the cursor over the ISO cell and push the center of the multi selector (ok) and the ISO selection screen appears. Using the multi selector again, the cursor can be moved to the new ISO value, ok pressed and the ISO value is changed.
Auto ISO sensitivity control
There is an option to let the camera (within boundaries) select the ISO value itself, in order to arrive at a properly exposed picture, given the aperture and shutter speed selected by you. It is not a perfect solution in all cases, but it can be a great aid in the beginning especially, in order to avoid over- or under exposed pictures. And it enables you to focus on one thing less in the beginning of your work with shooting in manual mode.
To switch on Auto ISO, press the “menu” button located top left on the back side of the D5600 camera body. Using the command dial (the big round button middle right), scroll down to the so called shooting menu. The shooting menu has a green icon that looks like a camera viewed from the front. Press the right hand side of the command dial to enter the shooting menu, and press the bottom side of the command dial to scroll down to the “ISO sensitivity settings” menu:
Press the center of the command dial (ok) to select the ISO sensitivity settings. In this menu you can switch the Auto ISO sensitivity on and off, set the maximum allowed ISO sensitivity setting (high values gives grainy pictures), set the minimum shutter speed and select the ISO sensitivity.
Auto ISO sensitivity control…
The minimum ISO value for the Nikon D5600 is 100 – this is a value determined by the nature of the sensor in the camera, and cannot be changed via camera setting.
Notice that when Auto ISO is on, the camera ignores the ISO sensitivity value you have chosen. Only when you switch the Auto ISO off, the ISO setting chosen by you will be used by the camera.
Getting the exposure right
When shooting in manual mode (and Auto ISO is not on), it is very easy to select aperture and shutter speed values that give an over- or underexposed picture. In the bottom of the viewfinder, and also when you press the “info” button, there is a light meter indicating if the picture will be over- or underexposed:
-│ – – │ – – 0 – -│ – – │ +
<————│
If the arrow below the meter points to the left, then the picture will be underexposed. This is the case in the example shown above. If the arrow points to the right the picture will be overexposed, as the picture below illustrates:
The markings to the right of the zero shows the image is over exposed…
Only if there is no arrow visible, the picture will be exposed just right. Minor deviations can be fixed in post, only to some extend for JPG files, more so when shooting in Raw format, but the easiest is to get the exposure right in camera.
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.
