Nikon D600 Summary

Neocamera had a production Nikon D600 to try for a short period and get a feel for this new full-frame camera. The camera was uncalibrated and conditions were not controlled as we normally do in our full reviews. Still, we have crops from all ISO sensitivities and a small gallery of full-resolution images, plus this Hands On preview.

While Nikon is putting great emphasis on how affordable the D600 is compared to other full-frame DSLRs, this model looks and feels professional. It has a good heft with a deep grip and is covered with buttons and dials for efficient operation. Nikon users will be instantly familiar with the D600. Ergonomically, it is a cross between the D7000
Nikon D7000 and D800, borrowing elements from each. The mode-dial, just like on the D7000, makes things explicit and is lockable to prevent accidental changes.

The large 100% coverage viewfinder is bright and crisp. With a press of a customized button, the viewfinder can show a dual-axis digital level - called Virtual Horizon - to keep the camera perfectly level independently along each axis. ISO is also shown below the optical view and is echoed on the top monochrome status panel. While there is a dedicated button at the rear to set ISO, a better way is to enable the Easy ISO option in the menu - just like on the D7000. This lets rear control-dial set ISO sensitivity in all modes except Manual (M). Both exposure and ISO steps can be set in 1/3 or 1/2 EVs. There is no option to only use full-stop sensitivities.

The D600 may be lighter than other full-frame cameras without an integrated vertical-grip but once a lens is attached, the difference is barely noticeable. It falls well in hand and important controls are all well-placed. Both control-dials are easy to reach without shifting your grip, making it every easy to control exposure-parameters with the camera at eye-level. The only common functions requiring two hands are WB, Focus-Point selection and Bracketing. Because both the exposure-mode and drive-mode dials have locks, it is easier to use both hands with them two.

Focus Point-Selection is accomplished using a lockable 8-way controller which is use to navigate menus as well. To change how focus point gets selected, the center of the focus lever at the front must be pressed while turning one of the control-dials.

In use the D600 is extremely responsive. It reacts to button presses instantly and rarely keeps the photographer waiting. The shutter-lag is very quick and there is a short-but-noticeable black-out time between shots. Entering Playback mode is also faster than usual, even when working with RAW data. Speaking of RAW, no converters are available for the D600 yet. Autofocus is quick too but slows down more than the Nikons that use a 51-point autofocus system. The autofocus engine in the D600 is designed to work with smaller aperture lenses, down to F/8, and is less sensitive to light by one full stop. It really only struggles at very low light-levels though.

After a preliminary look, image quality of the Nikon D600 DSLR is extremely promising. It produces clean and completely usable results up to ISO 1600 when noise starts to appear. At ISO 3200, color speckles start to eat up fine details but we expect mid-size prints to come out looking great. Intuitively, one should expect the D600 to actually beat its more expensive 36 megapixels sibling because of its larger pixels, at least in terms of dynamic-range and noise-levels. A final verdict requires extensive tests under controlled conditions which will be done as soon as we have a D600 for longer.