The Nikon D600 Review

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to have my hands around the D600 from Nikon, and what a great camera it is! The thing about cameras is that if you use one brand you don’t move to the other, I’ve been a Canon user for years, and I’m used to it, but luckily one of my best friends, Bilal Al-Ghazi from Shanasheel photography, is a great photographer and a Nikon fan at the same time, so he helped me a lot in conducting this review, actually this review wouldn’t have been possible without his efforts.

In a nutshell, the D600 is a 24.3-megapixel full-frame full-HD timelapse-enabled dual-memory-slot weather-sealed DSLR from Nikon, the camera is equipped with a 35mm full frame CMOS image sensor, with 24.3 effective resolution, and a broad dynamic range and high signal to noise ratio.

Here is the video review of the Nikon D600 and of course you can read about this cool camera below:

The D600 is the lightest full frame camera from the Nikon line-up, the body weights 720 grams, and it has a similar degree of weather sealing as the D800. Speaking of the design, the way different buttons are placed at the back of the camera is very handy, not only that but you can also define the functionality of the some extra buttons at the front side of the camera, for easy access during the shooting.

Another interesting feature in the D600 is the 2 customizable modes in the Mode Dial, this is very handy if you want to define your scene settings for a faster setup, of course the camera supports 19 built-in scene modes, as well as other common modes.

If you’re into architecture or products photography, or both, the virtual horizon is another nifty feature in this camera, it helps you level the camera.

On the left side of the D600 you get the difference input and output connectors, my favorite one is the external mic, this is very useful for a guy like me for covering events shooting reviews and interviews. You can also connect a headset to monitor the quality of the audio while recording. Other connecters are the HDMI, USB and a port for connecting the GPS Accessory.

Sliding the little door on the right side of the D600 reveals 2 slots for memory cards, again another useful feature, not quantity wise but it’s a matter of functionality, you can define the role of each card, so you can assign one these memory cards to be the back up for the first one, prepare it for to store files once the first one is full, or assign one of them to store RAW images while the other to store jpegs. As for videos, you can decide which card will be used to store the video you’re about to shoot.

Video shooting in the D600 supports 1080p Full HD recording with different frame rates, and with the ability to connect an extra mic, this camera is pretty awesome for shooting videos. However the following video was shot without any external mic, I captured this video at Dubai Fountain for the Water, Light and Fire Show:

One of features that made me fall in love with the Nikon D600 is the built-in timelapse, a feature that saves you the trouble of connecting your laptop to the camera while shooting on intervals, imagine if you are shooting in an event or trying to capture the moving clouds by Burj Al Arab, it won’t be easy to operate a laptop, a camera and a tripod. The only disadvantage of this feature is that the camera doesn’t store the store images at the end of the shooting, but it creates a video automatically, of course this will save you a lot of time, but having the option to keep the stills is very important, specially if you wanted to do some retouches to the final result.

Love shooting in low light? The D600 supports up to 25,600 ISO, and you can get acceptable shots in terms of noise at ISO setting as high as 6,400. The below image combines couple of shots at different ISO values:

In the Continuous Shooting mode, the D600 shoots 5.5 frames per second, just sit there and enjoy the sexy sound of the Nikon! Speaking of the shutter sound, the Quiet lowers the sound of the camer a bit, in case you didn’t want to disturbe delegates at the conference you’re covering.

Another interesting feature, is the High Dynamic Range mode, AKA HDR, you can select the mode to snap a single shot or multiple shots automatically, you can select one of the three exposure values, or you can select Auto and let the camera choose the setting based on the lighting conditions, and there are 3 smooting options for the final photo that you can choose from.

The retouch menu enables to do some editing on your images, there are multiple effects that you can choose from, once chosen the effect will be applied on the selected image and you have the ability to save the final result.

The D600 represents a real value for money, it has some great features from high-end expensive cameras, and it comes at an affordable price, the performance of its sensor is great even in low lighting conditions, it shoots full HD videos with the ability to add an external mix, you can shoot timelapse videos without the need to connect it to a laptop, there are plenty of features that make the D600 a great camera to buy.

Here are some random shots taken by Bilal Al-Ghazi from Shanasheel photography using the Nikon D600: