Will the Nikon D600 be the ultimate travel camera? Pre-Review

I’m not normally the type of person to sit here writing about cameras that aren’t confirmed yet because…well I have better things to do with my life. However when I saw the pictures of the rumored Nikon D600 today I just couldn’t help it. For me the D600 seems like the first full frame camera that a) I can afford b) has interested me seriously. Over the last two years of my travel work I have been using my trusty D7000. For me the Nikon D600 has given me the same spark as the Nikon D7000 did when I read the D7000 specs.

The Nikon D7000 basically offered everything that higher DX bodies offered and even some FX features too, all in an affordable weather sealed body. Well the Nikon D600 is doing that again. Its offering incredible FX sensor benefits like low noise and great shallow depth of field but combining then in a small Nikon D7000 sized body at an incredible price. Below are the rumored specs from nikonrumors.com

• 24.7MP full frame sensor
• Weight: 760g (850g with battery and memory cards), the D800 weights 900g
• 3.2″ LCD with 921K dot with ambient sensor control
• HDMI output
• Video compression: H264/MPEG-4
• Full HD with 30p, 25p, 24p, HD with 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p
• Viewfinder coverage: 100% for FX , 97% for Dx
• The Nikon D600 will have built-in AF motor
• The body most probably will be weather sealed
• The D600 may not have built-in GPS as initially reported
• ISO range: 100-6400 (with Lo-1 ISO 50 and Hi-2 ISO 25,600)
• 39 AF points (with an option of 11 AF points), 9 cross-type AF points
• AF face detection
• Exposure compensation: ±5 EV (same as the D800)
• The D600 will probably use the EN-EL15 rechargeable Li-ion battery

So whats all the fuss about? Why should it be a great travel cam?

The Body

This camera is rumored to be light. It is 140g lighter than the Nikon D800 and only 70g heavier than the DX sized Nikon D7000. The body is also rumored to be weather sealed and I presume it will take the same mag-alloy body style from the D7000. This means that you will get all the best features from the higher FX bodies but in a much more compact body which is more suitable to travel and documentary work. When travelling with two bodies, the light weight Nikon D7000 is a god send compared with heavier bodies and hopefully this is how the D600 will be also.

Handling/Features

For anyone who is familiar with using the D7000, it appears the Nikon D600 will be a similar experience, avirtually identical sized body with the same button layout as the D7000 (which I like but is different to the Pro bodies). The two things I noticed from the images are the movement of the record button to a more more ergonomic position and also the addition of a lock to the mode dial. Both of these were inherent issues with the D7000 and it’s great to see Nikon do something about these.

The fact the D600 also has the U1 and U2 buttons is a great addition that was omitted from the D4/D800. I use the U settings to set up video so I can literally swap between video and stills really quickly.

The low light ability of the Nikon D600 should also be excellent as it has bigger and less dense pixel layout compared with the Nikon D800 and Nikon D7000. In theory this should mean the low light ability is close to that of the Nikon D800 (which seems superb) and a massive upgrade on the Nikon D7000.

I am really hoping the D600 has the same video features as the Nikon D800, headphone jack, smooth aperture, uncompressed HDMI out and decent moire performance. However I can’t see them implementing the uncompressed HDMI on a body rumored to sell for $1,800 (less than £1,200) without capabilities the entire video market (please Nikon you know you want to!)

Conclusion

So whilst Nikon haven’t confirmed this yet, it looks 100% likely after these latest pictures circulated from xitek.com. I am seriously interested in this and baring any stupid omissions from Nikon can see this as the natural successor to my Nikon D7000. With a Nikon D7000 as backup, I can see the Nikon D600 as a the perfect set-up for my travel and documentary multimedia work. Lightweight, tough, versatile, feature filled, great video and accessory compatible (batteries, media etc) seem to make these an excellent pairing. I can’t wait for the Nikon announcement now!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at 10:05 am. It is filed under Gear Review and tagged with Documentary, Gear, Nikon, Nikon D600, Nikon D7000, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.