Just posted: Our D600 in-depth review

Hey guys,

Just a heads up. We've just published our D600 reviewwith 23 pages of goodness (don't forget the stuff in between the intro and conclusion)

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Amadou Diallo
dpreview.com

Thank you so much for another excellent test.

As I already said - before the the review - it seems the D600 is the new noise champ, without compromising IQ!

...And for what's worth - This comes from a long time Canon user like me...

Best regards,
Pedro

...with a overall score of eye popping 87!! Is that the highest ever? In comparision, D800 and 5DIII are both 82.

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Fantastic camera. Glad that DPreview also noticed the dust problem. With this visibility, maybe nikon will fix it.

There's a typo in the conclusion: "where it's smaller, DX-format AF coverage could cause problems," but the word should be "its."

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See more at The Story's Story: http://jseliger.wordpress.com and Grant Writing Confidential: http://blog.seliger.com

The D800 is a ground breaking DSLR for resolution, and the first DSLR to be offered without an AA-filter, and with better all around IQ, better build, the first DSLR to offer uncompressed HDMI out, power aperture in 1/10 stops like the D4, much better AF module of the D4, better VF including pro style VF shutter, et al.

For the first time we saw tons of comparisons with medium format studio cameras with the D800 as well.

The D600 is a superb FF DSLR, especially for the price, but there simply is no justification for a 5 point higher score than the D800, IMHO.

You can also see some dust on the sample photos.

Another extremely good in depth review. 87 % Wow!

Small typo on page 17 : "files from the D600 are hard to tell apart from the 36MP D600"

Forget what I wrote, as I didn't realize the two camera models are not scored in the same category.

The D600 is a great achievement for Nikon.  It's a drag because now I may have to buy one to back up my D800, and with all the gear I want, including the new 70-200 f4 VR, goodness knows  I can't afford, at least not it this year.

Although the cons touched on the lack of OK button customization,  it would have been nice to clearly identify the lack of 100% preview.

Thank you guys for taking the time to do this test and doing it the right way. I am most interested to see what nikons response is in reference to the dust issue. My suspicion is on the part that has the two slits on either side. It sits behind and under the mirror and can only be seen by tilting the camera back and looking under the lower side of the mirror. This gap would contribute to more dust flying up and onto the sensor. Just a guess. I plan to further check my sensor after this next shoot, to see if an excessive amount of dust appears. thanks again.

A quick note: on the "Specific handling issues" (page 11), you placed the incorrect image representing the placement of the "ISO button". You're repeating the image used to represent the AE-L/AF-L button.

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I wouldn't read too much into the dust thing, they only had a single camera according to what they said in their review. They likely just were unlucky, or got some dust just like everyone else. They also mention it's "debris" and not oil, so there are countless ways it could have been introduced externally after the 4 weeks they were using it.

Anyways, just a thought. I'm not saying there for sure wasn't an issue with their camera, but the evidence presented is anything but conclusive. I just caution people who see a few threads here and there and jump to wild conclusions (you're not doing this, I'm just speaking in general terms).  Unfortunately many people will read their review, fail to realize their sample size of 1, and assume there is some widespread issue.  And the cycle continues haha.

Typo is fixed now. thanks.

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Amadou Diallo
dpreview.com

One of the reasons we were curious to find out if our unit exhibited the issue was that sensor dust/oil/debris has been widely reported by nearly every other reviewer who has handled the camera. At this point, I wouldn't quickly rule it out as an isolated instance.

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Amadou Diallo
dpreview.com

I agree completely, there may be a small number of affected cameras, but at the same time I wouldn't come to the conclusion that it is a wide spread issue. There are MANY people reporting zero issues, and of course most people don't report at all. I know of at least 5 D600's locally that do not have the issue, 6 including my own, and a large local camera store has told me they have not had a single return or complaint regarding dust/oil (they have sold hundreds if not thousands of D600's). Maybe it was one small batch or something.

Is it possible that this could be a problem with early cameras and fixed in batches produced since then?

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http://asylum-photo.com

Thanks for the review DPR and re-confirming the sensor dust/oil problem.

So for those 'forum pros', stop saying this is normal >>> REAL PROS are telling you it's NOT!!

Small number? Lensrental had 100% defective cameras. All the 3 people i personally know who bought the d600 (I included) had the spots. All the foruns, not just here, are crowded with raged costumers. How many cases do guys who keep saying it is user error, isolated cameras or normal dust gathering need to understand that there is a design problem?

it is a perfect balance between pro features, fast accurate AF, outstanding resolution, dynamic range and high Iso performance. My only regrets are the non 100% Hdmi output, lack of aperture control in video (which will be fixed by next firmware apparently) and lack of 60P in full HD.

Otherwhise, it is a pure gem.