Nikon D600 Review

Overview

Signaling the dawn of the affordable full-frame digital SLR camera, the Nikon D600 features a 24.3-megapixel FX CMOS sensor, an optical viewfinder with ~100% coverage, a 3.2-inch 921K-dot LCD, and dual SD card slots for US$2,100, body-only. It's true, $2,100 isn't exactly cheap, but it's more affordable than the $3,000 Nikon D800, and not much more than the long-in-the-tooth D300S, which cost about $300 less at launch. Shoot with a full-frame SLR and you learn: you really want to shoot full-frame. Is the D600 Nikon's answer for D300S shooters? Don't wait for the D400, upgrade to the D600 now?

For those who thought the D800's 36.3-megapixel sensor was overkill, the Nikon D600 hits the sweet spot. Its 24.3-megapixel sensor covers an extended ISO range from 50 to 25,600. With a pixel-pitch similar to the Nikon D3X, we expect good quality at high ISO settings, and that's one of the primary reasons to spend a little more on a full-frame camera: greater light gathering ability.

If you've been eyeing the D800, much of the D600's specs will seem less-than. But it's important to remember the Nikon D600 was designed to be a little more consumer friendly, leaving off a few features here and there, and including things like Scene modes. Think of the Nikon D600 as a D7000 with a full-frame sensor.

The Nikon D600 is noticeably smaller than a D800, and weighs less as well. Measurements are 5.6 x 4.4 x 3.2 inches, and weight is 26.8 ounces (760g) without lens or battery. Compare that to 5.7 x 4.8 x 3.2 inches and 31.7 ounces (900g) for the D800, and you can see the Nikon D600 is a bit shorter and about five ounces (140g) lighter.

The Nikon D600 still seems tall, probably due to that big, bright pentaprism behind the Nikon logo. Anyone who knows the D7000 will recognize the control layout, particularly the position of the two function buttons, one just right of the grip, the other lower-left of the lens mount (on the pro cameras, these two buttons are inline with one another between the grip and lens mount). By default a Depth-of-field preview button, this latter button can also be programmed to serve other functions. The inclusion of the Sub-command dial on the front indicates this is a prosumer camera. The shiny lens to the right of the shutter button houses the AF-assist lamp. The upper right corner has an infrared port, holes for the microphone, and the flash release button. Down beneath the lens release button is the Focus mode selector, with an AF-mode button in the center.

Unlike the company's consumer SLRs, the Nikon D600 still includes support for legacy lenses, with both a screw drive to handle old, body-driven AF lenses and the Meter coupling lever for reading the aperture settings of even older lenses.

Except for the center lock button, the Nikon D600's Mode dial on the left could be lifted from the D7000, while pro cameras like the D800 and up have a cluster of buttons in this position. Beneath the Mode dial is the Drive mode dial. On the right, the D600's status LCD is a little larger than the D7000's, but the general controls are the same, with the Metering mode and EV-compensation buttons and the Power switch surrounding the Shutter button. What's new is the small Movie Record button tucked just behind the Shutter button.

From the back you get a better view of the Drive mode dial. A press on the far left button releases the dial's lock. Nikon's included one more button left of the LCD, and swapped the others around a bit. Below the 8-way Multi-selector, Nikon's placed the Still/Movie switch and Live view button, borrowing the design from the D800. Info button and speaker are below that, along with the rear infrared port and card access lamp.

Overall it's an interesting admixture of controls from the D800 and D7000, laid out comfortably. The Rear status display seems to have most of what you'd want within easy reach, including quick access to the 39 autofocus points, ISO settings, Resolution and Compression, basic exposure information and battery status, among other things.

Nikon D600 Field Test

by Shawn Barnett

It's confirmed: I love shooting the Nikon D600. I was able to get a few decent shots with the 24-85mm kit lens, the only lens Nikon provided, the night we received our review camera, as well as two ISO series. I didn't have my tripod so a few shots were a little soft, as I relied on posts and rails to stabilize, but so many of the shots were handheld thanks to the D600's very high ISO capability. One series is below; another is in the Gallery.

As I walked around New York, I let the ISO float in Auto mode most of the time, and the Nikon D600 was equal to the challenge.

This scene was darker than it seems here, but I like the result. ISO 25,600 delivered a good shot, and steady handholding combined with IS made a clear image without a tripod. Autofocus also worked as if the scene were daylight.

The lovely parked-bicycle cliche is easy to achieve in NYC; paired with a well-known logo and brand, and reasonable darkness on this street made for a nice contrasty image; again, handheld at 1/50 second.

I like the idea of this large predator bird swooping in to grab a nice yellow treat just off Times Square.

A pair of spires rise above human pairs in Central Park's rowboats.

I came across this bride getting made up for wedding pictures. I'd have popped up the flash for a bit of fill, but didn't want to annoy the actual photographer capturing the moment from a different angle. The raw image would give me plenty of leeway to tweak if I wanted to.

I liked how these branches seemed to grow just right to frame this church steeple, waiting for me to walk by and look up.

I had to chuckle at this couple who rowed to this spot to get away from the crowd of other boaters only to find me and two other people waiting to take their picture. "Say, 'Privacy!'"

I very likely creeped people out crouching here in the shadows, but I wanted to wait for just the right person to come through for an interesting silhouette, and this guy was it. Sadly the couple in the rear is in focus, while my elderly gentleman is slightly out of focus, partially from motion blur. But if you download and adjust the levels, you can see the amount of detail left in the shadows -- even out of focus, it's pretty impressive.

The main reason I show and talk about all these images is I liked how the Nikon D600 let me think about my composition and not the camera. That's the kind of camera it is, and why Nikon made it the way they did. It doesn't have to be complicated to enjoy the fruits of a full-frame digital SLR.

More like the D7000 than the D800, the Nikon D600 is tuned more for the consumer shooter, yet it still offers most of the controls a more serious photographer would want, right out front. Since I tend to shoot cameras in the mode the average target buyers are likely to use, I spent most of my time in Program and Aperture-priority modes, and the Nikon D600 handled most scenes quite well. I like the ease of having dials for Drive and Exposure modes, but it's a little different shooting with the D600 having just come from using the D800. Still, the controls I'd look for on the top deck are instead on the back. It's not as easy to adjust them, because you have to first look at the buttons on the back, then switch to the top deck LCD to make your adjustments, but it becomes second nature after a short time.

As much as I like the D7000, the Nikon D600 stands out as a great intermediate photographer's tool. It has the same versatility as the D7000, but with a larger body, a larger sensor, and that big, beautiful viewfinder. Mirror blackout time is fast, allowing a quick return to your subject, which is very important to me, especially when I'm working on portraits.

But enough of what I think, let's read what Andrew Alexander, our SLRgear editor and pro Nikon shooter, thought of the D600.

Nikon D600 Field Test

by Andrew Alexander

I had the opportunity to shoot with the Nikon D600 for just over a week in a combination of casual and professional shooting. The D600 is Nikon's entry-level FX (full-frame) digital camera. As such it has many features that attempt to make shooting simpler for the average user. At its most basic level, the D600 offers a basic Auto mode, which lets the camera take care of absolutely everything. For the more discriminating user, there are 19 scene modes: everything from basic Portrait and Landscape modes, to Autumn Colors, Food and Party mode, allowing the user to tailor the D600's settings to a particular event. More advanced users will be accustomed to Nikon's professional shootings modes (Program / Aperture Priority / Shutter Priority / Manual).

Design. The Nikon D600 takes some of its design features from the Nikon D800 and others from the Nikon D7000, with a few alterations. Nikon is still making up its mind regarding the placement of buttons, and this lack of consistency may confuse people who use different camera bodies on a shoot.

D600	D800	D7000	D4
Button, Button... Who's got the button? Nikon can't seem to make up its mind just where their high-end DSLR buttons should go.

The function buttons mounted on the front of the camera are useful in theory, but it's a challenge for me to stretch my pinky finger to consistently hit the lower one. The D3 and D4 series have this secondary function button placed within perfect reach of my ring finger; why can't the D600? The mode selector dial was apparently a problem on the D7000 (nothing would stop it from accidentally rotating), so while the D600 has borrowed the same design, it's improved upon it by adding a release button which you must depress to turn the dial. This design works well, and otherwise, the layout is the same as the D7000.

One unfortunate omission is that the OK button in the center of the multi-selector is not user-configurable in playback mode. (In shooting mode, it selects the center focus mode by default, but can be programmed to highlight the active focus point, or do nothing at all.) In more expensive models, you can choose what happens in image review mode when you press this button: for example, the button can be set to give me 100% magnification, so one can quickly review focus (or lack thereof). In the D600, it helpfully brings me to the Image Retouching mode, and there is no option to change it to do anything else.

Despite these criticisms, I really enjoyed the feel of the D600: it's light and rests easily in my hand. When I used the camera, a battery grip wasn't yet available, and I would certainly welcome one, both for the extra battery life and the vertical grip.

Live view - the story continues. Nikon continues to change its mind on how it implements Live view. Live view was first introduced on the shooting mode dial of the D3. The function was then given its own dedicated button press in the D3s; the D90 changed this function to use a twist-to-activate design, which has been present in every model up to the D7000. The Nikon D600 changes it back again: a small switch lets you select between Movie Live View mode and Live View photography mode, and the button surrounded by this switch puts the camera into Live View mode.

Live view implementation on the Nikon D600 is still a bit clunky. Try taking a photo in Movie mode, for example, and the camera will exit Live view, focus, take the photo, and re-enter movie mode. Once you do it a few times you figure it out. I especially like the dedicated movie shooting button near the regular shutter release, as it feels a bit more intuitive there.

A moving vehicle, such as this speedy UPS truck, is a good torture test for a camera's AF system. In this case I was using the 3D AF-tracking in continuous autofocus. The D600 passes this test: My target was the UPS logo on the side of the truck, which the camera held in focus in every shot, even though an SUV obscured it briefly (it's a little soft at the end).

Speedy and responsive. In general, I was very impressed with the performance of the D600. I use a Nikon D3 for my day-to-day shooting, and have also shot with D3s, D3x and D700 camera bodies. The D600 represents something of a panacea for many Nikon shooters: 24 megapixels in an affordable D700-style body. All Nikon bodies in the prosumer and professional range are shooting-priority cameras; pressing the shutter button will always take the camera out of whatever menu or setting you are currently looking at and strive to take a photograph. The camera also turns on very quickly, with no delay. It is ready to shoot when you are.

I had imagined that Nikon might have cut a corner or two to make the D600 more economical, and that it might not be as responsive as its professional siblings. I was surprised it was as responsive as my D3 in everyday use, having no trouble quickly acquiring focus and metering very accurately.

Still, it's hard to make a camera at this price point without some compromises, and there were a few points where I encountered some sluggishness. Zooming in with the Live view mode selected to a magnification greater than 100% resulted in a noticeable drop in performance (the image being viewed seems to slow down). Also, using the D600 with a slower SD card (Nikon recommends a class 10 card) can produce some sluggishness: Reviewing photographs as the buffer is being written out essentially locks up the camera in this case. When using a class 10 card, the delay is miniscule. Very occasionally, calling up the menu would result in a delay of a second or two before it appeared, though this was something I could not reproduce on a regular basis. While none of these situations is a deal-breaker, it is worth noting.

Sync speed slow? One point that has been remarked upon is the sync speed of the Nikon D600: it's slower than its brethren, at 1/200 of a second. While I may long for the days of the D70, with its 1/500 of a second sync speed, I certainly didn't find an occasion in or out of the studio where a little more power or the use of FP mode didn't see me through. If I really needed the extra speed, I probably needed more camera, such as the D800.

Quiet shutter. I shoot a lot of theater, so one of the first things that surprised me was how quiet the shutter was in comparison to other cameras I shoot with. While this may mean that the shutter is not as durable as more pro-level camera bodies (the D600 is rated for 100,000 cycles), it was very useful for shooting in a theater where you don't necessarily want to be heard.

ISO Auto perfected. Nikon has had an automatic ISO selection mode available in its cameras all the way back to the D100, and has made refinements to the operation of that mode ever since. It's not a mode I usually employed because I found I didn't always agree with the choice the camera made, however, I'm pleased to report that the D600 has added some excellent improvements to the ISO Auto mode.

The first is that a button-plus-dial combination now allows you to turn ISO Auto on and off rather than having to do so from the camera menu. Specifically, you can press the ISO button to the left of the LCD and rotate the sub-command dial to accomplish this. This is an extremely welcome change because it allows the shooter to enable or disable automatic ISO selection without having to remove the eye from the viewfinder.

The second improvement is that in addition to allowing the shooter to select the minimum shutter speed the camera will seek to use, Nikon has added an "AUTO" setting. This setting is a long overdue implementation of the "one over focal length" rule of thumb. If you're not familiar with this shooting suggestion, it basically provides that in order to ensure you get a sharp image, you should choose a shutter speed that is the inverse of the focal length you're shooting with. So if you're shooting with a 200mm lens, you should select a shutter speed of at least 1/200 of a second. Nikon's AUTO mode in ISO-Auto does just this, as long as you're using a CPU-enabled lens, or have entered the focal length information for a non-CPU lens. Nikon even allows for users to fine-tune the auto setting: if you find you need to shoot with a slightly faster shutter speed to get sharp images, you can dial this in.

The updated Auto ISO function works perfectly in this case, allowing me to choose the f/5.6 aperture and not have to worry about shutter speed or ISO. The camera chooses 1/200s because that's the focal length, and ISO 2,500 because that's what's required for proper exposure (there's slight motion blur, but not bad).

A load on the buffer. It's worth noting that using ISO-Auto, or in fact many of the camera's shooting menu options such as auto distortion control, vignetting control, D-Lighting, High-ISO Noise Reduction, et cetera, can reduce the number of images you can shoot in a continuous burst:

This number just shows what the camera reports as the available number of shots before shooting begins: the speed of the card you're using greatly influences what will actually be the case. When I used a class 10 SDHC card, the buffer said I would only get nine shots, but I actually got around 15 shots before there was any kind of shooting slow down.

High Dynamic Range. Generally, a camera is only so successful in its ability to record a scene which has both very bright and very dark elements: one of those two will get left behind. To get around this limitation, the Nikon D600 has a new mode for High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, taking two photographs at slightly different exposures, and merging them together. The HDR mode function allows the shooter to select the range of exposure to be captured (from one to three stops of difference, or AUTO, which lets the camera decide based on the scene), and whether it's just the next photograph that will be in HDR mode (single photo) or all subsequent photographs (series). You can also select the amount of smoothing the camera will use when blending the two images together - High, Normal, or Low.

It's not clear which of the shooting variables (aperture, shutter speed or ISO sensitivity) the D600 is changing between exposures, so HDR purists may stick to tried-and-true methods rather than using the built-in HDR mode. The results are fairly compelling, though: Even without a tripod, I captured some striking images.

Movie Live View mode. Nikon was late to the party putting Full HD video on DSLR cameras, and it continues to try to make up for lost time. The D600 adds many important features that have been lacking in previous models, and for the first time we see a camera that might actually give Canon's indie filmmaker favorite, the 5D mark II, a run for its money. Movies can be recorded at Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format, with either a 24Mbps or 12Mbps bitrate, depending on the level of quality chosen.

The actual implementation of Movie recording seems a bit hard-wired, and it's not clear if it is for technical reasons or to keep from cannibalizing D800 sales. For example, you can't change the lens aperture during movie recording; however, you can change shutter speed and ISO sensitivity (the D800 has no such limitation). You can change aperture during Live view photography mode.

My optimistic view of this implementation is that Nikon wants to simplify the experience for its D600 users. That said, older AI/AIS lenses have absolutely no problem adjusting aperture during movie recording (you just turn the aperture ring); newer AF lenses won't work this way, they produce an "EE" error.

Nikon has also improved its audio recording in the D600. The first important change is that the D600 now includes a 3.5mm audio output jack, which can be used to attach headphones for monitoring audio quality. Until now, if you wanted to check sound, you had to shoot a clip, then remove the memory card and play it back on a computer. Or, you could take your chances by listening to the tinny mono speaker.

Nikon has also added some on-screen audio levels in two important locations. The first is during movie recording, which is useful, and these levels show red warning points if the audio is too hot. However, there is no in-camera way to adjust the volume during recording: you have to stop recording, and adjust.

The second place audio levels show up is in the Movie Settings selection of the Shooting Menu. The shooter can adjust how loud or quiet the recorded sound will be, either automatically (where the camera will boost the volume in quiet settings, and reduce it in loud settings), or on a scale from 1 to 20 to fine-tune based on the camera's environment. There is no indication of what this scale actually represents, but it is nice to have, so you can see exactly what level of sound you are about to record.

The Nikon D600 includes an HDMI video output, and the LCD will continue to display when an HDMI device is attached. Unfortunately, composite video is no longer supported, so if you want to use an external video monitor, it will have to be HDMI.

Visit our Nikon D600 Video page for sample videos and more details.

Appraisal. The best part of the Nikon D600 is that at its core, it is an excellent still-image camera, with an impressive number of extra features built-in; the 24-megapixel full-frame imager is the primary reason for getting this camera, and the image quality does not disappoint. Using a high ISO setting used to mean that you would roll up your sleeves after capture and salvage what you could with noise reduction software. While the D600 may not match the ultra-clean images produced by the D3s or D4 cameras at high ISO settings, its images are very good indeed. And if you don't need to push the sensitivity, you are rewarded with ultra-clean, huge images. With 24 megapixels, you can print a massive 13 x 19-inch image without any resizing.

By choosing a price point of just over US$2,000, Nikon has signaled that they want to move a lot of these cameras; and indeed, most of the Nikon photographers I know who had been waiting for an entry-level full-frame camera have lined up to buy one. Sometimes, bigger, better and faster comes with a compromise, but in this case, the D600 delivers - and does so at an extremely reasonable price.

Nikon D600 Technical Info

by Mike Tomkins

The D600 digital SLR is based around a newly-developed 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor. (That's FX-format in Nikon parlance.) Effective resolution is 24.3 megapixels. It can also operate at 10.5 megapixels with an APS-C crop (aka DX-format.) Nikon says that the new chip has a similar pixel pitch to that used in the professional D3X SLR, along with a broad dynamic range and high signal-to-noise ratio.	Above, the full sensor assembly is shown. Nikon notes that it has chosen an optical low-pass filter that optimizes sharpness for HD video. (More on that later.) Output from the new FX-format sensor is handled by Nikon's proprietary EXPEED 3 image processor. Together the combination provides 5.5 fps burst shooting for full-res JPEGs or raw files. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 to 6,400 equivalents, expandable to a range of ISO 50 to 25,600 equivalents.
The Nikon D600's construction consists of magnesium alloy top and rear panels, as well as in the handgrip of the optional portrait grip, with plastic elsewhere. The D600 is said to feature moisture and dust-resistant seals and gaskets throughout, providing a similar degree of weather sealing to that offered by the D800.
The Nikon D600 provides a Nikon F-mount with autofocus coupling and electrical contacts. As you'd expect, it's compatible with almost every F-mount lens made since 1977. (Currently, there are over sixty lenses in the system; over 70 million F-mount lenses have now been sold worldwide.) Note that some lens types will have a few limitations with regard to availability of individual focus, metering, and exposure modes.
The Nikon D600's eye-level pentaprism viewfinder has ~0.7x magnification, and an eyepoint of 20.6mm. In FX-format mode, coverage is approximately 100% horizontally and vertically. For DX-format shooting, a framing guide indicates the active area with 97% coverage on both axes. A diopter adjustment provides correction from -3 to +1 m-1.	On the rear panel of the Nikon D600 is an LCD panel with a 3.2-inch diagonal, wide viewing angles, and a total resolution of 921,600 dots. (That works out to be a 640 x 480 array, with each pixel comprised of separate red, green, and blue dots.) Based on the size and resolution, it's likely the same panel featured in the Nikon D4 and D800, in which case the H/V viewing angles are 170 degrees.
Of course, no enthusiast DSLR worth its salt relies on a color LCD alone. The D600 is no different, with a roomy, backlit monochrome status LCD that helps you quickly confirm settings without wasting battery life on the main panel.
The Nikon D600 features a 39-point, wide-area phase detection autofocus system, of which nine points feature cross-type sensors, sensitive to both horizontal and vertical detail. Seven of these points at the center of the frame work all the way down to f/8, allowing use with teleconverters and longer lenses. When using live view mode, full-time contrast detection autofocus is used for both still and video imaging.	As well as the Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, and Manual exposure modes that are the go-to options for enthusiasts and pros, the Nikon D600 also offers consumer-friendly Auto and Scene modes. There's also a Flash Off Auto mode, and two User modes that save settings groups for quick recall. Beneath the locking Mode dial is a locking Drive mode dial, which offers a choice of Single, Continuous Low / High, Quiet Shutter Release, Timer, Remote, and Mirror-up modes.
The D600 features Nikon's 3D color matrix metering II exposure metering system, operating on data from a dedicated 2,016 pixel RGB sensor. The system has a working range of 0 to 20 EV. If not supported by the lens, this falls back to color matrix metering II, and both center-weighted (75% weight for 8mm circle) and spot (4mm circle) modes are available. Exposure compensation is available within a range of +/- 5.0 EV, in steps of 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV. In addition, you can bracket either two or three frames, in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 or 2 EV.
The shutter mechanism Nikon has selected for the D600 DSLR has a rated lifetime of approximately 150,000 cycles. Available shutter speeds range from 1/4,000 to 30 sec., plus a bulb mode.	Although it's aimed at enthusiast use, the Nikon D600 does include a popup flash, and it supports wireless Commander mode. It's a worthwhile addition--sure, external or off-camera flash is better, but we can't all carry a full camera bag everywhere we go.
The built-in flash's Guide Number is 39 feet (12m) at ISO 100. There's still a hot shoe on top of the viewfinder prism, of course. The Nikon D600 does lack a PC sync terminal, but that's easily solved with a hot shoe adapter, if you're a studio photographer. Flash exposures are determined using i-TTL metering, and -3 to +1 EV of flash exposure compensation is available. You can also bracket flash exposures with either two or three frames, in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 or 2 EV. X-sync is at 1/200 second.	The Nikon D600 is, says the company, capable of shooting cinema-quality video. Capture is possible at either Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) or 720p (1,280 x 720) pixel resolution. At Full HD, you can choose from frame rates of 30, 25, or 24 fps. For 720p, meanwhile, rates of 60, 50, 30, or 25 fps are on offer. Bit rate choices are 24Mbps, or 12Mbps at 1080p with 720p adding an 8Mbps option, and you can shoot in FX- or DX-format at either resolution. Full manual exposure control is possible, so you can tweak aperture, shutter speed and ISO to match your creative vision.
The Nikon D600 includes the company's Scene Recognition System, which takes information from the 3D color matrix metering II system and compares what it sees in the image to a database of 30,000 photos. Details on similar images in the database are then used when determining focus, exposure, i-TTL flash exposure, and white balance, allowing the Nikon D600 to make better decisions overall. The D600 also includes other features you'd expect in a modern Nikon DSLR, such as Active D-Lighting and two-shot in-camera HDR.
Video capture is started and stopped with a dedicated Movie button, or you can also do so from a remote cable release. Videos are recorded in a .MOV container with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression. The D600 also lets you output uncompressed video via the HDMI port, helpful if you prefer to record on an external device. Should you choose to do so, it's possible to have both the LCD panel and HDMI port active at the same time, letting you frame from the camera.	Audio is taken from a built-in monaural microphone, or an external stereo microphone, plugged into a 3.5mm jack on the left side of the camera body. There's also another jack into which you can attach a pair of headphones, letting you monitor audio levels. You can adjust levels with a fairly fine-grained twenty-step control, and the Nikon D600 provides a levels display with peak audio indication to help you in making your adjustment. The audio portion of your videos is stored as Linear PCM.
The Nikon D600 caters to storage with dual Secure Digital card slots, located in the right side of the hand grip. Both slots are compatible with the higher-capacity SDHC and SDXC card types, as well as the higher-speed UHS-I types.	Connectivity options include USB 2.0 data and Type-C mini HDMI video, 3.5mm mic and headphone jacks, and an accessory terminal. The latter is compatible with Nikon's MC-DC2 remote cord, as well as the GP-1 GPS unit. You can also use the ML-L3 infrared remote.
Among the accessory options for the Nikon D600 are two new choices: the WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapter, and UT-1 Communications Unit. Both devices attach via USB on the left side of the Nikon D600's body. The WU-1b is a tiny dongle, where the UT-1 is a taller and has its own power source. The WU-1b lets you transfer photos and video from storage (or at capture time) to your smartphone or tablet via 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Android 2.3+ smartphones, Android 3.0+ tablets, and iOS 5.1+ smartphones are supported. The WU-1b shipped September 18, priced at a very reasonable US$60, making it a no-brainer to accompany your camera.	The UT-1, meanwhile, lets you connect to the D600, D4, D800, D800E, or D7000 over ethernet networks, or via WiFi through the WT-5a wireless transmitter. Images and video can be sent at capture time or manually from a memory card, via FTP. You can also control many camera functions such as exposure mode, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, and shutter remotely, and even view a live preview, using Camera Control Pro 2. The UT-1 can be purchased separately or in a bundle with the wireless transmitter, and it mounts on the D600's accessory shoe. The UT-1 shipped from late October, priced at US$470 alone, or US$1,300 with WT-5a wireless transmitter.
The D600 draws power from a proprietary EN-EL15 lithium ion battery pack, as used by the D7000, D800, and D800E SLRs, as well as the V1 compact system camera. Battery life is rated at around 900 shots, to CIPA testing standards. The optional MB-D14 battery grip doubles battery life when using another EN-EL15, or you can use six Ni-MH, Alkaline or Lithium AA batteries. There's no DC input jack on the body, but an optional EP-5B dummy battery adapter is available for about US$56 to connect to an optional EP-5b AC adapter (US$118).	The Nikon D600 is available in the US market from September 18, priced at about US$2,100 body-only, which includes an EN-EL15 battery pack and MH-25 quick charger. A kit including AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens is priced at US$2,700, a premium of US$600 over the body-only price. The MB-D14 battery grip which is equipped with a shutter-release button, AE/AF lock button, multi selector, and main- and sub-command dials, costs a curiously specific US$322.

Nikon D600 Image Quality Comparison

Below are crops comparing the Nikon D600, Nikon D800, Nikon D3X, Canon 5D Mark III, Sony A99 and Sony NEX-7.

NOTE: These images are best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction. All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D800 at ISO 100

Nikon D600 at ISO 100	Nikon D800 at ISO 100
The Nikon D600 obviously isn't quite equal to its 36.3-megapixel brother, but it still does a nice job. It happens, though, that our dreaded red leaf swatch is troublesome for a different reason, as a moiré pattern appears in the fabric, thanks to the threads in the fabric itself. You can see these threads in the Nikon D800 image. It seems to become more noticeable as ISO rises, but it's limited to this fabric swatch among all the elements in this shot.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D3X at ISO 100

Nikon D600 at ISO 100	Nikon D3X at ISO 100
The Nikon D3X turns out a similar image to the D600, but without the moiré.

Nikon D600 versus Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 100

Nikon D600 at ISO 100	Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 100
Bright sharpening halos are immediately evident in the 5D Mark III's images when compared to the D600, and the D600 also gets the red leaf swatch a little sharper. Its representation of the pink swatch is also more accurate color-wise.

Nikon D600 versus Sony A99 at ISO 100

Nikon D600 at ISO 100	Sony A99 at ISO 100
The Sony A99's image is a little softer than the D600. However, despite the nearly identical resolution, the Sony shows no signs of moiré in the red leaf swatch.

Nikon D600 versus Sony NEX-7 at ISO 100

Nikon D600 at ISO 100	Sony NEX-7 at ISO 100
The smaller APS-C 24-megapixel Sony NEX-7 does quite well against the D600, looking nearly the same, but the D600 gets the pink swatch closer to accurate.

Most digital SLRs and CSCs will produce an excellent ISO 100 shot, so we like to push them and see what they can do compared to other cameras at ISO 1,600, 3,200, and 6,400. Recent advances in sensor technology have made ISO 1,600 look a lot more like ISO 100, but there are still cameras whose quality starts to fall apart at this setting. We also choose 1,600 because we like to be able to shoot at least at this level when indoors and at night.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D800 at ISO 1,600

Nikon D600 at ISO 1,600	Nikon D800 at ISO 1,600
The colors that appear between the tiles of the mosaic image are actually there, left over from the offset printing process, so the Nikon D600 does a good job of capturing those elements. The pink swatch and red leaf swatch ar brighter and more accurate. Only a little chroma noise appears in the shadows behind the bottle, though it's a little more prominent in the D600's image.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D3X at ISO 1,600

Nikon D600 at ISO 1,600	Nikon D3X at ISO 1,600
The Nikon D600 maintains slightly better contrast in the mosaic image and perhaps a less artificial look in the red leaf swatch; but the D3x's image is preferable for its lack of moiré.

Nikon D600 versus Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 1,600

Nikon D600 at ISO 1,600	Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 1,600
It almost looks like we swapped the bottom image here, but it's true to form for Nikon: they are able to take a more balanced approach to noise suppression across all image elements, while Canon applies more noise suppression to some areas than others, and they also sharpen more aggressively. Thus the sharp mosaic image and soft red leaf swatch from the 5D Mark III.

Nikon D600 versus Sony A99 at ISO 1,600

Nikon D600 at ISO 1,600	Sony A99 at ISO 1,600
The Sony A99's noise suppression kicks in pretty strongly in the mosaic image, as well as in the red leaf swatch, softening detail. The pink swatch is not only soft, but appears artificial.

Nikon D600 versus Sony NEX-7 at ISO 1,600

Nikon D600 at ISO 1,600	Sony NEX-7 at ISO 1,600
Thanks to its smaller sensor size, the NEX-7 exhibits even more anti-noise processing than the A99, particularly in the shadows and the red-leaf swatch.

Today's ISO 3,200 is yesterday's ISO 1,600 (well, almost), so below are the same crops at ISO 3,200.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D800 at ISO 3,200

Nikon D600 at ISO 3,200	Nikon D800 at ISO 3,200
Noise patterns are similar between the two cameras, and though the detail seems a bit more crisp from the D600 the D800 puts a whole lot more pixels on the job. The D800 also still shows hints of the threads in the red leaf swatch as well.

Nikon D600 versus Nikon D3X at ISO 3,200

Nikon D600 at ISO 3,200	Nikon D3X at ISO 3,200
The Nikon D3X's shadows are very clean at 3,200, but the red leaf swatch loses detail by comparison.

Nikon D600 versus Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 3,200

Nikon D600 at ISO 3,200	Canon 5D Mark III at ISO 3,200
Nikon's approach is again more even than Canon's, and the red leaf swatch detail is noticeably better. Even the moiré is less apparent.

Nikon D600 versus Sony A99 at ISO 3,200

Nikon D600 at ISO 3,200	Sony A99 at ISO 3,200
Sony's noise suppression works a little harder, cleaning up chroma noise in the shadows that the D600 misses, but it also obliterates detail the D600 retains, which is preferable.

Nikon D600 versus Sony NEX-7 at ISO 3,200

Nikon D600 at ISO 3,200	Sony NEX-7 at ISO 3,200
The NEX-7 does still more processing, and loses proper color compared to the D600, which looks pretty good.

Detail: Nikon D600 versus Nikon D800, Nikon D3X, Canon 5D Mark III, Sony A99, and Sony NEX-7

Nikon D600 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Nikon D800 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Nikon D3X ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Canon 5D Mk III ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Sony A99 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Sony NEX-7 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400
Detail comparison. High-contrast details are often sharper as ISO rises, so they're worth a look as well. About on par with other full-frame cameras in contention, the Nikon D600 does very well as ISO rises. Contrast reduces along the way, but not badly, and the D600 avoids the heavy sharpening we see from the 5D Mark III and A99.

Nikon D600 Print Quality

Excellent 30 x 40 inch prints from ISO 50 to 400; ISO 6,400 images look good at 11 x 14; and ISO 25,600 images make a good 5 x 7.

ISOs 50/100/200 images look excellent at 30 x 40 inches, with a very natural appearance all around. These also make for great wall display prints up to 40 x 60 inches.

ISO 400 also looks great at 30 x 40, nice color, great detail, no sign of noise or noise suppression artifacts.

ISO 800 images show a very slight hint of luminance noise in the shadows at 24 x 36, but if you didn't see the lower-ISO images you'd never notice. Amazing print size for this ISO.

ISO 1,600 shots show a slight pattern of both luminance and chrominance noise in the shadows, but you have to look closely to make it out, even at 20 x 30 inches. A strange moiré pattern becomes stronger in the red leaf swatch, likely due to the sub-pixels picking up the fabric pattern at this resolution. 16 x 20 is quite good here.

ISO 3,200 shots at 16 x 20 inches start to show a light grain pattern in the shadows. Close inspection also reveals light chrominance noise in the gold and yellow bottles of our Still Life target, mostly speckles of red and green. 13 x 19s are very good here.

ISO 6,400 images are amazingly good at 11 x 14. Again, this is quite high for ISO 6400!

ISO 12,800 prints have slightly pumped color and a louder grain pattern, but the resulting prints still look good at 8 x 10 inches.

ISO 25,600 prints are a bit rough at 8 x 10, but look quite good at 5 x 7.

The Nikon D600 turns in a very good performance, with even application of noise suppression across all elements. There is a slight trace of moiré in the red leaf swatch, which suggests Nikon used a weaker low pass filter, but it also handles that swatch as good or better than most of the cameras we have tested (many of which tend to render it as soft).  With a full-frame sensor at a price point well below most others, the D600 turns in an amazingly strong performance in the image quality department.

Nikon D600 Dust Issue

In the course of our regular and lab shooting, we found the same dust reported elsewhere on the Web, with primarily dark flecks of dust appearing in the upper left corner of images. Having shot well over 1,000 images, we cleaned the sensor with the Copper Hill Wet/Dry Kit (our attempts to blow off the dust with a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster had little effect), and shot a few hundred more. What appeared after that looked more like drops of oil than dust or paint. They were concentrated on the left side, with a smaller cluster on the right, as you can see in the image below, whose levels were adjusted to reveal the dust more clearly (to see the unmodified image, see image YDSC_5416.JPG).

As has been reported elsewhere, we suspect the issue will go away over time. It's a shame that this mars the image of an otherwise good camera, but it appears to be a real issue that will face most Nikon D600 owners: You'll have to clean the sensor a little more often than the average digital SLR, so be sure to learn how to clean your sensor. It's important to remember that every digital SLR will collect dust over time. Because this issue seems to involve oil as well as possible paint flecks, we recommend a wet cleaning to get it all removed. The Copper Hill Wet/Dry kit works pretty well.

In the Box

The retail package contains the following items:

• Nikon D600 body
• Nikkor AF-S 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens if bought as a kit
• Lithium-ion battery 7v 1900mAh EN-EL15
• Quick charger MH-25
• USB cable UC-E15
• LCD monitor cover BM-14
• Rubber Eyecup DK-21
• Strap AN-DC8
• Eyepiece Shield DK-5
• Body Cap BF-1B
• Hot-Shoe Cover BS-1
• Nikon ViewNX 2 CD-ROM

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity SDHC/SDHX memory card. These days, 8GB is a good tradeoff between cost and capacity, but if you plan to capture many movie clips, 16GB Class 6 should be a minimum. We recommend a UHS-I compliant card for best burst-mode performance.
• Camera case
• Some sharp lenses
• Accessory flash
• Extra EN-EL15 battery
• MB-D14 Battery grip

Nikon D600 Conclusion

Put simply, the Nikon D600 is very much like a D7000 with a full-frame sensor. Nikon drew on the extremely popular design when building the D600. Its 24.3-megapixel sensor was the first available for under $2,100 body-only, followed closely by the Canon 6D's 20.2-megapixel design for the same price. Since many balked at the D800's 36.3-megapixel sensor, it makes good sense for Nikon's consumer FX camera to stick with 24.3.

Smaller and lighter than the D800 and D700, the Nikon D600 is still bigger than a D7000. It's hard to hide that large, bright pentaprism without adding a bit of height. The D600 is wider too, but it has great heft and a good grip. Controls are well-placed for the D7000 upgrader too, with only a few additional buttons and control substitutions. The Movie Record button on top and a new Still/Movie switch are the main changes.

Just like the D7000, shooting with the Nikon D600 is just plain fun. Straightforward design, a big bright viewfinder, responsive AF and a quiet shutter all add up to a great experience, one where the camera gets out of the way and you can focus on composition.

Shooting in low light was even easier than expected, producing well-balanced images in most circumstances. Daylight shooting was just as easy: Shooting in Program and Aperture priority yielded great results, and any tweaks needed to make were just a button or dial away, usually without having to dig into the menus.

A few button positions frustrated our pro reviewer, particularly the second Function button, which was out of reach compared to the same button on his pro Nikons. The recent change to Live view control is also a little irritating, but that's more for reviewers to lament than a camera owner. It becomes important, though, if you'll be working with both cameras, as many advanced shooters do. Flash shooters like the Strobist also lamented the lower X-sync speed of 1/200 second. It's a legitimate concern, and those interested in faster flash sync speeds should save a little longer for a D800.

But by far the biggest problem with the D600 is this dust and oil issue that also affected our review unit. Widely reported on the Internet, it seems the shutter mechanism is splattering the sensor with oil, and perhaps paint is even peeling off and joining the oil to prevent the D600's dust-reduction system from removing the spots. Nikon has acknowledged the issue, but no fix is yet available. The problem seems to abate after a few thousand shutter actuations, so there's hope. The dust and oil we've seen is light and not particularly noticeable in most images. We had to enhance our images to show the spots, but results vary. It's quite likely most D600 owners will do well to learn how to clean their sensors.

On the video front, the Nikon D600 offers a lot more features than its predecessors, including Full HD, full manual exposure, manual audio level control, external mic jack, and a headphone jack for monitoring the audio, great news for videographers. We were a little disappointed with the moiré and aliasing artifacts thanks to a weak low-pass filtering algorithm in the video engine, but we're also seeing similar artifacts from other cameras. We liked having full control over exposure, as well as so many frame rate options. Even cooler was the ability to save single frames from video as a JPEG. See our video page for more on the D600's video capabilities.

Overall, though, our experience with the Nikon D600 was quite positive. It's an excellent digital SLR with plenty of years of Nikon engineering in its design, and it shows. We have no trouble recommending it highly, making it a Dave's Pick!

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Optics

Below are the results of our optical tests with the Nikon D600 and the bundled optional Nikkor AF-S 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G VR kit lens. The test images shown on most other pages of this review were taken with very sharp references lenses, so we use this page to explore kit lens quality.

Lens Test Results

Zoom
A 3.5x wide-angle zoom, with average performance.

The Nikon D600 is available bundled with a Nikkor AF-S 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G VR "kit" lens. This optically stabilized lens possesses an optical zoom ratio of about 3.5x, and because the D600 has a full-frame sensor, there's no conversion to 35mm equivalent required.

Sharpness and contrast at wide-angle are pretty good at f/8 across much of the frame, though corners are a bit soft. Chromatic aberration isn't an issue since the camera suppresses it (see below), however some flare is visible around the building's white surfaces. Sharpness and contrast at the 85mm setting are also good at f/8 over most of the frame, and the camera continues to do a good job suppressing chromatic aberration. See below for comments on macro, geometric distortion, performance wide-open, chromatic aberration, etc.

Macro
An large minimum coverage area, with soft detail. Flash throttled down well.

As with zoom performance, the Nikon D600's macro performance will depend entirely on the lens mounted. However with the 24-85mm kit lens set to 85mm, the D600 captured a large minimum area measuring 5.92 x 3.95 inches (150 x 100 millimeters). Detail is soft in the center at f/8, with additional softness in the corners. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances.) The flash did a very good job throttling down, resulting in a good exposure. The flash also had no trouble clearing the lens as there is no detectable shadow, though coverage is a little uneven with the corners of the image a little dimmer than the rest.

Geometric Distortion
Higher than average geometric distortion at wide-angle and telephoto.

Barrel distortion at 24mm is 1.1 percent

Pincushion distortion at 85mm is 1.0 percent

The Nikon D600's 24-85mm kit lens produced about 1.1 percent barrel distortion at wide-angle, which is higher than average and noticeable in some of its images. At the telephoto end, there's about 1.0% pincushion distortion, also higher than average and quite noticeable. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

Note that the Nikon D600 offers automatic Distortion Correction. See below for details.

Chromatic Aberration, Corner Sharpness & Vignetting
Low levels of C.A. (the camera suppresses it). The lens produces some pretty soft corners.

Aperture: maximum
24mm@f/3.5: Upper left C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Moderate blurring	24mm@f/3.5: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp
85mm@f/4.5: Lower right C.A.: Low Softness: Slight blurring	85mm@f/4.5: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

Chromatic Aberration. Chromatic aberration in the corners with the D600's 24-85mm kit lens at wide-angle (24mm) is moderately low at wide-angle with just minor magenta fringing, and the center of the image shows very little C.A. The camera does a pretty good job at suppressing much of the lateral C.A. produced by the lens (see below). At full telephoto (85mm), C.A. is low in the corners, and very low in the center.

Corner Softness. Wide-open at full wide-angle, the 24-85mm lens that came with our D600 is moderately soft in the left corners, with the upper left corner being the softest. Softness extends pretty far into the frame as well. The right corners are a little sharper, and the center of the image is fairly sharp, with good contrast. At full telephoto, all four corners are a little sharper than at wide-angle, and the center is reasonably sharp though contrast is lower.

Vignetting. Some moderate vignetting (corner shading) is noticeable at full wide-angle despite Vignette Control being active (see below), as indicated by the darker corner crop. At full telephoto, vignetting is again noticeable.

Aperture: f/8
24mm@f/8: Upper left C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Moderate blurring	24mm@f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Sharp
85mm@f/8: Lower right C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Minor blurring	85mm@f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

"Stopped-down" to f/8, corner sharpness at wide-angle improves compared to wide-open at f/3.5, though some corners are still a bit soft. At full telephoto, sharpness improves when stopped down to f/8, but results still aren't tack sharp. At both ends, vignetting improves noticeably.

Lens Corrections

The Nikon D600 includes the ability to automatically correct or reduce geometric distortion, chromatic aberration, and lens shading (vignetting), as JPEG images are captured. Raw files are not corrected, but are tagged for correction by a compatible raw converter. Movies are not corrected.

Geometric Distortion

Barrel distortion at 24mm is 0.6 percent

Pincushion distortion at 85mm is 0.1 percent

Above, you can see with Auto Distortion Correction enabled, the kit lens shows significantly less distortion (+0.6% at wide-angle, -0.1% at telephoto) than with it disabled (+1.1% at wide-angle, -1.0% at telephoto), though extreme edges are cropped away in the process. The default Auto Distortion Correction setting is Off.

Chromatic Aberration

In-camera JPEG	Uncorrected Raw
24mm@f/3.5: Upper right C.A.: Moderately low	24mm@f/3.5: Upper right C.A.: Higher and brighter
85mm@f/5.6: Upper right C.A.: Low	85mm@f/5.6: Upper right C.A.: Also low

Above, you can see significantly higher lateral Chromatic Aberration at wide-angle in uncorrected raw files, though the difference at telephoto is less dramatic because C.A. is fairly low at telephoto to begin with. Chromatic Aberration correction is automatic with no option to turn it off.

Lens Shading

[email protected]
Normal	Off

The Nikon D600 offers three levels of Vignette Control: Low, Normal, High, plus Off. Mouse-over the links above to see the difference the Normal setting makes at wide-angle when wide-open at f/3.5 (the worst-case scenario for most lenses). As you can see, corners are brightened without affecting brightness at the center. Vignette Control does not apply to multiple-exposures or DX-format images, and may increase the appearance of noise in corners. The default setting is Normal.

Overall, about average performance on the Nikon D600, though quite respectable for its $600 list price especially with the D600's lens corrections applied. You can see more detailed test results from another copy on our sister site: SLRgear.com.

If you can afford it, Nikon's excellent AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G will likely perform noticeably better on a high-resolution body like the D600, but it isn't stabilized.

Nikon D600 Viewfinder

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Very good accuracy with the optical viewfinder and LCD monitor in Live View mode.

The Nikon D600's optical viewfinder proved quite accurate, with just under 99% coverage when tested with our Sigma 70mm f/2.8 reference lens. The camera's Live View LCD mode is a little loose, with just over 100% coverage in our measurements. Still, very good performance.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Nikon D600 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Good color and accurate saturation.

ISO Sensitivity
50	100	200	400	800
1600	3200	6400	12800	25600
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links to compare ISOs and click for larger versions.

Saturation. The Nikon D600 pushes dark blues and some darker greens moderately, but undersaturates yellow, light green, and cyan tones slightly. Overall, saturation levels are quite accurate, only 6.1% oversaturated at ISO 100, which is lower than the ~10% boost we see from most SLRs. The D600's default saturation is also quite consistent across the ISO range, increasing just slightly at higher ISOs. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Nikon D600's Caucasian skin tones look realistic in outdoor lighting using auto white balance, just slightly on the pale side. (Likely because the camera doesn't pump reds nearly as much as most.) Manual white balance produced nearly identical results. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Nikon D600 shows a few small color shifts relative to the mathematically precise translation of colors in its subjects, but its overall color accuracy is good. Reds are shifted slightly toward orange, cyans are shifted toward blue, and there are slight shifts in yellow, orange, green and purple, but deviations are relatively minor. (The larger cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) Mean "delta-C" color error at base ISO is 5.11 after correction for saturation, which is about average for SLRs these days. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Saturation Adjustment
The Nikon D600 lets you adjust image saturation and contrast in seven steps each, brightness in three steps, hue in seven steps and sharpening in ten steps. There are also Auto settings for saturation, contrast and sharpening. As can be seen below, the saturation adjustment worked very well, providing a reasonably fine-grained adjustment over a useful range of control. The saturation adjustment also has little impact on contrast, which is what you want, but not always the case.

Saturation Adjustment Examples
-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The series of shots above shows results with several different saturation adjustment settings, showing the minimum step size around the default, as well as both extremes. There is also an Auto setting available that produced results very similar to the default for this scene, though exposure is a little dimmer. See the Thumbnails index page for more (look for the files named D600OUTBSATx.JPG). Click on any thumbnail above to see the full-sized image.

Sensor and Processing

White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Very warm results with Auto and Incandescent white balance, though excellent color balance with Manual and 2,600 Kelvin settings.

Indoors, in common incandescent lighting, color balance is very warm and reddish with the Auto white balance setting. (We'd say unacceptably so.) The Incandescent setting is also too warm and yellowish for our tastes. (Some users may prefer this look, though, as being more representative of the original lighting.) The Manual white balance setting produced very accurate results. The 2,600 Kelvin color temperature setting (which matches the temperature of our lights in this scene) also performs well, but with a very slight yellow bias. Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Natural looking colors and good exposure outdoors, but somewhat high default contrast. Options like Active D-Lighting and contrast adjustment are a help when faced with tough conditions like these.

The Nikon D600 handled tough outdoor lighting under harsh sunlight well, producing very good overall exposure and natural color. Default contrast was on the high side (as most users prefer), so a few highlights were clipped in the model's shirt, pendant and some of the flowers, while darker shadows are deep, though shadows are quite clean as we've come to expect from Nikon SLRs of late. The Far-field shot is well exposed at default exposure, with only a few highlights clipped in white areas. Again, detail in the shadows is very good, and shadow noise very low. Color and saturation in our Far-field shot is natural without looking washed-out.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Extremely high resolution, ~2,700 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, a little higher from RAW.

Our laboratory resolution chart reveals sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,700 lines per picture height in the horizontal dirction, and about 2,700 lines in the vertical directions in JPEGs. Complete extinction of the pattern occurs between 3,600 and 3,800 lines. With ViewNX 2, horizontal resolution improves to almost 2,800 lines, but vertical resolution remains about the same at 2,700 lines. Adobe Camera Raw 7.2 produced very similar resolution limits, although with more noticeable color moiré. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Excellent detail with only minor edge-enhancement on high-contrast subjects. Minimal noise suppression artifacts at base ISO.

Sharpness. The Nikon D600 produces very sharp, detailed images when coupled with a sharp lens, with only minor edge enhancement artifacts visible on high-contrast subjects such as the larger branches and pine cones in the crop above left. Elements with fine detail such as the pine needles show very little edge enhancement. Really excellent results here. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing color and tonal differences right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows only minimal detail loss due to noise suppression, as the darker areas of the model's hair show a lot of detail. Individual strands are still distinguishable even in the lighter shadows, though they begin to merge as shadows deepen, and in places where the tone and color of adjacent strands is very close. Excellent results here as well, though the D600's low pass (anti-alias) filter appears to be fairly weak, as some aliasing artifacts and moiré can be seen in the mannequin's hair and in other D600 lab shots. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

Raw vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Nikon D600 does an excellent job at capturing lots of fine detail in JPEGs. A little more detail can be obtained from carefully processing raw files, though, without introducing additional artifacts. Take a look below, to see what we mean:

Camera JPEG (Fine)	Raw via ViewNX 2	Raw via ACR

In the table above, mousing over a link at the bottom will load the corresponding crop in the area above, and clicking the link will load the full resolution image. Examples were shot at ISO 100, and compare an in-camera Fine JPEG to the matching raw file processed through Nikon's bundled ViewNX 2 software and a conversion by Adobe Camera Raw 7.2 which was sharpened in Photoshop with an Unsharp Mask of 300% with radius 0.3%.

ViewNX 2 produced results very similar to in-camera JPEG, with just slightly higher default sharpening and perhaps a touch better detail. The Adobe Camera Raw conversion shows even better detail.

ISO & Noise Performance
Excellent high ISO performance, with very good results up to ISO 6,400!

Noise Reduction = Default
ISO 50	ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800	ISO 1,600
ISO 3,200	ISO 6,400	ISO 12,800
	ISO 25,600

The Nikon D600's images are surprisingly clean and very detailed at ISOs 50 through 800, with just a touch of noise becoming more visible as ISO increases. Detail is still excellent at ISO 1,600, with very fine-grained noise. ISO 3,200 shows stronger luminance and chrominance noise, though detail is still very good. ISO 6,400 shows much higher luminance noise as well as more noticeable chroma noise, but noise still pretty fine-grained, so detail is still very good. At ISO 12,800, fine detail takes a larger hit, and chroma noise is quite strong in the shadows. As you'd expect, ISO 25,600 is much worse, with strong luminance noise and noticeable chroma blotching, though some fine detail remains. Overall, though, high ISO performance is excellent, and may be the best we've seen to date when taking resolution into account.

Of course, the impact of noise and detail loss are highly dependent on the size the photos are printed at, and pixel-peeping on-screen has surprisingly little relationship to how the images look when printed: See the Print Quality section below for recommended maximum print sizes at each ISO.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, using one of three very sharp reference lenses (70mm Sigma f/2.8 macro for most cameras, 60mm f/2.8 Nikkor macro for Nikon bodies without a drive motor, and Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds bodies). To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we're shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. If you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don't need to email and tell us about it; we already know it. :-) The focus target position will simply have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Very high resolution with good highlight and excellent shadow detail. Excellent low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

Sunlight:
The Nikon D600 handled the deliberately harsh lighting well in the above test. Though default contrast is a little high, highlight retention is good, and shadow detail exceptional. The camera's contrast adjustment also did a good job of decreasing overall contrast without producing strong color variations; see the section below. +0.3 EV exposure compensation produced the best overall exposure here to our eyes. Users printing directly from the camera may prefer the brighter +0.7 EV exposure, however we found it had a few too many clipped highlights, and the default exposure is too dark.* Only a few highlights were blown in the mannequin's shirt and flowers at +0.3 EV, and excellent detail was preserved in the shadows with lower than average noise. Note that these shots were captured with the Nikon D600's Active D-Lighting control set to its default of "Off." See below for how Active D-Lighting and contrast settings help with hot highlights and deep shadows.

* Note: Exposure offset may not be representative of what the camera would do natively, due to the third-party lens we use for studio shots. - Which we use because it's one of the sharpest we've ever tested, and it's available across four different mounts.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here. In actual shooting conditions, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown here; it's better to shoot in open shade whenever possible.)

Contrast Adjustment
We really like it when a camera gives us the ability to adjust contrast and saturation to our liking. It's even better when those adjustments cover a useful range, in steps small enough to allow for precise tweaks. Just as with its saturation adjustment, the Nikon D600's contrast setting meets both challenges.

Minimum Contrast
Contrast set to lowest, 0 EV	Contrast set to lowest, 0 EV

At its lowest contrast setting, the D600 did a very good job of preserving highlight detail, maintaining natural-looking skin tones, and bringing nice detail out of the shadows. Overall, very good results here, especially when the contrast setting is tweaked.

Contrast Adjustment Examples
-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The series of shots above shows results with several different contrast adjustment settings, showing the minimum step size around the default, as well as both extremes. There is also an Auto setting available. While you can see the extremes, it's hard to really evaluate contrast on small thumbnails like these, click on any thumbnail to go to the full-size image.

One very nice feature of Nikon's contrast adjustment is that it has very little effect on color saturation. Contrast and saturation are actually fairly closely coupled, it's a good trick to be able to vary one with out the other changing as well. As usual, Nikon did a good job here.

Active D-Lighting
Active D-Lighting attempts to preserve detail in both highlights and shadows in high-contrast situations, while maintaining moderate levels of contrast. The series of shots below show the effect of the various Active D-Lighting settings available on the Nikon D600 on our high-contrast "Sunlit" Portrait scene. Note that Active D-Lighting is different from the Retouch menu's D-Lighting, as it is performed during image capture instead of after. (It does affect only JPEG images though, Nikon very properly doesn't apply tonal adjustments like this to raw file data. NEF files, however, are tagged so that Nikon software can automatically apply the effect when converted.)

"Sunlit" Portrait Active D-Lighting (0 EV)
	ADL Settings: Off (Default) Auto Low Normal High Extra High

Mouse over the links to see how the various levels of Active D-Lighting affects our "Sunlit" Portrait shot at default exposure. Click on a link to get to the full resolution image. (Active D-Lighting's effect can be a little subtle in shots like those above, so we decided to use a mouse-over to better show how each setting compares.)

As you can see from the thumbnail images and histograms above, the Low setting works mainly on boosting shadows and midtones, while higher settings do a good job at toning-down highlights without further boosting shadows and deeper midtones, thus avoiding making the image look too flat. Auto produced results very similar to the High setting for this image. Normally, there is a noise penalty to be paid for boosting shadows, but noise levels in the shadows are very low with this sensor, so increased shadow noise is not much of a concern here.

See below for how Active D-Lighting worked with our Far-field shot.

Far-field Active D-Lighting (0 EV)
Off	Auto	Low
Normal	High	Extra High

Here are the results with our Far-field shot. As you can see, Active D-Lighting brought up shadow detail while holding on to highlights. The Auto setting did a pretty good job here as well, this time producing results similar to the Low setting.

HDR Mode
Like the D5100, D4, and D800, the Nikon D600 offers an in-camera high-dynamic-range imaging function, something we've seen in several DSLRs from competing manufacturers for a while now. When enabled, the D600 captures two images with one push of the shutter button, one underexposed and one overexposed, and combines them in-camera to produce a high-dynamic-range JPEG. (Raw format is not supported.) We're not sure if the Nikon D600 performs micro-alignment of the two images even though the user manual warns of possible cropping. If it does, it can likely only correct for very small amounts of camera movement between shots, and so Nikon recommends the use of a tripod. Obviously moving subjects should also be avoided.

"Sunlit" Portrait HDR (0 EV)
	HDR Settings: Off (Default) Auto 1 EV S=Med 2 EV S=Med 3 EV S=Low 3 EV S=Med 3 EV S=High

Like the D800, D4 and D5100, the Nikon D600 allows you to set the exposure differential between the two images from 1, 2 or 3 EV, and there's an Auto setting where the camera decides. There is also an option to adjust the amount of "smoothing" that is applied to the boundaries between the two images, with selections of Low, Medium and High. One difference from the D5100 is the D600 adds an option to capture a Single HDR image as well as an On/Off toggle for shooting a series of HDR images. (The D5100 only offers On/Off.)

Mouse over the links above to see how various levels of HDR affects our "Sunlit" Portrait shot and click on a link to get to the full-res image. As you can see, the higher levels make quite a difference to the overall exposure by opening up shadow detail and toning-down highlights, but lower levels of smoothing can lead to artificial looking shadows around bright objects or halos and glowing around dark ones. Colors can also be adversely affected in HDR mode, such as a drop in saturation. Still, it's a useful feature for capturing static scenes with dynamic range that exceeds the sensor for those not willing to use manual HDR techniques (bracketing exposure and then combining images while post-processing).

Far-field HDR (0 EV)
Off	Auto	1 EV S=Med	2 EV S=Med
3 EV S=Low	3 EV S=Med	3 EV S=High

Above are the same HDR settings with our Far-field shot. Notice the ghosting of objects or people that were not static during the two exposures.

Face Detection (0 EV)
Aperture-priority Matrix metering	Auto (Portrait mode)	Live View with Face-priority AF

Here, we can see the effect of the Nikon D600's full Auto mode which selected Portrait Scene mode, as well as face detection enabled in Live View mode. As you can see from the shots above, full Auto mode produced a much better exposure than Aperture-priority at f/8 (ISO 100, 1/60s), and it reduced overall contrast and lightened shadows by automatically employing Active D-Lighting, though noise is a bit higher as it boosted ISO sensitivity to 400. Auto mode also selected a wider aperture of f/5 for better subject isolation, and a faster shutter speed of 1/400s to avoid subject motion blur. In Live View mode still using Aperture-priority, Face-priority AF mode also made a huge difference, actually overexposing the subject slightly by using a slower shutter speed of 1/40s.

Dynamic Range
A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data "saturates" at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier "useful" in there: While it's tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest website for details of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

JPEG. The graph at right (click for a larger version) was generated using Imatest's dynamic range analysis for an in-camera D600 JPEG file with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer 4110).  At default settings and the base ISO of 100, the graph shows 11 f-stops of total dynamic range, with 9.12 f-stops at the "High" quality level. These are truly excellent numbers for an in-camera JPEG, comparing nicely to our previous dynamic range king, the Nikon D800. Both cameras scored within the 1/3 f-stop/0.33 EV margin of error of this test, though the D600's tone curve at the shadow end is a bit "choppy" or discontinuous which could lead to some banding or posterization in very deep shadows. We expect to get a smoother, more well behaved response from a good raw converter, though.

Raw. The graph at right is from the same Stouffer 4110 stepchart image captured as a raw (.NEF) file, processed with Adobe Camera Raw using the Auto setting and tweaking from there. The Nikon D600 raw file scored 2.1 f-stops more in total dynamic range than the JPEG (13.1 vs 11 f-stops), and the score at the highest quality level increased 1.38 f-stops from 9.12 to 10.5 f-stops, one of the highest scores we've had to date. The total dynamic range score is close to the maximum we can measure with the Stouffer 4110 stepchart using an actual lens (the lens likely introduces a small loss in dynamic range), so the camera may actually have more total dynamic range than we can detect. It's worth noting here is that ACR's default noise reduction settings reduced overall noise somewhat (see the plot in the lower left-hand corner) relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG, which tend to boost the dynamic range numbers for the High Quality threshold. Also, the extreme highlight recovery being performed by ACR here would likely produce color errors in strong highlights of natural subjects. Bottom line, though, the Nikon D600's dynamic range scores are excellent, among the best we've measured even when taking the 1/3 f-stop margin of error into account.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 50	3 s f2.8	6 s f2.8	13 s f2.8	25 s f2.8	30 s f2.8	30 s f2.8
ISO 100	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	15 s f2.8	30 s f2.8	30 s f2.8
ISO 200	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	15 s f2.8	15 s f2.8
ISO 400	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	8 s f2.8
ISO 800	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	4 s f2.8
ISO 1600	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	2 s f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	1 s f2.8
ISO 6400	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8
ISO 12800	1/60 s f2.8	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8
ISO 25600	1/125 s f2.8	1/60 s f2.8	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8

Low Light. The Nikon D600 performed very well here, able to capture usable images down to the 1/16 foot-candle light level (about 1/16 as bright as average city street lighting at night), at all ISO settings with an f/2.8 lens, though lower light levels at ISO 50 are a bit dim because of the 30 second shutter speed limit (bulb mode is required for longer exposures). Color balance with Auto white balance is fairly neutral at higher light levels, just slightly cool, but takes on an increasingly stronger magenta cast as light levels drop, as we've seen with other Nikon SLRs. Noise is well controlled up to ISO 6,400, and even at higher ISOs there's still a lot of detail to work with when high ISO NR is set to "Off" (which still applies some noise filtering at ISO 2,500 and above). The Nikon D600 gives you four options for high ISO noise reduction: Off, Low, Normal, and High, so you have some flexibility in deciding how much noise to trade for detail. Except for the "No NR" shots in the table above, these were all shot using the Normal NR setting, and Long Exposure NR was enabled so it was applied to exposures longer than one second. We didn't find any issues with hot pixels, but a hint of horizontal banding is visible at ISO 25,600. There's also a faint reddish tint emanating from the bottom edge at very high ISOs indicating some minor heat blooming, likely from warm component(s) nearby.

The camera's phase-detection autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to the 1/16 foot-candle light level unassisted with an f/2.8 lens, and in total darkness with AF assist enabled. In Live View mode, the D600's contrast-detect autofocus was able to focus down to just above the 1/16 foot-candle, which is very good.

(Keep in mind that the longer shutter speeds here demand the use of a tripod to prevent any blurring from camera movement. A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Nikon D600 do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Excellent 30 x 40 inch prints from ISO 50 to 400; ISO 6,400 images look good at 11 x 14; and ISO 25,600 images make a good 5 x 7.

ISOs 50/100/200 images look excellent at 30 x 40 inches, with a very natural appearance all around. These also make for great wall display prints up to 40 x 60 inches.

ISO 400 also looks great at 30 x 40, nice color, great detail, no sign of noise or noise suppression artifacts.

ISO 800 images show a very slight hint of luminance noise in the shadows at 24 x 36, but if you didn't see the lower-ISO images you'd never notice. Amazing print size for this ISO.

ISO 1,600 shots show a slight pattern of both luminance and chrominance noise in the shadows, but you have to look closely to make it out, even at 20 x 30 inches. A strange moiré pattern becomes stronger in the red leaf swatch, likely due to the sub-pixels picking up the fabric pattern at this resolution. 16 x 20 is quite good here.

ISO 3,200 shots at 16 x 20 inches start to show a light grain pattern in the shadows. Close inspection also reveals light chrominance noise in the gold and yellow bottles of our Still Life target, mostly speckles of red and green. 13 x 19s are very good here.

ISO 6,400 images are amazingly good at 11 x 14. Again, this is quite high for ISO 6400!

ISO 12,800 prints have slightly pumped color and a louder grain pattern, but the resulting prints still look good at 8 x 10 inches.

ISO 25,600 prints are a bit rough at 8 x 10, but look quite good at 5 x 7.

The Nikon D600 turns in a very good performance, with even application of noise suppression across all elements. There is a slight trace of moiré in the red leaf swatch, which suggests Nikon used a weaker low pass filter, but it also handles that swatch as good or better than most of the cameras we have tested (many of which tend to render it as soft).  With a full-frame sensor at a price point well below most others, the D600 turns in an amazingly strong performance in the image quality department.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro9000 Mark II studio printer, and on the Pixma MP610 here in the office. (See the Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II review for details on that model.)

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Nikon D600 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Nikon D600 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Video

Nikon actually kicked off the whole HD video DSLR phenomenon in October of 2008, with their D90 model. While other manufacturers have since jumped into the game, Nikon has maintained a strong position, as evidenced by the Nikon D600, their most recent full-frame DSLR.

The D600's video extends the capabilities of many earlier models, offering advanced features like full manual exposure, manual audio level control with an external mic jack and an external headphone jack for audio monitoring, all at a new low price for a full-frame Nikon camera body. The Nikon D600's video capabilities are quite advanced, producing good-quality video, although with one significant flaw. Read on for all the details!

Nikon D600 Basic Video Specs

• 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) Full HD recording at 30 / 25 / 24 fps
• 720p (1,280 x 720) HD recording at 60 / 50 / 30 / 25 fps
• MOV file format, with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoding
• Choice of two compression levels; High or Normal quality
• TTL (through the lens matrix metering using the main image sensor
• Autofocus can be triggered during movie recording by half-pressing the shutter button, or continuous AF (AF-F mode) can be enabled
• Manual focus also available in movie mode
• Programmed-Auto, Aperture-Priority and manual exposure modes available
• Aperture can be controlled in Aperture-Priority or Manual exposure modes, but only before recording begins
• Shutter speed and ISO can be controlled in Manual exposure mode, are automatic otherwise
• EV adjustment (exposure compensation) can be selected prior to or during recording
• AE lock works in video mode
• Built-in monaural or external stereo microphone, sensitivity adjustable
• Optional audio level display on LCD display while recording
• Audio monitoring via external headphone jack
• Menu shortcuts available to change audio level and screen brightness directly from Live View mode
• Still image can be captured while in video recording mode, but doing so stops the recording
• Flicker-reduction mode for both 60Hz and 50Hz light sources
• Movies can be "trimmed" in-camera, selecting just the portion you want and saving it as a new file, or overwriting the original
• Single frames can be selected from movie files and saved as separate JPEG files
• Can simultaneously display video feed on monitor, and output uncompressed video feed without any overlays via HDMI
• Supports FX-format lenses, or DX-format lenses with a 1.5x crop factor
• Time-lapse movie mode (without sound)
• Index marking makes it quick to return to up to 20 key moments in a movie clip
• Very low rolling shutter artifacts (see rolling shutter section at the end of this page for examples)
• Picture controls work in movie mode
• Recordings limited to 20 minutes at 24 Mbps, 29 minutes 59 seconds at lower bit rates (see table below for details)
• File size restricted to 4 GB maximum
• Movies can be recorded to either of the two card slots, chosen via the Movie Settings menu
• Class 6 or faster cards recommended

Nikon D600 Video Speeds & Feeds: Image size, frame rate, and file format

The Nikon D600 offers two video resolutions, five frame rates, and two quality settings in combinations as shown below:

All of the Nikon D600's video modes are progressive scan, meaning that every video line is scanned, one after the other, for every frame. Compared to interlaced scanning, progressive scan video is much better for viewing videos on a computer screen. (Interlaced works fine for HD TVs, but some computer video players that de-interlace poorly will produce bad tearing of moving objects.)

The broad range of frame rates will be welcome to video enthusiasts, with progressive recording at all frame rates the D600 supports. The 60 frames/second in 720p mode is particularly good for capturing smooth-looking motion, while the 24 fps option offers a more cinematic look that some people prefer. Unlike some cameras from Nikon and others, you don't have to switch between NTSC and PAL modes to choose the associated frame rates; there are no separate NTSC or PAL modes, and all resolutions and frame rates can be selected from the movie settings menu at any time.

The Nikon D600 saves its video files in the MOV format, using H.264/MPEG-4 encoding. Pretty much any computer or editing program made within the last 5 years should be able to play its files with little problem, although the full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution files may strain older systems.

Nikon D600 video quality

The Nikon D600 generally produces fairly good-quality video, with good detail, relatively few motion artifacts, and pleasing color. With its large sensor and corresponding large pixels, it does very well both in daylight and after dark, in typical city night scenes, residential interiors, and indoor performances. We like both the contrast and color in the Nikon D600's videos, finding them to have plenty of zip, without appearing too contrasty or with oversaturated color. The D600's videos look quite natural under a variety of lighting conditions.

Compression and motion artifacts are very well-controlled in the Nikon D600's video, even when the camera is panning or the subject is moving rapidly; while you lose detail from the inter-frame compression, the resulting video is still very smooth-looking, with no blocky artifacts.

Unfortunately, the Nikon D600 does have one major video bugaboo, namely moiré and aliasing artifacts. The low-pass filtering algorithm (see note at the end of this section) used during video recording is too weak, with the result that the camera is very prone to producing moiré patterns or other artifacts during video recording. We noticed this some in our night video shots. It isn't so evident when the camera is panning, because the motion blur tends to obscure it. At the very beginning of the clips, though, you can see some color artifacts in the little roof over the outdoor tables at the Inc. restaurant on the right side of the frame. When the pan comes to a halt, you can see some aliasing in the brick patterns, particularly along the more distinct line down the middle of the sidewalk.

To look at the moiré issue with a more controlled subject, I made a cross-hatch pattern of black lines on a white background, displayed it on a 1,920 x 1,080 computer monitor, and recorded it with the D600 at both 1080p and 720p settings. This is really an absolute worst-case subject, particular at 1080p, where the pixel pitch of the monitor almost exactly matches the pitch in the final images. (It's not a perfect match, because the framing was slightly loose, with the monitor's surface not quite filling the frame.)

This crop from a 1080p video shot with the Nikon D600 represents a pretty dramatic worst-case for aliasing; we shot a 1,920 x 1,080 computer monitor with a camera recording at 1,920 x 1,080 video resolution, and this crop shows the worst-looking moiré pattern and aliasing we found. Even though we presented it with a true worst-case target, the D600's firmware low-pass filter for video recording should have been able to do a better job than this.

Here's the same subject, this time shot at 720p resolution. The final pixels here are somewhat larger than those on the display, but the aliasing patterns are about as bad as above. (While the worst case conditions looked similar, the aliasing generally seemed slightly weaker overall at 720p.)

The crops above show the worst aliasing I found at both 1,080 and 720 vertical resolution. The strength and appearance of the patterns varied a great deal, depending on the angle of the camera relative to the display; that's why I rocked it slowly from side to side during the recording, to see what the range of variation was, and also why the test patterns in the crops above are crooked. These crops represent pretty much the worst effect I found in each case.

In our view, this is a pretty serious defect in the D600's video, as the color moiré can surface any time you happen to have a repeating pattern of the right frequency somewhere in your subject. The modulation of the line width in these shots and the jaggies we've seen in some others are perhaps an even worse problem, because they don't require having just the right frequency pattern, but will appear whenever you have a sharply defined line or edge at a slight angle to the horizontal axis of the frame.

We don't know whether this is something that can be fixed with a firmware update or not. The sub-sampling process required to turn 24 megapixel sensor images into ~2 megapixel video frames has a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time, as it has to keep up with the frame rate no matter what. Such algorithms are sometimes hardwired into the image processor, or in firmware at a level below that which can be reached by the firmware update process.

* A note about the low pass algorithm (as opposed to a physical low-pass filter) mentioned above: Because it handles still-image anti-aliasing, many people tend to assume that the camera's physical low-pass filter that sits immediately above the sensor array is what controls the trade-off between aliasing and good detail rendition for both videos and stills. In fact, the physical low-pass filter has much too high a cutoff frequency to do any good with the much lower-resolution video frames. Instead, a combination of sub-sampling at sensor readout and low-pass filtering of the resulting data is required to shape the frequency content of the video data stream. This is the real black magic of recording good video with DSLRs. As noted above, a tremendous amount of data-crunching has to happen for every video frame that flies by. It's easy to design good low-pass filters if you have a massive computer and/or low data rates to work with. Given the constraints of video timing, however, the sheer size of the original image data (24 megapixels), and the processing hardware available in-camera, make it a seriously challenging task.

Nikon D600 aliasing issue samples

The players below show the aliasing test videos just discussed:

Nikon D600 video focusing

• Both single-shot or full-time servo AF (AF-F) are available for AF during video recording
• Manual focus during recording is also supported
• Focus motor noise is quite audible in the sound track in quiet surroundings, even with AF-S lenses; best to use an external mic if you're using live autofocus during recording
• AF area mode options:
  • Face-priority AF
  • Wide-area AF
  • Normal-area AF
  • Subject-tracking AF (Half-press shutter button to AF before recording, then hit OK button with subject centered in little green square. Square will follow subject around the frame, maintaining focus on it. Square can be moved anywhere in the frame via the arrow controls, for initial subject acquisition.)
• Manual focus is also available during movie recording, but you'll probably need an external monitor to be able to judge focus
• Focus tracking is decent, but large, abrupt changes in subject distance can leave the camera off-focus until you manually half-press the shutter button

Nikon D600 video exposure control

• Defaults to fully automatic exposure, but exposure compensation adjustment is available
• Auto-ISO limit in still capture mode doesn't affect video recording; max auto ISO in video mode is always 6,400
• ISO can only be manually set in Manual exposure mode, maximum is Hi-2.0 (25,600)
• Aperture can be set in Aperture-priority or Manual exposure mode
• Aperture setting is a little confusing; you have to exit live view mode entirely to set video recording aperture
• Shutter priority exposure is not available in movie recording mode. The camera appears to use a low shutter speed based on frame rate (either 1/60 or 1/30), only increasing it when the light level is so high that it can't stop down sufficiently to expose properly. (Actually a handy setup, as shutter speeds matching the frame rate produce smoother-looking video than faster ones.)
• Manual exposure mode allows adjustment of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO independently
• In manual mode, shutter speed and ISO can be set in addition to aperture
• Shutter speed and ISO can be changed either before or during recording, but changing either during recording will produce very loud clicks in the audio track as you rotate the control dial
• Aperture can only be changed outside Live View, before recording begins
• Available shutter speeds range from 1/4,000s down to 1/60s for 60p, and down to 1/30s for 30p and 24p
• Sensitivity can be set from ISO 100 to 25,600
• Full range of Picture Control settings apply to movie recording. (Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, and Landscape, and adjustments for contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue for each of the main settings)
• AE (auto-exposure) lock is supported in video mode
• Matrix metering is always used for video recording, regardless of metering mode selected

Nikon D600 audio recording

• Internal monaural microphone
• Defaults to automatic level control
• Manual level control available via Movie Settings menu, with 20 levels available
• VU (audio level) meter display also available via Movie Settings
• External stereo mic input - use external mics for better sound quality, and to eliminate camera and lens noise (a very rare feature in entry-level SLRs)
• External headphone jack for monitoring audio level and clarity while recording
• Mic sensitivity and headphone volume cannot be adjusted while recording
• Audio can be turned off entirely

Nikon D600 video samples

Here are some examples of video shot with the Nikon D600:

Nikon D600 video rolling shutter artifacts ("Jello effect")

Pretty much every DSLR on the market distorts moving objects, or the entire scene, if the camera is being panned. The technical term for this is "rolling shutter artifacts," but many users simply call it the "Jello effect," because the image can jiggle and sway like Jello as the camera is moved. This occurs because the image is captured and read out line by line, so the bottom of a moving object may no longer be underneath the top of it by the time the camera gets around to capturing that part of the frame.

Rolling shutter artifacts can be very annoying if they're severe, but as noted, all digital SLRs show them to one extent or another. In the case of the Nikon D600, they're clearly present, but nowhere near as bad as we see with many cameras. If you just pan slowly while filming, you're not likely to notice them much at all.

Flash

Nikon D600 Flash

Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Good flash range, but with narrow coverage. Our standard indoor portrait shot required less than average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage is quite narrow and uneven at wide-angle (24mm), leaving very dark corners. Narrow flash coverage isn't unusual, though, as manufacturers look to increase range by concentrating the light, and keep in mind 24mm is wider than most lenses. Coverage is much more uniform at telephoto (85mm), but there's still some fall-off in extreme corners that may be due to the lens itself (Vignette Control set to Normal).

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene was well exposed with +0.3 EV flash exposure compensation which is a little less than the average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene (+0.7 EV). The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced bright results with no flash exposure compensation, though with a stronger orange cast from the room lighting.

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f4.5 ISO 200

ISO 200 Range. With the 24-85mm kit lens, flash exposures started out bright at 6 feet at wide-angle and remained bright to 10 feet, decreasing gradually as distance increased for there. At full telephoto, flash exposures were a little erratic as distance changed, with 14 feet being the brightest exposure! 16 feet was still bright, though, so very good range here.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
15.8 feet ISO 200	12.2 feet ISO 200

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Nikon D600's built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 12m or 39 feet at ISO 100. That works out to about 15.8 feet at f/3.5 and 12.2 feet at f/4.5 and ISO 200, the maximum apertures of the kit zoom lens. In the test shots above, the D600 performed as Nikon says it will at telephoto, producing a bright flash exposure, however at wide-angle exposure of the target is slightly dim, about a 1/4 f-stop underexposed, despite using spot metering. Still, because of the results at telephoto, we think Nikon's flash power rating is credible.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

High ISO Noise Reduction

Nikon D600 High ISO Noise Reduction

The Nikon D600 offers four High ISO Noise Reduction settings: Off, Low, Normal (default), and High, allowing the user quite a bit of flexibility in choosing how to make the trade-off between subject detail and noise levels in JPEGs. The Nikon D600 manual doesn't say at what ISO High ISO Noise Reduction begins to be applied, so we've included crops from ISO 50 up here. Note that the Nikon D600 manual does say when Off is selected, noise reduction is only performed at ISO 2,500 and higher, and the amount is less than Low.

See for yourself how the four noise reduction settings work. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image.

High ISO Noise Reduction Comparison In-Camera JPEGs Simulated Daylight
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 5 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 1 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 2 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 4 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 8 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 1 6 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 3 2 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 6 4 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 1 2 8 0 0
	Off	Low	Normal	High
I S O 2 5 6 0 0

As you can see, the High ISO Noise Reduction setting has a noticeable effect at ISOs as low as 400. At higher ISOs, the trade-off between detail and noise the four settings offer can easily be seen.

RAW Files

We used to convert raw files used for comparison crops with dcraw (an excellent freeware raw converter), as we could count on dcraw not to apply any noise reduction, sharpening or other corrections. Lately, though, we've switched to Adobe Camera Raw with its noise reduction and sharpening options set to zero. We've found conversions made with recent versions of ACR to be almost identical to dcraw when dcraw's demosaicing option is set to match ACR's method, so we're pretty sure ACR isn't applying any noise reduction "under the hood" like it used to.

Below are crops from Nikon D600 raw files compared to raw files from other high-resolution full-frame DSLRs:

Nikon D600 versus Canon 5D Mark III, Nikon D800, and Sony A99 Raw, no Noise Reduction, no Sharpening, Simulated Daylight
	Nikon D600	Canon 5D Mark III	Nikon D800	Sony Alpha A99
I S O 5 0
I S O 1 0 0
I S O 2 0 0
I S O 4 0 0
I S O 8 0 0
I S O 1 6 0 0
I S O 3 2 0 0
I S O 6 4 0 0
I S O 1 2 8 0 0
I S O 2 5 6 0 0
I S O 5 1 2 0 0	N/A, ISO 51,200 not supported.		N/A, ISO 51,200 not supported.	N/A, ISO 51,200 not supported.
I S O 1 0 2 4 0 0	N/A, ISO 102,400 not supported.		N/A, ISO 102,400 not supported.	N/A, ISO 102,400 not supported.
	Nikon D600	Canon 5D Mark III	Nikon D800	Sony A99

The 24-megapixel Nikon D600 with its 5.9 micron pitch competes well with the 22-megapixel Canon 5D Mark III and its 6.1 micron pitch. They both perform similarly in terms of noise, except at ISO 25,600 where the 5D Mark III pulls ahead. The D600 has better color, though. The 36-megapixel D800 comes in third in terms of pixel noise with its 4.7 micron photosite pitch, but keep in mind its resolution advantage is significant. If you resample the D800's images down to 24 megapixels, you may be surprised how well it compares. The 24-megapixel Sony A99 shows the highest noise levels of the group despite using a variant of the D600's sensor, likely handicapped by its light-robbing semi-transparent mirror. Overall, we'd say the Nikon D600's raw image quality and noise levels are excellent, among the best we've seen to date.

Pricing and availability

The Nikon D600 shipped in the US market from September 18, priced at about US$2,100 body-only. A kit including AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens was priced at US$2,700, a premium of US$600 over the body-only price.