Nikon D5600 Review

Overview

Sharing: In a nutshell, that's the story of the D5600 DSLR. Thanks to an overhauled, more comprehensive wireless networking setup, the D5600 will help you share your images more quickly and easily than the D5500 in whose footsteps it follows. And there's sharing of a more tangible kind, too. In most respects other than wireless networking, the D5600 shares most of its features -- including its body and entire imaging pipeline -- with last year's model.

So what's new in the 24.2-megapixel D5600's wireless networking feature set? There are a few changes, but all come under the banner of Nikon's SnapBridge technology for simple image sharing, which is rapidly expanding across the company's entire lineup.

The Nikon D5600 now sports quick-and-easy SnapBridge sharing tech

The D5600's SnapBridge sharing setup uses a new Bluetooth Low Energy radio to communicate with your Android or iOS smartphone, phablet or tablet. This allows it to transfer every image you capture straight away, without any user intervention. When you want to share some of your photos on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site -- or even if you still rely on email to stay in touch with friends and family -- those images will already be waiting for you on your phone, albeit at greatly reduced two-megapixel resolution.

For social networking and the like, though, that reduced resolution likely isn't an issue, especially when you consider the advantage it brings. With all of your photos already transferred to your phone at capture time, you won't have to sit and manually connect to the camera, choose which photos to transfer and then wait on them to make their way to your phone -- perhaps at full-resolution and still needing to be downsampled -- before they can be shared.

And since it's using Bluetooth Low Energy technology, SnapBridge shouldn't reduce the battery life of either your phone or camera by too much, either. If you want to transfer full-resolution versions of some images, you can still do so manually much like you would with any other camera, but you shouldn't need to manually establish the connection between devices. Instead, the Bluetooth Low Energy connection will be used to establish a faster, more power-hungry Wi-Fi connection for your full-res transfers.

And for Android users, even the initial pairing process should be extremely quick and easy. That's because as well as its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, the D5600 also includes a Near-Field Communications radio that can communicate with the NFC hardware in most modern Android devices. With a range of just a few inches, this allows you to establish your initial connection and to locate the necessary Android app for installation, all by simply bumping your phone against the camera body a couple of times.

At the same time as SnapBridge features have been added, Nikon has removed built-in infrared remote control support from the D5600 body. Where its predecessor had twin infrared receivers on the front of the handgrip and at top left of its rear panel, the D5600 has neither. Remote control can done via SnapBridge instead, essentially using your phone as the remote control device instead of requiring a standalone one. The D5600 also supports Nikon's MC-DC2 remote cord, and WR-1/WR-T10/WR-R10 wireless transmitters and receivers.

The D5600 brings with it some firmware tweaks, as well

Obviously, the updated SnapBridge setup is the big news here. That's not to say it's the only change, though. There are some changes in firmware as well.

Perhaps the coolest of these, for our money, is the new frame advance bar, a feature inherited from the higher-end D5 and D500 models. This allows D5600 owners to quickly scrub through their images in full-frame playback mode using the touch-screen display, so you can search out the shots you're after more quickly. It's very intuitive, and a welcome addition at the entry level end of the market.

There's also a new crop function which cleverly works hand-in-hand with playback zoom, letting you pinch to zoom the image and then drag to pan to the area you want cropped. One more tap confirms your chosen area, and the image is cropped for you automatically in-camera.

Nor is that all. You can now also toggle automatic ISO sensitivity control on the touch screen while using the viewfinder in addition to the touch shooting functions the D5500 offered, and Nikon says that use of the display alongside viewfinder shooting has been improved in other ways too, although it doesn't say just how this has been achieved. Nikon has also added the in-camera time-lapse movie function we've seen in other recent models.

In other respects, the D5600 is much like its predecessor

As noted previously, other details look to line up pretty closely with the D5500.

Comparing the two cameras' bodies, the D5600 seems to be near-identical to its predecessor, with only a couple of minor changes to fill in holes for the now-removed infrared remote receivers, and to the screen-printed labeling on the camera body to reflect these changes. (There's no longer a remote control icon next to the drive button, and a Bluetooth logo has been added next to the Wi-Fi logo on the camera's left side.)

As mentioned previously, the imaging pipeline is unchanged. The D5600 still has 24.2-megapixel resolution with no resolution-sapping optical low pass filter in front of the sensor. It also retains an EXPEED 4 image processor, providing for burst shooting at up to five frames per second with a wide sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 25,600-equivalents.

Also retained are a 3.2-inch vari-angle articulated LCD monitor with 1,037,000-dot resolution, and a 39-point autofocus system complete with nine cross-type points. And just as in its predecessor, the D5600 will provide a two-shot in-camera high dynamic range function, as well as support for movie capture at up to Full HD (1,920 x 1,080-pixel) resolution with a maximum capture rate of 60 frames per second.

As in the D5500, you can use the full sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 25,600-equivalents for movie capture, and can apply some in-camera special effects functions like miniature, etc. There's also both a built-in stereo microphone and support for external stereo mics as well. Battery life for still imaging is CIPA-rated at 970 shots on a charge, up from 820 shots for the D5500 using the same EN-EL14a battery pack.

Nikon D5600 Pricing and availability

The D5600 started shipping in the U.S. in January 2017 for a suggested retail price of about US$700 body-only, or for US$800 bundled with the AF-P 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. It is also available in a two-lens kit option, including the AF-P 18-55mm VR and AF-P DX 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 lenses, for a suggested retail price of about US$1,150. The D5600 is also sold with an AF-S 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens for a list price of US$1,200.

In the Box

The Nikon D5600 retail kit with 18-55mm lens (as reviewed) contains the following items:

• D5600 Body
• NIKKOR AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens
• EN-EL14a Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
• MH-24 Quick Charger
• DK-25 Rubber Eyecup
• AN-DC3 Camera Strap
• BF-1B Body Cap
• BS-1 Hot-Shoe Cover
• LC-55A 55mm Snap-On Lens Cap
• LF-4 Rear Lens Cap
• Warranty Cards

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity SDHC/SDXC memory card. 16GB Class 10 should be a minimum, USH-I recommended.
• Extra EN-EL14a Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery (~US$45)
• Additional lenses
• Nikon Speedlight flash
• Small to Medium DSLR bag

Optics

The Nikon D5600 is available body-only, or bundled with either the Nikkor AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens, or the AF-S DX 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. Visit our Nikon D3400 Optics page to see how well the AF-P 18-55mm kit lens performs, and see our in-depth AF-S 18-140mm lens review here: Nikon 18-140mm VR review.

Below are our viewfinder accuracy test results for the Nikon D5600.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
About average coverage accuracy from the optical viewfinder. Excellent accuracy from the LCD in Live View mode.

The Nikon D5600's optical viewfinder yielded about 95 percent coverage with our reference Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. This is average for its class and meets Nikon's specification, however the viewfinder image is offset and slightly tilted compared to the imaging sensor, which unfortunately is not that uncommon in consumer DSLRs. In Live View mode, the Nikon D5600's LCD showed very close to 100%, which is excellent.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Nikon D5600 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Slightly higher than average mean saturation with about average hue accuracy.

ISO Sensitivity
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 on them for larger images.

Saturation. The Nikon D5600 pumps dark blues quite a bit, reds and greens moderately, and most other colors by small amounts, but slightly undersaturates cyans, bright yellow and light green. Mean saturation levels are a little higher than average, but remain fairly stable as ISO climbs except at the highest ISOs where saturation drops a bit. Mean saturation at base ISO is 111.5% or 11.5% oversaturated, a little higher than the 110% average, but as mentioned, much of that is because blues are pushed so much. Overall, we found the D5600's default saturation levels quite pleasing and vibrant without going too much overboard. 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 D5600's Caucasian skin tones looked just about right when using manual white balance in simulated daylight. A very good job here. Auto white balance produced slightly warmer 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 D5600 shifts cyan toward blue by quite a bit at base ISO, with smaller shifts in reds and orange. (The 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.) With a mean "delta-C" color error of 5.66 after correction for saturation at base ISO, overall hue accuracy is about average (lower numbers are better), and hue accuracy remains fairly stable across the ISO range. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Good color with the Manual white balance setting, but overly-warm results with Auto and Incandescent. No exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was very warm and reddish-orange with the Auto white balance setting. (We'd say unacceptably so, though unfortunately this is common.) The Incandescent setting was also too warm, but with a strong yellow-green cast. The Manual setting by far produced the most accurate results, if just a touch cool. The Nikon D5600 required no exposure compensation when most cameras we've tested require +0.3 EV for this shot. 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
Pleasing colors outdoors, with about average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Nikon D5600 performed well, requiring +0.7 EV exposure compensation for our "Sunlit" Portrait shot to keep the face reasonably bright. (The average for this shot among cameras we've tested is about +0.7 EV.) We preferred skin tones from the Manual white balance setting as were a little pinker than Auto, but both were pretty good. Contrast is a little high as you might expect under such harsh lighting, but the camera did a good job of holding onto detail in the highlights and shadows, however very deep shadows have a yellow tint and are a bit noisy. The Nikon D5600 produced pleasing colors in our Far-field shot, but it overexposed the building a bit (above right) because of the dark trees, blowing quite a few highlights. However shadow detail is quite good, though very deep shadows are somewhat noisy with color casts. (We're talking very deep shadows here, so this won't be in issue for vast majority of properly exposed images.) Overall, very good performance for its class here.

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

Resolution
Very high resolution, ~2,850 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, a bit higher from ACR processed RAW files.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns up to about 2,850 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,850 lines in the vertical direction. Some may argue for higher numbers, but lines start to merge and aliasing artifacts interfere with detail at these resolutions. Extinction of the pattern didn't occur until around 3,400 to 3,600 lines. We weren't able to do significantly better with NEF files processed through Adobe Camera Raw, only about 50 more lines in both directions. Color moiré is a little more evident in the ACR converted RAW files, however it's not as high as we'd expect for a camera without an optical low-pass filter. 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
Sharp images but with visible edge-enhancement artifacts visible on high-contrast subjects. Mild to moderate noise suppression visible at base ISO.

Sharpness. The Nikon D5600 produces images that are crisp and sharp when coupled with a sharp lens as used for our lab images and in the above left crop. Edge enhancement artifacts are visible around high-contrast elements such as the sharpening halos around the border and text above left, but default sharpening looks to be a good compromise between crispness and sharpening artifacts for the target market, especially when printed. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some mild to moderate noise suppression at ISO 100, as the darker and lower-contrast areas of the model's hair show some smudging where individual strands of hair are merged together. Chroma noise is effectively controlled, however subtle details in the red channel can be reduced as a result, as can be seen in the red flowers of our Indoor Portrait shots (click on the hair crop above right) or in the red-leaf fabric of our Still Life shots (click on the bottle label crop above left). Still, very good performance here for a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor. 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.

Aliasing. You can see some aliasing artifacts or hints of them in a number of our D5600 test shots, however the Nikon D5600 does a pretty good job at suppressing color moiré in JPEGs for a camera that doesn't have an optical low-pass filter.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Nikon D5600 does a great job at capturing lots of sharp, fine detail in its JPEGs, but more detail can often be obtained from carefully processing RAW files, while at the same time reducing sharpening artifacts. Let's have a look at base ISO:

Base ISO (100)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare an in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 via DNG Converter 9.10 (right) using default noise reduction with some moderate but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (200%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

As is frequently the case, the demosaicing in Adobe Camera Raw and sharpening in Photoshop combine to deliver finer detail than the camera, with fewer sharpening artifacts. Looking closely at the images, ACR extracts some detail that wasn't present in the camera JPEG, especially in the red-leaf swatch where the conversion was able to resolve some of the fine thread pattern, while the camera's JPEG engine tended to blur it away as if noise (anti-moiré processing may also be a play here). The ACR conversion does however show more noise at default noise reduction settings than the camera at its default settings, and the image doesn't have as much "pop" as the camera JPEG, with lower saturation and contrast. This of course can however be adjusted to your liking in your favorite editor.

All-in-all, the D5600 did a very good job at reducing noise while maintaining excellent detail in most areas of our target. Still, for maximum detail (and flexibility), using a good RAW converter does yield slightly better fine detail than in-camera JPEGs, as is usually the case.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good high ISO performance for a 24-megaxpixel APS-C model.

Noise Reduction = Normal (Default)
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600

Noise levels are low at ISOs 100 through 400, though some minor detail is lost to noise reduction even at base ISO. ISOs 800 through 3200 show a nice, progressive increase in very fine noise "grain" but detail remains quite good, and chroma noise well-controlled. ISO 6400 shows a more dramatic drop in image quality with softer detail and more obvious noise, though some fine detail is left, but image quality drops off quickly from there. ISO 12,800 produces significant softness and chroma blotching, while ISO 25,600 shows much stronger noise "grain" that obliterates fine detail, stronger chroma noise, and an overall color shift towards yellow/green particularly in the shadows.

Overall, though, very good noise performance for a 24-megapixel APS-C model, just like its predecessor. See our Print Quality analysis section below for recommended print sizes at each ISO.

A note about focus for this shot: We used to shoot this image at f/4, however depth of field became so shallow with larger, high-resolution sensors that it was difficult to keep important areas of this shot in focus, so we have since started shooting at f/8, the best compromise between depth of field and sharpness.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range, and low light tests
Very good detail in both highlights and shadows, with good dynamic range. Very good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

Sunlight
The Nikon D5600 handled the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above well. Though contrast is a little high, shadow and highlight detail are both very good. The +0.7 EV exposure did the best job here, producing a reasonably bright face without blowing out too many highlights, though folks printing directly from the camera may prefer the brighter +1.0 EV exposure even though it had a few too many blown highlights for our tastes. Despite the bright appearance in white areas, there are relatively few clipped highlights in the mannequins's shirt and the flowers at +0.7 EV. Some shadows are pretty dark, but remain detailed if a little noisy with color casts. Be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.

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.)

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

Face Detection. Here, we can see the effect of the Nikon D5600's full Auto mode as well as face detection enabled in Live View mode. As you can see from the shots above, full Auto enabled the flash and selected Portrait Scene mode, producing a well-exposed subject and background, though it focused on the flowers (closest subject). In Live View mode, using Face-priority AF mode also improved the exposure without using the flash, and focus was improved as well (like most DSLRs, the D5600 does not offer face detection when shooting with the optical viewfinder and as a result most of our other "Sunlit" Portrait shots are not optimally focused on the face).

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 D5600 on our high-contrast "Sunlit" Portrait scene. Note that Active D-Lighting is different from the touch-up 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: Auto (Default) Off 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-res 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 to Off.)

As you can see from the images and histograms above, enabling and adjusting Active D-Lighting resulted in brighter, more balanced images with boosted shadows and midtones, however highlights remained roughly the same and intact, or slightly reduced. The effect of Active D-Lighting will vary quite a bit with the subject and lighting: The camera decides what needs adjusting, and by how much, so the effect can be quite a bit greater or lesser depending on what the camera "sees".

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

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

Mouse over the links above to see the effect of Active D-Lighting on our Far-field shot. As you can see, Active D-Lighting brought up shadow detail while holding on to more of the highlights, though the difference between various strengths can be subtle.

HDR Mode. The D5600 offers an in-camera high-dynamic-range imaging function, something we've seen in several prior models as well as from most competitors. When enabled, the D5600 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.) The Nikon D5600 seems to perform micro-alignment of the two images so the user manual warns of possible cropping but Nikon recommends the use of a tripod, so it can likely only correct for very small amounts of camera movement between shots. Obviously moving subjects should also be avoided.

"Sunlit" Portrait HDR (0 EV)
	HDR Settings: Off (Default) Low Normal High Extra High Auto

Unlike some higher-end Nikons which allow you to set the exposure differential between the two images from 1, 2 or 3 EV, and also adjust the amount of "smoothing" that is applied to the boundaries between the two images with selections of Low, Medium and High, the D5600 takes a simpler approach offering just four strengths in addition to Auto. 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.

Although portraits aren't good subjects for HDR images, you can still see higher levels make quite a difference to the overall exposure by opening up shadow detail, but they can lead to artificial-looking shadows around bright objects or halos and glowing around dark ones.

Far-field HDR (0 EV)
Off	Low	Normal
High	Extra High	Auto

Here are the same HDR settings with our Far-field shot. Again, some settings do a good job of taming hot highlights while bringing up some of the shadows and deeper midtones, while stronger settings cause a lot of glowing and halos. You can also see ghosting in the leaves and branches from movement between the exposures. 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 in post-processing), though we do wish there was an option to capture more than two images.

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)
While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we've switched to using DxO Labs' results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO's approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO's "Print" dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you've decided to make a 13x19 inch print, that's the size you're printing, whether the camera's resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the "Low Quality" threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we compare the Nikon D5600's dynamic range to its predecessor's, the D5500, and also to the Canon Rebel T6i's (EOS 750D), probably its closest competitor (unfortunately, the T7i wasn't tested by DxOMark yet at the time of writing).

As you can see in the above graph (click for a larger image), the D5600's dynamic range is practically identical to the D5500's with just minor variances that are likely within normal test and sample variation. The D5600's dynamic range is however significantly higher than the T6i's at low to moderate ISOs, with the Nikon providing just over a two stop advantage (14.03 vs 11.96 EV) at base ISO. Between ISO 1600 and 3200, the Canon catches up, though, essentially matching the Nikon terms of dynamic range at higher ISOs.

Bottom line, Nikon D5600 continues to offer excellent dynamic range with practically no change over its predecessor. Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Nikon D5600 for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc No NR
ISO 100	2s, f2.8	30s, f2.8	30s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 25600	1/125s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8

Low Light
The Nikon D5600 performed well on the low-light test, capturing bright images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle) even with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). Of course, noise is higher at ISO 3200 but remains well-controlled and very fine-grained. As expected, the maximum ISO of 25,600 is however quite noisy with noticeably less detail, and is best avoided except for small prints and in emergencies. We didn't notice any issues with hot pixels, banding (pattern noise) or heat blooming.

Color balance was good with the Auto white balance setting at one foot-candle, just slightly cool, however there's the strong shift towards magenta at lower light levels that we often see from Nikons.

LL AF: The camera's phase-detection autofocus system was able to focus on our standard low-contrast AF target down to -0.9 EV, and on our new high-contrast AF target down to -1.3 EV unassisted with an f/2.8 lens. That's typical for the class, and roughly agrees with Nikon's -1.0 EV rating. The Nikon D5600 is able to focus in complete darkness with the AF assist enabled, as long as the target is in range and has sufficient contrast. In Live View mode the camera's contrast-detect autofocus was able to focus on our low-contrast target down to -0.5 EV, and on our high-contrast target down to -2.4 EV, which is 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 D5600 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 at ISO 100/200; a very good 13 x 19 at ISO 1600; a good 5 x 7 at ISO 12,800.

ISOs 100 and 200 yield superb prints at 30 x 40 inches and higher, with vibrant, natural colors and excellent fine detail. Larger sizes are also possible until you run out of resolution at your intended viewing distance.

ISO 400 prints are excellent at 24 x 36 inches. Larger 30 x 40 inch prints show only a minor loss of detail in a few areas and are fine for less critical applications.

ISO 800 produces a quality print at 16 x 20 inches. There is a minor and very typical loss of contrast detail in our red-leaf fabric swatch, and mild noise in flatter areas of our target, but it's still a high quality print overall for ISO 800.

ISO 1600 delivers a very nice 13 x 19 inch print, with only minor apparent issues similar to the 16 x 20 inch print at ISO 800. In fact, the 16 x 20 inch prints here aren't bad at all, and can certainly be used for less critical applications.

ISO 3200 images are quite good at 11 x 14 inches. There is now a more noticeable decline in contrast detail in our red-leaf swatch, and the very typical appearance of minor noise in flatter areas of our target, but full colors are still on display as well as very good fine detail rendering throughout.

ISO 6400 prints are good at the still versatile print size of 8 x 10 inches, and this is very much one of the better 8 x 10's at this ISO from the APS-C world. A mild loss in saturation and vibrance is quite common by this ISO, and for this we generally recommend avoiding it for anything shy of a full-frame camera if you intend larger print sizes.

ISO 12,800 delivers a solid 5 x 7 inch print that is quite good for this ISO, with nice colors and detail still in place. A worthy effort for this ISO indeed.

ISO 25,600 yields a good 4 x 6 inch print, which is better than most cameras in the crop-sensor world can boast at this lofty ISO.

The Nikon D5600 continues in the tradition of this mid-level DSLR line in producing superb prints for the price point. While the imaging pipeline remains the same as that housed in the D5500, we can confirm that our sample held true to that high imaging performance level across the board and delivered worthwhile prints at every available ISO. This is a camera that you can very much have confidence in for both general purpose and higher-end printing.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Nikon D5600 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 D5600 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

Image Quality

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing Nikon D5600 image quality to its predecessor, the D5500, as well as against several competing models at similar price points or in similar categories: the Canon T7i, Olympus E-M10 Mark II, Pentax K-70 and Sony A6000.

NOTE: These images are from best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved: click these links to visit each camera's respective sample image thumbnail page: Nikon D5600, Nikon D5500, Canon T7i, Olympus E-M10 Mark II, Pentax K-70 and Sony A6000 -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Nikon D5600 to any camera we've ever tested!

Nikon D5600 vs Nikon D5500 at Base ISO

Nikon D5600 at ISO 100	Nikon D5500 at ISO 100
Apart from very minor differences in color and contrast, the D5600's image quality is virtually identical to its predecessor's here at base ISO. This is no surprise, though, since the two cameras use the same sensor and processor.

Nikon D5600 vs Canon T7i at Base ISO

Nikon D5600 at ISO 100	Canon T7i at ISO 100
The Nikon D5600 and Canon T7i are both 24-megapixel APS-C DSLRs, but the D5600 does not have an optical low-pass filter while the T7i does, which contributes to the D5600's crisper image. Differences in default processing are also at play, though, with the Nikon applying stronger sharpening but using a tighter sharpening radius the Canon. Interestingly, the T7i shows stronger moiré patterns in the red-leaf swatch, which implies a fairly weak OLPF. The T7i's colors appear a little more accurate, however both cameras produce pleasing color and saturation.

Nikon D5600 vs Olympus E-M10 II at Base ISO

Nikon D5600 at ISO 100	Olympus E-M10 II at ISO 200
Here we compare the 24-megapixel APS-C D5600 to a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds Olympus E-M10 Mark II, which may seem a little unfair. The resolution difference is discernible but at base ISO, the Olympus E-M10 II compares quite well otherwise. Both cameras produce a sharp, crisp image with noticeable sharpening halos. The E-M10 II's default noise reduction does a better job at reducing luma noise, however it leaves behind more chroma noise than the D5600 (but keep in mind base ISO for the E-M10 II is higher at ISO 200 versus 100 for the D5600). Both cameras produce nice, vibrant color, though the E-M10 II's is generally more accurate.

Nikon D5600 vs Pentax K-70 at Base ISO

Nikon D5600 at ISO 100	Pentax K-70 at ISO 100
The Nikon D5600 definitely has more realistic colors at default settings than does the Pentax K-70. The D5600's images look a little crisper than those of the K-70 as well, but that's down to higher default contrast and sharpening from the Nikon. The Pentax does noticeably better with fine detail in our tricky red-leaf swatch, however moiré patterns are more visible. (However be aware the Pentax has an adjustable AA filter simulator which was disabled for maximum sharpness in these shots.)

Nikon D5600 vs Sony A6000 at Base ISO

Nikon D5600 at ISO 100	Sony A6000 at ISO 100
These two 24-megapixel APS-C models offer very similar amounts of detail, but with some obvious differences in processing. Where the Nikon looks oversharpened with obvious halos, the Sony shows hardly any sharpening halos. The A6000 also offers much better detail and contrast in the red-leaf swatch while rendering it smoother than the D5600. The Sony does however leave behind a little more chroma noise in the shadows than the Nikon. Still, both cameras offer excellent detail at base ISO though colors are more accurate and pleasing from the Nikon.

Nikon D5600 vs Nikon D5500 at ISO 1600

Nikon D5600 at ISO 1600	Nikon D5500 at ISO 1600
At ISO 1600, image quality from the D5600 continues to vary little from its predecessor, with just minor differences in color, contrast and perhaps a small tweak to default noise reduction strength in favor of the D5600. But image quality overall is essentially equal between these two Nikons.

Nikon D5600 vs Canon T7i at ISO 1600

Nikon D5600 at ISO 1600	Canon T7i at ISO 1600
Both the D5600 and T7i show similar levels of detail in the mosaic crop, however the Nikon has fewer noise reduction artifacts as well as warmer colors. The Nikon continues to produce a sharper, crisper image, and the noise grain from the Nikon in the shadows is also tighter. The Canon does a better job with our difficult red-leaf pattern, though.

Nikon D5600 vs Olympus E-M10 II at ISO 1600

Nikon D5600 at ISO 1600	Olympus E-M10 II at ISO 1600
It's clear from the shadow area in the bottle shoulder crop that the E-M10 II is applying stronger noise reduction, yet it leaves behind more chroma noise than the D5600. As expected, the D5600 continues to out-resolve the E-M10 II as shown by significantly better detail in the mosaic crop with a less "processed" look. The Olympus does however do a slightly better job in the red-leaf and pink fabrics.

Nikon D5600 vs Pentax K-70 at ISO 1600

Nikon D5600 at ISO 1600	Pentax K-70 at ISO 1600
The Pentax K-70 clearly trails in the fabric swatches here at ISO 1600, but holds onto a good bit more fine detail in the mosaic label while at the same time producing fewer sharpening halos. Noise levels are pretty similar between the pair, as you can see in the top bottle crop.

Nikon D5600 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 1600

Nikon D5600 at ISO 1600	Sony A6000 at ISO 1600
Here again both cameras delver similar detail in most areas, despite different approaches to noise reduction and sharpening. The Sony A6000's noise reduction tends to cause a slightly hammered effect in flat areas, while the D5600 shows a more natural-looking and consistent grain. In areas with fine, higher-contrast detail, the Nikon also looks more natural with fewer artifacts, but it also doesn't look quite as crisp as the Sony. The A6000 comes out ahead in the red-leaf and pink fabrics, though, with better detail and contrast, however much of the apparent detail is distorted instead of blurred.

Nikon D5600 vs Nikon D5500 at ISO 3200

Nikon D5600 at ISO 3200	Nikon D5500 at ISO 3200
Once again, very similar performance from the two Nikons at ISO 3200, with very similar noise levels, sharpness and colors, with perhaps just a slight edge given to the D5600 in the mosaic crop.

Nikon D5600 vs Canon T7i at ISO 3200

Nikon D5600 at ISO 3200	Canon T7i at ISO 3200
The D5600's image has slightly lower noise that is more fine-grained, warmer colors and crisper details, though sharpening halos are more obvious. This time the T7i blurs our red-leaf fabric more than the D5600, but offers slightly more contrast. Overall, it's a fairly close race here but we'd give the edge to the Nikon.

Nikon D5600 vs Olympus E-M10 II at ISO 3200

Nikon D5600 at ISO 3200	Olympus E-M10 II at ISO 3200
As we saw at ISO 1600, the E-M10 II works harder at reducing noise and it shows, with a slightly smoother image but higher chroma noise and more noise reduction artifacts. Fine detail suffers more from the E-M10 II, on top of its resolution handicap, resulting in a somewhat painted look in our mosaic crop. Both cameras offer similar detail in the red-leaf fabric, but the E-M10 II's rendering is cleaner and smoother-looking.

Nikon D5600 vs Pentax K-70 at ISO 3200

Nikon D5600 at ISO 3200	Pentax K-70 at ISO 3200
The Nikon D5600's color is still noticeably more realistic than that of the Pentax here at ISO 3200. The K-70 does better with fine details in the mosaic crop but the D5600 holds onto much more detail in our troublesome red-leaf fabric swatch. It's pretty much a wash in terms of noise levels between this pair, though the D5600's noise grain is tighter.

Nikon D5600 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 3200

Nikon D5600 at ISO 3200	Sony A6000 at ISO 3200
Again, the A6000's image is somewhat cleaner-looking than the D5600's, but has a more "processed" look, with more noticeable noise reduction artifacts and more distortion in the red-leaf fabric. The Nikon continues to produce more pleasing colors as well a somewhat crisper image, though sharpening halos remain evident.

Nikon D5600 vs. Nikon D5500, Canon T7i, Olympus E-M10 II, Pentax K-70, Sony A6000

Nikon D5600 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Nikon D5500 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon T7i ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Olympus E-M10 II ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Pentax K-70 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony A6000 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. High-contrast detail is also important, pushing the camera in different ways, so we like to look at it separately. Here again we can see the D5600 performs virtually identically to its predecessor with perhaps just a slight advantage at higher ISOs. Although the Canon T7i competes fairly well with both Nikons at base ISO, image quality degrades more quickly as ISO rises. The Olympus E-M10 II performs very well with good contrast and sharpness, but detail can't compete with the higher megapixel APS-C models. The Pentax K-70 trails the pack, lacking crispness and contrast, while showing some false colors as well. The Sony A6000 does very well at base ISO and ISO 3200, but image quality falls off noticeably at ISO 6400, and it also shows the most false colors.

Excellent 30 x 40 inch prints at ISO 100/200; a very good 13 x 19 at ISO 1600; a good 5 x 7 at ISO 12,800.

ISOs 100 and 200 yield superb prints at 30 x 40 inches and higher, with vibrant, natural colors and excellent fine detail. Larger sizes are also possible until you run out of resolution at your intended viewing distance.

ISO 400 prints are excellent at 24 x 36 inches. Larger 30 x 40 inch prints show only a minor loss of detail in a few areas and are fine for less critical applications.

ISO 800 produces a quality print at 16 x 20 inches. There is a minor and very typical loss of contrast detail in our red-leaf fabric swatch, and mild noise in flatter areas of our target, but it's still a high quality print overall for ISO 800.

ISO 1600 delivers a very nice 13 x 19 inch print, with only minor apparent issues similar to the 16 x 20 inch print at ISO 800. In fact, the 16 x 20 inch prints here aren't bad at all, and can certainly be used for less critical applications.

ISO 3200 images are quite good at 11 x 14 inches. There is now a more noticeable decline in contrast detail in our red-leaf swatch, and the very typical appearance of minor noise in flatter areas of our target, but full colors are still on display as well as very good fine detail rendering throughout.

ISO 6400 prints are good at the still versatile print size of 8 x 10 inches, and this is very much one of the better 8 x 10's at this ISO from the APS-C world. A mild loss in saturation and vibrance is quite common by this ISO, and for this we generally recommend avoiding it for anything shy of a full-frame camera if you intend larger print sizes.

ISO 12,800 delivers a solid 5 x 7 inch print that is quite good for this ISO, with nice colors and detail still in place. A worthy effort for this ISO indeed.

ISO 25,600 yields a good 4 x 6 inch print, which is better than most cameras in the crop-sensor world can boast at this lofty ISO.

The Nikon D5600 continues in the tradition of this mid-level DSLR line in producing superb prints for the price point. While the imaging pipeline remains the same as that housed in the D5500, we can confirm that our sample held true to that high imaging performance level across the board and delivered worthwhile prints at every available ISO. This is a camera that you can very much have confidence in for both general purpose and higher-end printing.

Field Test

A compact, affordable DSLR that builds upon its excellent predecessor

By Jeremy Gray · 03/17/2017

Overall, the updated Nikon D5600 does not bring a lot of new features to the table compared to the D5500 predecessor, which debuted in early 2015. Then again, there wasn't a lot of room for improvement; the D5500 was already a great camera. The biggest difference between the D5600 and the D5500 is Nikon SnapBridge, which comes to the D5600 thanks to its new Bluetooth Low Energy capability. This feature allows for instant and seamless transferring of images from the camera to your smart device.

Beyond this, there are a few minor differences which I will get into during this Field Test, but essentially the D5600 is an incremental upgrade over the D5500. In the case of the D5600, its predecessor was excellent in many ways, and the D5600 is simply building upon a perfectly stable foundation. Let's dig into the Nikon D5600 and see what it can do in the field.

• 3.2-inch tilt swivel touchscreen display
• 24.2-megapixel APS CMOS image sensor
• ISO 100-25,600 range
• 39-point autofocus system
• 5 frames per second continuous shooting
• Built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC
• Instant sharing via Nikon SnapBridge
• 1080p video recording at up to 60 frames per second
• Body-only can be found for as little as $700

Compact D5600 offers plenty of control & excellent touchscreen

The Nikon D5600 is a fairly compact DSLR. Considering its need for a mirror box and a pentamirror for the optical viewfinder, you cannot expect it to match the form factor of a mirrorless camera. However, compared to similarly-featured DSLRs, the D5600 is small. Its dimensions are 4.9 x 3.8 x 2.8 inches (124 x 97 x 70 millimeters), and it weighs 23.6 ounces (670 grams) with the 18-55mm AF-P kit lens and battery. All things considered, that's a small DSLR that's also very comfortable to hold and use. It offers a surprisingly deep grip, which fit nicely in my hands.

In addition to the well-designed grip, the D5600 has good physical controls. The top deck of the camera lacks an information display -- remember, it's a small DSLR -- but includes a dedicated mode dial and a rear command dial. There's no front command dial on the D5600, but twin-dial controls are typically reserved for more expensive enthusiast-oriented cameras. The buttons and dials that are provided feel great and are responsive. The shutter release feels notably nice.

I do want to note that the placement of the self-timer/drive mode button is unusual, but good once you get used to it. It's located on the left side of lens mount area, and the button is small and sits flush with the camera body, making it difficult to press. The location is actually useful when shooting, as you can simply press it with your thumb as you hold the camera. Additionally, the self-timer setting resets after each image is captured, which is something I did not like. You can go into custom settings "C3" and set the camera to take between 1-9 shots with the self-timer, but you cannot set the camera to stay in self-timer mode after capturing the designated number of shots.

On the rear of the camera, the button layout is standard and user-friendly. What is less standard is the large 3.2-inch LCD display, which has an impressive 1,036,800 dots (345,600 pixels) and offers tilt swivel articulation. The touchscreen display can act as a "selfie screen" if you're into that sort of thing. The large display works very well, and the touchscreen functionality works as advertised; it is particularly useful during live view shooting thanks to its nice touch AF feature.

While the display is great, the optical viewfinder is less impressive. The viewfinder offers a 35mm equivalent magnification of 0.55x, which while decent for its class, is a bit limited overall. Further, the frame coverage is just 95%. Again, competitive with its peers, but 100% viewfinder coverage would be a very welcome improvement.

The SD card slot is located on the side of the camera, which makes it accessible even when shooting on a tripod, which I love. The card slot door is nice too. It's a small thing, granted, but these little things add up and can sometimes be the difference between a camera being easy to use and being a bit frustrating.

Overall, the D5600 has a great form factor and feels very good to hold and use. Its control layout is generally good, and its large touchscreen display is excellent. The camera may be small, but the level of control it offers photographers is not. It is worth pointing out that the D5600 has lost the infrared remote control support of its predecessor.

Nikon D5600 User Experience and Shooting Features

Image Quality and High ISO Performance

While some aspects of the camera are entry-level oriented, such as the lack of a top display and twin dial controls, there's an area where there's very little distinction throughout Nikon's DX camera lineup: the image sensor. The Nikon D5600 is equipped with a 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor and is one of the better APS-C sensors around, offering excellent sharpness and dynamic range. DxO Mark gave the D5600 sensor an 84 overall score, which is only three points beneath the top tested APS-C camera, the Nikon D7200.

100% crop from the JPEG image above, straight from the camera. The Nikon D5600 can capture a lot of detail with its 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor. This is a very good sensor, and its performance extends far beyond the price point of the camera. Click for full-size image.

High ISO Performance

Considering how well the Nikon D5500 performed in our image quality analysis at high ISOs, it's unsurprising that the D5600 follows suit and offers a great combination of detail and noise reduction at higher ISO settings.

Nikon D5600 ISO Comparison 100% center crops from JPEG Fine images with default settings (Click for full-size images)
ISO 100 Full Scene
ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12800
ISO 25600

JPEG images look great through ISO 3200 and are certainly usable for many applications at ISO 1600 and 3200 despite losing some fine detail. The noise reduction processing the camera applies offers a good balance of suppressing noise while maintaining fine details. ISO 6400 is okay, but a fair bit of noise sneaks into the image files and fine detail has been removed. ISO 6400 JPEGs are printable at smaller sizes, such as an 8 x 10 or perhaps even 11 x 14, an impressive feat for an APS-C camera. ISO 12800 is okay, but you do lose quite a bit of detail when viewing the image at larger sizes. ISO 25600 is only usable at very small viewing sizes.

Nikon D5600 ISO Comparison 100% center crops from RAW images converted with ACR defaults (Click for full-size images)
ISO 100 Full Scene
ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12800
ISO 25600

RAW images are quite detailed through ISO 1600, getting quite a bit softer and noisier at 3200 and 6400, but still being usable for smaller print sizes. ISO 12800 is very noisy, but could be usable for sharing at a small size on the web or maybe even making a small print. ISO 25600, on the other hand, is essentially useless. Nonetheless, impressive performance from the RAW images here for an APS-C sensor with 24.2 megapixels.

Overall, the Nikon D5600 offers very good high ISO performance for its class, and you should feel confident using the camera in low light or in action shooting situations where you need to raise the ISO to settings in the range of 1600-6400 to attain high enough shutter speeds for your subject. Its low light capabilities plus the DX crop factor also make the D5600 a solid choice for wildlife photography, especially considering its price point.

Autofocus

The Nikon D5600's autofocus performance is very impressive. It utilizes a Nikon Multi-CAM 4800 DX phase-detect autofocus system. The system is comprised of 39 total autofocus points, nine of which are cross-type, which is a healthy amount. One small issue I had with the autofocus system is that its points don't cover a large portion of the image area.

Autofocus area modes include single-point, dynamic-area AF (9, 21 and 39 points), 3D-tracking and Auto-area AF. Dynamic-area and 3D-tracking modes are not available when the autofocus mode is set to AF-S. The D5600 also features face-priority autofocus and subject-tracking AF when using Live View in addition to wide-area and normal-area AF.

Autofocus performance, even in low light, is quite good through the viewfinder. The camera was snappy and accurate using a variety of lenses, including the 18-55mm AF-P kit lens. When shooting in Live View, which uses contrast-detect AF, autofocus performance depended quite a bit on the lens being used. The new AF-P kit lens performed well, offering quick live view autofocus performance. Other lenses, such as the 200-500mm f/5.6E AF-S lens, were slower during live view. Overall, live view performance was generally in-line with other recent Nikon cameras I've used.

Metering

Metering performance was acceptable with the 2,016-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering II system. White balance metering tended toward the cooler side, but it was generally quite good and both exposure and white balance metering was consistent. The D5600 has a dedicated exposure compensation button on the top of the camera, which is very convenient. Note that when shooting in manual mode, this exposure compensation button becomes the toggle switch for shutter speed and aperture control using the rear dial. Additionally, spot metering is linked to the active autofocus point, which is very nice since you can move it around the frame as needed.

Speed and Performance

Using a Sony UHS-I Class 10 SD card with a stated 94MB/s read speed and 45MB/s write speed, I was able to shoot JPEGs at the specified 5 frames per second, but buffer performance was not as good as our lab results because of my slower card.

I captured a buffer of around 26 JPEG frames at roughly 5fps. The camera cleared the buffer in a surprisingly slow 15 seconds, however. Speeds were slightly slower when shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG, around 4 fps. The RAW buffer was 8 frames, and it cleared in around 6 seconds. The RAW+JPEG buffer was a mere 5 frames and the buffer cleared in around 5 seconds.

Battery life is a high point for the D5600 as the proprietary EL14a lithium-ion battery is rated for a very generous 970 shots with Bluetooth disabled. The camera doesn't support internal charging, however, but the battery life is excellent when using the optical viewfinder.

Shooting Modes

The D5600's mode dial is on the top right deck of the camera and includes standard shooting modes like M, A, S and P. Additionally, there is an Effects mode that includes special filter effects: night vision, super vivid, pop, photo illustration, toy camera, miniature, selective color, silhouette, high key and low key. There is also a mode for no flash auto, auto and scene. There's no special movie recording mode, but you can trigger movie recording in various shooting modes by entering live view and pressing the dedicated movie record button that's located near the shutter release.

The Nikon D5600 includes a built-in HDR shooting mode, as well, which can be turned on in the quick menu when shooting JPEG file format only. The HDR mode includes auto, extra high, high, normal and low settings.

When playing back images, you have a variety of retouch options, including in-camera raw processing, a new trim (crop) option, resize, d-lighting, quick retouch and much more. Overall, the D5600 offers a wide variety of shooting modes, although an in-camera panorama option would be a welcome addition.

Wireless shooting with the D5600's new SnapBridge connectivity

If you have been following Nikon lately, many of their new cameras have included Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capabilities. This allows the latest Nikon cameras to be fully compatible with their Nikon SnapBridge smart device application and SnapBridge online image service. The D5600's addition of BLE is one of the big features of this new model, and I tested it with my iPhone 7 Plus.

At first, the D5600 (with firmware version 1.00) refused to connect with my phone during the first three Bluetooth pairing attempts. Finally, the fourth attempt worked, and I could connect. However, image transfer was inconsistent and unreliable, even after connecting. However, the day after the D5600 arrived, Nikon released a new firmware update (1.01), designed to address issues with SnapBridge. After installing the firmware and resetting my connection settings, I was able to successfully pair the D5600 during my first attempt via Bluetooth.

If you want to remotely control the D5600 using your smartphone, you need to connect the camera with Wi-Fi, as BLE is not fast enough for streaming a live view from the camera. Unfortunately, as I have seen with other Nikon cameras, you don't have much control of the camera from the smartphone app. You can focus using the display of your smartphone, which is nice, and the real-time view to my phone was of decent quality, although the framerate was quite low, even when the camera was very close to the phone. If you want to change shooting mode or any shooting settings, you must make the changes on the camera, disconnect the camera from your phone and reconnect for the changes to take effect.

One advantage of BLE and SnapBridge is that you can set up your camera and smart device to automatically transfer images from the camera to your device. The transfer speeds are quite slow, but it is happening in the background so it is not a problem. The D5600 does not have built-in GPS, but it can leverage your device's GPS capabilities and embed location data in images when connected. By default, the camera transfers 2-megapixel files to your phone, but you can set it to send original size files if you want. I do not recommend this unless you must have the larger image because the transfer speeds over Bluetooth are very slow when dealing with large images, taking many minutes to transfer files and sometimes not successfully transferring them at all.

Like the Nikon D5500, the D5600 doesn't offer a lot in the way of video features, although it does produce good-quality Full HD video. The D5600's recording capabilities top out at 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60 frames per second, which is suitable for many uses, but 4K fans will have to look elsewhere.

MOV video files can be recorded for a maximum clip length of only 10 minutes at Full HD at 60p using the High Quality setting, and only 20 minutes at Normal Quality. Normal Quality Full HD up to 30p and HD up to 60p is possible up to 29 minutes and 59 seconds, though. There are no slow motion or high speed video recording options nor is there a headphone jack. With that said, video quality is quite good in a variety of situations, and the camera offers a wide range of control.

You can record full manual video, if you so desire, but the automatic settings do a good job. Autofocus speeds are never excellent, but the new AF-P kit lens is quite quick thanks to its updated focusing design that uses stepping motors, similar to Canon's STM lenses. Focus has a slight tendency to hunt in low light, which can be distracting, but it does okay overall.

The touchscreen works well for video, especially with its tilt/swivel functionality, allowing the user to easily move the focus point around the frame. The dedicated record button is well-placed too, making the camera very user-friendly for recording video. While the features list may be somewhat short and the lack of 4K UHD video recording is somewhat disappointing -- while not a big omission compared to the D5600's other DSLR competition -- the D5600 makes capturing good HD video simple and should serve many users well.

In the field: Washington D.C. and the D5600 as a travel camera

I visited a friend from university in Washington D.C. while I had the Nikon D5600 and could test it as a travel camera. When combined with the 18-55mm AF-P kit lens, the D5600 is a very compact DSLR system. This compact size doesn't mean compromising on image quality, however, as I was continually impressed with the 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor. It handled everything very well when rushing from sight to sight.

It was easy carrying the D5600 around all day, even when packing extra lenses such as the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G and Nikon 85mm f/1.8G, both excellent prime options, by the way.

The tilt/swivel touchscreen display proved very useful with the D5600, allowing me to easily compose images from otherwise difficult positions. Additionally, the physical controls are in convenient locations, and the touchscreen-based quick menu was useful for quickly changing settings.

Overall, the D5600 is an excellent travel DSLR camera due to its compact size and very capable APS-C sensor. Coupled with the diverse lens selection available for Nikon DX cameras, you can't go wrong with the D5600.

What I like:

• Compact for a DSLR with an excellent grip and good controls
• Good touchscreen display with great tilt swivel functionality
• Very good image quality, even at higher ISO settings
• Reliable and fast autofocus performance
• Video performance is fine, and the new AF-P 18-55mm kit lens is very good for video thanks to fast, quiet autofocus performance during video recording
• SnapBridge is neat even though remote shooting capabilities are limited

What I dislike:

• Limited coverage of autofocus points
• No 4K video recording
• BLE can be slow when transferring images, especially full-res images

The Nikon D5600 offers little incentive for D5500 owners to upgrade, with limited new features. SnapBridge is nice, but I don't consider it worth upgrading for on its own. The camera captures excellent images and offers very good performance overall, making it easy to recommend for someone looking for their first DSLR or looking to upgrade from an entry-level DSLR, such as Nikon's D3000-series. The Nikon D5600 is a very good DSLR that, in many cases, offers performance, particularly in the imaging department, well beyond its price point.

Flash

Nikon D5600 Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage, Exposure and Range
A fairly powerful pop-up flash with narrow coverage. Less than average exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage was very narrow at wide angle (18mm), with very dark corners and edges. We no longer test coverage at telephoto, as it's invariably much better.

Exposure. When it came to exposure, the D5600's built-in flash underexposed our Indoor Portrait subject slightly at its default setting, requiring +0.3 EV flash exposure compensation (which is actually less than the average of +0.7 EV required for this shot).

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
9.9 feet ISO 200

Manufacturer Specified Flash Range. The Nikon D5600's flash is rated with a Guide Number of 12/39 (m/ft) at ISO 100. That works out to about 9.9 feet at f/5.6 and ISO 200. As you can see in the flash range test shot above taken with those parameters, the Nikon D5600 produced an excellent flash exposure, indicating the flash output rating is credible.

Note: Here we shoot with manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims. The specified range has been calculated for the sensitivity, lens and aperture used in the test shot above.

Technical Info

At the heart of the Nikon D5600 is a 24.2-megapixel, APS-C sized image sensor. (That's DX-format in Nikon parlance.) As in the D5300 and D5500, which had the same sensor size and resolution, there is no optical low-pass filter over the sensor, ensuring maximum possible resolution, but perhaps at the risk of moiré or false color artifacts with certain subjects.

The D5600's sensor hands off data to Nikon's proprietary EXPEED 4 image processor, the same type as used previously in the D5300 and D5500.

Sensitivities on offer in the Nikon D5600 range from ISO 100 to 25,600 equivalents. That's the same range as was available from the D5300 and D5500. However, the entire range is available by default. That differs from the D5300, where sensitivities above ISO 12,800 were available only with ISO expansion enabled. The D5500, though, likewise allowed use of the entire range by default.

Also unchanged from the D5500 is the Nikon D5600's top burst capture rate, a manufacturer-claimed five frames per second for JPEGs or 12-bit RAW (NEF) files. When shooting 14-bit NEFs, the top burst rate drops to four frames per second. Buffer capacity remains the same for best quality JPEGs at 100 frames, but claimed 14-bit RAW buffer depth has increased slightly from 10 to 11 frames. (However we only managed 8 frames in the lab, up from 7 frames for the D5500.) When shooting 12-bit RAW files, the claimed buffer depth has increased to 17 frames versus 14 for the predecessor.

Nikon didn't mention anything about autofocus performance improvements in the materials they provided to us, however the D5600 tested almost twice as fast as the D5500 at AF-S shutter lag in the lab with the same lens. Startup and single-shot cycle times also improved. See our Performance page for details.

Like that of the D5500, the Nikon D5600's viewfinder is based around a pentamirror as used in most consumer DSLRs. It retains the same manufacturer-rated 95% coverage horizontally and vertically, and still offers 0.82x magnification, a 17mm eyepoint from the eyepiece lens, and a -1.7 to +0.5 diopter correction for those with less than perfect eyesight. Unusually for a camera with an optical viewfinder, there's also an eye proximity sensor. This is used to automatically disable the LCD monitor when you bring the finder to your eye, helping to avoid glare and save power as well. It's a common feature on cameras with an electronic viewfinder, where you need to switch between the main display and the finder, but not so in a DSLR camera. (Although again, all of this is unchanged from the D5500.)

The Nikon D5600's rear-panel LCD monitor, too, is much the same as that on the D5500, and in all but one detail, also the D5300. It's still mounted on a tilt / swivel mechanism -- Vari-angle, in Nikon parlance -- which allows it to be viewed from most angles, including from in front of the camera for selfies. And as in the D5500 and D5300, it can still be closed facing inwards, as well, providing a modicum of protection against minor knocks and bumps.

Also unchanged is the LCD panel size and resolution, which are 3.2 inches and 1,037,000 dots, respectively. However, there's one very important difference between the Nikon D5600's display and that of the D5300, which carries over from the intermediary D5500.

The difference from the D5300 is that the Nikon D5600's LCD is overlaid with a touch-sensitive panel, allowing it to be used as an input device. When the feature appeared last year in the D5500, it was a first for a Nikon DSLR at any level. Its presence means that the ways in which you can interact with the D5600 are rather more diverse. Smartphone users will feel right at home with the feature, and with the number of smartphone users around these days, it's a smart move to court them.

For one thing, you can trip the shutter by touching the screen in live view mode, rather than with the dedicated Shutter button, should you want. You can also "pinch" with your finger and thumb to zoom in or out of images during playback, and once zoomed you can also crop your images from the touch-screen. You can also swipe through a new frame advance bar when viewing full-screen images in playback mode, and can navigate and control all menus using swipes and taps, just as you do on your phone.

The D5500's Touch Function feature, which lets you use the touchscreen while using the optical viewfinder to adjust an assignable shooting setting by tapping or sliding your finger over the screen without removing your eye from the OVF, has been enhanced. Available functions on the D5600 are still: AF point selection, ISO sensitivity, Active D-Lighting, HDR, Auto bracketing, AF-area mode, Viewfinder grid display toggle and Aperture, but you can now also toggle Auto ISO when the ISO sensitivity function is selected.

As in the D5300 and D5500, the Nikon D5600 uses a 39-point Multi-Cam 4800 DX phase-detection autofocus module with nine cross-type points to determine focus. The system has a working range of -1 to 19EV, operates in single, continuous or auto servo modes, and includes a predictive 3D autofocus tracking function. In live view mode, face priority autofocus using contrast detection is possible.

Exposures are metered using a 2,016 pixel RGB image sensor, just as in the D5300 and D5500. Exposure compensation is possible within a range of +/-5 EV in either 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps, and an exposure lock function is provided, as is a 3-shot exposure bracketing function. The D5600 also supports White Balance and Active D-Lighting bracketing.

Exposure modes include Auto, flexible Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, Manual, Flash Off, and Scene, and Nikon's Scene Recognition System algorithms are included to detect from a variety of scene types automatically as appropriate.

User-selectable scene modes include Autumn Colors, Beach / Snow, Blossom, Candlelight, Child, Close-up, Dusk / Dawn, Food, Landscape, Night Landscape, Night Portrait, Party / Indoor, Pet Portrait, Portrait, Sports and Sunset.

Again, all of this is unchanged from the D5500.

As you'd expect of a camera aimed at consumer and enthusiast use, the Nikon D5600 includes both a hot shoe and built-in, popup flash strobe. The built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 12 meters or 39 feet at ISO 100 (the same as in the D5300 and D5500), and flash sync is possible at up to 1/200 second. The D5600 uses Nikon's 2,016-pixel i-TTL flash metering with the built-in strobe, and with compatible Speedlight strobes. Flash exposure compensation is possible within a range of -3 to +1EV in 1/3 or 1/2 EV increments. Nikon's Creative Lighting System is supported, too, though the built-in flash cannot act as a commander.

Landscape, Monochrome, Neutral, Portrait, Standard, Vivid, Flat and user-customizable picture controls are available in the Nikon D5600, just like the D5500 before it. Each allows tweaking in finer-grained quarter-steps, for more precise control over the look of your images. You can also adjust brightness, clarity, or mid-tone contrast of your images.

There are also a healthy selection of Special Effects modes, including Super Vivid, Pop, Photo Illustration, Night Vision, Toy Camera, Miniature Effect, Selective Color, Silhouette, High Key and Low Key, the same as offered on the D5500.

As well as still images, the Nikon D5600 can capture Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) or HD (1,280 x 720 pixel) movies using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression in a .MOV container, complete with Linear PCM audio. HD movies have a frame rate of 60p or 50p frames per second, while for Full HD capture, rates of 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p or 24p frames per second are available.

High and Normal Quality options are still offered and clip length limits remain the same as the D5500. High Quality at 1080p60/50 clips are limited to 10 minutes and lower frames rates or resolutions are limited to 20 minutes. In Normal Quality, 1080p60/50 is limited to 20 minutes, and the other modes are limited to 29 minutes and 59 seconds.

Standard-def VGA (640 x 424) capture is no longer possible, perhaps since the camera's standard-definition connectivity has also been removed.

Audio is recorded courtesy of an onboard stereo microphone, or an optional external stereo mic with 3.5mm jack, and a sensitivity adjustment is provided.

The D5600 adds a new Time-lapse Movie mode where the camera captures stills at a programmable interval and duration, and combines them into a silent Full HD or HD movie for you. There's even an Exposure Smoothing option to mitigate abrupt changes in exposure in the resulting time-lapse movie.

To help get your images off the camera and onto social networks, the Nikon D5600 includes an updated variant of the company's SnapBridge technology, building on its predecessor's functionality. As well as the existing Wi-Fi radio, there are now Bluetooth Low Energy and NFC radios in the D5600's body.

This should make for quick-and-easy pairing on Android devices, and super-simple sharing on social networks. Using its Bluetooth Low Energy radio, the Nikon D5600 will transfer to your phone a low-res two-megapixel copy of every image you shoot. This is nicely sized for social networks or email, but if you want a full-res copy for any given image, you can opt to have a Wi-Fi connection established automatically for quick transfer of the full-res file. You can even transfer movies via Wi-Fi. Bluetooth can also used to obtain location data from your phone to geotag images on the camera.

Nikon has however reduced the D5600's Wi-Fi line-of-sight range spec from 30 meters / 98 feet down to only 10 meters / 32 feet.

Although there is no built-in GPS receiver, Nikon's optional GP-1 or GP-1A GPS units can be used to geotag images, and this connects via the accessory terminal. Ports on the D5600 include Micro USB 2.0 High Speed data, Type-C HDMI high-definition video output, 3.5mm stereo microphone jack, and the accessory terminal which also works with the optional MC-DC2 remote cord.

Nikon has removed built-in infrared remote control support from the D5600 body. Where its predecessors had twin infrared receivers on the front of the handgrip and at top left of the rear panel, the Nikon D5600 has neither, so the ML-L3 infra-red remote control is no longer supported. Remote control can done via SnapBridge instead, essentially using your phone as the remote control device instead of requiring a standalone one. The D5600 also supports Nikon's WR-1 wireless remote controller and WR-T10/WR-R10 wireless transmitter/receiver.

As mentioned previously, the standard-definition composite A/V output is no longer offered in this model.

The Nikon D5600 uses the same proprietary EN-EL14a battery as in its two most recent predecessors. CIPA battery life is rated at 970 shots per charge (with Bluetooth disabled), which is a nice improvement over the already very generous 820 shots the D5500 could manage from the same battery pack.

The Nikon D5600 ships with a dedicated MH-24 battery charger and an optional EH-5b AC adapter requiring an EP-5A dummy battery power coupler are available. In-camera battery charging is not supported.

As in the D5300 and D5500, the Nikon D5600 stores images on Secure Digital cards and has a single card slot. Both the higher-capacity SDHC and SDXC types are supported, as are the faster UHS-I types.

Still images can be recorded and stored as JPEG, 12 or 14-bit compressed RAW (NEF) and RAW+JPEG files. Videos are recorded and stored as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC MOV files with stereo sound.

Conclusion

In early 2015, Nikon introduced their smallest and lightest DSLR to date in the form of the Nikon D5500, which combined a very good 24-megapixel APS-C sensor with an articulating touchscreen display. We were very impressed with the entry-level DSLR so when Nikon announced its successor, the D5600, we were interested to see what upgrades Nikon would bring to entry to mid-level market. The answer proved to be something of a mixed bag. The addition of Nikon SnapBridge may be a major upgrade to some but to others, the sharing features aren't reason enough for upgrading. While there may not be a lot of incentives for D5500 owners to spring for the D5600, for users looking to purchase their first DSLR, the D5600 represents an excellent value and is a great overall performer. Let's look at how the Nikon D5600 performed in our laboratory and real-world testing.

Nikon D5600 Shooting Experience

Image Quality: Same great performance as its predecessor

Considering that the D5600 uses the same imaging pipeline as its predecessor, it should come as no shock that image quality is virtually identical for the two compact Nikon DSLR cameras. However, that's not a bad thing at all as we praised the D5500 for its excellent image quality.

Considering the D5600 against entry to mid-level DSLR competition from Canon -- the Rebel T7i specifically -- we find that the D5600 offers a sharper, crisper image thanks in part to its lack of optical low-pass filter and more aggressive sharpening. The Canon might offer better color accuracy, but you're splitting hairs at that point and both offer pleasing color rendition. As you increase the ISO, the D5600 separates itself even more from its rival, mostly thanks to better default processing. On the topic of high ISO, the D5600 impresses for an APS-C camera, producing a very good 13 x 19 inch print at ISO 1600 and a good 11 x 14 print at ISO 3200. Even at ISO 12,800, the D5600 can make a fine 5 x 7 print, which is admirable for a DSLR within this price range.

When looking at other aspects of image quality, the D5600 continues to impress. Its mean saturation is a bit higher than average and its hue accuracy is near average. Resolution is very high, with the camera producing sharp JPEGs straight from the camera with processed RAW files offering a bit more detail. The in-camera processing is fairly aggressive, though, resulting in some edge-enhancement artifacts but we think it's a good compromise between sharpness and artifacts for its target audience.

Dynamic range is an area of considerable strength for the Nikon D5600's 24-megapixel sensor. While we no longer perform our own dynamic range tests, the results at DxOMark for the D5600 shed light on the sensor quality. The overall score of 84 is the same as the score for the flagship DX camera, the Nikon D500. At base ISO, the D5600 offers a very impressive 14 EV of dynamic range, nearly an entire EV above the Canon EOS 80D (the T7i has yet to be tested).

Overall, the Nikon D5600 offers excellent image quality not only for an APS-C camera, but especially for a camera at its price point of around $700 for the body. The 24-megapixel sensor captures sharp images with good resolution across a wide range of ISO speeds and offers very good dynamic range performance, particularly at base ISO. While the D5600's image quality is virtually identical to that of its predecessor, that's a good thing in this case as both cameras deliver great imaging performance.

Autofocus

When using the optical viewfinder, the Nikon D5600 uses a phase-detect autofocus system with 39 autofocus points, nine of which are cross-type. While the autofocus points don't cover a large portion of the frame, the autofocus performance is quick and consistent. Low light autofocus performance is good too, with the camera able to focus unassisted down around -1 EV. With the AF assist light enabled, the camera can focus in complete darkness provided your subject is close enough and there's enough contrast. During Live View, the D5600's contrast-detect autofocus is not as fast, although it is still reasonably quick, especially when using an AF-P lens.

Performance

The Nikon D5600 does offer improved performance over its predecessor with respect to startup time, autofocus speed and single-shot cycle times, but otherwise it's fair to expect much of the same. Capable of shooting at around 5 frames per second (4 fps if using 14-bit RAW instead of 12-bit RAW), the D5600 is reasonably quick for this level of DSLR camera. In real-world shooting, the speeds are sufficient for many situations, although sports shooters may want more speed. Buffer depths are an issue when capturing RAW images because RAW buffer depth was tested at 8 and 5 frames for 14-bit RAW and 14-bit RAW + JPEG respectively (shooting 12-bit RAW files will increase those figures). The buffer clears quickly, though, in only a few seconds, so the camera proved agile to shoot despite its shallow buffer depths. For shooters demanding more buffer depth, you can shoot up to a very generous 100 frames in a burst when recording only JPEG images.

Overall, the camera handled and performed well in the lab and for real-world shooting situations. The battery life is particularly impressive, with the D5600 offering an excellent 970 shots when using the viewfinder, which should prove sufficient for most shooting excursions. For photographers looking to use Live View or take advantage of SnapBridge, a second battery might be a good idea as those features can decrease battery life.

Video

Video is not a highlight of the D5600, but the camera does offer good quality HD video recording. The camera can record 1920 x 1080 progressive scan video at up to 60 frames per second, which is in line with its similarly-priced DSLR competition but lagging behind some of its mirrorless competition. A neat and useful feature is the articulating touchscreen, which can be rotated and extended to the side of the camera body, allowing you to record video of yourself while ensuring good framing, which is particularly useful for vloggers.

The touchscreen generally works well during video recording, allowing easy movement of the focus point across the screen. When using an AF-P lens, such as the 18-55mm AF-P kit lens, the D5600 offers quiet and fairly quick autofocus during Live View and video recording. The 10 minute video clip limit for 1080p60 at High Quality and 20 minute limit for 1080p60 at Normal Quality are perhaps a bit of a downside for some (29'59" for all modes is typical and would certainly be better), but the camera does offer a good range of control during video recording and solid overall video performance.

Nikon SnapBridge

Nikon has been including SnapBridge in nearly all of its recent cameras and SnapBridge functionality is the big new feature for the Nikon D5600. Being able to quickly share images is important for many photographers, so the inclusion of built-in Wi-Fi with Bluetooth is a welcome addition for the D5600. The D5500 offered Wi-Fi too, but SnapBridge functionality via Bluetooth is new. Basically, SnapBridge allows for an always-on Bluetooth connection that can be used to automatically transfer images from your camera to your compatible smart device. There is also remote control functionality available and manual image transferring. While Bluetooth is not a fast way to transfer images, automatic transferring happens in the background so the slow speeds are usually not a big issue.

Nikon D5600 Build Quality and Handling

Like its predecessor, the Nikon D5600 is a small, compact DSLR. You can refer to our Field Test for more hands-on experience, but the main takeaway is that the camera body and its articulating touchscreen display work well in the field and the camera is comfortable to use for extended periods of time. Its optical viewfinder offers approximately 95% frame coverage, which is typical for its class and matches with Nikon's specifications. If you need 100% coverage, the 3.2-inch touchscreen offers close to 100% coverage, which is very good.

On the topic of the touchscreen display, a neat feature can be utilized after adjusting the default Assign Touch Fn settings in the camera's menu system -- which is quite easy to navigate, by the way. You can use the right half of the touchscreen in its normal position to select the focus point with your thumb when shooting through the optical viewfinder, and the entire screen when the monitor is extended. This feature was available on the Nikon D5500 as well, but Nikon has made some minor improvements in how the touchscreen integrates with the optical viewfinder on the D5600.

Overall, the Nikon D5600 continues in the tradition of the D5500 by being a small, compact and lightweight DSLR with good overall handling and a very good articulating touchscreen display.

Nikon D5600 Summary: "If it ain't broke"

The Nikon D5600 is not packed with new features and improvements when compared to its predecessor, but that doesn't mean that the D5600 is not an impressive camera. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, as there were not a lot of areas where the D5500 struggled compared to its entry to mid-level DSLR competition. The D5600 continues to offer excellent image quality and produces sharp, pleasing images throughout a wide range of situations. The touchscreen display works well and the autofocus performance is even better than before. With the new Nikon SnapBridge functionality, the D5600 is a great option for those looking to quickly share their images on social media. While that new feature may not be a compelling reason for upgrading from the D5500 to the D5600, the Nikon D5600 taken on the whole is an excellent DSLR in the sub-$1,000 category (the most expensive D5600 kit is one with an 18-140mm lens and that comes in at just under $1,000), making it an easy Dave's Pick.

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