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My D600 arrived Thursday, 20 September 2012. My initial impression of it was that its as a little larger than I’d prefer, but not as heavy as its size led me to expect.
Upon shooting it, I immediately forgave its size with the first frame I took of my youngest daughter. The shot was bright and clear.
At last, a full-frame, small-bodied DSLR at an attractive price point for photo hobbyist parents.
I’ve been waiting for years for Nikon to release a full-frame DSLR in a body smaller than that of the D700 (and now D800) and with a price closer to $2000 than $3000.
I ordered the Nikon D600 as soon as I woke up on 13 September 2012. It should arrive two days from today, 18 September.
I sold my Nikon D90 recently in anticipation of the D600’s release. I also sold my Fuji X100, but that was more because of the Fuji’s ever-hunting, unreliable close focus.
This camera is no means cheap in price, but considering how much my mother paid for my father’s manual-focus Nikon 35mm camera in the 1980’s, when you adjust for inflation the D600 isn’t that pricey. And given the substantial savings in film developing, I expect the D600 to have a considerably lower total cost of ownership for myself.
If money matters, the D7000, D3200 or D5100 all promise to take great photographs. My money, however, is on full-frame. My plan is to leave my 50mm f/1.4 G lens on there most of the time. I can even use it with my 18-200 VR DX lens if I need a super zoom. I may later pony up the thousand bucks for a Nikkor 28-300 lens, but I don’t think that’s in my near future.
I also plan to shoot it on Small image size at FX (about 6MP) or Medium image size with DX lenses (also about 6MP) most of the time. I plan to keep one of the U modes set up for full-resolution and probably Normal or Fine compression.
The only other camera (given all considerations, including price) that interests me at this time as a realistic potential purchase is the Fuji X-E1 (body only or with 18-55 lens) with their 35mm f/1.4 lens. I may buy one down the road as a more compact, go-anywhere camera, in addition to my D600.
My Nikon D90 worked great for me for three full years, but I had full-frame wanderlust. My hope is that my D600 lasts me double that time before I sell it.
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I put my mint-condition, three-year-old, ~ 40k-shutter-actuation Nikon D90 back on Craigslist a few days ago. I had put it up perhaps a month and a half earlier but people kept disappearing when I told them the rubber grip was loose in one area. So I fixed that with a new grip and tape from eBay
I was asking $750 for the D90 body and an MB-D80 battery grip. I accepted an offer of $600 for the pair. Original battery and charger included.
I’m happy with the transaction. I used my D90 for three solid years, taking approximately 40,000 photographs with it. That’s about a thousand photos per month. I threw in a $150 part (the MB-D80 portrait/battery grip), but I still got a great value for my initial $880 + $150. I “lost” $430 by selling the pair. That’s $143/year for using the best digital camera I’ve ever owned to take a thousand pictures per month. By picture, that’s $0.01075 (about a penny) per photograph.
This morning, I decided to check Amazon’s used Fuji X100’s and immediately found a deal. $819.95 + $7.99 shipping. The X100 still goes for $1200 new. This used specimen is reportedly in perfect condition. Here’s the ad:
I did have a little scare. A couple hours after placing my order, I went back to my iPhone and noticed an error regarding my order. Whoah. I tried to re-order it immediately, thinking the order was unsuccessful, but that produced further errors. Looking for the unit on my iPad, it and the next-higher-priced used X100 on Amazon were no longer available. I thought someone ordered it moments before I did and that I’d lost it. But I checked my email and found an order confirmation email from Amazon for the X100. Well, I hope that order confirmation is correct, because this was one heck of a deal on a Fuji X100. We’ll see if it comes.
2 September 2012 Update: I put my X100 up for sale on Amazon the other day. $840, plus some accessories added (the wrist strap I got it with, two after market batteries, the wide angle lens thing, the shutter release screw-in button and I think that’s it.) Whoever bought this got one hell of a deal.
Why did I sell it, I’ll ask myself in a few months or more? Because the close focus was crap. At my wife’s recent birthday party, I had more focus trouble with subject sitting near me at the table. Hunt, hunt, hunt. Ugh. Forget this. I want to take face shots of my young daughters and at this field of view, I need to get close to frame them the way I want. If this thing had the focus of my Canon S95, I’d be keeping it.
I’ll wait for the Nikon D600. Selling my X100 and my Apogee Duet 2 (also via Amazon, also sold around the same time), I may have enough right there for the new Nikon. But that’s not why I sold the X100 — I sold it because the focus was screwed. And this was not a fluke — my last X100 was the same way. Dammit. I’m going to miss how silent it was.