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Nikon D600 vs. D700
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September 2012 More Nikon Reviews Nikon Lenses All Reviews
2012 Full-Frame DSLR Comparison Table
The Nikon D600 and Nikon D700 very different cameras from different eras.
The D700 is a larger, tougher semi-pro FX camera with a full complement of autofocus controls on the front and back of the camera, while the D600 is a newer, smaller, lighter camera that folds the AF controls into one button to hold while you spin dials to set it. In exchange, the D600 offers U1 and U2 instant save and recall modes to recall any AF settings, so overall, it's a wash — depending on what you're doing.
Resolution isn't important. I pull plenty of 20 x 30" (50 x 75 cm) prints from 12 MP cameras, and they are stunning. Others make astonishing 40 x 60" (1 x 1.5 meter) prints from 6 MP cameras; it's all in your lens and mostly in your skill as a photographer. I wouldn't buy a D600 for its 24 MP resolution specification; you'll never use all those pixels unless you're printing 12-foot-wide murals.
Overall, the D700 handles better when you're shooting one thing at a time, because it's easier to set and adjust its AF system as you shoot without taking your eye from the finder. If you want to shoot in auto AF area select, and then want to choose and move just one sensor, no problem; you can do it as you shoot purely by feel. With the D600, you have to find and hold one small button, and then take your eye and concentration off your subject to stop and look at the bottom LCD while fiddling a dial. The D700 is much faster to set while shooting, you can set it by feel as you're shooting.
However, if you want to go from shooting one kind of subject to a different kind of subject, say from a portrait of a person to a landscape, the D700 has to have everything reset by hand, while with the U1 and U2 modes of the D600, I program one for each, and in a singular click, my entire camera is now reoptimized to my preferred settings for AF, color, contrast, flash mode, resolution and everything — all in one click.
The D700 is tougher. It's bigger, heavier and tougher. I prefer lighter.
The only universal downfall of the D600 is that the size of the region seen by its sea of AF sensors is smaller than in the D700. Personally, I always seem to need to focus on something just outside the area covered by AF sensors with my existing cameras, so the D600 will bug me more. So what? Half the time all I use is the center sensor anyway; I'll take the U1 and U2 modes in exchange for a smaller AF region any day.
I greatly prefer the U1 and U2 modes of the D600; the D700's menu banks are horrible since they don't save everything, and they take too many clicks to recall them all.
Flash sync is a tiny bit slower in the D600, but it's only a third of a stop slower than any other current DSLR and the same as the Canon 5D Mark III, so no complaints from me. Give me 1/500 sync and I'd want it, but 1/250 is the same thing as 1/200 in actual use.
| Announced | 9/2012 |
7/2008 |
| Format | ||
| Resolution | 24 MP |
12 MP |
| Frame Rate | 5.5 FPS |
5 FPS |
| U1 & U2 Modes? | YES |
no |
| AF settings easy save and recall? | YES |
no |
| External AF Controls | Abbreviated |
Full |
| LCD | 3.2" 921k dots |
3" 920k dots |
| ISO normal | 100 ~ 6,400 |
200 ~ 6,400 |
| ISO with L- and H+ values | 50 ~ 25,600 |
100 ~ 25,600 |
| Battery | EN-EL15 |
EN-EL3e |
| Sync Speed | 1/200 |
1/250 |
| AF Points | 39 |
51 |
| Portion of frame served by AF points | very small |
small |
| Body toughness | consumer |
semi-pro |
| Weight w/ card and battery | 30.0 oz. 850 g. |
38.3 oz. 1,085 g. |
| Storage | SD + SD |
CF only |
| Price, 9/2012 |
See more also at Nikon D600 Compared.
I'll be adding more as I learn more.
Thanks!
Ken
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