Home  Donate  New  Search  Gallery  Reviews  How-To  Books  Links  Workshops  About  Contact

Nikon D600 vs. D7000
© 2012 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

Please help KenRockwell..com

Nikon D600
Nikon D7000

This free website's biggest source of support is when you use any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thank you! Ken.

 

September 2012   More Nikon Reviews   Nikon Lenses   All Reviews

 

Nikon D600 Review

Nikon D7000 Review

 

The Nikon D600 is essentially the D7000 with a larger sensor, reflex mirror and viewfinder prism added. The D600 isn't much bigger or heavier, and adds much more technical performance if you're splitting pixels or shooting at high ISOs.

Except for a little more size and weight, they otherwise pretty much look and handle the same.

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.

The weirdest thing is that the larger-format D600 essentially also shares the smaller AF sensor of the D7000, so it appears much smaller in the finder of the D600, covering only a smaller portion of the center of the FX image with the same 39 DX AF sensors.

The biggest annoyance is that the size of the region seen by the sea of AF sensors appears smaller in the D600. Nikon is using essentially the same AF detector in each of these cameras, but not scaling it up for the larger format in the FX D600, so all the AF zones are pretty much stuck in the center of the D600. 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.

FX versus DX is the big question between these two. The real reason it matters is that the finders are far bigger in FX cameras. Yes, rated finder magnifications may be similar, but remember that the FX frame has over twice as much area as a DX frame, so the finders are much bigger in any FX camera. The bigger finder is the real reason to prefer the D600 over the D7000, as well as the fact that you can use all of Nikon's old and classic FX lenses to their fullest potential on the D600, while you'll really want to use new DX lenses on the D7000.

While I'll be showing all sorts of technical image details from my lab as I add to this page that will show all sorts of differences, honestly for actual use, the images are 99% the same for actual picture taking! If you're a tweaker who spends his time looking at highly magnified images or shoots in light so bad that you use ISO 25,600 and other fringe activities, yes, the D600 will look better than the D7000, but for 99% of the pictures that actually matter, the only real difference will be that the D600 images will have slightly less depth of field, all else being similar.

Is the D600 worth more than double the price of the D7000? Well, if you're a full-time shooter like myself, it is, but if you do this as a hobby and money matters, of course it's not worth it if you have to ask. See Is It Worth It for details.

 

 
Announced
9/2012
9/2010
Format
Resolution
24 MP
16 MP
Frame Rate
5.5 FPS
6 FPS
U1 & U2 Modes?
YES
YES
AF settings easy save and recall?
YES
YES
External AF Controls
Abbreviated
Abbreviated
LCD
3.2"
921k dots
3"
921k dots
ISO normal
100 ~ 6,400
100 ~ 6,400
ISO with L- and H+ values
50 ~ 25,600
100 ~ 25,600
Battery
EN-EL15
EN-EL15
Sync Speed
1/200
1/250
AF Points
39
39
Portion of frame served by AF points
very small
small
Body toughness
consumer
consumer
Weight w/ card and battery

30.0 oz.

850 g.

27.3 oz.

774g

Storage
SD + SD
SD + SD
Price, 9/2012

See more also at Nikon D600 Compared.

I'll be adding more as I learn more.

Thanks!

Ken

 

Help me help you         top

I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.

The biggest help is when you use any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.

As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

Home  Donate  New  Search  Gallery  Reviews  How-To  Books  Links  Workshops  About  Contact