Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera with 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR AF-S Nikkor Lens

Having read so much about the phenomenal quality of the D600's full-frame sensor, I was really anxious to upgrade. I bought the kit with the 24-85 mm lens, and the image quality definitely lives up to the hype. I'm replacing a D300 (which was another excellent Nikon dSLR for its time), and the improvement in image quality is amazing. The ISO performance is outstanding, and the Auto White Balance is shockingly accurate. My fiancé has been shooting a Canon 5D and just got the 6D; even he's impressed by the images from my D600, and actually considered getting one if it hadn't been for all of the Canon glass he already owns. My only gripe about the camera is that the selector for switching between movie and photo live view appears to be non-functional on my unit. Switching from photo live view to movie live view produces no noticeable change in the live view window (it doesn't look like the manual suggests it should in movie mode), and pressing the movie shutter button results in no response. I don't shoot movies (aside from my pets using my iPhone) and didn't buy the camera for this feature (would have bought it without it, frankly), but I do expect all functions to work as advertised. I searched online and didn't see any indication that this is a broader issue with the D600, so I'm willing to chalk it up to a one-off defect. Amazon immediately shipped out a replacement (next-day air, as per the original order), and issued an RMA for the return, with shipping at their expense - no questions asked (well, other than what was the nature of the problem). Outstanding customer service, as usual. I'll update this review when I receive the replacement unit and verify that it's functioning properly. ***** UPDATE 1/2/13 ***** I received my replacement camera today, and the movie mode works just fine. I've upgraded my review to 5 stars on the basis that the camera takes spectacular images and has outstanding AWB and ISO performance, and I still have not found any evidence online that my movie mode issue is a recurring problem. As a note, I can't yet comment on whether this camera will exhibit the sensor dust/spotting issue. My personal view on this topic is that it sounds like this is really only noticeable when stopped down (and I rarely shoot at f/22) and looking at sky or blank walls; although it may be an annoyance to have to clean the sensor a few times in the first few thousand shots, I'd rather have to deal with that than wait for an unknown period of time to buy (i.e., wait to take more of these great photos). Others clearly differ in their opinion. To each their own.

First off, if the D600 did not have the dust issue getting on the sensor from the dust that is produced when the bottom of the mirror mechanism scrapes when it's flipped up, I would rate this 5 stars. With that said, I will explain why I love this camera aside from the defect that Nikon decides to not address. It is as good, if not better than the D800 for several reasons: - 5.5 FPS vs. 4 FPS (6 for D800 if you want to spend another $300 on the grip) - Less noise at higher ISO (more megapixels on the D800 means noisier pictures when ISO is jacked up... also a reason why the D700 has better high-iso performance than the D600 and D800) - U1 and U2 modes (if you shoot weddings with indoor/outdoor in incandescent/outdoor, can preset and save the correct temperature for white balance beforehand, making your life A LOT easier for events). - Cheaper by a thousand. Can spend that thousand on a grip, flash, and Hoya polarizing filter. Or whatever else. The pictures it takes are amazingly sharp, and it offering 2x SD card slots is an advantage over the more expensive SD+CF combination in the D800 as SD cards are significantly cheaper than the CF cards. The camera clearly has weight, but it does not balance too well with heavier lenses such as the 24mm 1.4G or 24-70mm 2.8G (weight was fairly nicely balances with my 85mm 1.4G, however). I like how the size was just about right, just not the weight. There's a Fn button on the front that's accessible with your right ring finger, or right pinky, but poorly placed as it is hard to reach. The dials offer great on-the-fly adjustment to ISO (I shoot mostly in Aperture), so if you outgrew your DX, it's a plus. Drawbacks aside from the dust issue is that the fastest shutter speed is only 1/4000 (compared to 1/8000 in D700, D800, etc.), good but not amazing ISO performance (very good comparable to the D3s up to 6400)--but that is to be expected with 24.3 MP. Wish the menu could be a bit easier to customize (hint* hint*, Nikon--go model it after Sony's, hint*) Overall, a keeper and you won't regret buying one if it doesn't have the dust issue. My D600 serial was 3014xxx. For those purchasing the D600, you will only start noticing the scraping of the black finishing on the bottom of the mirror mechanism after about 1000-15000 actuations. If you shoot with a small aperture (like 1.4 to 1.8) a lot, you won't notice the dust accumulation, but it's there. Way to solve it or overcome it is to wet clean (voids warranty, so don't do it unless you are completely sure of yourself) every 2 thousand shots or so until the problem goes away (after it scrapes all the black finishing off, nothing left to scrape), or to send it to Nikon to service.

I have used Nikon cameras for many years dating back to 1976 when I bought my first Nikkormat FT2 new. Over the years I kept buying newer bodies and lenses primarily because of the weddings, event photography and calendar work I have done. My latest Nikon was the D7000 which having used the D100 and D200 was an improvement in many ways. I decided to buy the D600 mainly because I have a large mix of AF-D, G, and DX lenses plus an array of older AI-S manual focus lenses. The D600 can use them all. I have read many reviews and can say that AF is faster than the other bodies I have used and in my landscape shooting the metering is phenomenal. Files in both RAW and JPG are very high quality and you can tweak the settings in the camera and for the most part if you use settings in the Menu such as Landscape you get JPGs you can use right out of the camera. I prefer to work in Photoshop so I leave the camera settings neutral/standard and have no problem getting RAW files that with a minimum of PS work can be printed at 16x20 or larger with stunning quality. What does the D600 bring to the table that DX bodies don't? Mainly being able to use any Nikon MF or AF lens (with the exception of the earlier non-AI manual focus lenses) and getting so many features at the same time. There is no doubt that the quality of the files and therefore prints, etc., that you can get from this camera in all reality exceeds what 95% of us, pro or advanced amateur, need for our work. If you already have a top quality body like the D7000, D5100 or the newer D5200, and already have DX lenses you may want to take a deep breath and fight off the urge to plunge into the FX world. Take a look at the output you are getting and realistically evaluate your needs. If you are using any of the later DX bodies to their utmost and really need the extra file size and capabilities of the D600 full-frame body then you can't do better than this newest Nikon entry. BTW, I bought my body from Amazon in late December and have experienced no issue whatsoever with dust or oil spots already on the sensor or any new ones coming on with my use. And I have lots of shots with open sky and light backgrounds that would show the spots if they were there. Perhaps the issue has been taken care of by Nikon during production, but I have no complaints in that area at all. Good luck deciding what your needs are. If you buy the D600 then you will have years of fun photography ahead of you.

In all honesty I thought the upgrade from a D7000 would have been very minor if noticeable at all and I was worried that I spent $2K(Kit sale deal) when it wasn't really needed. I was settled in to my D7K and my mostly DX lens selection. Fortunately I find the difference from a D7000 to be huge. The Overall IQ, the focusing is quick and nails nearly every time, skies are never blown out and the colors are so rich. It really is a different experience and with good glass pictures really come to life. It's not only the performance but the camera itself feels so much better. It's more then "just a D7000 with a FX sensor" stuffed in to it. The minor button changes are better(ae-l/af-l, recording button, the tightness of the buttons, etc), the grip feels better, I like the minor UI changes of both LCDs better, obviously the viewfinder is bigger and brighter. All and all it's far from a D7000 physically. As far as the oil/dust issue. I'm sure it's wide spread. My D7000 exhibited the same issue(not as bad as I've seen by some D600 though). It stopped with the d7000 after awhile and a cleaning or 2. It's no excuse on Nikons part for ignoring the issue though. -1 star for Nikons arrogance but the camera itself is 5 stars all the way! This will however cost them customers. A+ on Amazon shipping also. 1 day shipping was really shipped in 1/2 of day! edit: After constant struggles with in focus shots and the overall tone on how Nikon CS handled the D600 issue(and a ton of other Nikon deceptive issues), I've since moved on to a Canon 6D. Lets just say I miss absolutely nothing from the Nikon. :)

I love this camera. I am able to take great photos and not be burdened by D800's extra bulk and megapixels (think retouch.... the more you capture, the more you might have to clean up!). I bought this camera as I switched from the Canon 50D APC-C system. I'm glad I did because I find the camera controls more natural to me (Canon is great too and you can see many pros use Canon but it just wasn't for me). The only initial draw back I saw was the lack of the pc-port for the flash sync cord but I quickly got over it since there's the Creative Lighting System CLS and also plenty of options for remote flash triggers ($30 to hundreds if you want to get Pocket Wizards). This is a great entry level FX camera. Some reviews on the net may prefer this over D800 because it's lighter and less MP to deal with. Imaging 45MByte raw files instead of 30Mbytes.... it will add up quickly and also takes more computer power to process them all! My macbook pro can barely keep up with fast edits of the 24 megapixel pictures, I can't imagine working withe more megapixels... it will probably frustrate me into buying faster and faster computer systems. I would skip the KIT lens, I bought it because Amazon had a sale and the price was the same as body-only. I'll be selling the kit lens as soon as I can to recoup some of the cost I've invested into the other lens. Update: I decided to check for dust/oil again after more than 7500 actuations. I checked once before around 1000 and didn't see problems but now I do see a lot spots on the left side of the screen and less on the right side of the screen. While this is very disappointing, and I will be complaining to Nikon about this, it's visible to me when I'm using F11 or slower. I usually take pictures at much wider apertures so this isn't a "major problem" for me at this time. I will try sensor cleaning and see how much of this comes back!