Questions about the D600

Hi all,

I am planing to buy my first DSLR camera and I feel that the D600 is my best option. I know that the D600 is very advanced but I think it is the most suitable for me as I am not planing to change the camera body any time soon and I also like the idea of having a full frame camera and lenses. Since I don't have any lenses yet, then it may be a good option to start directly with the full frame. I understand the principals of photography and exposure so hopefully I will be able to get the best out of the D600. I would mainly be talking family photos (indoors and outdoors) and landscape photos.

I have a few questions to ask and would appreciate very much your answers:

1) Is the dust problem still existent in recently purchased cameras? I know that this has been asked many times before in this forum, but I am still interested to hear your feedback. I am willing to wait another couple of months or so if this will make this problem less likely to occur. I have never cleaned a sensor before, but I don't think it will be a problem for me to dry clean it. Having said that, I will be worried to wet clean the sensor.

2) I am planing to buy the AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (10.7x) as my traveling lens and the AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G as my prime and indoor lens. Is the 28-300mm a good option, or I should replace it with the AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR and the AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G (4.3x) lens? I prefer a single lens in order to be easy while traveling and that is why I prefer the 28-300 but at the same time I don't want to sacrifice the quality of the photos taken.

3) I always had a camera and another video camera. Is the D600 good for shooting videos? Can it replace both my old camera and my old video camera? Also how much memory will be used if I take something like a 20 minutes video clip?

4) Regarding which memory card I should buy, will a SanDisk 32G Extreme be a good option, or I have to get the Extreme Pro? The Pro is much more expensive so I am not sure whether it is worth the extra money or not.

Many thanks again for your help
Amnm

Welcome, Amnm. Let's see if I can help you out.

First of all, the D600 isn't any more "advanced" than the D7000 or D7100 in terms of features and functions. The significant difference is the sensor, and that's what you're paying for. Otherwise it's no more difficult to learn on than its DX counterparts. The jump in image quality I saw compared to my D7000 is amazing and I'm so glad I made the move. As to your questions...

1) No one truly knows what's up with the dust, except Nikon ... maybe. I bought mine in December, shipped it back for repair in February, got it back in March, and shipped it back for the same thing again in April. This tells me that Nikon knows the source of the problem (the shutter mechanism) but may not have a handle yet on solving it. While just my opinion, I think that there's something with the construction of a shutter mechanism that may not be done in house that Nikon is experiencing quality control issues with. They seem to be over-lubricated and may, in fact, generate the dust particles internally as shutter coating wears (there are photos of this in a thread in the D600 forum). I have not yet seen signs of the issue in this shutter (#3), but I haven't gone out of my way to look for it and have only taken about 300 shots since getting it back. I need to note that should I experience the issue again I will not be sending the camera back, but I will instead just clean the sensor as needed and wait for it to hopefully resolve itself over time (at some point all excess oil should be spent and all particles should be emitted). It's not a hard thing to learn to do, and the process is a normal part of camera maintenance, so I'll chalk it up to something to live with - but the images are worth the effort. And note, there are some here who have had the camera for over several thousand clicks and not experienced what I've seen in several hundred.

2) I had the 28-300mm it's a good, solid all purpose travel lens. It is not as sharp as other zooms with smaller focal length sweeps, and like all zooms it has its sweet spots and it's difficult points. Wide open and at extremes, particularly at 300mm, it can be soft, but if you keep it stopped down a couple clicks it works just fine. There are lenses that will give you better bokeh and tack sharp corners, but if you're on holiday do you want to have to carry 3 lenses and worry about swapping out in a crowded marketplace or on a dusty trail somewhere? Probably not. So, if most of your photography will be during events where you want to concentrate more on the event than the camera, it should be fine. In a recent seminar with Scott Kelby he said that the D600 and the 28-300mm is all he takes on family vacations - everything else stays home. So it will do you fine. But, if the "one lens on vacation" idea is secondary then you may be better served with the other combination. My 24-85mm lives on that camera, with changes only for specific shooting situations.

3) I don't shoot video much, but if you're coming from a camera with image stabilization realize that none of these DSLRs will have that, so every handheld movement will be seen where you old camera may have smoothed it out. Video size will depend on the quality setting, but I'm thinking that at its highest resolution you'll probably be pushing 3-4GB for 20-30 minutes (you cannot go longer). I believe if you search the web you can find specific size to resolution tables for the camera.

4) Your card should be more than sufficient provided you don't plan on shooting RAW in continuous high speed mode a lot. The D600's buffer will hold about 15 RAW images before needing to write to disk, so that's just over 3 seconds of continuous shooting. The card's write speed doesn't come into play until you want to shoot again and the buffer isn't empty yet. On single shots, I see no difference between my 32GB Extreme (which is in the camera now) and a 16GB Extreme Pro in terms of how quickly my preview is displayed after the shot is taken.


I hope that helps. The D600 is a wonderful camera, and well worth the investment. The shutter issue is a drag, and I feel for everyone who has had to deal with it. Thankfully I've had other bodies to use during the 5 1/2 weeks that my camera was with Nikon over 2 trips, and I can only imagine the frustration I'd have felt had it been my only body. That said, the images I get are well worth it.

Welcome to the forum

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Some useful links
Nikon Product Manuals available for download
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


Thanks

Thank you Jake very much. You answers are really appreciated.

I purchased the D600 and the 28-300 lens.

I will update my profile soon as requested.