Help deciding on a D600

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mauckcg

Senior Member
I bought a D5200 at the beginning of March and it is my first dSLR. In the three months I have owned it I have absolutely loved it and am now shooting in manual more than the auto modes. Once i started shooting in manual i found having one dial on the right side to adjust settings to be rather awkward as conditions outside kept changing. I knew I was going to move up to a D7100 in a year, maybe sooner if I find a good sale around the holidays.

Imagine my surprise when I find a listing for a month old D600 with battery grip, two batteries, and 24-85 for $1999. I emailed the individual yesterday and the camera is still available. Today the listing now says $1600. I know that is a smoking buy, and I do have a 70-200 2.8. I'm not sure if spending the extra money over the top line Dx body for the D600. Is it worth the extra money?

Thanks folks!

Chris
 
M

mauckcg

Senior Member
Rick M said:
How long is left on the warranty? With the Dust issue, might want to get a new one with a full year warranty.
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The individual selling it bought the camera a month ago.

Whats a good surface to take a picture of to pixel peep to see if there is a dust issue?
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
mauckcg said:
The individual selling it bought the camera a month ago.

Whats a good surface to take a picture of to pixel peep to see if there is a dust issue?
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​Shoot the sky at f22 or something big and white. You should be able to zoom in enough in camera to see it. Expect to find it and learn to clean the sensor.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
My D800 gets a lot of rest with my D600 around. It's just a phenomenal camera. I almost don't even need to think about noise before ISO 1600. Like Rick said, if you're comfortable cleaning the sensor, I would jump all over that at $1600, even if the grip and extra battery are aftermarket, which I would assume they are at that price.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I don't know about "too good". Depending on when he got it, these sold as packages for $1999 as kits at Christmas, so if the grip and batteries are aftermarket then it's a reasonable loss on a used camera. Granted, you need to check everything out, but it's not stupid cheap, just a great deal if the guy needs to move it. It's stupid cheap if the grip is original Nikon.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
I don't know about "too good". Depending on when he got it, these sold as packages for $1999 as kits at Christmas, so if the grip and batteries are aftermarket then it's a reasonable loss on a used camera. Granted, you need to check everything out, but it's not stupid cheap, just a great deal if the guy needs to move it. It's stupid cheap if the grip is original Nikon.
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I left a message on his voice mail so we shall see what happens.

According to the ad he is moving up to a medium format, and from the email address he responded from, he works at one of the Pittsburgh universities. So far so good. We shall see if I get a call back. If I get a call back, I'll take my 70-200 and my laptop with me and fiddle with it for a bit.
 
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crycocyon

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
My D800 gets a lot of rest with my D600 around.
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Really? I'm curious why that is apart from the D600 being so good.

Although I should admit that yesterday my D800 got a rest and the D7000 was up to plate because I didn't want to lug the D800 with 300 2.8 to work to shoot falcons nesting nearby, so I took the D7000 with 55-200 instead :).
 
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F

FastGlass

Senior Member
Soooo you've owned a camera for a few months and you now want another camera for the purpose to upgrade? I'm not sure why you feel the need to upgrade. Remember cameras dont take the pictures. Its the individuals who decide what to shoot and what settings to apply to make it happen. Don't fall into the "well if I had a better camera, my pictures will look better". You can spend lots of money to later find out its not the case. Buy a camera because it's got the features you need, not because you think it's going to make a differance on your skills.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
FastGlass said:
Soooo you've owned a camera for a few months and you now want another camera for the purpose to upgrade? I'm not sure why you feel the need to upgrade. Remember cameras dont take the pictures. Its the individuals who decide what to shoot and what settings to apply to make it happen. Don't fall into the "well if I had a better camera, my pictures will look better". You can spend lots of money to later find out its not the case. Buy a camera because it's got the features you need, not because you think it's going to make a differance on your skills.
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Absolutely. It's been a case of, I understand a skill and can reproduce results enough that I can say I can competent at A skill, B C D and E skills, so this next outing, let's tinker/focus on F and G skills and so on.

For racing, one command dial has been a bit limiting. Typical Ohio partly cloudy summer day and I spent a lot of time fumbling for the aperture button so I could adjust aperture and keep my shutter speed.

If i can get the two vacation weekends I want next year, I'll be able to make it to the 12 Hours of Sebring in the spring, and Petit Le Mans in the fall. Having the extra low light performance would be great so I can get some dusk shots.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
crycocyon said:
Really? I'm curious why that is apart from the D600 being so good.

Although I should admit that yesterday my D800 got a rest and the D7000 was up to plate because I didn't want to lug the D800 with 300 2.8 to work to shoot falcons nesting nearby, so I took the D7000 with 55-200 instead :).
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First off, the D600 is that good. The D800 was a compromise (which sounds like it's a bad thing, but it isn't) after I decided I wanted to move up from the D7000 as a second camera. Ultimately it won (oer the D7100) because it won't choke on the buffer when I'm shooting birds in flight. I use it mainly for wildlife and bounce between crop modes because I'd rather not import a 3MP image only to crop 50% of it in Lightroom, which does nothing to save image space. In DX I get the same resolution I had on the D7000 but with better IQ. And yes, with a Sigma 150-500mm it can get rather heavy rather quickly. LOL
 
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