Horses for courses, or why I've just bought my second D600

[Cage]

My DSLR journey to date, since 2008, has been:

- Pentax K20D, liked it a lot

- Pentax K5, not so much

Then I decided I needed (?) a Full Frame camera (to be a proper photographer) so

- Nikon D600, gave great results, and only minor oil spot problems

- Nikon D800, I got sucked in by the multi-megapixies hype. Liked the camera generally, but wasn't happy with it's ISO capability at
ISO800 and above, or maybe my inability to utilise it.

- Nikon D7200 Huh, you've gone from a FF back to a crop sensor?

This is where the 'horses for courses' comes into play. My photographic interests are varied, with birding and nightscapes being to the
fore. My D7200, with the newly acquired Sigma 150-600 Sport attached, gives me the equivalent of a 900mm lens on a full frame
camera. I'm still learning about the Sport but to date the results are encouraging.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/36717437802_8ca8654bcc_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/XWAt3s)Australasian Reed-warbler-DSC_3157 (https://flic.kr/p/XWAt3s) by @Cage (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cage2/), on Flickr


So why go back to the D600? Purely and simply for it's pixel size, with it's 35.4 µm² pixel area 49% bigger than that of the D810's
23.72µn². Bigger pixels grab more photons. OK, there is a corresponding loss in pixel density but for nightscapes I don't see that as a
biggie. In fact I find the photos of the night sky more appealing with some areas of darkness not taken up with stars.

Between the two cameras, my 14mm and 150mm primes, my 24-70 and 150-600 zooms and 1.4 T/C's, I figure I've got every focal
length covered.

I would have probably preferred the D750 over the D600 for it's later in-camera processing engine, but when one is retired one has to
draw a line somewhere.

So for birding and finer detail it's the D7200, and for nightscapes and when the light is not too good, the D600.

As I said above, it really is horses for courses.

PS: I just noticed that I missed cropping the bottom. :Doh:

[arthurking83]

LOL! good to see(you finally came back to your senses and) got back into Fx as well.

As for me, well you know my back story .. from APS-C to Fx(all still there with the gear list still being cultivated, fed and encouraged to grow!) .. and back to APS-C again.

of course my new APS-C kit is mainly for the kids(which ever one wants it at the time), but while they're away, it's still mine to use.

Of course the D5500 has the same sensor as the D7200, and mighty impressive one at that too, now that I can take my own sample images to see the level of quality it can produce.
<insert a string of expletives here> annoying to use tho, mainly with any lens bigger than an 18-55 kit lens. 50/1.2 feels nicer on it, as with the 24/2, but bigger than those lens sizes and it is <expletively> annoying to have in your hand with even the 18-140VR lens.
Actually it's annoying to have in hand just the body on it's own! .. way to small for me to handhold.
Feels like trying to hold a box of matches steady as a rock, with a 20lb sledge hanging off in front of it.
Luckily tho, lil miss 15yo has small hands, and she's outgrown the P&S Galaxy Camera she got a few years back.

It does take some nice images tho, where the D300 struggled majorly to give decent quality. But on the flip side, the D300 handled like a camera should, where you grab it by the scruff and command it to sit steady with any lens larger than a tiny 24/2 attached.
The D5500 by comparison feels like fumbling a grenade between the remaining working fingers on a hand already blown to pieces with the grenade before it! :D
Funny perspective on the D300 here tho .. up till I started playing with the D5500 and seeing the impressive IQ at elevated ISO values, I never gave the D300 any thought as to ISO set.
That is I'd set Auto ISO to 3200 without ever thinking that noise would be an issue, so I did the same with the D5500 and shot some frames indoors(all test shots not worth posting) and at low shutter speeds with the kit lenses.
D300 now bugs me to distraction where the D5500 just looks nice at the same ISO values.

And all this lunacy talk of small compactness and lightness .. just makes no sense to me.
D70s is a couple of orders of magnitude larger, and so easier to hold onto, it weighs a lot more at about 200g more(680 vs 470) but I'm completely buggered if I can feel the difference when holding either camera in my hand.

[Cage]

LOL! good to see(you finally came back to your senses and) got back into Fx as well.

As for me, well you know my back story .. from APS-C to Fx(all still there with the gear list still being cultivated, fed and encouraged to grow!) .. and back to APS-C again.

of course my new APS-C kit is mainly for the kids(which ever one wants it at the time), but while they're away, it's still mine to use.

Of course the D5500 has the same sensor as the D7200, and mighty impressive one at that too, now that I can take my own sample images to see the level of quality it can produce.
<insert a string of expletives here> annoying to use tho, mainly with any lens bigger than an 18-55 kit lens. 50/1.2 feels nicer on it, as with the 24/2, but bigger than those lens sizes and it is <expletively> annoying to have in your hand with even the 18-140VR lens.
Actually it's annoying to have in hand just the body on it's own! .. way to small for me to handhold.
Feels like trying to hold a box of matches steady as a rock, with a 20lb sledge hanging off in front of it.
Luckily tho, lil miss 15yo has small hands, and she's outgrown the P&S Galaxy Camera she got a few years back.

It does take some nice images tho, where the D300 struggled majorly to give decent quality. But on the flip side, the D300 handled like a camera should, where you grab it by the scruff and command it to sit steady with any lens larger than a tiny 24/2 attached.
The D5500 by comparison feels like fumbling a grenade between the remaining working fingers on a hand already blown to pieces with the grenade before it! :D
Funny perspective on the D300 here tho .. up till I started playing with the D5500 and seeing the impressive IQ at elevated ISO values, I never gave the D300 any thought as to ISO set.
That is I'd set Auto ISO to 3200 without ever thinking that noise would be an issue, so I did the same with the D5500 and shot some frames indoors(all test shots not worth posting) and at low shutter speeds with the kit lenses.
D300 now bugs me to distraction where the D5500 just looks nice at the same ISO values.

And all this lunacy talk of small compactness and lightness .. just makes no sense to me.
D70s is a couple of orders of magnitude larger, and so easier to hold onto, it weighs a lot more at about 200g more(680 vs 470) but I'm completely buggered if I can feel the difference when holding either camera in my hand.

Arthur, my defection to DX was only ever going to be a temporary measure.

I always intended to get a D810, but when I sat down and looked really, really hard at my wants vs my needs, it was obvious that the 24MP FF sensor of the D600 better suited my requirements.

If I was doing 30" x 20" prints, which I'm not, the D810 would possibly be a necessity, but I'm not, so it ain't.

re the camera size: Whack a Meike battery grip on the D5500 and it becomes a different beast re holdability. I have one on the D7200 and it works a treat with my larger than average hands.

Anyway I'm reasonably confident that I have myself sorted, gear wise, at least for the immediate future.

PS: If I was a full time pro instead of a semi-pro, like, if you ask me I'll think about doing your job, if it suits me, the D850 would be a very desirable bit of kit.

[arthurking83]

...

re the camera size: Whack a Meike battery grip on the D5500 and it becomes a different beast re holdability. I have one on the D7200 and it works a treat with my larger than average hands.

...

Probably, but I'm doubtful. While it'll save my exposed pinky, the cameras grip simply has no depth. So holding the camera is a pinched finger affair, with resultantly plenty of air between palm and camera body, and the way the fingers all fall is that I need to cramp up their positioning to reach the release and thumbgrip padded area. If I reach for the AE-L button(for focusing) I accidentally lean on other buttons.
It's also my first single control camera, and damned annoying at that in setting exp compensation. But the touchscreen to set AF point selection is awesome as a feature. Have yet to use the joystick type AF point selection, as in D500 and D850, but I guess it's similar in ease of execution and speed.

Like I said tho, fun lil cam, with great quality .. although having just tested that quality a bit more in depth just now, it's psuedo quality due to expose differences too.
D300 exposes a lot brighter than the D5500, so where you think you've gained, you haven't gained as much as you originally thought.
And metering is far more optimistic too, compared to D300 .. and by a long way too, not just a bit here or there .. massive difference.

And I hate to say, but it's true, those 18-xxx lenses Nikon was getting flack for, are actually pretty damned good little lumps of plastic and plastic(I'd love to say glass for the second plastic, but it don't feel like it!).

I just posted up a couple of flower pics to show some IQ properties.

And just so it's clear, my gripes are just random ramblings too ... not serious gripes. Personally I'd never get myself a D5500 .. wayyy too small for my hand, and controls not there.
But for small delicate handed .. "this camera(D70s) is too big" ... miss 15yo, I reckon perfect. I reckon my 17yo son would prefer it too over the D300, but he loves using the 6fps that the D300 does.

[Cage]

Forgot to mention I also fitted an el cheapo 'L' bracket which increases the profile a bit more.