A pair of marvelous tools

<p>So, this Christmas season, with all the crazy-good deals out there, I bit. Twice. I bit on Canon's $1800 5D Mk II with a free 13x19" 9500 Mk II printer (via rebate). The rebate is approved and will be arriving soon. The check's not quite in the mail, but close.</p>

<p>And then on Friday, Nikon upped the ante with the insane-good deal on the D600 and 24-85mm kit lens. I bit again. The camera arrived Saturday and I'm mighty impressed with the thing. The lens is pretty nice, and the <strong>sweet</strong> ability to program in non-CPU lenses, that's the cat's meow.</p>

<p>Unfortunately I probably won't be able to afford to KEEP both of them, but with no interest for 10+ months I have a lot of time to decide which to keep, and which to ship off to eBay. I'm curious as to people's opinions here, pro-or con for the D600, assuming mine doesn't have the splashing oil problem.</p>

<p>This is a strange story. Currently, do you have any lenses?</p>

<p>Well, do you currently have Canon or Nikon lenses?</p>

<p>I have good lenses for both systems, but this isn't about lenses. I'm just curious what folks love, or don't love, about their D600. There may be things I don't know (very likely) about the D600 which would endear it or make me go hmmm.</p>

<p>Sell 'em both and get the D800 or D800E. I shot the 5D II for years, can't say enough good things about it, shot the D600 for one afternoon and instantly knew that I had to go for something better than either the D600 or the 5D II. Prices will drop, so don't wait too long to decide.</p>

<p>I think you might be weirder than I am, but I do love your retriever shot. If you do a lot of action shots, the D800E might not be the camera for you, but it fits my needs to a "T."</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>Why didn't you go for the 6D instead?</p>

<p>As for the D600, I think a used D700 would be a better option.</p>

<p>Patrick - are you deliberately maintaining both systems? That's enthusiastic, if you have high-end lenses. (I switched from Canon to Nikon in the D700/pre-5D2 time frame, and maintain only a vestigial Eos system.)</p>

<p>I can understand not wanting to bet on one system, but I'd take one fully-specced system over two average ones. Not having either the 5D2 or the D600 would allow you the other manufacturer's 24-70 f/2.8, or to get a D800 or 5D3.</p>

<p>My belief, from playing with a 5D2, owning a D800E and D700, and reading a lot of comparative reviews is that the 5D3 is probably the best general-purpose camera of all these, with the D800 appreciably better if you value resolution and dynamic range over frame rate (the 5D3 may or may not be the best in low light, depending on your impression of Canon's noise reduction). I have a battery grip for my D700 which makes it significantly faster than the rest, but obviously at lower resolution; therefore I'm happy that I can do both speed and resolution, but split across two cameras. I'd probably take a 6D over the 5D2 - they're very similar - but in most ways that I care about, the D600 is slightly better than the 6D. The D800 is probably a better camera for most uses than the D600, but it depends whether you're happy to crop the D800 slightly to get a little more frame rate and whether you think the D800's resolution is a blessing or a curse.</p>

<p>With the budget to buy a D600 and a 5D2, I'd either buy a 5D3 or a D800 - if you're happy with the 5D2's frame rate and autofocus, I'd say you might be in the minority who'd prefer the latter. With the budget to buy semi-decent lenses for both systems, I'd either buy a set of pro f/2.8 zooms for one of them, or buy some big primes (depending on how big your systems actually are). And I'd probably pick the system based on the lens range more than the camera, because - unless there are handling issues you don't like - the differences between the cameras vary by generation and are relatively minor.</p>

<p>Specific issues with the D600? Well, the AF select (in the same position as the D800's) drives me nuts - Nikon haven't worked out that my left hand is busy holding a lens and can't work camera controls (the same applies to ISO). I believe the 5D2's DoF preview is similarly badly-placed, unlike the 5D3. I prefer the D800's mode button to the extra dial on the D600/D7000. I always envied Canon's thumb wheel, but then I prefer Nikon's front dial (so you can hold the shutter with your index finger while using it, unlike Canon's). I suggest you try them and see which you prefer.</p>

<p>If you wait, you're quite likely to lose a lot of money on eBay, though admittedly the prices have dropped very quickly on the new cameras and might be more stable than usual.</p>

 

<p>Just as I think that the 5DIII is the best all-round camera in Canon's line-up, I believe the same holds true of the D600. I think it is better all-round than the 5DII. I think it is better all-round than the D700. I think it is also better than the D3x and the D800. The oil goes away and if you are capable of cleaning your sensor, it is just an inconvenience.</p>

<p>Harvey - I think, in value for money and portability, the D600 is a better choice for most than a D800. 24MP is certainly often plenty, and the slight frame rate advantage (even over the D800 in 24MP mode) is mildly beneficial. Personally, I think the D800 is a slightly better general-purpose camera than the D600 (more resolution <em>sometimes</em> helps, the autofocus module is better, the handling is arguably nicer), but not enough to justify the price for most people; that comes if you actively want the resolution and handling (which, it happens, I do - so I don't feel I wasted my money). I suspect a lot of people would prefer the D600 to a D3x (a few handling issues aside), and I won't argue that the D600 would be better - if I only had one camera - than the D700 (though I prefer my D700 as a complement to my D800); the D700's resolution and dynamic range aren't state of the art these days.</p>

<p>The 5D3 also has "enough" resolution and a significant speed and autofocus advantage over the D600; it lacks dynamic range at low ISO, but many won't mind. The 5D2 and 6D are slower and have autofocus systems from the pre-2008 era, which is no big deal for static targets - but they also have worse dynamic range and noise handling than the D600 and D800. They're still very good cameras, of course, which is why personal impressions probably matter more than the technical differences.</p>

 

<p>(I've just made my point vocally enough that I feel I should repeat my disclaimer, lest my reputation for asserting about items I don't have get even worse: I do not own a 5D or 5D2, though I've played with one, and I've never even seen a 5D3, D600 or 6D except in a shop. Please treat my opinions, extrapolated from online reviews and specs, accordingly.)</p>

<p>I like my Nikkor glass so I use a Nikon body. IMHO it is about the glass then which body has what I need-D700 is my choice.</p>

<p>I would like to thank you very very much, because the kind of pointless spending that you discuss just having done helps flood the market even more for used camera buyers like me. I look forward to seeing your camera on ebay soon, where you will have taken a hundreds-of-dollars depreciation hit just for me. How thoughtful!</p>

<blockquote>

<p ><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=4303235">Andrew Garrard</a> <a href="../member-status-icons"><img title="Frequent poster" src="../v3graphics/member-status-icons/3rolls.gif" alt="" /></a>, Dec 17, 2012; 09:18 p.m.</p>

 

<p>Patrick - are you deliberately maintaining both systems? That's enthusiastic, if you have high-end lenses. (I switched from Canon to Nikon in the D700/pre-5D2 time frame, and maintain only a vestigial Eos system.)</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I do maintain several systems. For my professional work I've been using a D3000 (believe it or not!) but because my primary work is in real estate, a full frame DSLR makes good sense. You wouldn't believe how many small rooms there are, out there. :) I had decided that the 5D Mk II would be adequate because with a Nikon adapter, my Nikon-mount Sigma 12-24mm lens will work fine, just no AF. But the deal on the D600 was too good to pass up, so I bought it and will evaluate it more over the coming months. When I shot weddings I stuck with Canon and acquired a few of their nicer lenses so I would love to keep both cameras if that need ever arises again.</p>

<p>No matter which one I keep, I still got a free printer out of the deal. :) I might not have to sell either one if business is good.</p>

<p>Thanks to all who replied. I think the idea of going with one system has a lot of appeal, but I'm just too much of a fence sitter right now.</p>

<p>If you can afford it, sell the D 600, kee pthe lens, ( I own the D 600 and like it) and get a D 800 or D 800E. More features on this FX body--see Andrew's posts--but worth it if you can afford it. If you keep the D 600, do not use the AF-A setting. Why Nikon has this on a $2000 camera is beyond me.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

Joseph - not having used it, what's wrong with af-a? I assume it might be there because Nikon cunningly put the AF selector where I can't

easily reach it when using a big lens. :-)

<p>I believe the D 600 comes with AF-A set. I did not fully understand this when I got my camera and when I used it, I found that my first day of shooting was done at AF-A when I thought I had set Continuous High, AF-C and some other settings. With AF-A these settings did not work like they work on a D 300s or a D 700. Part of it was the poor description of AF-A in the manual. I do not think the manual said the camera comes set to shoot at AF-A.If you leave it in AF-A and set Continupus high the camera will not shoot at the max frames per second.<br>

Joe Smith </p>

<p>Interesting; thanks, Joseph. I'll go and research what this does...</p>