Received the Nikon D600 today. The battery is charging now, but I could not wait and started using my D800E battery. I am pretty excited about the D600, especially after DxOMark ranked its sensor the second best in the world. Now I need to verify that claim with real image sample comparisons, especially at high ISOs. Cameras to be tested today: Nikon D700, Nikon D800E, Nikon D3s. I have access to the D4 and D7000, but most likely won’t be able to do those today, before my trip to San Juan Mountains (the Landscape Photography Workshop will take place this weekend).

A couple of quick notes before the upcoming Nikon D600 review:

1. The viewfinder is huge! It is as big as the one on the Nikon D800. If you are upgrading from a Nikon D7000 or any other DX camera, this alone is worth the upgrade in my opinion.
2. The 39 focus points are not as concentrated in the center as I thought they would be. Yes, the D800 has a bigger spread, but it is not a big difference between the two. Just like I have pointed out in my Nikon D600 limitations article, the Multi-CAM 4800FX is indeed designed differently than the DX version.
3. Although the analysis is preliminary, autofocus seems to be fast and accurate – I would say on par with the Nikon D800 (yes, that extra light in FX does make a difference).
4. The – and + indicators are still reversed. I think we will see this behavior as default on all future Nikon DSLRs.
5. The multi-function button is smaller on the D600 compared to the one on the D800 (not a big deal, but I like it bigger).
6. Image quality is phenomenal (samples to follow in the upcoming review).

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When Nikon announced the Nikon D600, I knew the new sensor would not disappoint. Since the D3, Nikon has put a lot of focus on sensor technology and A/D conversion. As a result, almost every single sensor that has been released during the last few years has been ranked very highly by many reviewers and image labs. As you may already know, DxOMark has been testing most new digital cameras on the market today (including medium format) and they crowned the Nikon D800E sensor as the best in the world earlier this year. Today, DxOMark released its rating for the Nikon D600:

In the new article that DxOMark published today, it says “the D600 is an affordable camera that places a high premium on image quality, as it ranks just behind the top performing Nikon D800 and Nikon D800E. It is also a significant improvement over the high-end professional flagship DSLRs, the Nikon D3X and the Nikon D4″. And here is an excerpt from their conclusion: “As an added bonus, the camera provides users extreme value, as noted through its DxOMark sensor score of 94, which puts it in an elite category currently occupied by two additional Nikon cameras”.

Looks like the sensor on the Nikon D600 is almost as remarkable as the one on the Nikon D800. The overall score of the sensor was just one point below the Nikon D800 and two points below the Nikon D800E (which has the same sensor as the D800, but a different anti-aliasing filter).

Here is a comparison of the D600 with the D800 and D4:

Very impressive! Take a look at the Low-Light ISO figures – the D600 has the highest score there. Detailed image analysis and comparisons will be provided this week.