Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon D5600 Review

Nikon D5600 Review

By Spencer Cox 73 Comments
Last Updated On February 11, 2020

«»

Image Quality

The image quality on the Nikon D5600 is very impressive – in line with the best you’ll find today on an aps-c (DX) camera sensor.

Indeed, the main disadvantages of the Nikon D5600 have nothing to do with image quality. This D5600 has, for all practical purposes, equally good image quality as that of much higher-end cameras, such as the $1900 Nikon D500 (slightly favoring the D5600 at low ISOs, and slightly favoring the D500 at higher ISOs – by about 1/3 stop, which is a non-issue). The reason for the difference in price is purely because of things like build quality, speed, features, etc., and not the quality of the sensor.

Here are sample images from the Nikon D5600 from ISO 100 to its maximum of ISO 25,600. Please keep in mind that these are extreme, 100% crops of RAW photos, taken from a very small area of the D5600’s sensor:

Nikon-D5600-ISO-100Nikon-D5600-ISO-200Nikon-D5600-ISO-400

Nikon-D5600-ISO-800Nikon-D5600-ISO-1600Nikon-D5600-ISO-3200

Nikon-D5600-ISO-6400Nikon-D5600-ISO-12800Nikon-D5600-ISO-25600

This is quite impressive! Personally, I would be comfortable using the Nikon D5600 up to ISO 1600, and I would not be afraid to push it to ISO 3200 if necessary. Even ISO 6400 is workable, although it is something I would only use in rare cases. The settings beyond that exist mainly for laughs.

You will capture the best image quality the D5600 has to offer if you shoot 14-bit RAW, although the resulting files will be larger than a compressed JPEG file. Personally, I am happy with that tradeoff, although your situation may differ. Certainly, a number of photographers who shoot with the Nikon D5600 will be happier with JPEG photos, since it is a more familiar file type that does not require editing in post-processing software to look good. (See more at RAW vs JPEG.)

Last, the most important steps to improve your image quality have nothing to do with the camera itself, but are entirely about your technique. The Nikon D5600 is capable of wall-sized prints with impeccable levels of detail, but you need to use it right.

With that out of the way, how does the Nikon D5600 stand up against other cameras on the market? Those comparisons are what we will cover in the next section of this review.

Table of Contents

  • Overview & Specifications
  • Handling and Build Quality
  • Autofocus
  • Image Quality
  • Comparisons
  • Summary
  • User Comments
«»
Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 ยท Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment