Today I had my first real hockey assignment of the season, and shot two solid periods out of three with the D3S to make sure I did it justice, but since I felt I got some good shots in those, I felt comfortable running the D600 with the 300VR for the last one to see how it did back-to-back against the big boy in low-light sports settings.
I'll cut to some sample images here, but here's my take...
There is a noticeable difference in sheer acquisition power between the D3S and D600. Where I can get lazy with the D3S and slam the AF-ON suddenly, grab the shutter and the lens generally slaps onto the focus area pretty competently. Shooting the D600 back-to-back, I learned to practice some better habits to ensure I didn't miss shots... namely tapping the AF-ON more frequently to stay with the play more until I wanted to start tracking a player. It just bought me a few milliseconds to make sure I didn't miss any shots. Once I did this, the camera tracks very well. A lot were asking how the D600 compares to the D700 for AF speed, and I'm fairly confident now in saying it tracks at least as well, but I don't think it's quite as quick to snap to focus from starting OOF.
I'm very happy however in the low-light results. If it doesn't quite match for acquisition speed, it does produce outstanding results at ISO3200, maybe even close to on par with the D3S, with more resolution. I did notice that standard PC settings tend to come off flatter - or better put, more REALISTIC than the D700 or D3S. So I bumped up the sharpness in-cam and played around with some shots with +1 to the saturation on the STANDARD PC setting. Seems to work well.
Handling wise, the camera is still noticeably smaller and lighter even with the grip than the D3S or D700 with grip, and doesn't feel quite as "right" on the big lens.
My feelings are that this camera is an incredible little image maker, that adapts well to sports shooting, even though it wasn't MADE for it like the D3S is. There is no questioning the capability of producing great images... but it also isn't a D4. Instead it's an incredibly versatile little machine that I think can do a little of everything pretty darn well for a reasonable cost.
Anyway, a few ISO3200 hockey images from the D600:
It's great that we can buy this sort of performance for such a low price. It would make a perfect back-up camera for sports pros (as long as they're not continually working in bad weather) and a terrific general purpose cam for just about everybody else.
Mike, I do think the AF cluster is slightly more centralized than the D700, although in practice there's very little difference in how they function. You still don't get them right at the edges, but really for the shooting I do they don't NEED to be I suppose. You would notice it looking at overlays on the web, but I doubt it's that much of an issue in the field.
Zesto... I think you're right in that summary... and that's the reason I'm pretty happy with this little machine.
With the ongoing NHL lockout DJ's pictures might be the only hockey we see this year.
D600 looks real good and I'm sure is more than adequate for the vast majority of photographers. We've come a long way from the D2x as the only sports option for Nikon a few years ago. Great colors and white balance on these as always. Thanks for posting and all the best.
It appears that lil sucker is agreein' with you, Deej Sweet set, buddy!
(methinks the humorous captions seen elsewhere, would have been well received over here)
Jack... You are so right. It was yesterday I was trying to figure out how to make my D1H look decent at ISO800... we're getting spoiled? It's a good thing...
Will... thanks mister! It's been a fun little body to play around with for sure. CHEERS!!
p.1 #10 · Shot a period of hockey with the D600...
Not nearly as taxing as shooting hockey, but I was impressed with the D600 in just how fast it would lock focus and track an oncoming locomotive, at night. My D7000, as good as it did, could not give me what the D600 is giving. It's amazing to see shots like this, when I used to have to dance on barrels to get clean ISO 800 shots with my D2x, and they were no comparison to these. I think the versatility of the D600 is pretty incredible.
p.1 #12 · Shot a period of hockey with the D600...
zesto wrote:
Very impressive.
It's great that we can buy this sort of performance for such a low price. It would make a perfect back-up camera for sports pros (as long as they're not continually working in bad weather)
Zesto,
I was under the impression from the specs and from the interview I read with a Nikon exec that this camera was fully weather-sealed. Is it not?
p.1 #13 · Shot a period of hockey with the D600...
Nikon has said that the D600 is weather and dust resistant. Since Nikon does not rate the weather resistance, who knows how much it can tolerate compared to any other body. I think everyone would believe that the D4 could tolerate more, but who knows.
Sweet set, buddy! 