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Official Nikon D600 and D610 topic
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  • peterweterpeterweter

    @maxotics I agree fully!

    But I see no progression in the Nikon D600 hacks? True?

  • maxoticsmaxotics

    @peterweter Nikon is falling further and further behind Canon with the new generation of photographers, IMHO. The only reason I bought the D600, on Craigslist, was that I wanted a full frame and I didn't see any 6Ds. I figured I'd try the D600 out. I was sure it had its benefits. I'm 52 years old and had original Nikon Fs. I appreciate the build and solidness of the camera. I'm sure the extra resolution and image is worth the investment to many people. Please don't think I'm bashing Nikon. But I see no compelling reason to stick with it. It was fun putting an old Nikkor 50mm on it, yet doubt I'll actually use that lens. Like many, I'm going to focus on Canon because the company is friendly to hackers--to the whole traditional spirit of photography which is always experimental. I just bought a 50D for $500 (with lens!) and put the Magic Lantern RAW hack on it. [My first 50D Raw Video] (

    ) There's NO reason Nikon couldn't open their cameras up to this. I'm going to compare both cameras. I'm pretty sure the 5-year old Canon, with hack, is going to smoke the modern D-600 in video. However, if someone here says they think the D600 is close to being hacked for RAW video, I would certainly consider keeping it.

  • peterweterpeterweter

    Hi all,

    But what about hacking the firmware of our beast? I only see people talking about the 30 minute limit but stuff like 100% zoom like the D800 I would like to see appearing. I would pay for it too.

    Regards

  • peterweterpeterweter

  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT

    @maxotics,

    Sure I hear that. That is the general problem, as all these FF cams are mainly stills cameras, alas the D600/800/D4/5D3/1DX do not even have 1080/60p! Personally I use a D800 +GH2 - everything balances it out for me. Cheers

  • maxoticsmaxotics

    @last_SHIFT Sorry, I didn't mean the D600 wasn't a great stills camera, only that the 5D, for its resolution, gives pleasing full-frame quality images. The price difference question, for me, is more about video, not stills. If I was only using the camera for photography, believe me, I'd have NO complaints. You're right, no other camera in its price range can resolve detail in images. I didn't mean to knock the camera at all! My beef with its video applies to ALL DSLR video.

  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT

    @maxotics

    With all due respect, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but to say your not impressed by D600 stills leads me to believe you do not know what your doing. Nikon makes some of the best FF sensors with beautiful color rendition and lowest amount of noise per pixel density. As @Azo mentioned a GH2 would be more suitable for your purposes. Don't give up on the D600 just yet - slap a Sigma 35/1.4 on that and you're good to go.

  • AzoAzo

    @maxotics Well in regard to stills and video I also look at the workflow. I initially wanted to purchase the D800 but I felt the file sizes were not worth it for me. I only shoot in raw for stills.

    Same with video when I first heard of the hack for the 5D Mark III. I thought awesome I will finally have the all in one camera that can do everything. Then I heard about the workflow and files sizes and thought well this is definately not for me. Who knows maybe the workflow will change in the next couple of months and become a lot easier.

    I personally am not ready for that type of workflow. I use Final Cut Pro X because it is super simple and fast to edit with so this is perfect for my needs. I do not have the time nor the patience to learn all of the other programs that are necessary for the 5D Mark III raw hack. But different strokes for different folks so if this workflow works for you awesome.

    For my purposes the GH2 and D600 more then meet my needs. Dont get me wrong though, if the workflow was easy and I could just edit the raw files with Final Cut then this would probably sway me to the Canon 5D Mark III.

    I looked at some footage from the 50D and to be honest I was not impressed. On the other hand I saw some raw footage from the 5DIII that I thought looked really good.

    I personally think you would be better off with a GH2 when you factor everything in. Workflow, lens selection, flip out lcd, built in viewfinder, smaller file sizes, easier workflow, etc etc.

    Anyway good luck with your 50D :) I hope it works out for you...

  • maxoticsmaxotics

    @Azo, thanks for your input! Yes, I have a manual Rokinon 85/1.4 prime which seems to work well. I wish it could focus closer. (I have to say the Tamron 24-70mm/2.8 is very nice for a zoom!) Except for the added resolution, I don't believe the D-600 takes any better still than a 5D (original) I had with a Sigma 85mm prime. Not sure it is worth the $1,000 price differential on that basis. Thoughts?

    I was using a Nikkor 50mm/1.4 on the GF3/G5 but then bought an E-P1, mostly for a c-mount lens, and figured I'd mothball the Olympus 50mm/1.8 lens that came with it, but found that lens may work better than the Nikkor (less flare at 1.8).

    Anyway, as a stills only camera, I'm not blown away by the D-600. My original plan was to get a Sigma DP3M (effective 70mm) for portraits. Most likely, I will sell the D600 and do that. I love having full-frame imaging cameras that I can fit in my jacket. As for video, the D600 has better color saturation and depth then the G5, of course, but it still looks like crap to me. Faces are miscolored and pasty. Clarity-wise, the G5 seems every bit as sharp as the D600.

    The only video I've been on the Internet that looks good to me is from RAW. So today I'm buying a Canon 50D and 1,000 speed CF card to try the Magic Lantern hack. Otherwise, I don't find the D600 video to be that much better than the MFT video. Not better enough to deal with all those DSLR video headaches. What do you think about that?

  • AzoAzo

    @maxotics

    Sell the D600 and purchase a GH2 if what you are after is a small form factor and awesome video quality. I actually prefer the bigger size and build quality of the D600. I have both and they both have their strong points and weak points. Elaborating on the build quality of the GH2, my friend was sitting in a chair with his GH2 in his lap and the camera slipped and fell onto a rubber mat. The camera sensor actually got damaged just from that small drop $400 dollars to repair. Instead of repairing it he just purchased another used one.

    I have a question for you do you have primes for the D600? Purchase some prime lenses maybe a 85mm 1.8G lens and try that out before you decide sell it. With adapters you could always use the Nikon lenses on the M/43 cameras if you sell the camera. I still intend on using the D600 for video but only for certain types of shots. The GH2 is way better for video but not so much for stills. I guess you could sell the D600 and purchase a GH3 but I still don't think it would be as good as the Nikon D600 for stills.

  • maxoticsmaxotics

    Need hack to compare against D600

    I recently bought a d600 with a Tamron 24-70mm/2.8, about $3,000 worth of camera. In good light, the video is amazing. However, in mediocre light it degrades faster than I expected. My problem with the Nikon setup is the camera is BIG and HEAVY. I shoot mostly friends and family. I'm already leaving it home more often than not. For photographs, I have a Sigma dp1 and dp2s, which deliver the same full-frame IQ in the size of a small P&S.

    My problem is that I'm not convinced the full-frame video is worth all that size and weight (and money invested). So I went out and bought a GF3 and hacked it. I've picked up from this forum that the GF3 is mostly a joke. So far, NO JOKE to me! Except for the expected weakness with color (compared to full-frame), the depth of field is shallow enough and the quality near that of the D600 (dare I say that?). But how near? I'm going to do some side-by-side tests this weekend with the Nikon D600, my GF3 and a G5 I picked up for cheap on Amazon.

    So my question here is, can you give me a link to a hack/settings that you think would bring the GF3 closest to the D600. I will apply that hack for my tests. Right now I think I have driftwood something or other.

    Unless the D600 can really beat one of these cameras (I'm talking knock-out) I'll sell it and get the Sigma dp3m for portraits and do my video in a G-something. (And also wait for BM camera)

    (As many have commented, finding hacks on this site for a newbie is some kind of cruel initiation rite. I'm almost 52, so I hope you'll baby me a bit ;)

    Thanks in advance for your time!

    my blog is at maxotics.com btw.

  • fetzufetzu

    Would by any chance anyone be willing to upload a few seconds of ProRes/Uncompressed footage recorder from the D600 with an external recorder? I'm seriously looking at the D600 and am wondering how the recorded HDMI out (I currently own a Hyperdeck Shuttle 2) holds up in post..

  • AzoAzo

    Thank you for sharing your experience with the clean HDMI out. Initially this is why I purchased the D600 to record clean HDMI out, but of course this was not fixed until recently with the new firmware. I guess the decision I have to make now is which HDMI capture device to buy.

    Best Regards,

  • Brian202020Brian202020

    @Azo, in my experience there is a big difference between a D800 recorded internally and a D800 recorded externally. The biggest difference is with motion. I-Frame beats out over long GOP any day when it comes to motion. Also the noise on the external recording can be cleaned up quite a bit more than the internal recording due to the lack of compression artifacts. In my experience you can get 1/2 stop more latitude once the noise cleaned up with Neat Video. Also in my experience, you can push the externally recorded footage a bit farther in post if you need to.

  • AzoAzo

    @Brian202020 do you think that the clean HDMI out will make that much of a difference? The reason I question this is because I also have the D600 and was thinking about buying the Ninja2, but I read several different articles that stated that there was not a substantial amount of difference in terms of quality this of course was with the D800. I performed several different tests specifically for video quality and grading with the GH2 and the D600. The D600 is ok but it is not as sharp and detailed as the GH2's with Driftwood patches and holds up a lot better when you push the grading.

    That being said if you do test out HDMI please share your thoughts on if you think it is worth it.

  • Brian202020Brian202020

    With the HDMI output screen size now fixed, this is now a viable option for my work.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    The bad news is that this probably means we won't see a fix for aperture change while filming

    I think it is not software thing.

  • everoevero

    The HDMI fix is important, and I'm relieved that Nikon is fixing issues like this. The bad news is that this probably means we won't see a fix for aperture change while filming (?)

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Firmware update released

    http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18267/kw/D600/

    Changes:

    • Support for the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR has been added.
    • Subject tracking performance in AF-C (continuous-servo autofocus) autofocus mode with framing using the viewfinder has been improved.
    • Frame output size has been changed from 95% to 100% when movie live view display is changed to "Information off" and an HDMI-compatible device is connected.
    • An issue that caused the right edges of images to be somewhat white when captured at an Image area setting of DX (24x16) 1.5x with Active D-Lighting set to Off has been resolved.
    • When the camera's shutter-release button was pressed repeatedly for uninterrupted shooting with the "Record to:" option in Camera Control Pro 2's Storage tab set to "PC+CARD", the camera would stop responding with displaying "Err" in its control panel. This issue has been resolved.
    • In some very rare cases, colors would change with shooting when white balance was set to a specific color temperature, as with Preset manual or Choose color temp. This issue has been resolved.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Another review

    http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/nikon/d600/nikon-d600-review.html

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

  • LPowellLPowell

    Nikon Gamma Controls v0.1 Beta Test:

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/6292/nikon-gamma-controls-v0.1-beta-test#Item_1

    Check it out, this is the breakthrough that takes Nikon DSLR's where no GH2 has gone before!

  • everoevero

    Two things:

    • In my experience so far, the D600 struggles especially with blockiness/banding in low light with orange tinted light sources (just test against street lights, which have the additinal yellow/tungsten tint, and then defocus, and see on monitor later).

    • One bug I really seem to struggle with: I film with 1080p25. In manual mode, it's easy to set the shutter (to 50 as I prefer). But when I need a "semi-auto" mode for more run and gun type, I put the camera in Shutter-program, so I can activate Auto-ISO (and using AutoExposure lock when needed). Problem is: When I enter either Aperture or Shutter program, the shutter speed is locked to 25, and not possible to change (talking ofcourse about when in movie-mode). If you change to 1080p30 or 720p50, the shutter is locked to 50. And 720p60 the shutter goes to 100. But I want and need 1080p25 with shutter 50, to keep the motionblur as I prefer. Must be a bug??

  • consciusconscius

    Yeah, but I like the specs of the D600 more. (I aslo want it for stills) And I saw some good movies for D600:

    Now, If D600 disappoints me and if I would sell him, I probable buy a GH3

  • GravitateMediaGroupGravitateMediaGroup

    @conscius I sent back the d600 2 days after receiving it and exchanged for a 6d. have never been happier. the d600 is awful for video. it in NO way compares to the a gh2. EXTREMELY noisy focus, very bad blotching in low light, and not to mention the known "oil on the sensor" issues. I would return or dump it on ebay ASAP. not to mention ML is pretty much released for the 6d. so if you want a full frame that can relate to the gh2, 6D may be as close as it gets

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