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Elmito Yeager photo
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1244 Review
49 Karma

Review on πŸ“· Nikon Df 16.2 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera with AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Special Edition Lens - Silver by Elmito Yeager

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Bought for low light

I take pictures. Primarily to photograph my child and the activities we participate in. I usually shoot a lot indoors and before I got the Df I had a flash attached most of the time. I wanted a camera with FX as most of my lenses were already FX so I settled on the D800, D610 and Df. The main factors in my decision were low light, megapixels and price. The D4 was never listed due to its high price. Low-light photography has emerged as the main contributor. The video was not listed because I accidentally made videos most of the time. Ever since I got this camera I haven't even attached a flash anymore. Flash just isn't needed, not even for all the indoor shots I do. Post processing is a bit trickier as I don't have constant lighting (especially since it was last month December and the colored Christmas lights are more distracting than I expected). But it's still worth the extra time it takes to post, and I've found that blue, red, and green in the frame make for some interesting shots. The auto white balance is better than any of my previous cameras. There are supposed to be 2 automatic white balance settings, but I didn't read the manual deeply enough to find the second setting. It's a bit warm for daylight and overcast conditions, but tolerable, to leave things as they are while fasting. Auto white balance has issues with incandescent (TOO warm) and fluorescent (inconsistent, but may be due to mixed lighting conditions). Some of the controls are not as I would have designed them, but still usable if you don't need to make adjustments on the fly. Several times I used the wrong indicator to set the ISO. Reducing the light (compared to my other cameras) in the viewfinder should have helped with manual focusing, but I don't think that's a good feature, especially since manual focusing in low light is more difficult now that I can't see it. I had no intention of using Live View as it was a feature I have rarely used in the past, but the easy access to Live View along with the Skyline is what I use at least 5-10% of the time now. The AF area doesn't reach 1/3 of a point in the frame, which I find strange since that's where I place the interesting points for the photo. To my knowledge, live view does not have this limitation. Before purchasing I read several reviews that said it was not possible to use heavier lenses with Df. I found using my F2.8 28-70mm lens or my f2.8 70-200mm lens wasn't as bad as the reviewers claimed. I miss the extended battery for stability. Overall this is the best camera I have ever owned (previous cameras, D100, D200, D300, Nikon 1 V2). I miss the extended battery for stability. Overall, this is the best camera I have ever owned (previous cameras, D100, D200, D300, Nikon 1 V2). I miss the extended battery for stability. Overall this is the best camera I have ever owned (previous cameras, D100, D200, D300, Nikon 1 V2).

Pros
  • 0.7x viewfinder with 100% coverage
Cons
  • No car