Nikon unwraps its D600 budget full-frame camera

I'm not going to bury the lede: Nikon's prosumer-targeted full-frame dSLR, the D600, will have a suggested retail price of about $2,100, and I expect it to street for under $2,000. Given how few compromises Nikon seems to have made in the camera's design and feature set, that seems like a pretty nice price for enthusiast photographers who've been drooling over an unattainable D800 or 5D Mark III.

Until now, the least expensive full-frame model you could find has probably been the 5D Mark II, widely available for about $2,000, but it's over three years old and its autofocus system was creaky even when the camera was introduced. The D600 rolls current technologies into a prosumer-friendly body (modeled after the D7000) for the same price.

D600 makes no design compromises (pictures)

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It's worth a small digression to address what might make a camera like the D600 worth more than twice as much as, say, the D7000. As I explained in my coverage of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1, a full-frame sensor is equivalent in size to a frame of 35mm film. Larger sensors are generally more desirable for two main reasons: they potentially allow for larger photosites (light receptors) per pixel for a given resolution, and provide more creative flexibility with respect to depth of field (DOF) at a given focal length. Larger photosites mean better light sensitivity, which usually means higher-quality photos. As for DOF, for a given distance from the subject, for example, f2 at 35mm will produce a less focused background with a full-frame sensor than with an APS-C. (Want to see the math? Here's a lovely depth-of-field calculator.)

The D600 is essentially the D7000 with a full-frame sensor and some more modern video capabilities. That's what you're paying all the extra bucks for. Whether it's worth it for you depends upon what you photograph. If you primarily shoot telephoto, for example, the D7000's focal-length magnifier of 1.5x means you can use a shorter -- and generally lighter -- lens to achieve the same framing. The D600 does support DX lenses and will automatically frame to APS-C, so you don't lose any of that flexibility, but if you're never going to take advantage of the wider angle of view or use fast lenses, then you're better off sticking with the cheaper D7000 and spending the extra $1,000 on a nice lens.

Updates over the D7000 era include features such as a bump to 1080/30p video; addition of a headphone jack; support for uncompressed and clean HDMI output; an update to the Expeed 3 image processor for improved still and video processing; and the same LCD as the D800.

Here's the current field of full-frame cameras in dSLR-sized bodies:

Although it's the same resolution as Sony's recently announced full-frame models, Nikon says the D600's sensor is made to its specifications. Aside from the D600 being lower-resolution than the D800, the cameras have enough differences in the metering and autofocus systems that I expect to see notable ways to distinguish the two cameras -- but who knows. Nikon says the D600 has the same level of dust and moisture sealing as the D800.

Though it lacks built-in wireless capabilities, Nikon is shipping a $59.95 WU-5b Wireless Mobile Adapter, a dongle that connects in the USB port and provides the camera with wireless tethering, upload, and viewing capabilities when paired with a mobile device.

The camera is already in production and slated to ship next week; I'll be getting my evaluation unit this week. Stay tuned for a review once the Photokina rush has ended.