DSLR's Still Rule: The Affordable Nikon D610 Part II
October 2024, Carl Garrard
Introduction:
A quick recap, then I'll get right to the review. Nikon's D610 is the successor the D600 that was originally announced on October 8th, 2013. It sports few changes from the D600, namely a new shutter mechanism (replacing the one that caused the D600 recall), faster frames per second (6 vs 5.5), an improved auto white balance (in natural light), and two new drive modes: quiet single, and a quiet continuous mode.
The AF system is a 39 point array capable of focusing in -1 ev in low light and, f/8 focusing on 9 cross type sensors in the center cluster (great for telecon use, or any lens with a minimum aperture over f/5.6). It uses the multi-cam 4800FX TTL PDAF sensor that has been tweaked for full frame use, and which includes subject/scene recognition.
Its sensor captures 24.3megapixels of information (6016x4016 resolution) which is governed by an Expeed 3 processor for image output. The body is mostly magnesium (top and back panels and metal internal frame) with a carbon front and lower panel. Nikon were clear that it is weather sealed to the exact same standards as the D800 in their press release.
Just about everything else except the name badge on the front of the camera, and on the identifying information on the bottom of the camera, remains the same as the D600. In a way you could consider the D610 to be a D600s rather than an entirely new model. A full list of specifications are found here on Nikon's website (no need to clutter my review with them): https://www.nikonusa.com/p/d610/1540/overview#tech-specs
For all of those reasons (and more) the D610 appeals to me more considering used prices are very close to those of the D600.
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| Good morning. Nikon D610 and the "Ol Nikkor" ED 28-200mm f.3.5-5.6G |
Review:
Five years is a long time to use a camera, and in those five years I have yet to be let down by the D610. But to be fair, I have never had unrealistic expectations of it either. By design the D610 is a jack of all trades DSLR for still shooters and videographers, which at the time was intended to appeal to a broad range of users for much less than other full frame DSLR's.
By all intents and means the D610 succeeded to accomplish appealing to this audience quite well, and as such it barely shows its age even in 2024. I concur by my own experience with this camera that it is indeed what it was designed to be. And on occasion, it has even exceeded the expectations of those design parameters. It's a camera that I have both grown to love, and loved immediately (oxymoron alert).
And by that measure I suppose I'm obligated to expound on why exactly I am enthusiastic about it today. Well, in the most briefest of manifesto's, I'll say that the D610 is a camera that just works. It's not only lived up to expectations, but it has proven to be a very consistent, reliable, and capable companion that has very few weaknesses. And because of that, it's a camera that I want to pick up and take with me anywhere and everywhere. And I have, and I do.
Also, because it is a bit smaller, lighter, and less expensive than my other gear, it seems to find its way out of the door with me more often than I originally intended it to be. And I've have had no regrets. The D610 has always overperformed and under promised.
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| Peculiar Clouds, rainstorm, Nikon D610, ISO 640 1/200th sec @210mm. It rained on me on and off all day for this landscape shoot. Not a problem for the D610. |
Fact is that I can take it in any weather (finding a compact weather sealed lens isn't easy, but I manage), throw it in the front seat, a camelbak, or a weatherproof hiking backpack, all adds to its appeal. It's just less voluminous enough than a D800 or D810 to be a deciding factor. And on the many occasions I have decided to take it rather than one of my D8XX class cameras, I have yet to regret ever choosing it over the others.
What I'll say is that the D610 is not going to impress a lot of armchair photographers out there who measurebate on specifications. "Meanwhile, in the real world", the D610 always seems to impress me, and maybe more so than it should precisely because of some of the criticism I see out there (namely with its AF system).
Personally I could care less about those opinions, but I do wonder how many photographers have sadly missed out on owning a D610 because of them. I have used the D610 in a very wide range of circumstances and have yet to ever be disappointed by its performance. Even in low light the autofocus system is quite good, in that, I always know where and when it will give up. All autofocus systems will give up if it gets dark enough. So in those circumstances I either activate the AF assist lamp, or I focus on an area with a higher concentration of contrast. Easy peasy, and no complaints.
Sometimes I wonder if the critical are just the type of people that are not willing to adapt at all. I guess there's nothing inherently wrong with expecting that your gear will always perform to any expectations in any circumstance, but that attitude will come with a lot of disappointment and missed opportunities.
In any event, I have never found the D610 to be a camera that requires too much adaptation. In fact, quite the opposite. I have used cameras with much higher specifications than the D610 that require much more adaptation than should be acceptable or necessary. Your mileage may vary (you're welcome for not using an acronym).
Standout areas of performance for me are: It's ergonomics, image quality, reliability, consistency, and battery life. I have been said to describe the D610 as the simplified "min-me" to the D800, my favorite all time DSLR, and every word of that is true. I especially love working with the raw files in post, they are gorgeous and unexpectedly impressive. And I have no qualms pushing the ISO setting into the hi-1 category at any time, which gives me enough sensitivity to work in all but unlit coal mines.
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| ISO 8,000 Remy. Even at high ISO's the D610 produces gorgeous images rich in midtones and color. |
It's grip is very comfortable, and ironically even more comfortable with heavier lenses (usually the opposite is true). Button and dial placements are fine, given I have some control over customization here (just enough for my needs), so I have no issues with ergonomics either. It's viewfinder is excellent overall, 100% accurate and bright. I don't wear glasses, so keep that in mind.
I love the sound of the shutter too, it sounds like a quicker and slightly dampened D800 shutter (like playing the D800's shutter sound at 1.25x normal speed with a thin towel over the speaker). It sounds like a "proper camera" not dead and lifeless like a couple other cameras mentioned later in this review (cough D750). This audio-pleasure is a constant reminder than Nikon engineers can put some special sauce into their cameras when they want too. And it's also one of the reasons I prefer to using it, versus the Nikon D750.
All in all, in the tens of thousands of exposures I've made with it, it's proven itself to be reliable and consistent in auto focusing, metering, and general performance under duress or casual shooting. It's a pleasurable camera to use, which I can confidently state is not always the case (again see below).
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| ISO 100, 1/160th of a second (to get some blade blur), 300mm. Cropped, but still, check out that detail and excellent natural color! |
As much praise as I have for the D610 and its performance, I guess an honest review requires disclosure of anything about it that is less than ideal. Fortunate for the reader, there are very few matters about it that are less than ideal.
For instance, I've never been a fan of the top 1/4000th shutter speed, but then again, I don't run into that ceiling all too often. When I have, I ended up with a blown out image reminder, and that most importantly, it is definitely not a D800/810/500 or a D4s. Of course those rare occasions it's happened are my fault (photographers, a little accountability really is okay). This is largely due to the fact that I use few cameras that are limited to 1/4000th of a second.
Another matter worth discussing is the lack of a round eyepiece and/or eyepiece shutter. Both of which I find technically ideal design additions. So yeah, the D610 is ideally less than ideal in this respect. You can see in this image of the D610 below that I was able to find an adapter to fit a DK17 eyepiece too, and although not perfect, it's good enough and surprisingly helps a little. The rear window behind the rear element on a D800 is both wider and taller, giving the impression of a less confined view, but the standard eyecup on the D610 exaggerates the smaller window for me.
Lastly, the fact that I can't turn on the main 3.2" rear LCD display along with the top LCD display incorporating the on/off/lamp switch, is an annoyance. I know Nikon love to brag about battery life, but to me this is taking things a bit to far. I can do this on my D800, so it was intentionally left out of the menu system without a firmware update ever addressing the complaints.
Oh wait, one more! Nikon, why can't I assign the video record button again?
All in all those are all minor quibbles when I think of the big picture. They don't really annoy me either because when it comes to the business of taking pictures, I get lost inside the pleasure of shooting with the D610. All is forgiven because the camera performs so well, and for such little monetary outlay, I know when not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Comparing to Other DSLRs:
I don't want to get too deep into the weeds in this section of the review, but I do think there's value in relaying my experiences with competitive DSLR's on the used market, but especially why I choose the D610 over all of for most circumstances. I have owned all of these cameras, sometimes more than once, so its not that I'm blindly biased for the D610. Price also has no effect on my decision about a camera, if I like using it, price is no object for me.
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| In the vast landscape of the camera market, used or new, the D610 is a camera that stands out as a high value proposition. |
D610 vs. Df: Nikon's Df is a unicorn in the DSLR space. It uses parts developed for the D610 (af system/shutter) and the Nikon D4 (sensor/processor), all wrapped in a completely unique exterior that no other camera maker had the balls to produce.
Comparing it and the D610 has to start with ergonomics. This is the largest disparity between the two, and as such the experience of using each camera is much different as a result. To me the Df is designed to be an artists or craftsman's camera, for those who appreciate the extra time and effort it takes to make a manual exposure. Of course it can be configured to operate much like a "conventional" DSLR, but the experience ends up being more muddied in comparison.
The Df's image quality is excellent (not as good as the D610 for dynamic range in raws mind you), it has that round eyepiece I like, and it has a wider ISO range, but overall I didn't find its more specifically tailored design to be as practically advantageous as the D610 in all the situations I shoot in. Lastly, I like the sound of the D610's shutter/mirror cycle more (oh the irony here for a camera designed to pull on the traditionalist's heart strings), its more familiar ergonomics/configurability, and it's vastly more comfortable and versatile grip.
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| As nice as the Df is, it's not a camera I would take into the outdoors or in extreme environments, this severely limits it's flexibility compared to the D610 in which I'd take anywhere, especially to the top of a mountain peak. |
The Df fits a niche no other DSLR can, I mean if looks could kill! Yet the Df was a luxury item camera for me, and while I enjoyed using it, ultimately my pragmatic personality decided that it was time to move on from the Df (I may revisit it in the future, who knows). Trust me, I like the camera, a lot. It just ended up being used so little there was no reason for me to keep it around, and the day I sold it a shadow crossed my heart.
D610 vs. D750: Well for this comparison, I'm going to really let punches fly. I'm not a big fan of the D750 like many are, and honestly I don't see the reason why it had such broad appeal. Overall the D750 felt like it had a personality complex, and it's nearly double the price for 'improvements' wasn't worth it to me. Yeah I know that sounds harsh, I'll explain.
For example, it's got this flip screen, but it's also got an unimproved pokey live view auto focus implementation that seems to make it's very existence nearly redundant for me. To add to the redundancy, there's no touch screen either. Had there been, it could have been very helpful (D500 folks!). The main issue I have with it, is that there's this rectangular plug with a gap behind the LCD screen where the power ribbon enters body, this is where water can easily intrude into the most sensitive area of the camera body. Any confidence I would have using it in inclimate weather is gone because of this screen. For this reason, I'd have preferred the fixed screen of the D610. I never used it for any other task either.
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| I prefer the cleaner fixed screen of the D610 to the flip screen of the D750 for reasons stated above. Viewing angles are excellent and I never once desired for it to have a flip screen. |
Sure, it's got an updated and proven 51pt AF system that works well, and I will give it credit for being a bit better in lower light situations, but being fair, there's a bit too much hype around its overall performance comparatively. I mean, lets keep it real here. For normal light work, the D750 wasn't anymore confident, consistent, or quick as the D610 using the same lenses, so I don't know what the fuss is about. I used several lenses on both cameras comparing them side to side, from prime to zoom, consumer to professional.
For continuous shooting, it's only a half of a frame per second faster than the D610. Thus, I wouldn't use the D750 any differently than the D610 for any job. However those specs or changes didn't feel worth double the cost of a similar condition D610.
The Nikon D500 is similar in cost and runs circles around the D750 in SO many ways. Sorry D750 fans, I don't even care that it's not full frame either, it's so much better!
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| For casual bird photography, the D610 is just as capable as the D750, and I worry a lot less about unpredictable weather in the field. |
Another gripe was the grip. The D750 was less comfortable for me, despite all the comments I've seen to the contrary (this is deeply subjective of course). Sure the grip was deeper, but then Nikon also made it thinner. Subsequently, it always put a lot more strain on my shooting hand (fatigue) when I did longer shoots. And it didn't matter what lens I had attached either. That was a constant annoyance and reason enough for me to abandon the D750 personally.
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| I prefer the D610's wider but shallower grip to the D750's, but obviously comfort is subjective. |
This next contention may sound like a nit-pick, yet the other issues I've mentioned magnified it. It's shutter sound. Dull and lifeless, hollow and plasticky sounding to me. There is nothing about it that inspired me from an analog fan point of view. To me it's Nikon's worst sounding shutter on any of their DSLR's which really surprised me considering Nikon is SO good at that (especially compared to Canon).
The fact is that I didn't trust in the D750 in inclimate weather and, it's raw files were pickier to work with, this with its uncomfortable grip were all steps back from the D610 I had no desire to take despite some advancements. Sure it's a good camera, despite the fact it had two recalls (couldn't resist keeping it real here), but I felt it's price should be more in line with a D600/610 these days. It's one of those camera's that looks way better on specs, but in real life those specs really don't translate into a better experience.
The main problem I had with it, was with the raw files. I found them much more picky to work with in post. Particularly when adjusting white balance and how the the texture of the pushed files looked in comparison, bothered me. I concluded that the extra stop in ISO range was largely due to some pipeline noise reduction/less refined processing on a hardware level that was messing with the raw files. Either way, it was too hard for me to go backward. The color, texture, and tonality of the D610 files is just better.
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| I prefer the color response, shadow quality, and overall texture of the D610's raw files to the D750's. With as much experience as I have with Nikon DSLR's in the digital dark room, the differences are obvious to me immediately. |
But I will end this comparison on a positive note. I do like that the D750 had highlight weighted metering, a wider ISO range, and the ability to customize more buttons etc. It's rear screen quality is better (wider contrast range, more accurate color).
D610 vs. Canon 6D: In nearly every category except ISO range, the D610 beats the living pants off the 6D, if you are just looking at specs. And overall I'd prefer to take the D610 with me on a shoot in most circumstances, but not all. These two cameras couldn't be more different, and yet, fall into the same category. So although I think the D610 is a winner here, I'll start with the close calls between the two.
Image quality, well that's a tough one, sure the D610 has better dynamic range and more detail, but I have to give props to the 6D for having beautiful looking files (both color and even raw file malleability).
Autofocus, the D610 is better in normal light, and the 6D is better in low light (its center AF point is legendary sensitive). For most subjects, most of the time, the D610 is better, especially for af tracking. Yet the 6D has proven to be no slouch either.
The 6D wins in size and weight, it's a very small DSLR, full frame or not. I really like it because even though its small, it handles larger lenses well, and its grip is sublime.
Overall I'd say the 6D is better in lower light less stressful shoot circumstances. It's pokey 4.5 fps is okay, but not eager enough for me to play around for action subjects. Fine for weddings (where it really shines) and concerts, but not for outdoor or high stress action work.
For everything else, I'd pick the D610. Yet the 6D has an intangible draw too. It's simplicity, size and weight, good build, and awesome image quality all add to some sort of appeal that can't be measured. It's another camera that makes you wan to pick it up and use it. For years the 6D was my main DSLR and I loved it to death. What it does, it does really well, but it is not as good of a well rounded tool that the D610 is. It just isn't.
Concluding Part II
There is no such thing as a perfect camera, that's a moving target without a bullseye. Many people fall into the trap of expecting to find one (myself included) but extensive experience has taught me that there is no such thing as a perfect camera for every task. The trick to finding a perfect camera is to match the equipment to the job you are doing. Some cameras, like the D610 are designed with the attempt in mind to be a great camera at every job, not the best choice for every job, but quite competent enough to do the job nonetheless.
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| It looks and feels like the capable all rounder that it actually is in real life. Your money, but my experience has always been positive with the D610. |
And in many respects that is exactly what the D610 is. I can't think of a single task where the D610 would be completely inadequate, other than something you need to stuff in your jeans pocket. But in terms of photographic situations, it's quite well rounded and in that respect the engineers and product managers at Nikon are to be commended. Compared to internal and external competition, and for the market position it was intended, I think it is the best choice for the money when all things are considered. That being a relatively compact, affordable, capable, comfortable, full frame DSLR.
I think the best advice I can give to others regarding a D610 recommendation would be that if you don't know what you need it for, then buy it. It's a reliable, comfortable, and capable camera that can do so many things really well. If you do know what you need a camera for, then you probably aren't reading this review. Today the D610 is an amazing value and a great way to get into full frame photography on a budget. It's a camera that you can grow into and use no matter how advanced you become.
Stay focused.
-Carl Garrard
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| The Nikon D610 has proven to be a faithful and fun to use companion. It definitely passes the "sniff test". |
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