Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Nikon has always been a bit more romantic than other large Japanese companies. They have repeatedly produced cameras which seem more about honoring their corporate history than revenue. In 2005 they made a limited production run of their SP rangefinder film camera from the 1950's; lovingly crafted in Japan and strictly for collectors. In 2004, after it was clear that film photography was over, they nevertheless lavished engineering development on the F6, the last ever Nikon film SLR. It is hard to believe they recovered their costs on this finely designed and precision built camera, whose production soon fell to fewer than 50 a month, worldwide. Making it was perhaps more a love letter to an SLR past than a business decision. So it may also be with the Nikon DF, designed half for function and half for nostalgia for Nikon's glory days of SLR. I probably perfectly fit the demographic Nikon had in mind; old enough to remember my Nikon F in the 1960's with fondness, and still with a shelf of Nikon lenses accumulated from that day to this. However, I am not in a position to spend $3,000 just for retro nostalgia. And while it's sweet that it can mount pre-AI lenses, I converted the last of mine 20 years ago. I bought the DF with the idea that if it turned out to work better for my type of photography, which is portraiture, I would sell my D600 to recover part of the cost. But after a few days of testing, I have decided to keep my D600 and return the DF. Here's why: The DF is undeniably cool. On paper it is only slightly smaller and lighter than the D600, but in hand it feels significantly more compact. As for the mechanical dials in place of menu items and plastic, they are precisely machined and satisfying to operate - but the only one I would actually use frequently is the ISO dial - I don't often find a need to set shutter speed independently. Although I do not care about video recording, the DF sacrificed two things I occasionally do need; an integrated flash and a wireless remote. Nikon omitted the internal flash in order to keep the classic 1970's sharp pentaprism housing, a decision I consider cosmetics over functionality. Also my D600 works with the tiny inexpensive ML-L3 remote but the DF requires an expensive and bulky electronics box to enable the same thing. Finally I was a bit disappointed that - at this price - Nikon did not put all their very best components into the DF. The shutter lag is short and snappy, but it is the same as the D600 - not quite as short and snappy as the D800 or D4 (or the D700, which actually had the shortest latency of any recent Nikon). Capturing the shot at the instant of pressing the trigger is a big part of portrait photography. It came down to the sensor for me. Using the 16 MP sensor from the D4, the DF seemed like a worthy successor to the D700 with its large pixels, fantastic low light sensitivity and brilliant colors. But it should be noted that the D4 itself is about to be upgraded with an improved sensor, so the DF will not even be state of the art in a few more months. I tested the DF sensor by comparing photo for photo with my D600 at ISO 6400. Results: Yes, the DF has lower noise and cleaner images at high ISO, and yes the images have a brilliant punch and saturation. But the differences are modest under typical usage circumstances, not night and day, and in the end were not sufficient justification to spend so much money. The Nikon DF is a bit of a style item, aesthetically appealing but differing from other Nikon DSLR only in handling preferences. Not being able to justify owning two full frame bodies, it doesn't offer new functionality that would lead me to replace my D600 and in fact loses some features I am accustomed to having. It reminds me of another extremely cool retro product from Japan, the Toyota FJ Cruiser, designed to look like a vintage J40 Land Cruiser from the 1950's. I loved the look, but when I drove it, the design proved impractical and I ended up with a less cool but more useful Honda truck.