Nikon DSLR cameras, an overview

Thursday 28 September 2017, 22:44 by Paul Oosterlaak | 13,931 views | 11 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Nikon is exactly one hundred years old this year. In that century, they have not only built a name, but also an enormous collection of cameras, lenses and accessories. In this article, I focus on their current digital SLR cameras.

Let's start by putting the different lines and series into an overview.

The table is a guide, not an absolute truth that you have to use to pigeonhole cameras and users. Nothing is stopping you from using a Nikon D3300 professionally, although that is tricky, or from buying a D5 as your first camera. Just put it in P and get going!

These series share certain features, but also differ quite considerably in some respects.

D3000 series

Many people who start taking photographs with a digital SLR choose a Nikon 3000 series. The image quality is excellent, the body is fairly light and the number of buttons is not immediately overwhelming.

This series also has a 'Guide' function. This guide makes it easier for beginner photographers to take the photo they have in mind.

If you want to work more manually with the exposure settings and focusing system, you can simply use the P, A, S and M modes for more control.

The latest new camera in this series is the Nikon D3400. In fact, it is a D3300 with the addition of SnapBridge to make sharing photos easier.

D5000 series

If you have a little more budget for a digital SLR, there is the D5000 series, which has a number of useful additions compared with the D3000 series.

This series has a tilting screen, which is useful for low or high perspectives. It also has a more advanced focusing system, making it easier to 'track' a moving subject.

The D5600 is the latest version and is a D5500 with SnapBridge. The Nikon D5500 is no longer available, but its predecessor, the D5300, is still available and can be a good alternative to a D3400 if you can do without SnapBridge.

D7000 series

If you want more, and especially faster, control over your camera settings, you cannot really avoid the D7000 series.

This series is characterised by two control dials, autofocus buttons, a robust body, a large bright viewfinder and a built-in focus motor for older AF-D lenses.

For several generations, the D7000 series has featured the excellent 51-point AF system. And apart from the D7500, these cameras have two SD card slots.

The D7500 is the first in the series to have a tilting screen, and it is also touch-sensitive. This was something many users missed in the D7000 series compared with the D5000 series.

D500

You could call the D500 a camera from the Dxxx series, with the D200 and D300(s) as its predecessors. Nikon enthusiasts had to wait a very long time for a successor to the D300s. Some had already given up hope and moved to a D7000 series, or made the step to FX with the Nikon D750.

The D500 is the absolute top among APS-C cameras, with a brilliant AF system that contains not only 153 points covering almost the entire frame, but also algorithms for tracking a subject almost perfectly, at ten frames per second.

With the D500, Nikon showed that 'Pro' cameras can also be fitted with a tilting screen. This showed that they had every confidence that these screens would not simply break off or easily become defective in another way.

The D500's controls follow the same approach as those of other Nikon Pro DSLRs, with a mode button instead of a PASM dial. The D500 has an XQD and an SD card slot, and both are capable of clearing the buffer extremely quickly, with the right memory card, so in practice you can shoot 200 raw photos in a burst at 10fps.

D600 series

Many enthusiastic photographers want to move to full frame one day. To make this step less expensive, Nikon created the D600 series. The autofocus system was taken from the D5000 series, which is generally good enough for all-round use.

The body otherwise looks more like a camera from the D7000 series, with two control dials and an AF button. The D600 was plagued by oil spots on the sensor. Although this was solved by replacing the shutter, Nikon soon decided to replace the D600 with the D610, which differs only in its shutter mechanism.

The D610 has excellent image quality, with a wide dynamic range and good noise performance. If you do not need a tilting screen and rarely want to capture moving subjects, the D610 is a very good choice.

D750

The D750 is a true all-round DSLR with the familiar 51-point AF system, very good image quality, a smooth 6.5 fps and a nice, sturdy tilting screen. These are enough reasons why the D750 has been one of the most popular full-frame cameras of the past few years.

The focusing system and the 6.5fps with a deep buffer make it well suited to sports and wildlife photography. But the D750 will not let you down in a studio or at a wedding either.

D800 series

In 2012, Nikon introduced the D800 and D800E and surprised everyone with a very high resolution of 36MP. The sensor not only had a high resolution, but also a very wide dynamic range and excellent noise performance. The D800E version produced a little more detail because the AA filter was disabled.

The D800(E) was later succeeded by the D810, which could be set to ISO 64 for even more dynamic range. A special astro version was also released, the D810A, which was more sensitive to IR light and suffered less from noise at long shutter speeds. The D800(E) and D810 also have the 51-point AF system, but because of the 5fps in full frame, these cameras are somewhat less suitable for sports and wildlife photography.

The arrival of the D850 changed this. The speed increased to 9fps with a battery grip, at an even higher resolution of almost 46MP. To complete the package, the focusing system was upgraded to the 153 AF-point system from the D500/D5. This makes the D850 very probably the most all-round DSLR ever made.

D5

Nikon's flagship is currently the D5. Like its predecessors, the D5 has a built-in grip and the proverbial tank-like build to withstand all conditions.

With the D5 and D500, Nikon introduced its 153-point AF system with 99 cross-type AF sensors, capable of tracking unpredictably moving subjects, even in low light. The D5 can do this at 12fps.

The resolution is not particularly high at 21 megapixels, and the dynamic range does not break any records either, but the noise performance is very good in low light. This makes the D5 ideal for sports photography in poor lighting conditions, in a sports hall, for example.

The controls are similar to those of other Nikon Pro cameras, and the buttons can even light up so they are clearly visible in the dark. The battery seems never to run out, which goes some way towards justifying its high price.

You can choose two XQD slots for optimum performance, or two CF slots for better compatibility with existing equipment and memory cards.

Specifications

I have listed a few specifications for the current models.

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