Nikon D610 Review

Product shot w/ Canon Rebel SL2 + 28mm f/2.8 IS.

The short answer is: this is a BADA$$ camera.  I guess you don't feel like you need any more input before you buy one.  Good.  Done.  JK.... see below.

Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 E, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/250

This camera is on sale, big time, right now, and easily is the best deal in full-frame cameras on the market right now.  The possibilities are massive.  Full-frame, 24 megapixels, fits the Nikkor arsenal, good enough auto-focus.  This camera is for an enthusiast, amateur, pro-sumer, right.  I think this is a very capable tool for a professional, especially someone that was interested in portraits.   I have had access to this camera to borrow for about a year, and have shot thousands of pictures with it.  If I take it on a professional shoot, it's usually a backup to my D4.  It has other stuff you would expect, wifi, dual card slots, back button focus capable, hot shoe, no tilty screen, flash, uh... whatever.

Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/60

The D610 is small and light, if you are a professional, and bigg-ish and heavy-ish, if you are an enthusiast. It's a pretty practical size/weight with a 50mm lens of any sort, and packs a hefty punch in photographic capability.

Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II, ISO 160, f/8, 1/250, strobe/softbox right-front

As a portrait camera, I really love, LOVE, this camera.  I like it better than my D4 because of the higher pixel count.  Plain and simple.  I like it because it is relatively small too.  I do find that I have to work a little bit harder with auto-focus with the D610, compared to the D4.  People in portraits are usually not moving around too fast, and you generally have more than a millisecond to get focus however.

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 Art, ISO 160, 52mm, f/8, 1/60, Strobe left/front, Softbox

For a photograph that has people that are fairly small in the frame, I really like have a big pixel count like the 24 megapixels in the D610, in case it needs to be blown up and printed large.  People are always on fire about high ISO performance, so there are some examples below.

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 Art, ISO 5000, 52mm, f/4 1/60

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105 f/4 Art, ISO 3200, 24mm, f/4, 1/50

In the image directly above, you see image quality at ISO 3200, but I was more interested in how the sensor, and processor dealt with the warm light in the house mixed with the natural light from the windows.  I think it blends and mixes them beautifully, and accurately. 

Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II, ISO 2500, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/500

Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II, ISO 2500, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/500

Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II, ISO 2500, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/500

High school soccer, dark-rainy night, that is a tough situation for photography.  Modern full-frame cameras do a great job of allowing you fast enough shutter speeds to capture the action very well.  However, they still suffer (a bit) in desaturation, loss of sharp focus, and blotchy magenta/cyan noise.  People love their high ISO stuff, and I agree that is it amazing, this camera specs a native ISO 6400.  I just think the noise, blotchy transitions and loss of focus is horrible to be honest.  I don't like any cameras images past ISO 400 actually.  The reality is that you cannot capture anything (I mean like total blackness or blur-factory) at low ISO's in a situation like sports at night or in dark gyms.  So, I'll be positive about high ISO capability.  In my experience with soccer and the auto-focus system with the D610, I found it capable but not as good as my D4.  Surprised?  I get more usable images (less missed focus) with my D4.  I think the D610 is a very usable sports machine though, it's just not the Ferrari that a $6.5K D4 is.  I found the 6 frames per second on the D610 to be surprisingly slow.  :(  Again, it is very proficient, and with some skill, incredible moments will be captured for sure.  For some reason 7 frames per second seems to be so much faster than 6.  I have my D4 set for it's low setting at 7 fps, and I like it for slow moving sports, even soccer is pretty good with that.  The spray of 10 fps is great, really great, so great it makes me laugh like a villain, but I tend to be careful in using that because it creates a crap load of images that I have to go through and delete the 9 out of 10 that I don't want.  Something like a D4 is a must for some professionals, but even at that you have to ask yourself is it worth the budget expense.  The Nikon D610 is a fantastic camera for a very small fraction of the cost of Nikon's highest end DSLR's.  Most, if not all, of what a person wants a camera to do, the D610 does unbelievably well.

Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 E, ISO 800, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/100

Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 E, ISO 100, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/500

Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 E, ISO 1000, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/100

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 Art, ISO 100, 32mm, f/4, 1/640

Nikon D610, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II, ISO 640, f/2.8, 1/200

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105 f/4 Art, ISO 500, 24mm, f/4, 1/60

Nikon D610, Sigma 24-105 f/4 Art, ISO 320, 68mm, f/4, 1/125

In general, I think people over think the details of a camera purchase, and how it might compare or be better than another.  It's also a problem to think that the newest thing out is so much better, that you can't possible make pictures without an upgrade.  This D610 is at the bottom of the Nikon full-frame line and I think a professional could make a lot of money with this camera.  It is a really great camera.  I think that it's 24 megapixel sensor is first rate, available Nikkor (and third party) lenses is outstanding and the auto-focus is good enough for just about all purposes.  I cannot possible say enough good things about this camera.  Love it!  I am writing this review because these cameras are getting closed out, and will be no longer be made soon.

About me: I am a part-time professional photographer and a full-time high school photography teacher.  My career has gone from photographing mountain bikers, to weddings, and now mainly portraits.  I don't have the highest end professional experience, however I have a lot of experience working with beginning enthusiast photographers and my passion for image captures is, well... ridiculous. ;)