What is it?
The Nikon Df is a retro-styled, full-frame DSLR camera designed with photography purists and portability in mind. Â
What’s great?
Pictures are sublime, the kit lens is great and it’s an enjoyable camera to use.
What’s not?
It’s too big, too heavy and kind of expensive. The retro-look also feels just skin deep. Â
The bottom line:
It’s a lovely camera that produces lovely pictures but it’s hard to justify it financially over the more convenient and far cheaper Sony Alpha A7.
Nikon
Nikon Df Review
Nikon’s top full-frame cameras are seriously expensive. They’re also bloody big. For both of those reasons, the Nikon D4 and D3 family are cameras that hang largely around the necks of professional photographers. They give their users superb picture quality, heart-pounding video and all the flexibility and control that the world’s optical boffins have so far mustered.
In creating the Nikon Df, Nikon has pared things down for those that wish to keep picture-taking at its purest and most simple. It’s a camera for those that fell in love with photography and that’s a feature reflected in its retro looks. There’s no video, there’s no Wi-Fi; there’s only stills shooting and knobs on the chassis to control it. Lots of knobs.
Nikon Df: As good as it looks?
The Olympus OM-D and PEN range, the Fujifilm X-series, the Pentax Q; everyone loves a retro-look camera these days and, like many others of this type, the Nikon Df certainly looks classic. Go and get your old 35mm film camera from the 70s and 80s out of the cupboard and that’s pretty much what you’ll see. It’s reassuringly boxy and you just know that the shutter will have one of the most satisfying clunks you’ve heard in ages. It’s true. It does.
The all-metal body appears just as it should, even if the not-actually-leather kind of leather its wrapped up in does cheapen the effect some. Still, no animals were harmed in the making.
Sadly, the let down is a little larger once you get the Df into your hands. Its beauty and style is dashed by its enormity. This is supposed to be a smaller, more easy to manage full-frame camera. For us, the nigh on 1kg weight – once you’ve added on a lens – says otherwise. It’s also about the same proportions of some of the sub-£1,000, DX, Nikon DSLR cameras which are themselves considered big in this day and age. That’s why CSC cameras were invented.
There’s also something a touch inauthentic about it. Sure, the metal dials and controls are useful and traditional but this very much feels like an advanced machine of the digital age in film camera clothing. If that’s the intention, we’re not sure we agree that it’s a mark worth hitting. All the same, there’s nothing remotely wobbly about the Nikon Df. It’s sturdy, reliable and will definitely win you some jealous glances here and there even if it’s still a big, old lump to heft around.
Dan Sung
Nikon Df: Ease of use
Once you’ve got over the bulk, the Nikon Df is certainly an interesting camera to have in your hands. The metal controls that overflow from the top side of the chassis give it an appearance reminiscent of the those test glasses you have to wear while reading out the chart at the opticians. Clicks, dials, subtle turns and everything comes into focus eventually.
It’s all a bit of a waste if you’re just going to shoot in automatic mode, though. If that’s your bag, then you’re barking up the wrong lens barrel here. There’s dedicated wheels for the ISO and shutter speed on the top along with a mode selector, shooting speed dial and an exposure value adjuster too. You’ll find the aperture control on the front – eventually – and that pretty much completes your set.
The upshot is that everything is at your fingertips by hard click and you’ll only need to delve into the computerised menus on the screen every now and then. Should there be another function you need on a regular basis, however, then there’s one or two customisable buttons on the front of the camera and four shortcut menus that you can tailor make on the UI too.
None of this is particularly simple to understand if you’re a beginner, though. This is not a first camera. It’s definitely a high-end DSLR. Even if you’re a seasoned enthusiast, there’s the odd setting hidden away between a press and hold for which you might have to refer to the manual.
Probably the only part of the usability that we really take issue with, though, is the fact that most of the control dials are locked. So, if you want to shift the shutter speed, ISO, exposure value or shooting mode, then you’ll need to have a second finger pressed down awkwardly on some tiny piece of silver nearby. It rather sucks out the fun of the ease of use and we’re not sure that it’s worth the sacrifice to so that none of the controls accidentally slip. We suspect they wouldn’t anyway. Perhaps a more sparing use of the lock system would have been in order.
Dan Sung
Nikon Df: Pretty pictures?
The Nikon Df is built around Nikon’s top image sensor of the moment and that 16MP unit – although not packed with pixels – brings that wonderful level of detail that you’d be hoping for. Colour saturation, definition, exposure accuracy; you really couldn’t want for more. That said, the very decent, 39-point AF system isn’t always a piece of cake for getting things pin sharp at the really wide open end of that 50mm f/1.8 kit lens. When working with such shallow depth of field, you might need to go manual to get things perfect.
It’s also well worth opting for the low speed continuous shooting mode or single shot at those settings, at least until you close down the aperture. But the more we used the Df, the better able we were to choose the right kind of AF settings to suit our needs. Doubtless, this is something one would get to grips with over time. Like we say, though, this is not a beginner’s camera.
What’s truly, and perhaps predictably, impressive is how well the Df handles things in low light situations. That full-frame sensor really comes into its own and you’ll only start getting noisy and colour in-accurate results when you push the ISO up to 12800 and beyond. That’s quite exceptional really. We’ve never used anything that could do that before. You can basically walk around at night without a flash and still get great pics.
Nikon Df: Extra features
There aren’t really any extra features on the Nikon Df and that’s the point. There’s no video, no wireless connectivity, no remote controls and no host of funky filters – well, hardly any anyway. All you’ll find in those menus are some details of image file compression, some retouching and a little colour control. If taking photos is all you care about in a camera, then consider this a significant bonus.
Perhaps the only point of interest is that the Nikon Df does feature a Live View mode. That does tend to slow things down a bit though and you’ll quickly find that the 100 per cent frame viewfinder is the way to shoot with this machine. It’s big, it’s old school and it’s a lot of fun.
Nikon Df: Verdict
The Nikon Df is not a perfect camera but the results you’ll get from it are. It’s the very best of picture quality available and for less than the price of a Nikon D4. As a device for purist photographers then, Nikon has achieved its goal. All the same, that’s quite difficult to justify when the Sony Alpha A7 full-frame camera comes at half cost again.
What’s more, the A7 points out where Nikon has failed with the Df. The Sony camera really is noticeably portable and convenient whereas you’re very much bearing the weight of the sacrifice around your neck with the Df.
Don’t get us wrong, though, we really like the Nikon Df, but to think that it’s delivered the full-frame dream of superb image quality and affordable price in a significantly more compact body would be a mistake. If you can afford one and don’t mind the mass, then go for it. Otherwise, the A7 is probably what you’re after – that or a camera that doesn’t exist yet.
Nikon Df: Available now – £2749.95 (inc. 50mm f/1.8 lens). Check the latest prices with Bing
Article source: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/29/pictures-from-the-real-world-derby-england-in-1988/
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