On 10/02/2013 11:57 a.m., RichA wrote:
On Feb 9, 3:30 pm, Me wrote:
On 9/02/2013 8:55 p.m., RichA wrote:

The interesting comparison (IMO) is between the D600 and D5200. It's
not often that you have a comparison between the same "generation" of
sensor and same megapixel count, but one Fx and the other Dx.
With different "generation" sensors or between brands, there's usually
enough difference in contrast, colour rendering, default sharpening, NR
etc, so that it's hard to see what's going on.
To my eyes, the D5200 studio shots (raw) look almost exactly as they
should - ie at ISO 800, they are almost as good as the D600 at ISO 1600,
but clearly much better then the D600 at ISO3200.
The 24mp APS-c studio shots are (when adjusted to allow for the "one
(and a bit)" stop advantage of FX, practically indistinguishable in
every way - including detail at base ISO.
In the field it might be a different story.

So going FX buys you one stop or so of noise control and the ability
to use wide angle lenses to their fullest ability. Still wondering if
Nikon will fill the huge void between the ho-hum D600 body and the
D800?

If you need deep DOF at a given FOV, then there's no real advantage to
FX, subject to how lenses perform, and subject to DR still being mainly
limited by read noise at base ISO (less so these days with Nikon - since
the D7000 at least)
There's not much of a "product line-up" gap between the D600 and 800.
An extra $1,000 gets you a few more pixels, a slightly better AF point
coverage, a bit more metal, but not much else. Ergonomically the D600
is better - Ken Rockwell hits the nail on the head with his criticism of
the D300/700/800 obscure and poorly executed menu-only accessible
shooting banks, yet programmable and easily switchable user functions on
the D7000 and D600.
What's missing (IMO) is a faster frame-rate FX camera above the D800,
and a pro Dx camera.
Also missing is some better QA - or some more timely and appropriate
response from Nikon when problems do arise. The D800 and D600 "issues"
might be overblown on internet forums, but even if Nikon thinks so,
their lack of response is pretty bad IMO. Canon did Nikon an almighty
favour when they buried their heads in the sand over the 1D III focus
issues. Nikon seem to be returning the favour.