A polished turd
A polished turd
Damn! :bang:
When I heard about the DF I decided if it matched its hype I'd sell my Nikon D800E to get it, even though I'd lose money... I find dial controls much more intuitive than menus and LCDs.
Unfortunately, the DF is a polished turd! A camera blinged up so much it looks like a Las Vegas casino!
(1) Ignoring the "trying too hard" aesthetics, which I could live with - after all, a camera's just a tool, so looks matter little - the controls are far from ergonomic: what's with them all being locked, so you either have to push down a button while turning a dial or, worse, pull up a dial to turn it! Hardly user friendly to operate when holding the camera to your eye while attempting to frame!?
(2) Despite the marketing hype about the DF being built for manual lenses, the viewfinder is identical to every other Nikon dSLR - designed primarily for autofocus. For critical focus, the focusing screen will not cut the mustard - it's simply not precise enough if you have require a very specific focus point or a shallow depth of field (e.g. in my
"Insecta" project, taken with a 55mm manual macro lens). I expect it will have Nikon's focusing LED - which doesn't help: it has "slack", so fails to indicate the exact point of focus, and placed at the viewfinder edge it takes your eye away from the subject.
Canon provides optional split-prism screens so Nikon could have too (all dSLR screens are easily removable, so this isn't a cost issue - I replaced my D800E screen with a modified Canon one in 5 minutes!).
(3) And why only 16 MP? I specifically bought the Nikon D800E because of its 36 MP sensor. Granted, I'm unusual in that some of my photos are destined to be very large prints on the gallery wall that need to be pin sharp close up (although there is a sensible viewing distance for large prints, people will always go close) while others need to be large because that's what my photo agency requires. I was prepared to downgrade to 24 MP or so - but not 16 MP.
The Nikon D4 only has 16 MP because it suits it's target users - such as photojournalists who need a responsive camera and small files that are fast to process and send digitally, and are unlikely to need large prints. Many of the reasons for a low-resolution sensor don't apply to the DF users - they're unlikely to be professionals needing speed, and the DF lacks features that take advantage of the small sensor (e.g. it has a frame rate half that of the D4, lower than most other dSLRs).
Earlier in this thread someone wrote "12~16MP FF sensor is nice (correct pixel density so that the lenses aren't producing muddy images). Over this megapixel count, you'll be disappointed with the results." Not true for high end cameras: I'll put my D800E up against the D4 any day (
comparison here) - and I can guarantee that prints from the D800E will equal or better the D4.
In short, the DF is a posers camera. I can only assume posers are Nikon's target for this camera. Why else the "child locks" on the controls to prevent accidents; a viewfinder optimised for autofocus lenses; and the low resolution sensor>
Epic fail Nikon. I thought my hopes for a stripped down camera with analogue controls but digital film were going to be answered, but "disappointed of Brighton" will be sticking with his D800E because it is a better camera than the DF, sadly - despite being irritated every time he uses this overcomplicated, ponderous machine on which he ignores 90 per cent of the functions.
In fact, as a photographic tool, this is by far the worst of all Nikon's offerings.
