Welcome to The Photo Video Guy. I share training, ideas, opinions and tips to help you make better photographs and videos.
Have questions? Excellent! Please click this link to fill out the simple form to submit a question
For many photographers, shooting people is where it's at, or at least where we'd like to be. Even if we prefer nature, or landscapes or wildlife, we all need to be able to make great portraits of people, even if only our friends and family. After all, we do have a really good camera, right?
Read MoreA number of readers have asked for my thoughts on Sony's compact A7 camera. So with the support of Chris Atkinson at Henry's Newmarket, I obtained an evaluation unit to put through the paces. The start was inauspicious however, because Sony is one of those companies that is SO STUPID that the only way to charge the battery is to have it in the camera and plugged into the wall. Minuscule charge indicator, no ability to charge a battery while using the camera, no ability to use the camera while charging the battery, and a charge time of only 310 minutes which doesn't look nearly as crappy as 5 HOURS. Whichever would be rocket surgeon (that's a W reference btw) thought this was a smart idea in a prosumer product needs to be packed into a missile and fired directly into the Sun. Idiots. Fortunately, things get better...The Basics The A7 is an interchangeable lens camera offering a 24.3 megapixel full frame sensor driven by Sony's BIONZ X series processor. The camera uses Sony E Mount lenses. What makes the A7 and its sibling the A7r special is the size. It's small. In fact it reminds me of the wonderful Olympus OM-D E-M1 in form factor. Except instead of being M4/3 it's full frame!
The viewfinder is electronic as one would expect in a mirror less system camera. It uses an OLED display with 2.4M dots so it is very bright and very easy to read.
There's a lot to like about the A7 as you'll see but there are a couple of items that annoyed me right out of the box, in addition to the moronic attitude towards battery charging. The strap lugs are the triangle type. The lugs are positioned ideally to ALWAYS be in the way of your right hand fingers. I'm becoming certain that no one actually tries these things out with a strap mounted during the design process. The placement is lousy.
The other thing that really puts me off is the fake shutter noise. The A7 is a mirror less camera. It could be dead silent. But the default is a ka-chunk you can hear while a freight train steams beside you. The A7 is elegantly beautiful and unobtrusive, until you press the shutter button and then it has all the grace of a hippo with gas, passing wind in a bathtub.
Moving on to the good stuff, and there is a lot of good stuff...
The A7 offers a 24MP sensor but if you want more there is the A7r which has a 36MP full frame sensor and no anti-aliasing filter. Haven't personally seen one, but they do exist. For the purposes of this review, it's all done with a regular A7.
The camera came with the new FE series 28-70. For a full frame zoom, this is kind of a short range and it's not a speed demon being f/3.5-f/5.6. Construction is really solid though, and there are faster FE lenses available in primes and fast zooms, some with Zeiss optics. Note that I keep referring to FE series. These are the Full Frame E Series lenses. The NEX E series are designed for APS-C sized sensors, so while you can mount them up, they do not produce a full frame image circle without some vignetting or falloff. A limited selection of available FE lenses is going to slow adoption of the A7 and A7r. You can of course still use the other E mount lenses and the camera offers an automatic conversion to crop sensor similar to Nikon.
The rear LCD is quite nice and has the angle capability seen on other Sony cameras so you can tilt it up or down, but not to the side. There's usability in this when shooting video. Indoors it is bright and easy to see but while outside on a sunny day doing test shots, it was nearly unreadable. I also find that it sucks up nose grease very quickly and is hard to get clean. You'll want to have a micro fibre cloth in your bag with you.
The control layout is quite good. There is a master dial for mode selection, and a secondary dial that gives direct access to exposure compensation. This is one of my favourite features as it makes adjustment very quick and because you see simulated exposure in the EVF, you get a very good sense of what the compensation is going to do for you. There is a dial towards the front to control aperture and one towards the rear to control shutter speed. You can reverse them in the menus if you prefer. There is no top deck ISO control, and while the AUTO ISO functionality works well, I would rather not have to dive into a menu or navigate the popup from the Fn button on the back just to manipulate the ISO.
Some readers will recall my effusive love of the original RX-100 and how good I thought that Sony's Superior-Auto mode was for most any exposure situation. The brand new shooter is going to love the AUTO mode because it's the same powerful Superior-Auto as in the RX-100.
And of course the camera has numerous Scene modes and Sweep Panorama that serious photographers aggressively ignore.
The kit lens is what you would expect, sharp enough with reasonable distortion and vignetting control. When importing RAW files (Sony's own ARW) to Lightroom, there is a Lens Correction profile present that fixes the distortions and vignetting available. The changes you see are significant. I do wish that for the lens' not insignificant size that it was either optically faster or had a more useful zoom range. I found the construction felt good but the zoom was very stiff. In fairness the day started out at -20 Celsius and only warmed up to -10 Celsius before I left to come home. I would very much like to shoot this camera with one of the Zeiss optics that are coming for the A7 series. A camera this size with a fast 35mm and fast 85mm could be very usable.
I was griping earlier about the length of time to charge the battery and that it has to be in the camera to be charged. You can buy a separate external charger and extra batteries. These are a must. After shooting only 115 exposures, I was down to 65% battery according to the display. This suggests that you will top out just under 400 exposures, so if you are serious about your photography, or doing a lot of bracketing, or simply like being out for a long day of making images, you are going to need more batteries. I did not obtain the external charger as part of this evaluation, so cannot advise on whether the recharge time is faster than the USB method.
Shutter Speeds
The camera can offer shutter speeds from 1/8000 down to 30 seconds plus bulb mode. Like Sony NEX cameras, you can buy additional applications and download them to the camera including functions like an intervalometer. I think that this is nickel and diming the customer given the relatively high price of the camera, but this is of course just my opinion.
Menus
The menu system is quite intuitive and a menu page rarely has more options than the height of the screen. Options are where you might expect them to be and I would assess the learning curve to becoming very comfortable to be quite shallow. I would rate the Sony menu system as better than most.
Flash
The A7 has no built-in flash and does include Sony's proprietary multi-pin connector at the front of the shoe. This allows for more than just flash units to be installed there. Other items include a shoe mount microphone system. Sony does offer combo flash / video light units and they are available with full TTL, remote capability, bounce heads and decent guide numbers. I did not obtain a flash to evaluate. At some point in the future I will do so to see how the Sony system compares to other line of sight infrared remote flash management systems.
Continuous Shooting and Bracketing
Burst mode is up to 5fps and like other digitals, is leveraged for bracketed shooting. Up to 5 frame brackets are available at intervals of up to 0.7 EV, and the limit drops to 3 frames at 1 and 2 EV. Of course you can manually bracket as much as you want but I found the +-2EV 3 image bracket to be very convenient during my outdoor test shoot as it was bright sun on white snow with some trees and other foreground objects.
Image and Clip Storage
Images are stored on SD sized cards, although being Sony, there is still an option to use the long demised and completed unmissed Memory Stick options. For my tests, I was using a Sandisk Extreme Pro card and had no issues at all. The card inserts into a front facing slot by opening a door on the right side. This makes it very easy to change cards if the camera is on a tripod or used with the optional vertical grip. (It's really a battery grip of course but marketing loves to name things differently).
All major processing software has already been updated to read Sony's ARW RAW format, so opening the files was no trouble at all. I did discover to my chagrin that the camera came complete with pets, several cat sized dust spots on the sensor. I was able to correct these in post processing, but it serves to remind owners that there is nothing in front of the sensor when the lens is not mounted. I was able to use a blower and an ArcticBrush to clean the sensor quickly.
There are programmable buttons on the camera but to my pleasure you don't trip over hundreds of them. This keeps things simple and easy to use. I shot all morning outside while wearing gloves and at no time did I need to remove them to alter a setting. So even though I personally find the buttons very small, they are very usable.
ISO Performance
In order to make test shots at different ISOs I mounted the camera to a Manfrotto ball head on a Manfrotto magic arm on my studio stand. I was pleased to see that unlike some competitors, the tripod socket is all metal and very sturdy. While there are not many lenses yet in the FE mount, if Sony really wants this line to launch, they are going to need more glass, and longer glass in short order.
Thinking of ISO, I shot the camera outdoors for a bit in AUTO ISO shooting in all of Program, Aperture Preferred, Shutter Preferred and Manual modes. The software is well programmed to seek the lowest viable ISO but not at the expense of diminished stability. When I came back inside, I set the camera on the studio stand to photograph my ever patient model Sondra at a variety of ISOs and was very pleased to see that the A7 holds together very well to ISO 6400, is quite good at ISO 12800 and only really falls apart at ISO 25600. It's not a Nikon Df or Canon 1Dx from a low light capability but is a very solid performer. I've put a gallery of the same shot up from ISO 50 to ISO 25600 so you can see for yourself.
Connectivity
Sony makes software available to download your photos direct from the camera, and to convert the RAW format if you don't have a more sophisticated editing application.
They offer a tethering application, although they call it Remote Control that works over USB. The cable that comes with the camera is VERY short, so you'll need to purchase a USB extension if you want to use the factory supplied cable. Since the camera side connector is a Micro USB, you may had some difficulty finding long cables of this type.
There is a micro HDMI out, and if you wish to use it, you'll need to go source your own cable. I did not have one and so did not test streaming through the HDMI port.
There is as one would hope a ⅛" mini jack for an external microphone but there is also a headphone jack, a feature sorely missing on most cameras and critical for audio monitoring when shooting video.
The camera has GPS capability as well as built in wireless. I could get the wireless to connect to my private wireless network easily and also used it's self-generating network to push images to the Play Memories app on the iPhone.
Although I downloaded and appeared to be able to configure wireless image transfer to the Mac, the image transfer never worked and a perusal of forums suggests others have had difficulty making this work. I will not hammer Sony for this as I am running a not yet final release of OS X on my Macs.
Sony does think that they are a software company. I would suggest that they hire a good UI company as their software is neither intuitive nor user-friendly. I did not discover it trying to open ports and phone home so it would appear that they have learned from past offences.
The camera also incorporates NFC but I was not able to test this function.
What About the Video?
The A7 thinks video out of the gate. Sony "gets" video and the availability of zebra stripes and focus peaking for stills as well as video is just a bonus for me. Resolutions go from 640x480 up to 1920x1080 with frame rates of 24p, 30p, 60i and 60p. Also very cool is that it can push video at up to 24MBps, BluRay levels.
Once there is a wider pantheon of high quality primes for this mount, I can see the A7 being very successful in cinema as a B roll camera, or as a great tool for the hybrid user.
Pros
Cons
Who Is It For?
The ideal customer for the A7 is someone relatively new to interchangeable lenses but looking for full frame in a very flexible camera, but who also demands to keep the size and weight down. The hybrid user, who wants both great stills and great video, will like the camera very much.
For those downsizing from a traditionally sized DSLR, the lack of lens options is a real show stopper. The exception is the existing Sony owner with a load of A mount glass who with an adapter can use it on the A7. With the adapter, I can also see the A7 as a credible second body to an A99.
Summary and Would I Buy One
I was excited to learn about the A7 when it was announced. I thought that it would be the logical step up from the M43 Olympus OM-D with Sony's proven full frame sensor. Plus Sony really understands video and I thought that this would be huge. After using the camera, I do like it. I find the automatic white balance to be off, pretty much all the time, and while I do carry a popup grey card with me, having to do so would be annoying. The control layout is very usable and the EVF is very good. I'm not nuts about the view from the rear LCD but I only use these for chimping most of the time and only use Live View for awkward positions. Being mirror less I like that I can shoot video from the EVF.
The stills are good and Sony's Dynamic Range Optimization (DRO) does a decent enough job but I would more than likely keep it turned off and zone place my exposures anyway. The lack of choice in lenses would be a showstopper for me and for the foreseeable future it's going to be long time coming. At $2,000 for the body and 28-70, it is priced competitively against other entry full frames and the small size and low weight will make it compelling.
When I did my outside test shots I was wearing photographer's gloves and had the unit on a BlackRapid strap. Even then those strap rings were constantly in the way. If it were mine, they'd come off and be tossed out the window. The placement of the lugs is horrible, and when I got inside, the discomfort made me put the camera on the Titan stand so I would not have to grind the lug into my hand in order to make a steady shot. I'm also still extremely annoyed at the idiocy of requiring the battery to be in the camera for ¼ day to reach a full charge while plugged into the wall. The external charger retails for about $60. It should be in the box. This is nickel and diming the customer on Sony's part and they need a swift kick in the kneecaps for being so shortsighted.
In the end, I like the A7. But not enough to buy one.
I'd read about the Nikon Df and been intrigued by the Nikon ad series entitled Pure Photography. What does this mean and what makes the Df "pure". With thanks to Chris Atkinson, Manager of Henry's Newmarket, I was able to obtain a short term evaluation unit to find out.First Grip Putting hands on the Df is a nominally different experience. I'm still not clear on what the purity angle is, but I will say that the Df feels more like an old style film camera than most digital single lens reflexes. In fact, it feels and looks like an old F3 High Eyepoint, a camera I remember with fondness.
Layout
What makes the Df different in user interface (UI) is that Nikon has gone heavy on the analog style dials and less on the digital programmable buttons. For someone without the time or the inclination to study the novellas that now masquerade as owner's manuals, getting going with the Df is very fast. Very fast if you are older as I am and have a history shooting film cameras.
The sensor is Nikon's 16.2 MP sensor, that Nikon says produces quality like the D4, tuned for low light performance. At time of writing, the Df pushes the boundaries of high ISO in Nikon's line. Like most Nikon full frames, the camera can be set to shoot in FX (full frame) mode and DX (crop sensor) mode. I like the flexibility that this brings and encourage other full frame providers to copy this feature.
Shutter speeds are set by a dial on the top deck and have click stops starting at a high of 1/4000 and a low of 4s. There are also settings for B (bulb), T (time) and X, for manual flash synchronization at 1/200. There is also a setting for ⅓ Step which allows the shutter speed to move in ⅓ stop increments. This feels a bit goofy but is I guess more "pure" than simply putting an A on the dial like everyone else does. Concentric to the shutter speed dial is a lever that sets, single, continuous low, continuous high, quiet release, self timer and mirror up modes. Quiet basically delays some of the shutter and mirror noise, it doesn't eliminate it. I don't find the Df to be overly loud at any rate. Sony should steal this feature for the A7 because you can hear that thing go off across a busy highway. Maximum burst rate is 5.5fps.
Beside the shutter speed dial is the rotary on off switch which is pleasantly obvious and precise. It wraps around an old style shutter button tapped for a screw in cable release. Cool if you have one, but they are very scarce these days. Right of the shutter release is the mode rotary switch offering PASM settings. In a smart move, Nikon has not splattered the Df with pointless "scene" modes. Don't confuse this with the plethora of Picture Styles that set the processing for JPEG images and for how the LCD renders the JPEG it shows in playback. If this were my camera, I'd set and forget for 14bit uncompressed RAW and Picture Style Neutral and likely never change things for as long as I own it. Purist, I guess.
Towards the rear of the top deck is a minuscule LCD panel and a button to illuminate it. Given that the audience for the camera is likely a former film shooter, who may suffer from some presbyopia by now, this display is so tiny and hard to read that I would never bother trying to use it.
Move to the left side of the pentaprism. This is a digital SLR, be clear, but the top deck is oriented like an old Nikon film camera, down to the ersatz film rewind, which of course rewinds nothing but holds the ⅓ stop incremented exposure compensation dial offering ±3 EV of adjustment. Below this is a concentric ring that controls the ISO (nearly typed ASA there for a sec) showing a range from L1 to H4, with ISO numbers starting at 100 and going up to 12800. Down from 100 is logical, going in ⅓ stop increments (80, 64, 50) but going up from 12800 goes ⅓ stops to 25600, then a full stop to 51200, then 102400 and ending at 204800.
On the right front of the camera is a rotary wheel that controls the aperture in Aperture preferred and manual mode. It is disabled in shutter preferred and program mode. Below this are two buttons, the upper one providing depth of field preview and the second is a programmable function button. On the left front of the lens mount is a bracket button, a very nice feature to have set up this way. On the front face is a classic PC X sync port under the old style screw on cap. Either never take this off or expect to lose it in the first week. There is also an old style flashing LED self timer lamp. Below this is the lens release and then an AF/M focus selector on the lens mount frame as is typically found on higher end Nikons.
The lens mount itself accepts AF-S and Nikkor AI lenses, but if you do have some really old Nikkor glass with the old style key slot, there is a fold down lever to engage the aperture ring ledge that existed then. There is no ball lever as used to engage the keyslot on a photomic prism, but that may be a bit too "pure".
The front also has a decent enough finger ledge style grip. So overall the layout so far is quite good. With one exception. The position of the strap lugs is perfect to ensure that the strap is going to get in the way of your fingers when they want to accomplish anything. yes the lugs are where they were on classic Nikon F cameras, but those cameras did not have buttons and dials on the front face and the lugs get in the way. If I were a buyer, I would personally ask Nikon service to remove them entirely and use a strap that attaches to the tripod socket, these lugs are that annoying. To me anyway.
Moving to the back, the optical viewfinder is big and high and bright. The interior layout is pretty basic and folks used to the viewfinder displaying a bundle of focus points are in for disappointment. Since I only ever use the centre point and then recompose, I like the absence of clutter. Digital readouts are easy to see and understand. There is sufficient range on the dioptric adjustment to accommodate most everyone.
The rear panel is where the "film purity" analogy runs off the road into the trees. It's like the back of any Nikon digital camera, with a decent enough 3" LCD with 920K dots, buttons and wheels all as you would expect out of a D610 or similar.
The right side has no doors or panels. It should, but doesn't as you'll see later when I start ranting.
The left side has three pop open plastic doors. They are connections for USB (Type C), Mini HDMI and Remote Control respectively.
The bottom plate has a ¼-20 tripod socket with Nikon's standard rubber grip pad around it. Hopefully Nikon has found an adhesive that works for this because most Nikons that I have seen under medium to heavy use have this pad peeling off. You'll find a large removable battery door that gives you access to the very small EN-EL14A battery. There's certainly sufficient space for a higher capacity battery or would be if Nikon hadn't made the truly idiotic decision to put the SD card slot in beside the battery. They could have put it on the right side where it would always be easily accessible, but no, they buried it in the battery compartment. Someone needs a beating for this. Nikon provides no guidance on the number of exposures to expect from a full charge.
You'll note that I have said nothing about video. That's because the Df doesn't do video at all, even though it has a perfectly functional HDMI out. I guess that means that video is not pure in the minds of the designers.
The Df has a Nikon i-TTL capable hotshoe, but in another idiot award winning step, they have completely left out the Creative Lighting System functionality that helps make Nikon cameras so very usable when you control the light. I think of the magical unicorn of photography, Mr. Joe McNally, and can only assume that he would see this as missing and hand the darn thing back and in his gentle Irish-American way suggest that Nikon try again. I don't know that he would actually do that but I will. This is a stupid mistake and hopefully Nikon figures out a way to put CLS in via firmware update.
Looking at the accessory page, there is a big gap in battery life extension. Yup, no battery grip is presently available. The F3 or the older F2AS took monster battery grips for long life and you could use them as a bludgeon if you desperately needed to get away from bad guys.
The camera offers the standard metering choices of matrix, centre weighted average and spot, controlled by a tiny rocker on the back. And although there is no video support, there is Live View so you can use your $3000 camera like a $100 point and shoot.
The "Kit" Lens
The Df comes as a kit with a 50mm f/1.8 AF-S Nikkor. It's the same as the 50/1.8 AF-S Nikkor that has been around for years except the cosmetics have been changed to make it look like an old 50/1.8 AI. It's not an AI, it's the same plastic barrel as the black 50/1.8 sold as a "portrait" lens by people who don't know what they hell they are talking about for years.
Usability
Despite my kvetching about the strap lugs position and the major missings, I surprised myself by how much I like shooting the camera. There's nothing that makes it better than anything but it feels really good, although it would feel a lot better with a battery grip. I love the optical viewfinder simplicity and I am very comfortable with the clicky mechanical feel of the shutter release. It's not mechanical of course, but it feels like it could be.
The menu system is the same as what you would see on other prosumer Nikons, meaning it's a love or hate situation. I don't shoot Nikon habitually at this time so my peers who do will loudly vent about user modes and the like. I'm just really pissed that there is no CLS. TTL radio controls from third parties are not winners in general, and while there are limits to infrared, most important being that it is line of sight (unless you are the aforementioned Joe McNally who makes infrared go around corners and up and down stairs) but it's a lot better than having to buy someone else's product and then curse it when it lets you down. And yes, I am speaking specifically about Pocket Wizard TT1 and TT5 units.
I am a left eyed photographer and the back button focus is placed perfectly for me. It's big enough you know when you have found it and the throw is enough that there is no question it is engaged.
Of course the Df mounts up all manner of Nikon glass. If I were going this route, I'd likely grab a fast 35mm instead of the dopey 50mm, along with a nice 105mm and head out to the street. Unfortunately, there is nothing subtle about the Df. It's not small or unobtrusive. Folks will know you have a camera. Older ones might think you are shooting film, but if they don't want a candid taken, you aren't going to fool them anyway.
ISO Performance
My friend Ron Clifford (of Google + Photoshop Show fame) specifically asked about the high ISO performance because he heard it was amazing and in my initial look, I spent no time on this. Ron's a great guy so I did a series of shots of Sondra using the Df with the 50mm at a variety of ISOs. I was down to the wire to return it, so there are no prize winners here, but I think that you'll be impressed. Ok it falls apart pretty badly at ISO 204800 but really there's nothing to complain about here.
Who's This Made For?
So about the price...
For $3,000 you get the Df body, the cheap ass 50mm, a strap, the battery a charger and not much else. With careful shopping you could get a similarly configured D800 with the same dopey 50mm for the same money. In terms of sensor capability, card capacity and additional functionality the D800 blows the Df into the weeds. If you don't need the monster megapixels of the D800 you could again probably find a D610 and "nifty fifty" <grrr> for about $1,000 less. Why would you spend more to get less? Well perhaps you have a real and perhaps medically treatable affection for all analog dials, except for the digital menu system and back controls. Perhaps it's worth $1,000 to you to look like an old film photographer. (Hint - you can actually BE an old film photography for a couple of grand less - F3 and FM2 bodies are cheap now). Perhaps you have too much money. Perhaps you are a poseur. Nope, not the last one because poseurs wouldn't be reading what I write. The Df would be AWESOME if you could buy the body for $1,500 and then choose a real lens to put on it, and if you want the 50mm then that's your call. I would go for the awesome Nikkor 35/1.4 but that's me.
Which brings us to who this camera is for. Truth to tell, I don't know. It's price makes it a high ticket item, not stupid high ticket like the Hasselblad labeled Sony A99, but high ticket regardless. It is capable of great images and has terrific low light capability so it should be "the photographer's digital", but it brings nothing not already found in the excellent D610 or D800 except looks. Are vintage looks worth an extra $1,000? Not to me, and according to the sales numbers, not in general either.
Summary
Pros
Cons
So would I buy one,if I were in the market? The answer is no. The Df is, for me, a case of "so close, but not close enough". I know the image quality is excellent. It's the D4 sensor, which is proven globally. Top line Nikkor glass is superlative, as good as anything in the market and better than many. I found I really like the controls and was functional with the Df faster than I have been with any digital camera, but that's because I started shooting film when I was ten on a Minolta SR-3 so film camera layouts are stored in my brain. I do still shoot film, albeit only 4x5 and 6x7, and if I wanted the look of a film camera, I still have that SR-3 as well as too many bags of film bodies and lenses. Digital is very empowering but the Df has too many limitations for my use cases, and the price is stupid. Some dolt in Marketing must think that serious photographers are complete fools to believe that there is a market for a feature disabled $1500 digital body sold for $3000.
If Nikon were to accept that they screwed up and dropped the body only price under $1500, this unit would sell. At it's current feature set / price point, it's gonna be a dust collector.
Specifications (Courtesy Nikon USA)
|
Type
|
|
|---|---|
|
Type
|
Single-lens reflex digital camera
|
|
Lens mount
|
Nikon F mount (with AF coupling and AF contacts)
|
|
Effective angle of view
|
Nikon FX format
|
|
Effective pixels
|
|
|
Effective pixels
|
16.2 million
|
|
Image sensor
|
|
|
Image sensor
|
36.0 x 23.9 mm CMOS sensor
|
|
Total pixels
|
16.6 million
|
|
Dust-reduction system
|
Image sensor cleaning, Image Dust Off reference data (optional Capture NX 2 software required)
|
|
Storage
|
|
|
Image size (pixels)
|
|
|
File format
|
|
|
Picture Control System
|
Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape; selected Picture Control can be modified; storage for custom Picture Controls
|
|
Media
|
SD (Secure Digital) and UHS-I compliant SDHC and SDXC memory cards
|
|
File system
|
DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) 2.0, DPOF (Digital Print Order Format), Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format for Digital Still Cameras) 2.3, PictBridge
|
|
Viewfinder
|
|
|
Viewfinder
|
Eye-level pentaprism single-lens reflex viewfinder
|
|
Frame coverage
|
|
|
Magnification
|
Approx. 0.7x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, -1.0 m-1)
|
|
Eyepoint
|
15 mm (-1.0 m-1; from center surface of viewfinder eyepiece lens)
|
|
Diopter adjustment
|
-3 to +1 m-1
|
|
Focusing screen
|
Type B BriteView Clear Matte Mark VIII screen with AF area brackets (framing grid can be displayed)
|
|
Reflex mirror
|
Quick return
|
|
Depth-of-field preview
|
Pressing Pv button stops lens aperture down to value selected by user (exposure modes A and M) or by camera (exposure modes P and S)
|
|
Lens aperture
|
Instant return, electronically controlled
|
|
Lens
|
|
|
Compatible lenses
|
Compatible with AF NIKKOR lenses, including type G, E, and D lenses (some restrictions apply to PC lenses) and DX lenses (using DX 24 x 16 1.5x image area), AI-P NIKKOR lenses and non-CPU lenses. IX NIKKOR lenses and lenses for the F3AF cannot be used. The electronic rangefinder can be used with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or faster (the electronic rangefinder supports the center 7 focus points with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/8 or faster and the center 33 focus points with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/7.1 or faster)
|
|
Shutter
|
|
|
Type
|
Electronically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter
|
|
Speed
|
1/4,000 to 4 s in steps of 1 EV (1/4,000 s to 30 s in steps of 1/3 EV with main command dial), X200 (with shutter-speed dial only), bulb, time
|
|
Flash sync speed
|
X=1/200 s; synchronizes with shutter at 1/250 s or slower
|
|
Release
|
|
|
Release modes
|
S (single frame), CL (continuous low speed), CH (continuous high speed), Q (quiet shutter-release),
 (self-timer), MUP (mirror up) |
|
Frame advance rate
|
1 to 5 fps (CL) or 5.5 fps (CH)
|
|
Self-timer
|
2 s, 5 s, 10 s, 20 s; 1 to 9 exposures at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 s
|
|
Exposure
|
|
|
Metering
|
TTL exposure metering using 2,016-pixel RGB sensor
|
|
Metering method
|
|
|
Range
(ISO 100, f/1.4 lens, 20°C/68°F)
|
|
|
Exposure meter coupling
|
Combined CPU and AI (collapsible metering coupling lever)
|
|
Exposure modes
|
Programmed auto with flexible program (P); shutter-priority auto (S); aperture-priority auto (A); manual (M)
|
|
Exposure compensation
|
-3 to +3 EV in increments of 1/3 EV
|
|
Exposure bracketing
|
2 to 5 frames in steps of 1/3, 2/3, 1, 2 or 3 EV
|
|
Flash bracketing
|
2 to 5 frames in steps of 1/3, 2/3, 1, 2 or 3 EV
|
|
Exposure lock
|
Luminosity locked at detected value with AE-L/AF-L button
|
|
ISO sensitivity
(Recommended Exposure Index)
|
ISO 100 to 12800 in steps of 1/3 EV; can also be set to approx. 0.3, 0.7 or 1 EV (ISO 50 equivalent) below ISO 100 or to approx. 0.3, 0.7, 1, 2, 3 or 4 EV (ISO 204800 equivalent) above ISO 12800; auto ISO sensitivity control available
|
|
Active D-Lighting
|
Can be selected from Auto, Extra high +2/+1, High, Normal, Low, or Off
|
|
ADL bracketing
|
2 frames using selected value for one frame or 3 to 5 frames using preset values for all frames
|
|
Focus
|
|
|
Autofocus
|
Nikon Multi-CAM 4800 autofocus sensor module with TTL phase detection, fine-tuning, and 39 focus points (including 9 cross-type sensors; the center 33 points are available at apertures slower than f/5.6 and faster than f/8, while the center 7 focus points are available at f/8)
|
|
Detection range
|
-1 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F)
|
|
Lens servo
|
|
|
Focus point
|
Can be selected from 39 or 11 focus points
|
|
AF-area modes
|
Single-point AF, 9-, 21- or 39-point dynamic-area AF, 3D-tracking, auto-area AF
|
|
Focus lock
|
Focus can be locked by pressing shutter-release button halfway (single-servo AF) or by pressing AE-L/AF-L button
|
|
Flash
|
|
|
Flash control
|
TTL: i-TTL flash control using 2,016-pixel RGB sensor is available with SB-910, SB-900, SB-800, SB-700, SB-600, SB-400 or SB-300; i-TTL balanced fill-flash for digital SLR is used with matrix and center-weighted metering, standard i-TTL flash for digital SLR with spot metering
|
|
Flash modes
|
Front-curtain sync, slow sync, rear-curtain sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction with slow sync, slow rear-curtain sync, Auto FP High-Speed Sync supported
|
|
Flash compensation
|
-3 to +1 EV in increments of 1/3
|
|
Flash-ready indicator
|
Lights when optional flash unit is fully charged; flashes after flash is fired at full output
|
|
Accessory shoe
|
ISO 518 hot-shoe with sync and data contacts and safety lock
|
|
Nikon Creative Lighting
System (CLS)
|
Advanced Wireless Lighting supported with SB-910, SB-900, SB-800 or SB-700 as a master flash and SB-600 or SB-R200 as remotes, or SU-800 as commander; Auto FP High-Speed Sync and modeling illumination supported with all CLS-compatible flash units except SB-400 and SB-300; Flash Color Information Communication and FV lock supported with all CLS-compatible flash units
|
|
Sync terminal
|
ISO 519 sync terminal with locking thread
|
|
White balance
|
|
|
White balance
|
Auto (2 types), incandescent, fluorescent (7 types), direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shade, preset manual (up to 4 values can be stored, spot white balance measurement available during live view), choose color temperature (2,500 K to 10,000 K); all with fine-tuning
|
|
White balance bracketing
|
2 to 3 frames in steps of 1, 2 or 3
|
|
Live View
|
|
|
Lens servo
|
|
|
AF-area modes
|
Face-priority AF, wide-area AF, normal-area AF, subject-tracking AF
|
|
Autofocus
|
Contrast-detect AF anywhere in frame (camera selects focus point automatically when face-priority AF or subject-tracking AF is selected)
|
|
Monitor
|
|
|
Monitor
|
8-cm (3.2-in.), approx. 921k-dot (VGA), low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with approx. 170° viewing angle, approx. 100% frame coverage, and brightness control
|
|
Playback
|
|
|
Playback
|
Full-frame and thumbnail (4, 9 or 72 images or calendar) playback with playback zoom, photo slide shows, histogram display, highlights, photo information, location data display, and auto image rotation
|
|
Interface
|
|
|
USB
|
Hi-Speed USB
|
|
HDMI output
|
Type C mini-pin HDMI connector
|
|
Accessory terminal
|
|
|
Supported languages
|
|
|
Supported languages
|
Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian
|
|
Power source
|
|
|
Battery
|
One EN-EL14a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
|
|
AC adapter
|
EH-5b AC Adapter; requires EP-5A Power Connector (available separately)
|
|
Tripod socket
|
|
|
Tripod socket
|
1/4 in. (ISO 1222)
|
|
Dimensions / weight
|
|
|
Dimensions
(W x H x D)
|
Approx. 143.5 x 110 x 66.5 mm/ 5.6 x 4.3 x 2.6 in.
|
|
Weight
|
Approx. 765 g/1 lb 11 oz with battery and memory card but without body cap; approx. 710 g/1 lb 9 oz (camera body only)
|
|
Operating environment
|
|
|
Operating environment
|
Temperature: 0 to 40°C/32 to 104°F; humidity: 85% or less (no condensation)
|
|
Accessories
|
|
|
Supplied accessories
(may differ by country or area)
|
EN-EL14a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, MH-24 Battery Charger, DK-26 Eyepiece Cap, String for eyepiece cap, UC-E6 USB Cable, AN-DC9 Camera Strap, BF-1B Body Cap, BS-1 Accessory Shoe Cover, ViewNX 2 CD-ROM
|
The following table shows the approximate number of pictures that can be stored on an 8 GB SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-I card at different image quality, image size, and image area settings.
|
Image quality
|
Image size
|
File size1
|
No. of images1
|
Buffer capacity2
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
15.4 MB
|
279
|
37
|
|
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
19.4 MB
|
216
|
29
|
|
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
13.9 MB
|
377
|
47
|
|
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
17.0 MB
|
315
|
38
|
|
NEF (RAW), Uncompressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
26.5 MB
|
279
|
30
|
|
NEF (RAW), Uncompressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
34.3 MB
|
216
|
25
|
|
TIFF (RGB)
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
49.1 MB
28.3 MB
13.2 MB
|
151
265
566
|
21
25
36
|
|
JPEG fine3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
7.9 MB
5.4 MB
3.0 MB
|
729
1100
2200
|
100
100
100
|
|
JPEG normal3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
4.5 MB
2.8 MB
1.6 MB
|
1400
2300
4300
|
100
100
100
|
|
JPEG basic3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
2.2 MB
1.5 MB
0.9 MB
|
2800
4600
8000
|
100
100
100
|
|
Image quality
|
Image size
|
File size1
|
No. of images1
|
Buffer capacity2
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
7.2 MB
|
618
|
100
|
|
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
8.9 MB
|
484
|
96
|
|
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
6.6 MB
|
818
|
100
|
|
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
7.9 MB
|
692
|
100
|
|
NEF (RAW), Uncompressed, 12-bit
|
-
|
12.0 MB
|
618
|
72
|
|
NEF (RAW), Uncompressed, 14-bit
|
-
|
15.3 MB
|
484
|
53
|
|
TIFF (RGB)
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
21.5 MB
12.6 MB
6.2 MB
|
349
593
1100
|
29
39
69
|
|
JPEG fine3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
3.7 MB
2.8 MB
1.9 MB
|
1500
2200
3600
|
100
100
100
|
|
JPEG normal3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
2.3 MB
1.6 MB
1.1 MB
|
2900
4400
7100
|
100
100
100
|
|
JPEG basic3
|
Large
Medium
Small
|
1.2 MB
0.9 MB
0.7 MB
|
5700
8600
12100
|
100
100
100
|
The following SD memory cards have been tested and approved for use in the camera.
|
SD memory cards
|
SDHC memory cards2
|
SDXC memory cards3
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SanDisk
|
2 GB*1
|
4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB
|
64 GB
|
|
|
Toshiba
|
||||
|
Panasonic
|
4 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB,
16 GB, 24 GB, 32 GB
|
48 GB, 64 GB
|
||
|
Lexar Media
|
4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB
|
-
|
||
|
Platinum II
|
4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB
|
|||
|
Professional
|
||||
|
Full-HD Video
|
-
|
4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB
|
||
The site of The Photo Video Guy featuring articles, reviews, tutorials and a podcast for your enjoyment and skills development.
If you get value from here, please support the channel on Patreon. Once there, click Membership
Looking for something in particular? Search all the posts for the content you are seeking!
Have a question on photography or video? Click this link to send us your question.
Subscribe to our articles via RSS by clicking the link below.
Subscribe to the Make Better Photos and Video Podcast via RSS by clicking this link
Regular readers know that I am a big fan of Really Right Stuff products. Their customer service is superb. If you choose to purchase from them at their site, please let them know that I referred you.
The Photo Video Guy is the creation of Ross Chevalier. Please feel free to link to your site, but please don't lift content without attribution.
