Nikon D610 review: Still brilliant – and now 52% cheaper

Image quality

Image quality that’s virtually indistinguishable from the D600’s is hardly a criticism, of course. Both cameras are up there with the best full-frame SLRs for image quality, with exquisite rendering of colours and details and seriously low noise at fast ISO speeds.

 
There’s plenty of crisp detail in this shot (taken with the 24-85mm lens that’s available as a kit lens), and the autumnal colours have a sublime glow

 
For maximum fidelity to dense textures, it’s always worth shooting raw (this shot processed in Lightroom 5)

 
We could easily mistake this ISO 1000 shot for ISO 100

 
Shutter priority at 1/800s to freeze motion pushes the ISO speed up to 3200 – still very little evidence of noise

 
Nothing beats a full-frame camera and wide-aperture lens for capturing moving subjects in low light

 
Depth-of-field effects really benefit from the full-frame sensor, too. We didn’t quite nail this shot, though – the eyelashes are sharp but the iris is a little soft

The most important change is one that Nikon will probably never acknowledge. We found no evidence of accumulating dirt spots when capturing a sequence of 1,000 photos of a white wall at f/16. Roger Cicala came to a similar conclusion on the Lensrentals.com blog, based on tests of no less than 25 D610s.

Back button focussing

As with the majority of Nikon DSLRs, the D610 can use back button focussing, where the auto-focus mechanism is de-coupled from the shutter button and moved to the AE-L/AF-L button on the rear of the camera. Switching the camera’s auto-focus mode to AF-C (continuous), it means that you can quickly focus on a subject when you want, so you’re always ready to take a shot.

This mode is particularly useful for wildlife photography, as you can quickly track and focus on fast-moving animals while snapping off shots. It was using this technique that we managed to capture this leaping impala in Kruger National Park, using a shutter speed of 1/3,200s. You can click the image to get the full-resolution sample shot, which shows that the camera managed to capture the Impala’s every detail.

The competition

The D610 coincided with the launch of the Nikon D5300, so it’s a little disappointing that Nikon didn’t add the same 1080/60p video capture, GPS and Wi-Fi functions to this pricier model. We’d also love to have seen an articulated screen, which the Nikon D750 has.

Still, the fact that the D610 offers minimal improvements over the D600 doesn’t detract from both cameras’ strengths. Its sublime image quality, nippy performance, elegant controls and large viewfinder all compare well with pricier full-frame cameras such as the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and Nikon D800. For us, the only significant drawback is that – as with the D600 and Canon EOS 6D – the autofocus points are bunched in the centre of the frame. This can be a bit of a nuisance when composing shots with an off-centre subject. However, having spent a couple of months shooting with the D610, we were surprised at how infrequently this was noticeably a problem.

If you’re not short of cash, it’s probably worth avoiding this compromise by going for the pricier D800 or EOS 5D Mark III. However, the real competition comes from the D750. This takes several features from the D800, including the 51-point auto-focus sensor, but keeps the same resolution as the D610. It is considerably more expensive, though, so you have to ask if you really need the extra features. If money isn’t the issue, then by all means you should buy the D750. If you’re looking for more of a bargain and want to spend more money on the lenses, then the D610 is still an excellent camera and we’ve had no problems with its smaller auto-focus camera and we’ve rarely been in a position where its screen has been an issue.

Meanwhile, if funds are tight, there’s a strong argument for going for a cropped-sensor SLR such as the superb Nikon D7100, which is otherwise very similar to the D610 and has a superior autofocus sensor. Zoom lenses for cropped-sensor SLRs are cheaper than those designed for full-frame SLRs, too.

Conclusion

There’s no denying the allure of a full-frame SLR. Noise levels are lower, details tend to be sharper and shallow depth-of-field effects are more pronounced. The D610 is one of the lowest-priced full-frame SLRs available, putting it within reach of amateur enthusiasts and letting those with a bit more cash stock up on lenses. It doesn’t feel like a cut-price model, though. If we were looking to buy a full-frame SLR, we might gaze longingly at one of the pricier models for a while, seriously consider the D750 and then we’d buy a D610.