The Nikon D750 has been out for a year. But its my first ever Nikon and frankly quite special. So I decided it deserved a proper review.
INTRO
I picket it up from a store on my way to visit family in the southern parts of Sweden. I felt exited and that surprised me a little. I have bought more expensive cameras in the past. I have owned and used much more feature packed devices before. Its not even the first time I try a new system.
Instead I was exited to go back to a DSLR. It felt like I was visiting an old friend.
Almost like coming home.
First Impressions
When you pick it up you feel pro. It is heavy, solid, very little plastic. Totally covered in buttons and it has a killer sound when pressing the shutter.
Looking through the viewfinder you think, “No peaking, zebras or histogram… bummer”. After a few minutes its instead, “Big, bright, clean and no lag…. Sweet!”.
But that is for stills and there is no point in dragging that out. For stills this camera easily murders every mirrorless camera I have used.
The picture above is a simple jpeg straight from camera, click for full resolution.
Instead you push the live view button. Gone is the viewfinder and you are stuck with the, first time for Nikon FX, tiltable screen. No peaking but there is Zebras. There is also a nice flat picture profile, so no need to start fiddling with saturation, contrast and such.
Its a world camera with 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60p in full HD. No 4K.
So how does it look?
The footage was recorded in 24fps and exported in 2.5K to get some extra bitrate from YouTube. The only lens I had at the time was the “Niffty Fifty”, 50mm f1.8. And the trip wasn’t for me to test a camera. Therefor its a bit rushed, some shakes and focus misses here and there.
I graded it using LUTs, curves and Lift/gamma/gain in Resolve 12. Its not like grading Raw or Prores but you can definitely push it around. Nail the white balance or use auto and you can go further.
Ok, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it.
Im blown away!
Not so much of the quality compared to a Digital Bolex, Blackmagic 4K Production Camera, etc.
I’m impressed compared to its own specs. Its a DSLR. It shoots a maximum of 24Mbps. Its H.264/MPEG-4.
It should not look this good!
Coming up next
I don’t know what trickery is at foot here but I’m going to investigate. Many more tests to come. Until then I can leave you with this frame from a Dynamic Range test where it shows the Canon XC10 and Panasonic G7 whats up 🙂
Canon XC10
Nikon D750
Panaonic G7
Side by Side
In the last picture I have zoomed in and then raised the shadows 100%
The XC10 is rated at 12 stops which I have no reason to doubt and find reasonable compared to my experience with Blackmagic. That gives the D750 a minimum of 13 stops. At least to my eye.
If you plan on buying a D750 here is one place to do so and lets you support the channel and page at the same time.
Nikon D750
Nikon 50mm f1.8
Nikon 24mm-120mm f4
Nikon D750 Filmmaker’s Kit
Nikon D750 . 24-120mm Bundle
Specs
- 24.3MP FX-Format CMOS Sensor
- EXPEED 4 Image Processor
- 3.2″ 1,229k-Dot RGBW Tilting LCD Monitor
- Full HD 1080p Video Recording at 60 fps
- Multi-CAM 3500FX II 51-Point AF Sensor
- Native ISO 12800, Extended to ISO 51200
- Continuous Shooting Up to 6.5 fps
- 91k-Pixel RGB Sensor and Group Area AF
- Built-In Wi-Fi Connectivity
- Time Lapse Shooting & Exposure Smoothing
The Review
Enough time has past and I have used the camera for pretty much everything. Both professionally and for fun. Short story is that its great.
Coclusion
Many argue about the video quality of different hybrids. An din my opinion they often forget the stills.
“But I don’t care about stills”, some reply.
Well, then you shouldn’t get a hybrid at all. You should get a video- or cinema camera.
To me a camera that shoots both stills and video should excel in both fields. And the Nikon D750 certainly does.
The stills are almost second to none and the video is definitely on par with cameras like the Sony A7sii and Samsung NX1. What it lacks in resolution it gains in dynamic range and color.
Pros:
- Color
- Dynamic Range
- Efficiency
- No Moire
- Features
- Stills
- Full Frame
- Audio
- Build
Cons:
- No Peaking
- Cant resign focus magnification
- Long flange distance
- “Only” 60fps (though super clean)