Nikon D600 or D700 as backup for D800

[Peter_S]

Hi All, need your advice

should I buy a Nikon D600 or a D700 as second ff body beside my wonderful D800?

Both go for approximately the same price at ebay.

D600 would be a little bit smaller and less weight and the D700 with grip would have a  faster frame rate....
And of course the D700 is better build.

Looking forrward to read your replies.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I'd recommend getting the D600. Same battery technology and a pixel number closer to the D800, both features of which makes it more eligible as a reserve for the present camera.

[Peter_S]

thanks Bjørn,
yes it seems to be the better second cam. Lighter, smaller and nearly the he same image quality as the D800.
So I could take it for vacation and hiking instead of my dx cams.
I reacently sold all my dx stuff, because I use ff for the right stuff and nikon 1 when it should be small.

[pluton]

As a user of the D800 cameras, I second Bjørn's reasoning.  A D600 would be a better match, image quality-wise.  The D700, much loved as it is/was, is a product of the 2007 imaging tech of the Nikon D3. The D600 dates from 2012.  They made significant improvements in that time period. 
Also, if you wish to make a larger prints, 24Mpix will be visibly nicer than 12Mpix.

[Akira]

So far as the image quality is concerned, D600 should be a no-brainer.  It can easily compete with D750 in this respect.

The two annoying shortcomings for me as previous user of D610 is that D600/610 is that its AF area is a bit too small, and that you cannot magnify the image to 100% by pushing the OK button in the center of the 4-way pad.

If you can tolerate them, D600 should serve you really well as a backup of D800.

Actually Dave (David Paterson here in NG) uses D800 and D600.  He mostly shoots landscapes, and I haven't noticed any negative difference  between them among his images.

[Frank Fremerey]

Because it is about price and FX, the D600 in a low click version with fresh shutter ist a great choice these days.

The D500 would be a great companion to the D800. The D500 is very silent and fast and delivers great image quality up to 20.000 ISO. Very fast AF. Very near in nearly every respect to the D850, Only the color rendition and differentiation at low ISO sets the D850 apart and of course FX as a second meaning to my battery of primes. The D500 runs cicles around the D700 when it comes to IQ, not so much the D600, because the D600 has the wonderful analogue feel that is also present in the D850, the D500 character is more like a neutral machine cool character, difficult to describe. You need some old glass to tickle the magic from the super clean D500 files or good IQ reduction in post.

[David H. Hartman]

Peter,

I'm feeling a vacuum here: is this for business or personal use? If for business a Nikon D850 is probably indicated. If personal is the budget fixed or open? Is action in the mix? Maybe a D500?

I'm  wondering if either camera, D600 or D700 is a smart purchase? Both are getting older and have significant drawbacks.

For a good recommendation I feel more information is required.

Dave Hartman

My use has been personal since 1990. My cameras are a D800 and D300s and there is no budget for upgrades which would be a D850 and D500.

[Peter_S]

David,
it‘s only for private use, portraits and vacation. Thats all. I think the image quality of the D600 is good enough and it’s smaller and weighs less than the D800. So for serious work D800 and for vacation a D600 instead of a small DX cam....
Of course a D850 is a a little bit better 😃, but in DXO sensor tests only a little bit.

[Seapy]

Make sure you get a good warranty, the D600 shutter has had it's problems.  A friend of mine just went this route and within days had issues with oil on a very low use camera. The vendor gave my friend a good deal an an alternative model.

[Frank Fremerey]

Make sure you get a good warranty, the D600 shutter has had it's problems.  A friend of mine just went this route and within days had issues with oil on a very low use camera. The vendor gave my friend a good deal an an alternative model.

Nikon WILL replace the shutter on ALL D600 with oil issues and sometrimes even on those without

[Peter_S]

yes, the oil on the sensor is a real issue. There are a lot of affected D600 at ebay. I‘m not sure Nikon would change the shutter at this used D600 cams...
But a D610 or D750 makes no sence, because for a little more money you get a D800.