And second: the D and the D have different controls, it is very personal, but I like more the proffesional controls of the D, being the same as my previous camera. One control that Nikon missed out on for the D is a custom user mode. This is available on the D and I love it and absolutely miss not having on the D It is such a time saver to have a custom mode all set up and available with a quick turn of the mode dial. I also wish they would upgrade the firmware to allow bracketing above a 1 EV step, like they have in the D It would make shooting HDR more fun and mean I spend less time throwing away unwanted exposures.

Another way to look at it: Handheld? Take the D I have a DE and a D3s and the tripod question is pretty much what determines which body goes out the door with me. Love this article, I used to be a Nikon man back in the film days but quickly turned to Canon in the digital age.

I also agree with you on the file sizes, they are way more manageable on the D Not found on the D D can use both CF and SD. I love the D The image quality is revolutionary. It is incredible for landscape work. It does, however and as you said, come with the cost of large memory and time sucking files. A very interesting discussion!

I am also on the fence in this decision. I am leaning towards the D right now. In UW-photography the main investment is the Housing, approx twice the cost of the D Therefore, I will be stuck with the decision that I make now for about 10 years or so.

Well, that is atleast what I tell my wife :- I am pretty sure that during thes 10 years my Computers will get quicker and the memories will get faster, bigger and cheaper… So, this issue will be somewhat mooted over the years! While diving I do a lot of Macro. There the FX format has some pros an cons compared to a DX format. The main divider here is the depth of field! You get a nicer Bokeh, blurry background with FX, but a lot less keepers due to the decreased depth of field in FX!

With a D you have the chance to use both, depending on the situation! I bought the D on the Friday after the Wednesday availability.

I returned it Saturday due to the diopter control failing. I bought it again on Sunday and have had it since. Problem with early adoption is that LR and Photoshop cannot open the raw files as it is too new. Since then, LR 4. Those wondering about file size are right to be concerned. Raw files are hard drive killers due to size, so make sure you have lots of storage for your photos with this camera.

Lens quality also comes into play as using old or third party lenses will show every defect in your glass with this much detail in each file. Low light capability is awesome, autofocus area is not. The D has a slightly larger AF area. Lack of patience with Nikon produced this sale. I was waiting for the mythical D but it is lost in the forest along with Bigfoot so far. I gave up waiting to upgrade my aging and battery hogging D and bought the D Now I have a ruggedly built bracket button capable D, which is heavier and better built than the D for my DX body, as well as the latest computer as camera in the D for my FX body.

Having said all of this, glass is still by far the best investment you can make. Bodies come and go, quality glass is usable on any Nikon built since That lens is over 20 years old and works just fine.

Canon has changed their lens mount repeatedly over the years, so I stick with Nikon. Hope this real world advice helps those trying to decide what to do. It looks like a great camera. I did wait until it came out before I decided to go with a D as an upgrade from my D Had the price been a bit lower, or the focus system a bit higher end, maybe… It was a difficult enough decision that I made myself a pro vs.

As to the D, on another photography blog a few weeks back, the camera was compared to a Ferrari that routinely just gets driven a few blocks in city traffic.

Where I live, the mountains of western Colorado, and often shoot, the high deserts of Utah, the camera serves more like a good crossover SUV.

I feel the same way about the extra dynamic range that I believe the D offers over the D it replaced. It also works fine for the admittedly not hyper-fast sports I shoot: kayaking, mountain biking, rugby and rodeo.

To sum this very well written article up: If you have to ask which cmaera is right for you, go with the D Not true! Maybe buying X is correct for some, but for others Y will be better. The truth I sold my D om Tuesday. Scott thanks for the comparison, I am not a pro and decided to go with the D and you have reaffirmed by purchase.

So far it has done everything I needed and the prints are turning out great. Also thanks for all you do for the Photoshop users, your training site has helped me greatly in speeding up my learning curve. Great post Scott. I value your opinion. I just replaced my D with the D I have wanted to upgrade to FX and was very excited when the D was announced.

I am not concerned that the D, D, DE and D4 all have the same insides, that they are all the same cameras designed and produced at the same time with the same insides, differing only in exterior casing and when Nikon chose to announce them and that they produce the same images with the same processing power, the same LCDs, the same green-shift problems and identical AF controls. I am not concerned that the D may be a D with more megapixels or a D replacement.

I am not concerned that the D is better in many aspects. The D is the perfect camera for me and meets all my needs and expectations.

Being a D owner and having written a book on it Nikon D From Snapshots to Great Shots — shameless plug I can tell you that I am asked this question all the time.

I have not used the D but asked about whether or not to buy a D my answer is that it really depends. It certainly is not the camera for everyone. Most wedding shooters I know are shooting well over a thousand images per event and I can fit around raw images on a single 64GB card. I would however use it for the formal shots, especially those that might end up as big prints above a fireplace. If you shoot landscapes, you will love the great detail in your images but, like Scott said, be prepared for some huge files if you are into HDR or panos.

If you shoot wildlife, you will probably love this camera because it has some amazing detail, but not necessarily if your subject is one that moves a lot. The slow frame rates will mean a lot of missed photos. If portraits are your thing, be prepared to do a lot of retouching because the skin detail is crazy and maybe more than you want to deal with.

One other thing to consider when considering a D is the condition of your computer system that you use for processing images. You are going to require a lot of ponies under the hood and a lot of RAM to work with all those pixels.

These files are huge, even in their raw state, which means you will need to give some serious thought to your storage needs. I only store my active shoot on my MacBook because I am afraid I will run out of disk space. All that being said, I really love my D The good thing about the D is that it allows you to choose the resolution size for your particular needs at the time.

No, just for JPEG. I wish if it is available for RAW. The other alternative is shooting DX to reduce the size but it is useless. Good recap of what Scott was saying. Everything mentioned here I recommend to the new photographers reading this to squeeze into proposals because not many people understand the value of the photography when you give that price…. I love my D for most things. I upgraded from a D that I bought last year to see if I would enjoy photography.

Turns out I do very much I enjoy tweaking the mega-big files in photoshop, and watching my computer churn away processing HDR images. Then I took it to my first football game that I had to cover : Not that I expected it to be perfect, but i was disappointed. The next day I bought my D4 which is great for action. Your lesson was learned. Use a scalpel for surgery, use hedge trimmers for landscaping.

I own the D and love it. Having said that, if the D had come along first I would have gone with it and been happy. I was upgrading from my 5 year old D Needed a new PC regardless and the new set up handles the files just fine. Love the video quality too. The D offers a lot of options for file size. But my other 12mp FX camera sees the bulk of the night time shots in that I can shoot in RAW still for appropriately sized file sizes. Where is the D…. D is overkill, and as someone said below, its like a D…lacking needed features.

I will not buy either one and will wait till Nikon does the D right. If I want to switch to 36x24mm, I would continue saving also the last more bucks that are needed, to get the D If you are afraid of the image size, just shoot in S or M size! Fully Aggree — but the only issue with D I see is the CAM Focussing module; It seems to be the same sluggish one as in D and was the reason for me to switch finally to D; Hopefully Nikon improved it — With D I had a lot of mis-focussed pictueres — my D and D were much more reliable in that aspect.

Hello Scott. I sent the d back. Now I am trying to decide about waiting for Nikon to remedy the sensor issues with the d or get the d Is the d sensor really a problem?

But everybody should be aware of the possible seems to be very very common! Hello Cathy — where can you buy a new D? Thought it was discontinued. It may be a pain in the butt, but I would probably buy it from my local camera dealer as opposed to online because they offer lifetime sensor cleanings for any camera bought from them. Should be enough to get that excess oil off the shutter. Worked on mine anyway. They dropped a few of the features that I love on my Ds going to the D, which are present on the D For any travel or action photography i.

The D is much lighter and easier to carry around than the D, and the D, at least in my opinion, produces slightly sharper images all other things being equal. So I think that another use for the D is the Macro Photography. I can see them only in Firefox. Anyone got the same? Is that possible? Can a hack be created to allow for the D to take smaller RAW files?

Just wondering. As of now, the D is not recognized as a pro body according to Nikon Professional Services. Any thoughts? Sometimes I keep thinking that Nikon will surprise us all with a new firmware for the D; sometimes I keep thinking another pro body will be announced very soon.

David: Can Nikon release a firmware update with that stuff? Will they? I do not agree that the D is the replacement for the D The product name number for the D is correct in my opinion.

It is a entry level version of the D Sure some things are a lot better than D technically and image sensor vise even the D or whatever it is called is probably technically better than the D but body vise the D is a professional camera and the D is not. Im not saying you cant take professional pictures with the D though For me a AF-ON button is critical.

I have experienced this problem myself on my D which I think is a great little camera but I rarely use it mostly for this reason. Another thing that is important to me is a great viewfinder and you cant even compare the viewfinder in D and D and I need to be able to attached this rubber thing that blocks out some light..

For sports and action it is sure too slow but for travel and everyday shooting it is more than enough. And sure 24 MP would be far more than enough for me but 36 is okay too..

Great post! I was one of those guys that admitted I may have made a mistake buying the d because of the large files size. Now I can have all the detail and capabilities of a raw file but in a nice small jpg sized file. I would love to hear your opinion on this feature in Lightroom. The D gives you more leeway to crop a shot in tight later and still have a useable image- one that can still be blown up relatively large.

I did some extreme crops recently and it worked out nicely. The less megapixels you have to work with, the more difficult that becomes. Though, you know a lot more about this stuff than I do. Stick the D into 1. Downside is that you lose a little on the wide end but you kinda get more on the long end. You still get 15mp with the 1. With the grip it goes to 6fps, which is still a couple fps slower than a griped D, but not too bad. One of the reasons to buy a D or a D is for the full frame sensor.

If you want a cropped sensor, then the D, D, D etc all out there for a lot less.. Just release a firmware that will enable D owners and that would-be D owners would love! Give them an option to obtain in camera smaller RAW files at will— whatever size that would be mathematically correct! Give an additional choice of file sizes for the D RAW shooters!

Make the D a greater upgrade for the D lovers! Make the outstanding D stand up to the more moderate RAW image sizes that Canon has in their comparable camera line-up! All or most Nikon owners will be happy you did! Release an updated firmware, Nikon! If you shoot in 1. I mean if Nikon made a full frame shot into a smaller raw it would be interpolated, so not raw data….

I think it is really fascinating that so many people love the D and yet at the same time want it to be upgraded. I agree with the comments above re the differences beyond the sensors.

There are some tradeoffs compared to the pro-level D and D bodies that trouble me. The , in my opinion, is a pro sensor in a consumer body so the decision also includes ergonomics.

Nicely, Nicely done Scott. I have the D Love it. It is getting a little long in the tooth and is ready for a replacement, but neither the D nor D fulfil what I am looking for.

From past few days I had a fear that I would have made a bad choice by purchasing D instead of D, after reading this I am relived and happy that i made a good choice.

I mainly shoot wedding and portraits, initially as budget was an issue i went with the kit lens 3. I like the 50mm but it cannot be used at all times. I find the ability to crop a 36MP image by a 1. You can effectively mount a mm and use it as a mm while still getting 15MP. You can get reach when needed and capture amazing details when shooting landscapes for instance. Yes, they both have their strengths and weaknesses, and every single shooter has unique needs as well, which is why other reviewers wisely point out the pros and cons, then let savvy users make up their mind as to which is best for them.

Only sycophantic sheep pick their camera based on the opinions of online opinion merchants like Ken Rockwell, Thom Hogan, and yes Scott Kelby. Nice review! I have rented the D and tried it out over a number of weeks shooting a couple of weddings, events, portraits etc. I agree!! I have the D and really like it.

Dear Scott, I think you are right on. There IS a dust problem with the sensor by the way… mine has it… but I will just have to wait until Nikon finally owns up to it and get it fixed. Sync speed? The D is exciting because it treads on medium format territory and does it at 4 frames or 5 with the right parts a second.

Better yet, it is doing it with a great dynamic range and high ISO performance that had really only been seen previously on a Pentax K-5 in anything remotely approaching this size, capability, and price range. Another thing is that it brings the background closer and theres less distortion when using a lens length that provides same angle of view. I use a Mamiya with a Leaf 33mpx back and the D to shoot comercial fashion and editorial for magazines, so the complexities of skin tone play a vital role in what i do.

FX cameras only record at 14 bit. MF record at 16 bit. But this is cant really be seen until a print is made or seen on an IPS screen. The D has really changed where and when i can shoot. Sure, at low iso, nothing compares to the MF. Its all about time and place and when to use what, not better or worse. The D is truly unbelievalble though. I bought the wrong camera. I always feel that way right after I purchase a new camera.

Call it buyers remorse. An extension of my arm and my vision. So I upgraded from the D to the D So much better in so many ways, and yet so much more challenging! On a D-Town podcast, Pete Collins showed it off, and in a subsequent PhotoshopUser Magazine a few months ago, a favorable review was published. You might want to check it out. It WILL save your shoulder! The problem with this review is it does not address things like sports, action, birds in flight, differences in AF performance for moving subjects, low light focusing.

Because of this it is difficult to throw a blanket over one camera or another and say this is for you. So would you say someone that works in say low light theater or stadium sports that the D AF is better sure we know FPS could make a difference. I would of preferred something like for example , if you print big, landscape, portrait is better for D, sports low light photography and quicker AF, beginner, lower end lenses, those on a budget, D because saying the D is better kind of devalues your opinion.

Scott I really enjoyed reading your comparison. Really appreciate it and feel a lot smarter for having read it. It makes me so sad.. The D makes me a better more efficient photographer. Because of the 36mp on the D you can zoom in and crop the image and still print extremely high detail images. It is absolutely amazing at what you will see in images that I simply could not dream of with my D that I replaced. The D was amazing but if I did not have the zoom lens on when the shot required it the results were difficult to overcome.

I am certainly in the minority here…. I cannot understand the issue with file size…. Sometimes focus tracking is more important than FPS…what is the point when most are out of focus. The low light ability of this camera and the dynamic range is amazing.

I am still accepting how much I can push the images in post processing. This is a camera you have to get comfortable with. I am not there but the creative range it allows me to exist within is enough for me to love this camera. My only complaint is the fact that I still have not been able to make quick adjustments to sensor area use and fx or dx format mode.

I probably need to read up more on this camera. This camera is nothing short of amazing…so much in one body!

Excellent points! When shooting sports with a 2. But for me, it makes more sense to use an FX only when needed such as low light and a second DX camera for me D for sports. So for me, a D and a D makes more sense than just a D Shooting weddings I use both. Scott, I was one of those people who was on the fence when your post on this subject first came out last Friday, and I was strongly leaning toward the purchase of a D since I wanted a new D A few years ago, you told your viewers on one of the early D-Town TV podcasts, if my memory serves me right, that you chose Nikon over Canon because you just like the way the shutter sounds.

In my mind, it was that comfort thing that got you to buy a Nikon camera. Similarly, I think that deciding on one of these two new Nikon models is that internal comfort thing tells us which one we should buy. I was so close to buying the D, but I had a personal epiphany in my third store visit after trying out the D and the D What made me decide on the D?

And since I own a DS, the learning curve has been lowered for me. The D is a beauty and allows me to use it easily since I know where the buttons are, just like the DS. It felt awkward in my hands.

Thank you for your review of these two cameras and the comments shed a lot of light on the topic as well. One thing that I have not seen addressed is the importance of individual pixel size between the two cameras. The D pixel is 5. But, the price and the fps was really holding me back. I waited and waited and almost got one just before the D was released.

When the D was released, I realized it fit my needs more than the D for just the very reason you explained here. You gave your friend excellent advice in my opinion. Just got the D Incredible machine for my purposes. I gotta say, though: I still ogle and drool over the D when I see it. But I use a macbook pro and editing already takes long enough. I have a promote control, so my bracketing and time-lapse capabilities are far superior to the D alone.

Because difference in technical usability is concern only the way you use camera. So most outstanding advantages are FX sencor, new body, new technologies which stay above d :. Well said and well written, I do believe that the D is a better choice for general shooting, but I have been using a D and a D3X for years so it is a no brainer, however the build quality of the front and rear of the D is not for the working outdoor pro.

It is a unibody rear construction and a plastic front where the lens mount is attached much like the D Bought and sold the D at launch and now have a shiny D which I love.

All your comments here were spot on for me a jobbing UK freelancer and dance photographer. As you say the pipeline also got very choked and I found myself using my DX back-up body nearly all the time. This was a very interesting post! Hit me in the comments! Not concert etc. I know. Expect more comments and to see more photos more songs as well from me. I meant users my bad. Tucker a. Dwayne Tucker from DwayneTucker[dot]com. I think this excellent post and the thoughtful comments miss one possibility.

The D and D are not built for a sports shooter. And Nikon has set it up beautifully by creating a D6xx, D7xx and D8xx category all for different shooters with different needs. And at price points that slowly step us up in cost. You bet. For those folks wanting to massage their egos, by all means go for the D Am I right here? Within the spectrum of camera sensors, this places the review cameras among the large-sensor cameras that aim for top notch image quality.

Both cameras have a native aspect ratio sensor width to sensor height of While the two cameras under review share the same sensor size, the D offers a higher resolution of This megapixels advantage translates into a 22 percent gain in linear resolution.

On the other hand, these sensor specs imply that the D has a higher pixel density and a smaller size of the individual pixel with a pixel pitch of 4. Moreover, it should be noted, that the D is a somewhat more recent model by 7 months than the D, and its sensor might have benefitted from technological advances during this time that further enhance the light gathering capacity of individual pixels. The resolution advantage of the Nikon D implies greater flexibility for cropping images or the possibility to print larger pictures.

The maximum print size of the D for good quality output dots per inch amounts to The corresponding values for the Nikon D are For many cameras, data on sensor performance has been reported by DXO Mark. The Overall DXO ratings for the two cameras under consideration are close, suggesting that they provide similar imaging performance.

The following table provides an overview of the physical sensor characteristics, as well as the sensor quality measurements for a selection of comparators. Many modern cameras cannot only take still pictures, but also record videos. Apart from body and sensor, cameras can and do differ across a range of features. The D and the D are similar in the sense that both have an optical viewfinder.

The latter is useful for getting a clear image for framing even in brightly lit environments. The adjacent table lists some of the other core features of the Nikon D and Nikon D along with similar information for a selection of comparators. The Nikon D and the Nikon D both have an intervalometer built-in. This enables the photographer to capture time lapse sequences, such as flower blooming, a sunset or moon rise, without purchasing an external camera trigger and related software.

Both cameras feature dual card slots , which can be very useful in case a memory card fails. For some imaging applications, the extent to which a camera can communicate with its environment can be an important aspect in the camera decision process. The table below provides an overview of the connectivity of the Nikon D and Nikon D and, in particular, the interfaces the cameras and selected comparators provide for accessory control and data transfer. Studio photographers will appreciate that the Nikon D unlike the D features a PC Sync socket , so that professional strobe lights can be controlled by the camera.

Both the D and the D have been discontinued , but can regularly be found used on eBay. Further information on the two cameras e. So what conclusions can be drawn? Is there a clear favorite between the Nikon D and the Nikon D? Which camera is better? A synthesis of the relative strong points of each of the models is listed below. If the count of relative strengths bullet points above is taken as a measure, the D comes out slightly ahead of the D 6 : 5 points.

The larger the sensor the more light the sensor captures yielding in better image quality. The more focus points the more flexibility in picking which part of the scene to focus on. They also give the image sensor a better probability in identifying the right area of the scene to focus on in more automatic modes. The number of megapixels determines the resolution of the images captured with the main camera.

A higher megapixel count means that the camera is capable of capturing more details. However, the megapixel count is not the only important element determining the quality of an image. With a higher light sensitivity ISO level , the sensor absorbs more light.

This can be used to capture moving objects using a fast shutter speed, or to take images in low light without using a flash. Fast continuous shooting is useful for catching action shots. With AF tracking, once you choose the subject and press the shutter release part way down, as the subject moves, the autofocus will follow it.

No more out of focus shots. Phase-detection autofocus is much faster than a contrast detection autofocus, allowing for sharper images. A faster maximum shutter speed allows taking pictures of fast moving subjects without blur. A two-stage shutter can help you take photos like a pro: just slightly press the button for the lens to focus, and then push it fully to capture the photograph. Videography 1. The maximum resolution available for videos shot with the main camera.

Although it may be possible to choose among other frame rates, those recordings usually have lower resolutions. A phase-detection autofocus system is faster than a contrast detection autofocus system. Even when recording scenes with a lot of fast movements, the videos are sharp and clear. When recording movies they stay focussed and sharp. A timelapse shows a long passage of time sped up.

A series of photographs taken from the same position over a long period is joined together to create a short video. It is great way to capture things like the setting sun, or clouds moving across the sky.

Nowadays, it is used to create film-like motion characteristics. Audio 1. A microphone port allows connecting external high-end or specialized microphones.

A stereo microphone allows to record audio files or movies in stereo without an external microphone. More microphones result in better sound quality and enable the device to filter out background noise.