Nikon Df

The lightest, smallest and fastest camera available in the FX format

The first thing you notice about Nikon’s Df, which combines a full frame sensor with a light body, is its rich array of controls. Everything is manual and is up there for you to select, but if you are not used to manual controls, the Df will take some time getting used to.

The Large viewfinder is great in framing, and the body is beautifully curved with its controls at the right place, which helps you hold the camera in a solid grip. The Df has a small ‘Manual’, ‘Aperture’, ‘Shutter’ and ‘Portrait’ mode button on top, and huge shutter setting, exposure compensation as well as ISO setting buttons, so at a glance you know what is set. The camera comes with a 1.8G lens. Nikon claims the Df has an image sensor that is equivalent to the one available in its flagship camera, the Nikon D4.

At 16.2 megapixels, those who are finicky about megapixels may shy away, but if you look at the quality of images taken under very poor light conditions, you will fall in love with this camera. It can be called the lightest, smallest and fastest camera on sale in the FX format.

Its weight of 710 gm is easy to handle, and in a matter of just under 0.14 seconds, the camera is ready to shoot. With a shutter release lag time of under 0.052 seconds, the camera is superfast.

The battery that Nikon uses on the Df is slightly smaller than the one on the D600, D800 or D4, but manages to give you 300 plus shots on a single full charge.

At the back of the camera is a 3.2- inch 912,000 pixels LCD monitor that is sharp and bright, but sadly in bright sunny outdoors, the only way to review your images is via its viewfinder. I also miss the fact there is no tilt screen on the camera, and that there is no on-board Wi-Fi. The other downside is that the Df has only one memory card slot.

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