Nikon D600 Sensor Found by DxOMark to be “Elite” and 3rd Best Ever

Nikon’s new entry level full frame DSLR, the Nikon D600, is supposed to be a lightweight camera with heavyweight image quality. DxOMark confirms it to be true. The camera equipment measurement company has announced its sensor quality results for the D600, and the score is sure to put a big smile on the faces of Nikonians around the world. Rated at an overall score of “94”, the camera received the third highest score ever, and falls in third place behind the D800 and D800E — cameras that cost roughly $1,000 more.

This sensor score graph shows where the D600 ranks among all the other digital cameras out there:

The company concludes,

Nikon’s D600 will certainly help camera enthusiasts and avid photography hobbyists reach for what they once thought was unobtainable – an intuitive and more affordable high quality full-frame DSLR. As an added bonus, the camera provides users extreme value, as noted through its DxOMark sensor score of 94, which puts it in an elite category currently occupied by two additional Nikon cameras.

However, it will be interesting to note if Canon and its recently launched EOS 6D – a full-frame, lightweight, and affordable DSLR that directly competes with the D600 – can close the sensor and image quality gap between the two friendly rivals.

If you want a visual look at what this high score means, check out this great review published by Tom Bricker over at Disney Tourist Blog. Here’s a side-by-side crop from ISO6400 photos he shot using the D600 and D700. Can you tell which photo was created by which camera?

Crops taken from photographs by Tom Bricker/Disney Tourist Blog

Nikon D600 sets high bar for sensor image quality [DxOMark]

Discussion