Got the D750: First impressions & Question about speck on viewfinder?

[PaulWog]

First, the question: There's a bright speck in the viewfinder. It's like, this one small pixel-sized portion of the viewfinder (toward the bottom left) when I look through it, lets in more light. It's only noticeable when I am in a well-lit scenario (not a dim room). Is this just the equivalent of having a small speck of dust in the viewfinder? (cosmetic)? It does not seem to be captured by the sensor when I take a shot. So long as this is just like... a speck on a windshield... then I could care less.

I will be doing a combined review of the D750 + 150-600 Contemporary once I can take the combo out (tomorrow it should be, as long as there isn't rain!).

On to the first impressions:

The viewfinder is wonderful. The ISO performance appears to be stellar (I just went in the back yard and shot at 10,000 ISO to get f10 and 1/1000 - 1/4000 shutter speed depending on if the area was shaded). The eagles were out of the nest for now, but crows are good practice for focusing on playing wildlife targets.

Oddly the arrow pad (around the ok button) is angled. I had to look up pictures to see if that was correct, since the pad feels a little mushy (it's fine though). Overall, all the controls feel like quality controls.

I have figured out how to switch between metering settings, autofocus settings, etc, etc. Most of the important stuff I have discovered in my first couple of hours. I still need to figure out how to adjust ISO without having to press the middle-left button (I have to take my eye away from the viewfinder to press the ISO button while rotating the dial).

The body of the camera feels great in the hand. The transition is strange, the D5200 almost felt more intuitive with its menu screen, whereas the menu screen for the D750 disappears all the time when I don't want it to (I'm sure I can adjust this). It would be nice if the camera had one more programmable button in an intuitive spot, but I think they wanted to keep things from getting crowded (I would prefer an additional crowded button though).

The articulating screen is pretty poorly designed in my opinion. Nevertheless, it's functional and I wanted a rotating screen and the D610 didn't have that -- not an insanely needed feature for me, but when I want it and it's not there, some things aren't possible.

I don't have much else to say, daylight has pretty much gone away and I have nowhere to go. I'm not inclined to take it on a walk tonight alone, but tomorrow will be the day to really test the camera out!

Part of this is buyer's bias, but I'm pretty sure the step up from the D5200 to the D750 makes a huge difference. My cropped images from my 150-600 Contemporary may in fact be sharper, but I need to do more tests and transfer the RAW files to the computer first. Getting to shoot at f10 and with a very high ISO just was too satisfying. I swear ISO 12800 on the D750 looks like ISO 3200 on the D5200 (maybe even cleaner -- but maybe I'm exaggerating I need to check the images out in the computer).

Oh, and my wallet is hurting. A lot.

 

[Derrel]

I bet you barely sleep at all tonight.

 

[PaulWog]

I bet you barely sleep at all tonight.

It's okay I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow (or I have everywhere to be, wherever I want to photograph). I'll set my alarm for noon. Probably won't be taking anymore photos (it's cloudy, bummer, would've been nice to do stars), but I will be spending another couple of hours figuring out more of the ins and outs of the camera -- so that tomorrow I don't fumble up with my shooting. I have a goal to make a photography album (printed), with some specific themes and types of shots in mind, over the next couple of months, so this will be fun.

They say you should spend more on your lenses than on your camera. They also say the best camera is the one you have with you. Those two sayings clash: $200 glass on a $2200 camera is much more satisfying than $900 glass on a $600 camera. I know the saying about lenses and investment is more about getting the focal lengths / lenses you need for your purposes first, before the DSLR... but my god... I've gone into photography cheat-mode after getting the D750. The D5200 was playing by the rules, this camera not so much.

 

[goodguy]

Everything you described is due to you used to the D5xxx body, give it few weeks and you will feel the D750 is like an extension of your arm, to me the D750 felt pretty much like a slightly upgraded D7100 when talking about operation and button layout.
For ISO I simply leave it at Auto ISO, the low light performance is so good that I don't worry about ISO, I can control it by adjusting F stop or shutter speed if needed.

BTW Conrgrats bro you are going to be a happy man!!!

 

[wezza13]

Congrats on getting a fantastic piece of kit.

The thing about getting a new camera or top lens, is it's ability to re-ignite (or further enhance) your passion for photgraphy!

Look forward to seeing some pics in various iso amounts

 

[PaulWog]

Congrats on getting a fantastic piece of kit.
The thing about getting a new camera or top lens, is it's ability to re-ignite (or further enhance) your passion for photgraphy!
Look forward to seeing some pics in various iso amounts

Thanks! I am really really really excited. I have a whole list of things I plan to do. I have had the past two years to practice (I've gotten lots of great shots), but now I feel like I am taking things up to the next level. Most of my shots (99%+ of them) have been personal, for family and for myself... my focus now is more on showing some shots off. You're right: New gear re-ignites things. My wallet, again, I must say, has been reignited. I'm really happy though, I'm going to do some great things with this camera.

Everything you described is due to you used to the D5xxx body, give it few weeks and you will feel the D750 is like an extension of your arm, to me the D750 felt pretty much like a slightly upgraded D7100 when talking about operation and button layout.
For ISO I simply leave it at Auto ISO, the low light performance is so good that I don't worry about ISO, I can control it by adjusting F stop or shutter speed if needed.

BTW Conrgrats bro you are going to be a happy man!!!

The D5xxx body was actually super easy to use. I had two programmable buttons in intuitive spots set up for ISO and aperture. I shot in aperture priority most of the time, manual very occasionally. Those who say you can't change settings without going into the menu on D5xxx bodies are full of it. Once you figure out how to program your buttons to modify the single dial's function, you can modify all of your exposure triangle just as fast as with the D750. Now, changing metering and other things like that is a more mechanical experience, rather than a menu-based experience (a hybrid experience?)... it's interesting and fun.

I like auto ISO, but is there a way I can program the thing to do this:
- Set auto ISO to a maximum of 12,800.
- Set shutter to a minimum of 1/1000.
- Prioritize 1/2000 at ISO 6400 over 1/4000 at ISO 12,800. (Currently in shutter priority mode, if I set minimum shutter to 1/1000 and auto ISO to a max of 12800, it will set me at 1/4000 at ISO 12800, when I'd be much happier at 1/2000 at 6400. I can manually modify things, but on the fly with moving birds I'm still figuring out the best automated settings.)

The positives so far:
- I'm still in love with the viewfinder size. It's my favorite thing about the camera, alongside the feel of the camera in the hand.
- The autofocus system is really cool. Still deciding on how to use each setting (3d, full automatic, 51 point, etc) for birds and wildlife. When a bird is sitting still and will eventually take flight, I'm thinking 3d might be best, but not sure. If birds are doing lots of things in the sky, I'm thinking full automatic or 51-point, but not sure. Etc. Nevertheless, the big thing is that the camera is a beast with focusing.
- Low light focusing is nuts. It can be nearly pitch black in a room, and it will focus on low-contrast areas like it's nothing. Set to ISO 12800 and f1.8, it's excellent. The reason for using a flash at this point isn't to increase shutter speed, but to re-introduce some lighting dynamics into the room (or of course to shoot at something other than f1.8).
- The video quality is top notch... I'm not a video guy, but I might find myself doing that a little bit more.

The negatives:
- 1/8000 really would have been nice. Shooting at f1.8 in sunlight isn't always possible at 1/4000. Not a huge problem though.
- A touchscreen would've been nice. I do like the option to interact with the screen when I want to.
- The articulating screen is flimsy and definitely seems like it was designed so that they can come out with a better version of it. It doesn't scream "I'm sturdy and won't break!" at all... with the D5200 I flipped the screen out and didn't worry. This one, I can see the little cord thing that connects to the screen for the signal, and it just looks like it'll snap when a gust of wind hits. I'm exaggerating a little, but it is an odd thing the way they designed the flippy screen.
- The angled control/arrow pad around the okay button isn't satisfying. It's angled... feels mushy... it's fine, but it could feel a little more high quality.

What stands out over a D600/D610:
- ISO 12800 is really usable and can be played with a bit in Lightroom on the D750. On the D610, it's just a little bit worse, which isn't a big deal if you're not cropping, but if you're pulling up shadows just a touch, or cropping just a little bit, the D750's better ISO 12800 performance makes for some great wildlife shooting.
- The autofocus is snappppppy and very good. The spread is great on the autofocus points. The 150-600 keeps up nicely, but now the D750 is so good at focusing that I will actually be taking advantage of Sigma's dock: I'll be programming one of my two programmable settings to focus 25 meters and beyond (or thereabouts), to keep the focus quick. The Sigma 150-600 has a 10 meters to infinity focus lock, which is useful, but 25 meters to infinity or thereabouts with the D750's fast autofocus will be really nice.
- The battery life is a touch better, and that really counts for a lot. I won't use a battery grip ever, too bulky and intimidating for me.
- The metering is really good.
- The LCD screen is really good for looking back at shots, a decent upgrade from the D5200, but also just slightly better than the D610. Nothing that really matters a ton, but a quality-of-life improvement.
- USB 3.0 instead of USB 2.0 for transfer of files is really nice. I don't always use the card reader.
- Built-in WiFi... I will have to see if I'll use it as much as I think I will.

I think if the autofocus was somewhat similar and the ISO performance was identical, I would've saved $500 and gotten the D610. Those were really the two biggest selling points for me to spend an extra $500.