Nikon D750 is the most rounded camera in Nikon arsenal and can be had for reasonable money (everything is relative of course).
Its just good at everything, its not design to be the best at anything but over all it can do everything very well.
Love my D750!!!
I think the D610 is probably the best value FF camera in the market but I didn't want best value, I wanted FF camera with the 51 point AF system, when the D750 came to the market I got it on the first day.
Never regretted getting it
I think well kept used one or a refurbished one is a great choice for getting the D750
Yeah I'm going to keep this in mind. It's tough decision honestly, I really gotta think about it.
The D610 uses the same auto focus system from the D7000 (I think) from 7 years ago! I just kind of want the newer tech and the "flagship" features are pretty nice to have. Is it a necessity? Probably not.
The AF system in D750 blew my mind, to be honest any AF system better than AF system on D5100 will blew my mind, but I'll write you my little personal story about D750 AF system.
So, you already know. I've switched from DX to FX going from D5100 to D750 having only 50mm 1.8G lens (also used on DX)
There are bunch of differences between these cameras, but I'll count some of them which contributes to the story
- I have never got focus point lock lever, when I saw that I was wondering what is that lever for, but didn't read manual (HUGE MISTAKE)
- There is another lever for switching to video/photo Live View which is positioned below focus point lock lever, kinda close, D5100 had it on top of the body.
- There is a button on the left side in the middle of the auto/manual lever for quick change of focus mode or shooting mode depending which dial you are going to turn, D5100 has Fn button on the left side of the body in quiet similar position which I programed for quick ISO change in conjunction with main dial.
- Never before had 2 command dials
You are probably familiar with these functions but I wasn't, so the story begins.
My brother had birthday party (18 birthday) and he asked me, am I going to make some shots for him just to have any kind of record, which I normally accepted.
I saw an opportunity to test D750 high ISO performance because I knew there is going to be dim atmosphere.
Used gear:
D750 brand new, less than 200 shots
Lens 50mm 1.8G
Speedlight SB700
Kids gathered (approx. 40 of them) bringing presents for their friend (my brother) I've started to shoot, still good light condition so I tried some video recordings thus using that lever to switch into video mode.
Light condition gone dimmer, I'm shooting manual, changing shutter speed, aperture values, ISO erm... I'm looking for the ISO button. I've got used on the button from D5100 then I realized that I'm pressing the button in the middle of the focus lever and rotating main dial which doesn't change ISO but not knowing I have changed shooting mode from AFS-S to AFS-C.
Light condition gone even more dimmer, almost pitch black, only small lasers (disco ball laser head alike) illuminated hall. I was struggling to see subjects trough the view finder so I tried to utilize live view, without looking I have turned focus point lock lever to the "L" position which locked my focus point, of course I was unaware of that again.
Finally switched to the live view with proper lever and composed some over head shots, tested tilting screen as well.
Now I'm doing some casual shots but I'm noticing occasional focus hunt, it gets focus but took him a way too much time, there is almost no light available.
Then I'm noticing that I can't move focus point, it's stuck on the top/middle point (luckily) also I have noticed that my AF assist lamp on the SB700 doesn't work.
Kids dragging me to make shots, I can't see anything in the view finder other than silhouettes but I'm getting focus confirmation dot and I'm shooting and chimping like crazy for an hours...
Meantime checking is it AF assist lamp on the SB700 turned on, it is but maybe it's broken, God... what is happening, well okay I'll turn on in body built AF assist lamp, doesn't work either!
Good Lord!!! Is it possible that half of the camera suddenly broke and on top of it might kill SB700???
I was horrified, deeply depressed and disappointed. I though that I wasted my money....
Now kids took a brake to eat something and refuel for the rest of the night, I took my cell phone and googled "D750 focus point stuck" the first answer was "check your focus point lock lever, on L position it will lock focus point" God I was so happy when I discovered that lever was on the L position, moving lever down unlocked focus points.
But what is wrong with AF assist lamp? Quickly googled "D750 AF assist lamp doesn't work" the first answer was "in AFS-C mode, the AF assist lamp will be disabled" I was so happy when I discovered that I have changed shooting mode from AFS-S to AFS-C, when I revert it to AFS-S everything worked normal, even the AF assist on the SB700.
From that point till the end of the party I had total blast and joy shooting with D750
Despite all of my mistakes the D750 AF system still managed to deliver damn sharp and focused images, which literally blew my mind how on the Earth it managed to do so well.
Yes, I've took some out of focus images but not completely out of focus like completely missed focus, wide open aperture contributed to that.
In conclusion for me as hobbyist photographer this good AF system is over killer
Also there are so many ways to customize button on D750 that will fit to almost every person needs.
I did assigned ISO to the record button after this story.
I have followed this video and took some settings from that video.