Nikon D6
£6,299/$6,499 This pro DSLR has Nikon’s best-ever stills AF and burst speed
A flagship DSLR taking on Canon and Sony
Specifications
Sensor: 20.8MP full-frame CMOS Autofocus: Viewfinder: phase-detect AF with 105 focus points (all cross-type); Live View: contrast-detect AF at all points in frame ISO range: 100-102,400 (exp 50-3,280,000) Max image size: 5,568 x 3,712 Metering modes: Matrix, centre-weighted, spot (not available for movie), highlight-weighted Video: 4K (Ultra HD) 30/25/24p; 1080p (Full HD) 60/50/30/25/24p Viewfinder: Pentaprism Memory card: Two CFexpress (Type B) and XQD memory card Max burst: 14fps Connectivity: Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5GHz), Bluetooth, USB-C, HDMI mini, Ethernet Size: 160 x 163 x 92 mm Weight: 1,270g body only; 1,450g with battery and two CFexpress cards
The Nikon D6 faces a difficult challenge. Its two rivals in the professional full-frame camera space are absolute monsters: the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III is the most advanced camera we’ve ever used, and the Sony Alpha 9 II brings all the benefits of mirrorless shooting into the pro sports sphere.
While both of those cameras were greeted with excitement and enthusiasm from the industry, the response to the Nikon D6 has been tepid, given its comparative lack of standout new features compared with the Nikon D5.
While all three are obviously among the best professional cameras on the market today for pro sports shooters, when compared to its competitors, the D6’s results don’t seem entirely favourable. Does that head-to-head comparison tell the full story, though? Taken on its own merits, what does the D6 have to offer – and how much does it truly improve on the D5?
Features
At first glance, it’s easy to see how many consumers were nonplussed by the Nikon D6’s specifications. However, there’s much more to this camera than its spec sheet.
The first key selling point of the D6 is the improved continuous shooting speed of 14 frames per second – an improvement of 2fps over the D5. While that might not sound a lot, anyone who has shot professional sports or wildlife photography will tell you that those ‘frames between the frames’ can be the difference between an award-winning cover shot and a missed opportunity.
That’s a significant improvement on the D5, but all those extra frames are no use if you don’t have an autofocus system that can keep up. Fortunately, the D6 has Nikon’s best-ever AF engine, powered by the new Multicam 37K sensor and 105 cross-point AF system, representing 1.6x greater density of coverage.
Adding to the autofocus system’s robustness is the fact that Eye AF is available in 3D tracking and Auto AF area modes. You can further stack the subject acquisition deck in your favour with 17 customisable Group Area AF choices.
All of this services the same 20.8MP sensor used in the D5, although it is bolstered by the all-new Expeed 6 imaging processor. Also new is support for CFexpress memory cards – and the manufacturer has finally got the knack of SanDisk’s Type B cards, which have been problematic on the Nikon Z 6 and Nikon Z 7. You can also use XQD cards if you have them.
Build and handling
While inwardly it’s packing plenty of new tech, outwardly the Nikon D6 is almost indistinguishable from the D5. Obviously that’s a good thing for established users, as muscle memory means that a sense of continuity is critical, so moving all the buttons around to unfamiliar locations would cause some gritted teeth.
That said, familiarity does breed contempt – and we’re disappointed that Nikon hasn’t addressed the position of the joystick on the vertical grip. It’s situated in a different position than it is in the standard horizontal orientation so, when you spin the camera from landscape to portrait, you move your thumb to where it expects the joystick to be… and instead finds the AF-On button.
Yes, you get used to it, and yes, D5 users will already be accustomed to this foible (ditto Nikon’s lenses, caps and zoom rings that turn the opposite direction to other cameras). But no matter how many times you’ve done it before, there will always be those moments when your thumb goes to the wrong place to find the
joystick – and said moments are always crucial. It’s a bit of design disharmony that needs fixing.
That aside, the D6 is every bit as robust as you’d hope and expect. It’s a hulking body, even by pro DSLR standards (being both bigger and heavier than its Canon counterpart), but when you hold this thing, you know that you could drive over it with your car or use it to break into a building – it’s that solid. However, our D6 sample did exhibit a very small amount of play in the mount, with lenses turning a fraction of a millimetre when mounted.
The pentaprism is large, bright and comfortable to use, and we had no problems with eye strain (something that can’t always be said for electronic viewfinders when shooting with one eye open for action). The D6 is unquestionably designed to be operated via the optical viewfinder rather than the newly touch-operable 3.2-inch LCD screen.
Flicking the power switch a step further than the On position illuminates a few more buttons than lit up on the D5, in addition to the mode dial and the top and rear LCD panels. Oh, and if you shoot long exposures, you’ll be overjoyed to know that you no longer need a remote shutter release to use Bulb mode. In all, holding and using this camera is like shaking hands with an old friend.
Performance
We tested the Nikon D6 shooting a series of basketball games as well as some light birding – and it performed brilliantly, whether following frantic players hustling a ball around the court or capturing the twitches and chirps of birds while fishing.
However, while 14 frames per second is absolutely enough to capture crucial moments when shooting sports and wildlife, the fact remains that the Canon and Sony are both capable of 20fps – which means they get shots that the Nikon misses.
Nikon’s new autofocus system really is a wonder, capable of the kind of intelligent tracking and acquisition that you need in split-second situations. It recognises subjects almost as fast as you can point your camera at them; more importantly, it doesn’t lose them when your view is interrupted.
It doesn’t matter if it’s shooting through the courtside cage, or if people pass in front of your targeted player, or if your bird decides to hide behind undergrowth: the D6’s AF is fast, intelligent and reliable enough to keep you locked onto your subject.
It’s difficult to empirically test, but in our testing it absolutely held its own with Sony’s much-celebrated AF (though we did miss Canon’s brilliant head tracking AF whenever a player turned his face away from camera).
While 105 AF points is a step up on its predecessor, that little cluster of points squished into the centre of the frame really does cramp your shooting
style. With Canon offering 191 points (or a whopping 3,869 in Live View) and Sony 693, shooting with the D6 does feel notably more restricted.
Where the camera’s autofocus lets itself down, though, is in Live View – and, hence, video. When you shoot through the viewfinder, you have the benefit of the D6’s rock-solid phasedetect AF system. However, switch to Live View and you’re stuck with primitive contrast-detect AF – and for shooting sport, unfortunately it’s borderline unusable.
We made every effort to record a single ‘clean’ clip from a number of one-on-one basketball games, but every single time the autofocus resulted in an issue. Face Detect would sometimes find faces in the scenery, and other times refuse to pick out any of four faces in the frame. Subject tracking would switch between players, even those who looked nothing alike.
The focusing in Live View is nervous, erratic, and hunts and pulses all over
the place – making the video not fit for purpose, and making it hazardous to use the rear screen even for stills purposes. It’s a very long way from Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF.
Something you definitely can and should use the rear screen for, however, is input. The LCD is now touch-sensitive, giving you fingertip control over the camera and settings – and also feeding into some of the most useful features, especially for working professionals.
In addition to being able to transfer, rate, protect and add voice annotations to your images without pressing any buttons, the Nikon D6 enables you to prioritise your most important shots in a transfer queue simply by flicking the images up or down while viewing. So if you’re uploading 400 images to a picture editor, but you know that the 358th image is the killer shot, you can instantly send it to the top of the list. It’s a thoughtful and neat time-saver. James Artaius