Review
£6299/$6499 Nikon’s latest top-of-the-range pro DSLR, aimed at sports and news pros, has arrived – but is it more evolution than revolution?
The Nikon D6 has arrived! But is it more evolution than revolution?
The Nikon D6 was originally planned to be in the hands of the world’s best sports shooters to coincide with the 2020 Olympics, which were due to open at the end of July. The Games may have been put off until 2021, thanks to coronavirus calling a halt to pretty much all sporting events the entire world over, but the camera launch has still gone ahead, if delayed by a couple of months due to the knock-on effects of the pandemic.
To the average Nikon enthusiast, the camera doesn’t look all that exciting on paper, with a 20.8Mp sensor out-resolved by even the most entry-level Nikon and none of the innovations from Nikon’s mirrorless marvels making it across to the DSLR, as is the case with the recently launched D780. But the truth is that this is not a camera designed for the average enthusiast, it’s designed first and foremost for pro sports shooters who will have a very different set of priorities from the rest of us. That 20.8Mp resolution is just fine for printing in the sports pages of the papers, and makes file sizes smaller and improves low-light performance. What pros want boils much down to three areas: speed, reliability and autofocus performance.
So, taken on its own merits, what does the Nikon D6 have to offer – and how much does it truly improve on its D5 predecessor?
KEY 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 is revealed by a spec sheet alone.
The first key selling point of the D6 is the improved continuous shooting speed of 14
you don’t have an autofocus system that can keep up with the action. Fortunately, the D6 houses Nikon’s best-ever AF engine within its chunky body, 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. And you can further stack the subject acquisition deck in your favour with 17 customizable group area AF choices. All of this services the same 20.8Mp sensor from the D5, though it is bolstered by the all-new Expeed 6 imaging processor.
There’s more to ‘speed’ than simply the number of frames per second the camera is capable of shooting at. Also new is support for blisteringly fast Cfexpress memory cards – and the manufacturer has finally
holding and using this camera is like shaking hands with an old friend.
PERFORMANCE
We put the Nikon D6 through its paces shooting a series of basketball games as well as some light birding – and it performed brilliantly. Whether following frantic players hustling a ball around a busy court, or capturing the minute twitches and chirps of birds while fishing, it’s clear that 14 frames per second is absolutely enough to capture crucial moments when shooting both sports and wildlife.
simply 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 (complete with a voice tag, to provide a ready-made caption).
VERDICT
Taken completely on its own merits, the Nikon D6 is a top-tier stills camera both for shooting fast action (be that sports or wildlife) and for working at high ISO ranges. While only a madman would shoot at this camera’s ISO3.28 million top setting, our lab data attests that this is by far the camera of choice if you need to shoot in challenging light conditions.
Though its stills AF makes it the fastest Nikon DSLR ever, tragically the D6 lets itself down when it comes to AF in Live View. Contrast-detect autofocus simply isn’t capable of shooting what this camera was designed to shoot – and its limitations are only further pronounced by the brilliance of the AF for stills. This makes the potentially brilliant 4K video – with peaking, zebras and timecoding – a massively missed opportunity for this camera.
Of course, it can be argued that you don’t really buy a sports camera to shoot video. Professionals who only need a brilliant stills camera, packed with the fastest connectivity and killer autofocus, will find lots to love in the D6. As will existing D5 owners, who will benefit from superior performance virtually top to bottom. For working professionals already in the Nikon ecosystem, it’s a worthy upgrade.