Nikon D610 Un-Boxed: First Impressions and Initial observations of the Nikon D610

I have to admit, I was pretty excited when Nikon told me the Nikon D610 was on it’s way. I mean, I’m always excited when I get a new camera to play with here at Art of the Image, but the D610 has a little something special going for it.

I think it may be the BIGGEST SLEEPER camera out there right now (but more on that later).

When FedEx arrived at the door with the box, it was a little bigger than I was expecting, but then I remembered Nikon had sent the Nikon D610 kit complete with Nikon 24-85mm f3.5 - 4.5 ED VR lens, so naturally it was a little bigger than just the camera would be.

Even though I was in the middle of something else, I quickly grabbed a boxcutter, carefully sliced through the shipping tape, and extracted the battery and charger. There’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years and so many cameras later… plug in the battery as soon as you get it so you can start playing as soon as possible. :-)

The first thing I noticed when I got the camera out of the box was the size and weight. The D610 is bigger than I’m used to these days. I shoot mostly with my trusty D5200, and the D610 is a fair bit heavier and a fair bit bigger than the D5200. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not talking D4s or even D800 size here, but more along the lines of my old Nikon D700.

Next out of the box was the Nikon 24-85mm kit lens, and my first thought was that it is a nice fit with the D610 in terms of size and weight. The two go nicely together, like a balanced set. The 24-85mm is fairly small for standard zoom do to it being a variable aperture, and it feels comfortable on the front of the D610.

As I turned the camera over in my hands and started to get familiar with it, I was struck by how much it reminded me of a slightly bigger version of my beloved Nikon D7000. In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking it is a D7000, or the newer D7100, if you couldn’t see the D610 name plate on the front.

Which brings me to one of the most welcome features on the Nikon D610 that it shares with my D7000 and the D7100, dual cards slots. I love this feature. I got very used to it on my D7000, and it’s something I miss on my D5200. Kudos to Nikon for including it on the D610.

Over-all the Nikon D610 feels like a solid camera. It’s well built, has some heft to it, and gives off the impression of a well constructed piece of equipment.

Considering that the D610 has one of the highest rated full frame sensors to date, complete with one of the top high ISO scores ever, I’m really looking forward to putting this camera through it’s paces. Look for a lot more on the Nikon D610 in the coming weeks here on Art of the Image!

I plan on shooting it at high ISO in some challenging and interesting low light locations.

I’ve got some studio product shoots planned where I’ll pair up the Nikon D610 with various types of studio lighting and see what it’s capable of.

And of course, I plan on doing some shallow depth of field shooting with my favorite lens, the Nikon 50mm f1.8G.

Stay tuned!

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Nikon D610