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Hi Guys

I am looking to upgrade my camera body. At the moment I have a D3100 and it is just not good enough.

My question is: Is the D600 worth the money when comparing it to a D7000/D7100 which are nearly half the price.

Also if it was a choice between a D7000 and D7100 which would you reccomend?

PS: My main wildlife lens is a sigma 150-500mm

Regards

Hi
The D600 is a supurb camera however it is full frame and not all lenses will work fully on the front of it.
I own a D7000 and it is also supurb, if the D7100 is better as we are told it is then is should be a great buy.
Regards
JDW

I would recommend that you tackle your pleasant dilemma in one of two ways:

Jot down, in order of importance, the features that you require from a camera, firstly have-to-haves and secondly, nice-to-haves. Having completed that list, compare your list to the features of each camera, using that to select the MOST APPROPRIATE for your needs and desires.

Alternatively, list, from the most to the least important, the TYPES of photographs and environments you find yourself, which will give the rest of the forum the background needed to help you make a better informed decision.

Each of the D600 / D7000 / D7100 has its wow factors and its downsides, relative to the others. For example, if speed and buffer size is top of your list, the D7000 is best; If low-light is your thing, the D600 cannot be beaten. The D7100 is great for sharpness as it does not have certain filters, BUT it may CAUSE moire when photographing certain repetitive patterns.......

Each to their own, but they are all very good cameras.

To make things a bit more difficult....Speed is great for wildlife photography so the D7000 or D7100 would be the obvious choice. However, as Scottm says, the low light performance of the D600 is superb. Most good wildlife photography is being done in the golden hours as you know so good low light performance is an absolute pro!

I had the same problem about a month ago. Problem was that the D7100 was not available than. My choice was between D7000, D600 and D800. Decided to break the bank and go for the D800. I am happy I did. Only 4 frames per second means you WILL miss a few shots and the fact that the buffer gets full very quickly because of the massive files means that you have to predict wildlife behaviour better. BUT: because of the excellent low light performance I could easily go to very fast shutter speeds thanks to ISO values up to 3200 without loosing quality. This combined with the very good autofocus on the D800 made for my best wildlife pics untill now. (they were taken in Tanzania so can't show them here but trust me: they are GOOD).

Now take into account that the autofocus on the D600 is also very good (though a bit less than the one on the D800) AND the D600 is actually faster than the D800...if I were you, I would choose the D600. There is a big but...I don't know how the sigma lens will behave on the D600. To be honest, the D800 demands to be used with the best lenses out there. I don't really know if the D600 is just as demanding on this issue.

Not easy, isn't it? On the bright side:...all 3 cameras will be a huge improvement for you