Saturday, October 25, 2014

Nikon D750 - Is this the perfect camera for lifestyle photography?

It's smaller than most full frame DSLR's, has a comfortable 6.5fps frame advance, can see in dim light better than most any camera out there, takes all of the best Nikkor lenses, can autofocus on a black cat in a dark closet, and lists for only $2296.95. What's there not to like?


I began substituting the D750 for my D4 and D810 on lifestyle shoots, and have to say, the more I use it, the more I like it. Time will tell, but I think the D750 may become my primary lifestyle camera. I combine it with a lens kit including the 85mm, 50mm, and 35mm f/1.4 high speed lenses for available light photography, and the 70-200mm and 24-70mm f/2.8 zooms when a fast aperture doesn't matter.

Another thing I like that Nikon is adding to its cameras is a 1.2x crop mode. On the 24.3MP D750 sensor this delivers a 16.7MP image in a perfect 3:2 35mm format. The final image size is almost the 50MB required for traditional stock photography. So, if the image isn't cropped, there is no loss in resolution. I find myself bouncing in and out of the 1.2x crop mode for two reasons. First, the smaller crop means that the 51 focus points cover a much larger percentage of the image area. Second, my 85mm f/1.4 is immediately converted into a 102mm f/1.4 lens, and the 50mm becomes a 60mm f/1.4.

My main studio is set up for daylight shooting, and on some stormy days it can get quite dark. I need to keep my shutter speed high to stop the action of the moving models. On my last shoot I was using an 800 ISO for most of the day.  For the D750 the noise level on anything up to around ISO 1600 isn't even noticeable.

The auto-focus ability of the D750 includes all the improvements in the D810 and D4s and then some.  In 5-point group mode or 3-D auto focus the camera is as good as it gets, even in the dimmest light -- or should I say "especially in the dimmest light".











Although I'm sure wedding photographers will love this camera for the same reasons, this photo was part of a lifestyle shoot done in my studio. It was lit with two 1000w tungsten lamps placed behind a huge scrim with some trees pressed up against it from behind to add the out-of-focus background. 


Lit with direct streaming sunlight and no fill used for the shadow areas. The dynamic range of the D750 is right up there with the top of the Nikon lineup. 

The Nikon D750 camera body can be ordered from:  BH-Photo   Amazon   
The Nikon D750 camera with 24-120mm f/4 lens can be ordered from:  BH-Photo  Amazon 

3 comments :

  1. Thanks for the quick review! I have been looking at the D750 - it looks to be the camera I was hoping for when I bought the D800. It sounds like you think it is more capable than the D800 and would be a good replacement for it (assuming you don't NEED 36MP). I look forward to seeing it at PhotoPlus on Thursday. Any chance that you will be there too?

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  2. I will be at the Expo, but not on Thursday. I am going on Saturday morning.

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    1. Oh well, maybe next year! I would've enjoyed bumping into you. I love your work and your blog!

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