Nikon DF review: Shooter’s Report Part I: Does film-camera handling work in the digital age?

 

 

Say what you like about it, but the Nikon DF is definitely a camera that gets people talking. Nikon's smallest full-frame DSLR to date, the DF sports the exact same 16.2-megapixel, FX-format CMOS image sensor as seen previously in the impressive Nikon D4, and it's paired with the same EXPEED 3 image processor to boot. On the outside, though, the retro-styled Nikon DF couldn't differ much more from its pro-oriented sibling. Controls sprout from nearly every surface, much like the F-series film cameras in whose spiritual footsteps the DF follows.

But does the handling of yesteryear make sense in a modern DSLR body? Getting to the bottom of that question was the top priority for reviewer Eamon Hickey when the Nikon DF recently landed on his desk. After a little time to familiarize himself with the DF's interface, Eamon spent some time pounding the streets of New York in search of subjects -- and of the answer on everyone's lips.

Read Eamon's first impressions in our just-published Nikon DF Shooter's Report Part I, and see how the throwback ergonomics of this interesting DSLR cope with the real world!