Image quality is also pretty strong, and while we initially started this review with that whole “who needs more than 12 megapixels argument”, the images out of this 24 megapixel sensor aren’t just larger, they’re also of a higher quality thanks to that bigger-in-size full-frame sensor.
As a result, the detail is more present and noticeable, and Nikon’s processing allows the colour to shine, with strong recreation and excellent imagery.
Low-light performance also appears to do well, and while we didn’t spend as much time as we normally do out in the dark testing the high ISO settings, we found darkness looked black and clear, though obviously the more you push the sensitivity, the noisier this area is going to get.
One thing we didn’t like was the wireless software, which is some of the weakest we’ve seen.
This might be a teething issue for Nikon, or it might even be just unfinished and underdeveloped software. We hope it’s the latter, because what you get from Nikon’s WiFi effort feels lazy at best.
On the one hand, you can transfer images from your camera to your smartphone easily, quickly linking up a smartphone or tablet to the camera via a wireless ID and letting the app send images from one to the other.
The catch in this, however, is you’re not given a whole heap of image settings. Rather, there are two, with “recommended size” sending at a size optimised for your device’s display, while VGA is just plain crappy old 640×480.
We’re not even going to mention VGA because really it’s not worthwhile, but the recommended size option is bizarre, specifically because if you have a phone with a Full HD screen, that 1920×1080 is the maximum size you’ll get.
Shooting in the regular film aspect ratio of 3:2, that 1920×1080 maximum comes out as 1620×1080, and that’s the maximum transfer you can receive. If you like working on your images remotely, this lack of definition is jarring, simply because you can’t get much of the 24 megapixels transferred to your smartphone or tablet. Hey, you can’t even get 2 megapixels transferred. Why? Because the app needs to be better, and just isn’t.
It’s not much better for controlling the camera, which the app also supports, but again not particularly well.
Controlling the camera basically occurs with a shutter button, and not much else. That is technically remote shooting, and granted when we decided to use it, we were plugged into a telescope and running on manual mode. That said, the camera let us change the shutter speed (not the aperture because there was no aperture ring), and let us take a look at the ISO, but the app wouldn’t let us do either, basically telling us what the app could do, which wasn’t much.
Here’s what the Nikon D750 camera app does: not much.
That’s our best definition, because it really feels unfinished and half thought up, especially in comparison to a camera that works so well on so many levels.
The one positive upside to this is that we don’t think it’s a fault of the camera, and that all that it would take for this to be fixed is a new app. That said, you’ll have to wait for Nikon to pull that one out.
Nikon’s take on the battery could also do with a bit of work, with still an external charger required for the battery pack.
Here’s the thing, Nikon: we’ve seen Samsung show us an impressive little future where its big cameras get a microUSB port on the side, and allow the camera to charge up simply by plugging into the standard mobile phone charge port used around the world.
We like it, and it makes sense, because if you’re running out of power in a pinch, you can simply whip out an external power pack, plug in a microUSB dongle, and charge your camera up. It’s lovely. Why are you not there yet, we wonder?
As modern as the rest of the D750 package is, its battery charging station is not.
Conclusion
There are cameras, and then there are cameras.
For most of this reviewer’s life, he has been a Nikon guy, and while he has a Canon or two around the place, and certainly enjoys some of the other cameras he has picked up, predominantly he has shot most of the photos he prizes with a Nikon.
There are two lenses he lives on, and that’s a Sigma 30mm F/1.4 and a Tamron macro 90mm F/2.8, and while he hasn’t updated his main camera in a while, he still values his Nikon D300.
Recently, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II nearly made him switch, with a strong consideration appearing in his brain.
It’s a tremendously impressive camera, and somewhere between the fantastic design, ergonomics, and size, not to mention the build and picture quality and the Steadicam-like way of handling video, he was almost convinced. “Go on,” he almost screamed, “let me sell my existing Nikon glass and I’ll jump ship.”
He was almost convinced.
But then there are cameras like the Nikon D750, cameras that give him pause, and practically stop him in his tracks, with a suggestion that maybe selling a lens system isn’t the best ideas, because Nikon is still producing top notch bodies like this.
There is so much to like about this camera, from the design, to the build, to the slight improvements on other cameras, to the sound of the shutter clacking away and the fact that the wireless functionality is a fantastic inclusion that Nikon should have brought into places ages ago.
It’s still a big camera, and one questions whether it’s worth carrying something so huge, so hulking anymore. That’s the real question you have to ask yourself, and why it might be worth jumping ship to another system and another camera.
We can even forget the calamity that is Nikon’s loose interpretation of WiFi because, while it should be better, there’s always the chance of an update later on.
But if you don’t care, and you’re after something driven by quality and excellence, Nikon’s D750 is it, and even allows his older DX-based lenses to work.
Fantastic. Now we just need to work on getting those shoulder muscles stronger.
