These Nikon Df test shots are Df-initely worth taking a look at

The Nikon Df might look gorgeous, but it’s a lot more than just a pretty face – it packs Nikon’s flagship D4’s full-frame sensor and processing engine too, giving it brains as well as brawn.

But does all that translate to real-world performance?

Well the Stuff Singapore team decided to find out by taking it out around the city, ahead of the First Test review for the February edition of Stuff Singapore.

If you’re not going to be around in Singapore when it hits shelves on 16 January (neither will we, sadly) then you can form your own opinions with the following images.

None of the shots have been edited or manipulated in any way, and they were taken sans flash with the NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Special Edition kit lens.

The gorgeous bokeh it afforded might have caused the team to go overboard with it at times, though the fact that drinks were flowing freely could (very possibly) also be a factor.

Shooting gallery

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No, the picture isn’t hazy or out of focus, it was just taken during a thunderstorm. What’s amazing about it is that when you zoom in, you can actually distinctly see falling leaves and branches, and even hundreds of individual raindrops.

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Low-light performance is fantastic, though what’s really on display here is the camera’s range. Highlights and shadows are well balanced, and noise is also negligible.

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Believe it or not, this photo was actually taken in near-complete darkness at ISO 9000. It almost seems Wong Kar Wai-esque, with the grain actually adding character to the image.

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The Df is so clear and precise, you could crop out everything except the blind spot mirror at 100% scale and still get a clear picture. Go full resolution and try it for yourself.

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Photos shot in daylight almost always turn out great. The Df handled this backlit scene quite reasonably in terms of exposure.

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Colour reproduction is pretty much true-to-life, with the pink of the salmon popping nicely against the salad. Level of close-up detail is fantastic too.

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This photo was shot accidentally on high gain (ISO 17,959 to be exact), though we didn’t realise at first because of how normal it looked on the LCD. Zooming in to 100% does reveal loss of detail, but still good considering the gain it was shot at.