"The times, they are a-changin'…" A year ago if you were a Nikon shooter in need of a full-frame camera with more than twelve megapixels, your only option - other than switching over to Canon - was to buy, hire or steal a $7,000 / £5,000 Nikon D3X.

It is what it is. A nice new model between the D7000 and D800. I got one the first day it came out. The large screen was defective with some pixel lines running through it but the friendly staff at the Oshawa Henry's remedied the problem with ease.

Nikon's last big DSLR release was the D800. The big news with that camera was its pixel count of 36MP, which when it was released, comfortably eclipsed everything else around (and at the time of writing still does).

Outstanding low and high ISO performance in both JPEG and Raw files; High quality JPEG images at default settings; Wide dynamic range Raw files; Consistently pleasing metering and white balance results; Very solid build quality and good ergonomics / handling; Fast; responsive camera when adjusting

Small coverage area of AF array compared to its peers; Slow AF in live view and video modes (but good compared to its DSLR competitors; Rear LCD prone to glare in bright sunlight; despite new design; Uncompressed video output over HDMI is not full frame; with black borders around image area; No

It's a pity the Nikon D600's larger sensor commands such a price premium over the Nikon D7000, but assuming it sees the kind of price reductions that the D800 has undergone, we're in for a treat.

Nikon has been rather busy over the past year, having already released the D4 and D800 in quick succession. But the company isn't taking a break just yet. The Nikon D600 aims to fill the gap between the hugely capable and professional Nikon D800 and the enthusiast-level Nikon D7000 .

Compact and light; Outstanding sensor performance; User-friendly

Autofocus sensor positioning; No aperture adjustment in video mode; Pricey; Fixed LCD screen

The Nikon D600 sits comfortably below the Nikon D800 in the company's line-up, although it's put here by some very obviously engineered limitations in ISO performance and autofocus.

Excellent image quality; Near-perfect compromise between ease of use and functionality; Impressively low price tag

Inferior in some ways to Canon's competing 6D; Some artificial impediments versus the D800; Minor design niggles