I've had the D750 for over a week now, put a few hundred shots on the shutter, and I thought I would throw out my first impressions of this nice "little" FX body.
1. The D750 is quick and responsive, compared to the D800, and better than the D700 most respects. Auto focus, shooting speed, and writing to SD cards are very fast. Yeah, the buffer is not as big as the D700 or D800, but I don't tend to mash the shutter for more than a second or two at time. I think the shutter button is almost too sensitive, and often end up blasting off 2-4 frames when I only wanted one. As a side note, I find it much easier to get sharp images in low light, thanks to the quieter, gentler shutter/mirror slap. Now keep in mind I'm only using 400x SDHC Lexar Professional cards (60mb/s) so I'm not even using super high speed cards here. Lets put it this way, speed and the buffer are a painfully limiting factor with this camera, at least not for what I've used the camera for over the last week and half.
2. Even though the camera does not have the full "pro" button layout that has not proven to be a problem. With the combination of the U1 and U2 modes and the powerful auto ISO of modern Nikon cameras, I haven't been using most of those "pro" buttons much in the last year or so anyway. Okay, the position of the function button is too close to the lens mount, but other than that I don't have any issues. I don't really miss the AF-ON button, since the AF-L/AE-L button is poorly placed I've not programmed it for that function. One thing I'd love to see Nikon do on a D750 successor is use the larger pro buttons, the buttons on the D750 are kind small. The tactile feel and response of them is also not as nice as the D800/D700, but it's not a huge loss. Oh and I'd love to see them backlit like the D4/D4s.
3. It has all the menu options, and many of the functions of the D8xx bodies. Thanks in part to this, I don't miss the higher end body much at all. Do I wish there was a physical metering mode selector? Yeah, but then the D810 doesn't have that anymore either. I'm also still trying to figure out why highlight weighted metering uses the spot metering symbol with a *, it's kind confusing when you just glance at the camera. It would be nice if it had a more distinct symbol. I like the smaller top LCD, it only shows what needs to be there. I know some people might miss the white balance display, but I use auto 99% of the time, so it is of little consequence to me.
4. Auto focus, as mentioned before is very nice, a big upgrade from the D800 and D700. I cannot say that I find group AF to be any more useful than the older dynamic modes, and it seems to be less flexible. I think it might be a little quicker to acquire focus that in dynamic mode, but doesn't really seem to be any better at keeping focus on moving subjects. I still prefer to use single point or dynamic 9 point, at least for now. I'll keep experimenting with group focusing mode though. The is defiantly better at focusing in low light than the D700 and D800. Not by a huge margin, but it is noticeable. I don't think the actual focus lock is any better, but it is faster and less likely to hunt like crazy. I still have issues with my older Sigma glass, but the 50mm F1.4 Art is much improved over use on the D800.
5. Metering, Matrix with Nikon glass and the Sigma 50mm F1.4 it is very good. Highlight weighted metering does what it says it does. On the other hand the metering (all modes other than spot) do not play nice with the older Sigma APO 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG HSM. I found that I either have major over or under exposure. That is not something that I have experienced with the D800 or D700. Now the D800 did show some, but it was not as sensitive as the D750 appears to be.
6. Resolution, there is still plenty of resolution to go around, for situations when heavy cropping is not required. Do I miss the cropping room from the D800? Kind of. Loss of dynamic range? I cannot say I've seen a noticeable difference. The smaller files are much easier to work with, no doubt about it. Now I can take a few hundred shots and not feel like I'll need a new hard drive next month. Would I wouldn't mind a 36MP camera with the speed, size and weight of the D750. Maybe in two or three years we'll get that.
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