Month: January 2011

  • The Nikon D7000 – My First Impression

    Back in January when I rented a (crop-sensor) D7000 to test along side my (full-frame) D700 at a wedding in Tahoe, I jotted down a few quick notes while I was playing with the camera, and saved them for later. I’ve now had the time to finish my thoughts, so here they are. Some are just random thoughts, some have more explanation. Feel free to comment your own excitement or disappointment over this new “advanced amateur” camera!

    =Matt=
    ________________________

    * DUAL CARD SLOTS!!! This feature alone makes my heart sing. Redundancy, FTW!

    * No more mass storage option for plugging into the computer? Lame. Actually, it appears they stopped providing this feature a long time ago, I guess I’ve just always used card readers. But since I didn’t have an SDHC card reader, it was quite a chore to get image files off the the D7000 while traveling, because Nikon’s transfer program is kinda ghetto.

    * No LCD review one-click 100% zoom. Sigh. I know that’s a pro feature, but MAN I sure miss it. The worst part is, it’s totally the type of feature that someone could just hack a firmware update for. Seriously, anyone? I’ll pay very well for anyone who can find a way to bootleg custom functions into the firmware of any Nikon DSLR. Anyways, as a hobbyist adventure photographer I could totally live without one-click 100% zooming, but as a professional event / portrait photographer I honestly have to say it would slow me down way too much. Kinda like shooting a Canon. I think I would pass on the D7000, for this reason and also for a couple others…

    * Nice to have a battery release switch, FINALLY. Canon has been doing this pretty much since day one, I believe. When you’re on a tripod over a stream and you need to change batteries, it makes your heart skip a beat when you open the battery door and that thing just comes flying out. (Such as on the D300, D700, etc.)

    * Nice to have the pro-grade strap ringlets instead of the normal / Canon style.

    * Nice to have custom settings modes, but NOT nearly as good as the semi-pro / pro bodies! In fact it’s downright dangerous to put Manual exposure mode and C1 just one click away from each other. Huge reason why I prefer Nikon’s pro grade button configuration. Actually, while shooting with the D7000 I made the mistake of saving C1 for super-low light, I believe I saved manual exposure, ISO 6400, and indoor WB. Once or twice while shooting in broad daylight, I accidentally bumped the camera from “M” to C1, and WOW those images look like a polar bear blinking in a blizzard! Again, can’t recommend the D7000 for professional event photography. They really should have put the exposure mode dial on a locking button too, I was excited that they added a locking mode dial similar to the pro-grade cameras, but that excitement disappeared when I saw how easy it was to bump the camera out of the actual exposure mode…

    * Miss the AF-ON button of the D300 / D700, and the metering switch as well. But I understand that those are pro features.

    * Nice to have the dedicated “drive mode” dial like the pro bodies, with timer, mirror lockup modes, etc. Also VERY nice to have exposure delay mode, AF fine tuning, non-CPU lens compatibility!

    * Did I mention, MANUAL FOCUS LENS COMPATIBILITY!!! Very happy about this. The 24 f/2.8 AIS has been one of my favorite “medium wide” landscape lenses on my D300. Now I just need to buy an 18mm f/2.8 AIS, or of course they just need to make a full-frame D7000.

    * Did I mention the Intervalometer yet? HECK YES! Thank you, Nikon! I can’t believe they added this feature to the camera. Seriously, I don’t know how many times I’ll say this by the end of the post, but for adventure and go-light photography, the D7000 is an absolute winner.

    * Nice to have AF-S/C closer to the pro-grade setup, although it still requires a button AND a command dial to switc from Single to Continuous focus etc.

    * PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add ISO to the options for customizing the DOF and FUNC buttons! Actually I think it has this, I just didn’t dig deep enough into the menus. I was able to find a setting for the D90 that turns one of the command dials into ISO control, and that’s a start, but SERIOUSLY, why don’t all cameras these days make ISO a bigger part of the exposure equation? I’ve blogged about this before

    * Oh, one more thing, the image quality! Well, the fact that I almost forgot to mention it should be a very good thing. It’s sweet. The expected progression of the crop sensor system, yet still surprising performance for a 16 megapixel DX sensor. At ISO 100 I would shoot anything with this camera, it makes the perfect adventure / creative camera for go-light photographers who need something small but feature-packed. It is also great up to ISO 1600, even for professional use, and usable at 3200 and even 6400. Tests show that Canon’s 18 megapixel sensor is a little better, but honestly that doesn’t matter to me because the bottom line is that it gets the job done.

    CONCLUSION:

    Holding the D700, D300, AND D7000 side by side, the D300 is the perfect size and I have to admit, I look forward to Nikon making a D400 with the D7000′s amazing ISO performance! I had previously wondered if the D7000 might be SO awesome that Nikon wouldn’t even need to make a D400; maybe they would just let the crop-sensor format die with the D300s, but now having handled the D7000 I’m pretty sure that while it’s an amazing camera, a D400 will come. And it will be awesome.

Calendar

January 2011
M T W T F S S
« Dec   Sep »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31