Отзывы о Фотоаппарат Nikon D7000 Body

Since purchasing my Nikon N70 many years ago, I've been a Nikon fan. I have stuck with Nikon because I already have Nikon lenses. To be honest, I've seen some amazing shots/video come from Canon cameras too. Really not sure there is a monster difference between the two. I see no sense in playing one against the other. As with all products, it comes down to what you are going to use it for or what you may have already invested in with regard to accessories, lenses, etc. I do own Canon video equipment (XH-A1) and Letus Extreme (35mm adapter). I had been toying w/ the idea of moving to the Canon 7d so I could shoot stills/video with one unit. Lugging my Nikon D80 and my Canon XH-A1+the Letus gear all over for shoots was becoming more and more challenging. I literally was a couple of weeks from ordering the 7d when the D7000 announcement came out. I decided to wait. I'm glad I did.As the title indicates, I bought this primarily for the video capabilities. I shoot documentaries and nature-type films. I really wanted a full HD camera that allowed me to shoot 1080p w/ shallow DOF. With the D7000 I can shoot beautiful nature stills and capture some great video without changing equipment. I normally shoot 24fps since it is the the frame rate in full HD mode. But even the 720p @ 30fps is quite nice. The auto White Balance is amazing, but the presets can all be adjusted to your liking. The high-ISO settings are a blessing for shooting video. The HDMI output allows me to attach a 7" Marshall LCD monitor for better focus and shot setup. I'm not getting any younger and for shooting video, I highly recommend it. I have a difficult time seeing the built in LCD screen in bright sunlight, making shot setup very, very difficult for my eyes. This is only a problem if I'm shooting video w/ Live View, not using the viewfinder for stills. My monitor is light enough to sit in the hotshoe without much difficulty. If you're planning on shooting videos, I suggest an HD monitor for outdoor work if your video shots don't require too much mobility. You can pick them up for a few hundred dollars.Complaints: Aside from the reflective built in LCD screen I mentioned above, the only real other complaint I have about the camera is that you cannot change aperture settings during Live View when shooting in Manual mode. You can adjust White Balance, ISO and shutter speed. But if you are shooting in Manual mode (which I do most of the time for video), aperture can only be changed in Live View in Aperture-Priority mode. That does make sense for Aperture-Priority shooters. And this may not be a big problem if you are not shooting on Manual. But it is annoying to me to have to leave Live View to make aperture changes, then go back and make other settings to get my exposure correct. Again, not a huge problem, just a something I thought Manual shooters might want to know.In terms of still photography, the D7000 is a nice step up from my old D80. The light body of the D7000 makes it less of a burden to carry around. I'm smaller guy with larger hands and this camera fits me well. All the buttons and settings are well placed and easy to reach without a lot of moving of my hands. For those new to Nikon or w/o Nikon glass, if you purchase the kit version, you'll receive the 18-105mm kit lens which is a little slower than I'd like, but not a bad all around lens.Note: One challenge I've had since changing to a video-capable DSLR is that subjects sometimes don't know you're shooting video. I've actually pointed my camera at folks and they stare into the lens waiting for the shutter to go off! : This can create some interesting - if not unusable - footage as the faces on the subjects changes from a happy, nice smile to a "hurry up and take the darn picture!" look. This will change as people become more familiar with the capabilities of these cameras. For now it makes for sometimes funny, but often unusable video. I've actually started telling folks I'm shooting video when appropriate. That seems to help a little. :Overall I would say I'm in love with this camera. I've been using it for about a year now and I am absolutely thrilled with the images (both still and video) that it produces. I hope some day to get a full frame camera like the Cannon Mark 5d. Perhaps Nikon will make one w/ video in the next few years. For now, the D7000 perfectly suits what I bought it for. I couldn't ask for much more right now. If you are looking for a DSLR w/ video capabilities you can't go wrong with the D7000 or the Canon 7d. Both are great cameras and produce great results. If you already own Nikon glass, the D7000 is a no brainer decision.

It has been about 2 weeks since I bought the D7000 and I must say I'm just amazed...this camera can do so much more than I can handle as an amateur and I think until I become a pro this camera should keep me interested and satisfied.There's so much to learn about this camera and its capability. FYI:- I graduated from D40x and mind you that was an amazing camera for beginners and I had it for nearly 5-years and it did serve me well. Now that I'm finally ready to get serious with my hobby I can take it to the next level. I especially like the low light photography of D7000 where my D40x fell short several times.I must say there's bit of learning curve to the D7000 if you are moving up from say D40x (like myself). D7000 is considered entry level professional camera (I think) even though it is a DX body...I bough this camera mainly because I had my daughters 1st birthday last weekend. We had a party indoors and I did not want to get any bad pics because of the camera. I must say that I'm impressed by the pictures that I took they are significantly better than any I've taken with my D40x (I'm not bashing D40x but just saying that I'm glad I upgraded to D7000).I chose D7000 over D3100 & D5100 since I was looking for a great camera not a camera+camcorder since we have 2 smartphones that take phenomenal video with enough clarity to play on our TV/Laptop/Youtube uploads etc...Both the D3100 & D5100 compared to D7000 and marginal step above D40x (besides video). The myriad of features that D7000 has and its customization options are a definite plus..D3100:- Besides being cheaper, lighter and smaller form factor there's not much to say about D3100 over D7000 as both are not in same league so to speak...So I eliminated D3100 right from the start...D5100:- D5100 is pretty decent compared to D7000 but then again I think as a camera falls behind D7000. Few plus points for D5100 over D7000 are the in camera HDR & easy to use flip out screen + being thinner & lighter. Since I post process all of my pics at which point I can play with HDR toning using post processing tools. I can create HDR later and don't need in the camera also its hard to confirm that you got a great picture using the 3" LCD screen so in camera HDR is not exactly a huge plus.Any way these are only my first impressions so far. I will update once I use the camera for a while before I can truly see what wonder this cool camera has to offer...PS: D7000 has in built auto focus motor (A REALLY REALLY BIG PLUS) for my existing 2 amazing non motorized Nikkor lenses. The price for a non motorized lens is much reasonable compared to the motorized from what I have seen so far.---------------Edit: 07/10/2012What can I say after using it for little over a month, I've not regretted so far even for a minute. I can almost say that D7000 sometimes makes me feel like I'm a Pro after a bit of processing my pictures.There's a bit of learning curve in terms of manual controls compared to D40x. However, the inbuilt functions do give you spectacular images just so you can use a great camera whenever there's a moment that has to be captures.I still am using lenses from the ones I got when I purchased my D40x back in 2007. Also, last year I unknowingly purchased non compatible (non-motorized) lenses before (buying D7000). Now those lenses (mostly portrait lenses) are working perfectly with D7000 since it has built in motor. So suddenly my previous investments (in lenses) came to full life with little effort or not miss the shot of the perfect moment...**Amazing step up from D40x in low light situation - one of my gripes with D40x besides being non-motorized**------------Here's a link of the pictures that have pictures from both D40x & D7000------------[...]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The D7000 is for me "as low as I will go" with Nikon, due to my many historic Nikkor lenses, incl the shift-lens. I took it because I was about to "wither and die" while waiting for a successor of the D300. Despite the high praise in the official tests, and some enthusiastic user report here, I do not see it that way. I was surprised to see how much less of a camera it is compared to D300/D700. Furthermore, my exemplar has quality issues, not up to usual Nikon standard, and of course any comments on them earn the "not helpful" predicate from the fan gallery. I stand by this summary. My experiences are:a) In P mode with auto-ISO it can happen that the camera ignores the program shift! That violates the very spirit of a manual program shift. User tries to overwrite the setting chosen by the camera, because the 3 contributing factors Shutter-Aperture-ISO provide several degrees of freedom. This is the biggest disappointment here, not Nikon at all. Turn, turn, twist, left, right... nothing happens, motive is gone, goodbye. That is not Nikon!b) The camera does not raise max shutter time for longer lenses in P, as it was traditional with many Nikon bodies. Both F4/F90 were excellent with that, it is such an old technology. Here when I put in the longer 80-200 f/2.8 for example, the shutter time might be often selected way too long, e.g. 1/40, acceptable to shorter lenses only. I would like to see the "mm/2" heuristics as a ballpark. Thus for 200mm, 1/100sec or less should be chosen by the camera, for 400mm 1/200sec or less. Of course, program shift should still work!c) Bad card reader slots! Too tight, some cards would not eject! In slot B my Transcend card hangs and I have to use tweezers to pull it out. However, the Sandisk cards operate in slot B, tight, but they move out. Something is not ok about the tolerances. No any other of our numerous SD readers make any problem with the Transcend card, though! Consequently this seems to be a problem with my D7000 card slot only.d) Very slippery grip, nothing like the D300. Some test reports praise it, here is an example from dpreview: "...'proper' rubber hand grip (as opposed to just rubberized coating) give it a reassuring heft which is closer to the experience of holding and using a camera like the Canon EOS 7D, or Nikon D300S.", but I do not see it any "reassuring" at all. No compare to the safe soft grip of the D300!e) Inconsistent menu operations. For example, I tried to enter my copyright data. No matter how often I entered them, the copyright setting stayed still on OFF. Finally I have discovered what is the anomaly: One have to move the cursor upward to the "Done" field, and than and only than the setting will be preserved! In most other cases "set and exit" principle applies: The selected setting stays always active.f) The depth of field button on a wrong place. I kept hitting it over and over again. The infuriating "click-clack" "click-clack" repeated itself until I discovered than I can place other function on it, thus disable it in end-effect. I put "display grid," which I see anyways. Finally it is quiet!g) The bracketing button is close to the flash pop-up button, and so instead of setting the bracket mode, one can pop the flash inadvertently.h) In a playback mode to my surprise both wheels were... "dead," useless. Only later I have discovered that I can activate them in the menus. I wonder what prompted the decision to make them inactive in playback mode?i) Very slow in mode change. For example, when I press the playback button, sometimes it takes 3-4 sec with "busy clock" in the display till finally the image shows. Equally sluggish can be entry to the menus. (This sluggishness seem to hamper the popularity of the smaller Nikon's camera, the P7000 as well. The Canon G12 is so much fast faster.) Nikon should look into these performance issues in their firmware!j) On my camera, the small rubber Power Cord Cover can peel off and hang annoyingly in the air from the hand grip. Very disturbing, not Nikon at all. Probably also a tolerance and quality control problem.k) Strange remote control operation. In order to use the ML-L3 one have to turn the under-wheel on the left to the "remote" position, in which case, the main shutter release is... disabled! Why to do such thing? In Canon's one may use the RC-6 without such unduly limitations! Here Nikon should really rethink their ergonomics.One generic observation about bracketing: Why only 3 exposures? In D300 one might make up to 9, it costs nothing, it is about firmware choice only. So why 3 only?But the main problem with the bracketing in all Nikon cameras is more serious and is still prevalent, albeit it was previously widely commented upon in D200,D300,D700: In a Single Shot mode the camera makes only one image, even when the bracketing is selected, and it stays in bracket mode. The bracket indicator is tiny, it is possible to forget that the mode is on! I did so in the past a few times. For hours I shot 0

About a year ago I decided to upgrade my DSLR from a very serviceable D3000 (which is now being used by my daughter) and I had a few criteria I was looking at. It had to be a Nikon as I already had a couple of lenses, I wanted a large, bright viewfinder, I wanted a focus motor in the camera and I wanted good low-light capabilities as well as easier access to full manual control. My plan was to pick up a D90 body after the D5200 was introduced and the price went down, but that changed after I held a D7000. I was ruined. Watching the prices I realized that the D90 was only a hundred bucks less than the D7000 so it wasn’t worth considering and the then new D7100 didn’t show enough difference to be worth the extra bucks.After close to a year of use, and close to 6,000 photos taken, here are some of my reflections on the camera.The Viewfinder- Bright, large and full of information. I can see what settings I’m changing without taking my eye from the viewfinder.Manual Settings- Very easy to access and once you get used to them, easy to change on the fly.Low Light Capabilities- I normally set it at 160 (reminiscent of Kodak Portra) for normal shooting and have the automatic ISO set at a maximum of 6400 with a minimum shutter of 1/30th. I took a photo of my grandson at ISO 6400 and cropped the image after converting to black and white. Making it full screen on the laptop and zooming in on it to the equivalent of a 16x20. It still looked good with some noise that gave it the look of Tri-X-Pan. Indoor color shots of food (that’s my primary use of the camera, food blogging) at 1600 ISO are magnificent. Over that, you do get some noise.Two card slots- Nice feature. I set it up so I shoot JPEG on one card and RAW on the second.Depth of Field Preview- I missed this feature on cheap cameras.Focus- Many people claim this camera has a ‘back focus’ issue. I can’t say that I have it on mine; I can’t say that I do. What I can say is that I find it to be the fastest focusing camera I’ve ever had. I also find that it focuses on what I want, most of the time. No camera will ever be 100% accurate.Sharpness- Pictures are sharp and clear. I set the color to vivid for almost everything but portraits where I use some tweaked settings on portrait.Live Screen- Nice, but I like the viewfinder. It doesn’t like to autofocus as well in live mode as the camera uses a different (more archaic) focus system. I haven’t used to video mode as yet, it wasn’t important in buying the camera.Video- This wasn’t important, but I have used it a couple of times and the quality is good. I plan to do some time lapse work at the beach this summer so it will come in handy.By the way, I use prime lenses only. I have a 10.5 fisheye, 35 f1.8, 50 f1.8 and an 85 f3.5 micro. All focus well for me.Overall, I’d recommend this camera to the photographer who wants superb photos and ease of control.

If you decide to buy this camera, factor in an extra $40 multiplied by the number of times you expect to have to ship it to Nikon for repairs. I originally gave the product 4 stars for features. Now, I'm lowering the rating to 1 star for Nikon's service and support.I want to provide a review for shoppers that will assist them in determining if the features of the camera are right for their needs, based upon my hands on experience. I also want to paint an accurate picture of the quality that I have experienced.I have had problems with large glowing white'ish colored dots showing up randomly throughout my images. My sensor is failing. Wow! That's not good. Currently, Nikon has my camera. When I get time, I am going to post examples on my personal website. Hopefully Amazon will allow me to link to those images.Based upon my experience, you can expect to send this camera in every 3 months to have the sensor repaired. You will have to pay the shipping and be inconvenienced.Bottom Line:I will not buy another Nikon product. That's not because I think they are all bad. Sure, you can get a lemon with any manufacturer and even the best companies will have an occasional problem. However, how they treat the customer when problems do arise makes the difference. So, do yourself a favor and buy something another brand.Disclaimer:Prior to owning this camera, I owned a Canon 60D. Not having owned any other DSLR's, the 60D is my single point of reference. So, you might want to factor that into my review.About the features:I was looking for a camera to shoot indoor sports in very low light. A full frame camera would have been even better. But, I couldn't justify the cost. I am using this for family photos.When working, it has good high ISO performance and focus pretty well in low light. These two features were very important to me and the reason why I bought this camera. When shooting low light sports indoors, you need these features. I have had some shots outdoors in plenty of light where the focus was so far off that I was left wondering, "what the heck was the camera thinking????". You could blame me for the out of focus shot. But, in this specific case, I was using center focus aimed directly at my subject. There was really no room for human error. The camera simply goofed. However, if that's not something you plan to do, I see no other compelling reason to choose this camera over any other camera.I find the menu system of the Nikon to be fair. I like the Canon better. To switch auto-iso on and off, you have to navigate through the menu system and then click a few times.I prefer the Canon for the buttons and the way you access shooting modes. I also like the fold out screen on the Canon. Before purchasing a DSLR, I owned a point and shoot with a flip out LCD. I really liked that. I wish the D7000 had a flip out LCD, too. It makes self portraits (like you and friend) much easier.I think the image quality is quite good. If you don't mind buying Adobe Lightroom, *sometimes* you can get usable photos with ISO's up to 3200 and 6400. Honestly, I don't know if I've tried an ISO higher than 6400. The amount of noise associated with higher ISO seems to be dependent upon the available light. If you have decent light, higher ISO's don't seem to introduce as much noise as the same ISO in worse light. Don't expect all of your high ISO's to come out looking sharp. Once you get up in the range of 3200-6400, you will always want to do some noise reduction with post processing. In the 800 to 2800 range, you're probably going to want to clean them up with post processing, too. But, at those levels, depending upon the circumstances, you may not have much clean up to do. FWIW, Lightroom's noise reduction works far better than Aperture's. Apertures's is rather poor and brings my macbook pro (late 08 model) to a crawl.Shooting....the frames per second are not quite adequate for my needs. The buffer is too small. So, I don't get too many shots before you have to stop shooting and wait on the buffer to process some of the images. I have to pace myself. The Canon beats the Nikon here. I like that the D7000 has a fine tune adjustment for lenses that consistently front or back focus.

Well, I upgraded to D90 from D40 and the change is huge for me. One hell of a camera it is, I loved it. Later when D7000 came, I have been reading reviews and hearings from friends that it has lot of potential and significant upgrade over D90. After too much of thinking i decided to go for it. ordered it and made one day prime shipping coz I cant wait to hold this bad boy and shoot it to its potential. But to my disappointment, I dint feel it at all from the moment I took the first snap out of it. Soft images, Memory Card error (ordered brand new 2 memory cards with camera), washed out oily images on occassions. I wasn't feeling at all and I realised as I read in many reviews for few users, they recieved the faulty unit like mine. Amazon is awesome, they have excellent return policy. Leave all that, after too much of thinking when you finally get to hold the camera, you really wanted to have a faulty one and have to struggle through all that returning. I cant even exchange as this is in high demand and all ran out of stock in few days after I ordered this. I need to wait until stocks are loaded up again. Now I lost my interest in D7000 and made me think to wait for D400 (reading rumors but not sure). Nikon needs to do more robust QA on the products. I am not blaming the product but the company.When I get the perfect piece not the faulty one, I will re-write my review with updated points.UPDATE:Sad to give this update that still has not found defect free D7000 yet. After the original review I returned the camera and was looking for replacement but to my luck Amazon is out of stock. So got the refund and bought one from J & R. So unwrapped it and started firing away and learn many things that issues I noted above are not with faulty piece but with all the camera's.- Washed out / Oily / over Exposed Images under bright conditions. In general this new sensor/processor is over exposing constantly all the time that it washes out details under bright condition. It was not the case with D90 (one beautiful camera it is, i sold it :( ) ...I have to always look for this wash out situations and adjust exposure value 2 stops down or more- Memory Card Error. This was really annoying. Thought its defect with few pieces but its not. The new piece had the same problem. On trip, I set to shoot RAW on one card and jpeg on another. All general ppl shots suffice to be compressed jpeg, easy to share right off the trip. And RAW images are things which I do part of photography, like any landscape scenes etc., because of this error all my RAW and jpegs got mixed up in the secondary card.Later Nikon had released the latest firmware 1.3 and it had the fix for that.- On occassions still i see, soft images (be little careful and you can avoid this in many situation)there is setting in the camera for Shutter Release "Release" & "Focus". What does "Release" priority do is, regardless of your object is in focus, it release the shutter. Useful for sports photography (they cant miss the moment, during continuous shots if camera is trying to Auto Focus, also it slows down 6 fps on such occassions.So camera comes with "Release" setting by default. Change it to "Focus" priority, no matter what until the desired object is in focus it doesnt release the shutter. So no chances for soft images.THE NEW QA DEFECT:Again I am returning this piece because it has hot/stuck pixel on my LCD screen (not on sensor). Once you notice, its really tough to ignore it from that moment. Its annoying though its tiny and tinier that this . dot. I can get used to live with it, caveat is it may develop more in the future and cant be acceptable for the price of the camera. i have tried all the ways to fix the hot pixel and not going away. I feel have NO LUCK with D7000.What I still love about the camera and want to hold it:- Colors ! Colors ! Colors! are simply real- Fast AF system.- Better User Settings.- Pictures just come alive and feels so great with lenses like 24-70 f2.8- Weightless and Ergonomically awesome.- Portraits are way to go !! after post processing ppl think I am a PRO and GOOD TO START my portrait business (but in real I am not that pro like)I wish I understand this camera more to work around the few defects .. or just work great like predecessors. May be I am thinking buy used D90 for now until they release D400.

Do you want a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera? If so, next question.Do you want a DSLR with a large selection of very good lenses? If so, it's either Nikon or Canon. Leica's another category. Next question.Can you take excellent photos with either Nikon or Canon? Yes. Next question.Are you currently invested in a selection of DSLR lenses, either Nikon or Canon? If so, stick with that brand. Next question.Do you need one or more specific features that only one brand has? Hard to believe, but, if so, buy that brand. Next question.So, how do you choose your camera? Don't limit yourself to reading about the cameras you're considering. Try them, or at least go to a camera store and play with them. Touch and feel are big factors. Really! My personal experience is that I went to a camera store to buy a Canon T4i. I decided on it, because it's less expensive, easier to use, and has a highly-reviewed LCD screen (i.e., I read about features that appeal to me). Before I bought the Canon, I held it, looked through the viewfinder, pressed the buttons, and turned the dials. Before I bought it, merely out of curiosity, I did the same with the Nikon D7000. Bang. I bought the Nikon. The touch and feel varied drastically, for my taste. Most importantly, the Nikon viewfinder is head and shoulders more usable and comfortable, and that's what I'm always looking through. Also important, the buttons and dials work and feel better. And, by comparison, the Canon does feel flimsy.I haven't used my Nikon much yet. Also, since I'm a novice, you may question the value of my opinion. However, here's my experience with my Nikon. It is larger and heavier, but not so much larger and heavier that the difference is a problem. My Nikon feels study, and it's buttons and dials feel sturdy. When I take a shot, the internals sound solid, with no shake. It's an intangible that's difficult to explain, but is best described by two experts you can find on the internet. One expert is Lori Grunin on CNET's website, where the Nikon D7000 is reviewed. Her amorphous enthusiasm at first appears overly subjective, but turns out to be exactly true for me too. The other expert is Ken Rockwell, who has his own website. Everything he says resonates with me, and perhaps will resonate with you too. For anything less serious than a full-frame professional camera costing much more money, the Nikon D7000 is his clear choice. Why, again it's difficult to explain, except to say -- Try it, you'll like it.One more thing -- about lenses. They are a personal choice. One of the lenses I bought is the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G. It is a full-frame lens. The 50mm focal length is affected because the camera is a DX body (not full-frame). However, the lens works perfectly with the camera body. And the lens is excellent. I took a shot of a sculpture in an outdoor sculpture garden, and the photo has the look and feel of art. I took many shots of my grandchildren (using continuous shooting mode), and I can't fail to get a good shot, even indoors without a flash. If you buy this camera body, I strongly recommend you consider buying this lens.

After shooting with the Nikon D7000 for a little over two months now (mine arrived in mid February), I'm at a point where I feel comfortable putting together a brief review for those still considering making a D700 purchase. I won't try to duplicate the level of detail that you can read in some of the excellent reviews that have already been posted (here, and on many other sites), but will try to summarize some of my experiences with the camera, as well as provide some of the most important information regarding the camera. I've been primarily shooting with the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens, but have also used the Nikon f/1.8 50mm prime, as well. So, my review here will be focused on those lenses, but it is useful to have this background as you read my comments.Getting straight to the nitty-gritty, and leaving extended explanations and comments until afterwards, and based on my actual use of this camera:Pros+ Ability to shoot at extremely high ISO levels with little noise (comparatively speaking) makes this a low-light shooter's dream+ Sophisticated 39-point focus system+ Good overall image quality in a wide range of shooting situations+ Good video quality that makes up for many of the deficiencies of previous Nikon models+ Huge feature set, with large number of customizable settings surpassed only by very expensive, professional cameras+ Excellent construction quality, with few, if any, squeaks and/or loose assembly parts+ Large set of "mechanical" controls, including switches, knobs, and assignable buttons which allow you to shoot without being required to dig through menus+ Optical viewfinder amongst the best you will see in the camera's price range+ LCD display at top of camera displaying current settings+ Built-in autofocusing mechanism allows for the widest range of compatibility with past and current Nikon lenses+ Extremely good battery life - I'm getting 400-500 shots on a single battery (no flash)+ Quick turn-on time; it's ready almost as soon as you flip the switch+ Excellent rear display that provides good resolution imaging and also provides an excellent setting display (each when activated)+ Dual-card SDXC memory slots which can be set for either simultaneous (i.e., duplicate) or consecutive (i.e., switches to card 2 when card 1 is full) writing+ Reasonable pricing, when you consider what you getCons- A bit heavy; this thing can wear you out after a few hours- Although many report a comfortable grip, the size of the camera could have been smaller (this is personal taste, however)- No articulated display screen (the lack of which really limits video taking, but for those of us who have for years used an articulated display for photography, it's a real shortcoming, and one that is not easy to work around - again, as it pertains to PHOTOGRAPHY, this is a very personal taste issue; for VIDEO, which this camera shoots quite well, it's a real shortcoming)- LiveView is still too slow to be really feasible (and can in no way match Sony's SLT cameras and some of their traditional SLRs, some of which focus instantaneously in LiveView; if you are looking for LiveView, I suggest you look elsewhere)- Power on/off flip switch feels somewhat mushy, with no clear click position for On" (and its wild just how much this can bother me over time)- Battery charger design is too large, and does not have foldable prongs for the wall outlet (who at Nikon can overlook such simple, but important things as this?)- No built-in GPS (can't believe its not included at this price; it's an optional component)- Pricing is unlikely to come down in the near futureThere is no reason to try and deny it: the Nikon D7000 is, in many respects, an amazing camera. As I mentioned above, one of the areas in which I have been most impressed is the camera's ability to have it set way up to 2,400 ISO and even higher and then just be used to knock off good quality photos in very low light settings at noise levels that were typically associated with cameras shooting at 400 ISO. In a pinch, you can move the ISO way up to 6,400, and although at this point noise is a real factor, you can still get some shots that would have been impossible before. But even at modestly high ISO levels in the 2000's and 3000's level, you can take shots with little noise, and this is, where in my mind, the camera really stands out from many others (the camera uses the same Sony sensor used in Sony's SLT a55 camera, which may largely account for this capability).The camera feels tightly built and well constructed. Whether or not it is 100% magnesium construction underneath (you can read this debate in many online postings), the camera feels much more like a professional camera that a lower cost entry level model. The grip and design of the camera make holding the unit comfortable, although it is a bit on the large side (some people like the large size to help them hold the camera better). In addition, the camera is physically heavier than I would prefer, and I find myself d

If you look carefully through the DSLR offer from all major brands, there are very few things that might make you buy a different one than the D7000. You might say it's a subjective point of view, but since I've been shooting film too (with the great F5) and has my share of digital compact experience (Lumix LX3K), I've been wanting to upgrade to a different, (presumably) better DSLR only a few months after I bought this one, thinking that it was obsolete. It has now been over a year, within which new, amazing DSLRs have been launched. The fact that this one sells for under $900, makes it a no brainer for anyone who's been doing (or wants) a bit more than just snap shooting with a do-it-all-good-for-nothing compact camera. Of course, if a few hundred buck is no problem, get the D7100, or if DX is not good enough for you, by all means get the Canon 6D, the best, cheapest full frame to date. But if you want the SAME picture quality (as seen on any computer screen), flexibility and ease of use as a professional FX body, for a lot less money, THIS is still the best choice. With the money you pay for a 6D with kit lens you can get a new D7000 + a new Tokina 12-28, f/4 (best DX wide in my opinion) + a new Nikon 35mm, f/1.8 DX (most versatile DX prime) and a spanking brand new Nikon 80-200D-ED, f/2.8, a great FX zoom lens that gives you the best portrait focal length (120mm) and goes all the war to 300mm at a constant, professional aperture of f/2.8.But that's just me :)

Love this camera. If you are an enthusiast, this camera is a worthy upgrade from a D3100 or D5100; lots of buttons and dials for quick changes, two custom modes, tight and quiet shutter, viewfinder grid and virtual horizon, built-in flash commander mode, dual card slots, bright 100% viewfinder, and more. Love it. Love Nikon ergonomics.Only one problem that almost made me return it: skin tones were terrible, especially compared to the king of skin tones, my trusty Fuji S5 Pro. With the same lens (the Nikon 17-55), I took some raw and jpeg pictures (raw ones processed in Lightroom 4 and Dxo 7.5) and compared them to the raw and jpeg ones from the Fuji. The D7000 jpeg were shot in the Portrait and Standard picture modes. The Standard mode was downright wrong: too contrasty and saturated (I used it for a couple of shots, just to test it since it's the default one). The Portrait mode was also bad: skin tones were a horrid combination of green, orange, and yellow. No pink. This is where I almost returned the camera.Yet, I couldn't do it. I loved everything else about it. Did some online research and found out others were complaining about the same issue. One photographer recommended customizing the Neutral picture mode by shifting Hue to -1. That was good advice.After much testing with wife and children as test subjects, I came up with a custom picture mode that gives me skin tones that I like (don't tell anyone, but I might like them even better than the Fuji ones, well, almost. My non-photographer wife still likes the Fuji colors better).First, I use an ExpoImaging ExpoDisc 77mm Digital White Balance Filter - Neutral to get the perfect white balance for my jpegs (I also tried the Expodisc Portrait, but it's too warm for my taste). I know I could shoot raw and not have to worry about white balance for every shot, and I do shoot raw for income shots, but for family and friends shots, I shoot jpeg, and the Expodisc helps me nail the white balance every time (and it's really quick to set up on Nikon DSLRs). The Expodisc is expensive, but I'm a price maven and like to get my stuff used at a discount :-). You may also play with a cheaper alternative (ColorRight) or use auto white balance; the D7000 gets the white balance right most of the time, especially outdoor.Okay, so here it is.Custom Neutral picture mode (saved as Neutral1 because I have lots of imagination)::: +5 sharpening (D7000 is soft by default). This can be changed to +4 or +6 depending on taste;:: +1 saturation (D7000 skin tones are on the pale side by default);:: -1 hue:: -1 contrast:: ADL auto (some recommend switching ADL off, but I didn't notice any color shift in skin tones with ADL off):: EV (exposure compensation) either on 0 (indoor) or 0 to -3 (outdoor). D7000 tends to overexpose outdoor sometimes.Voilà. Now I get the skin tones I like. Try it out. See if it works for you.

Just like Ken Rockwell I started my camera use with the same Minolta Srt 35mm camera. But that is where the similarities end... )However, I have been around 35mm slr and point and shoot cameras all of my teen and adult life and have owned quite a few. I also have someone in the family that is well known pro photographer, so I have had lots of opportunities to see and play some with the latest greatest full frame gear available.When I went fully digital around 2002 I sold off my Nikon 35mm gear and had various point and shoots. DSLR fever struck me again when I bought a Sony A330. I still like it, but I have totally outgrown the menu based controls, but I don't shoot enough to justify the latest greatest in gear.So when I recently found an exceptional price on a Nikon refurbished D7000, I took the plunge.It is an astounding camera, for anyone that wants to shoot M A or S modes.(If you mainly shoot auto mode, save some money and get a 31/200. The pictures will be the same and you can control most of the settings in the menus and it doesn't make you a lesser person. Just someone with more money to spend on something else.)However if you want manual control, D7000 lets you change your settings at a button, in many ways like some of the pro gear I had a chance to play with.The features leave very little to be desired. This is considered a semi pro camera and that is exactly what it is. Unless you are pro, you will not need anything else.In conclusionPros: too many to mention. battery life is great too. However I like having two batteries, and found a good 3rd party battery for $13Cons: small buffer if you shoot very fast raw. I shoot raw, but rarely more than 1 or 2, not a con for me.If you know how to use a camera in manual mode or want to learn, buy it or a D7100.

My first camera was a Minolta SRT 101 when I was in the US Air Force serving in Thailand in 1968. I was not really in photography when I purchased it. The first time I've ever seen a "complete" selections of cameras was at the bx store. They were Minoltas, Olympus, Nikkormats, Canons, Kodaks and Nikons. It was so intoxicating because I love prescisions in things especially wrist watches. Now, cameras? They were about half the price when I was overseas, how can I go wrong? The only name I was familiar with were Minolta and Kodak. I chosed the Minolta SRT 101 to buy, after saving a few bucks, over the others and it was a little cheaper than the others. After I got the camera I bought a small book by Kodak titled: Introduction to Photography. It covered apertures, shutter speeds, developing negatives and enlargements plus other stuffs that I skipped at first. At the base we had a photography hobby shop. I sort of checked it out and got started in developing black and white negatives and prints. The "GIs" that were with me doing thesame things were using more Nikkormats, Nikon Fs, Canons and Olympus' and very few had Minoltas. It made me wonder if I made the wrong choice. That's when I learned that Nikon F is the best one to have and professionals use mostly Nikons. Nikons have the best metering system and lenses. Nikon invented and developed most of the metering innovations, so they said. They were always sold out and in short supply. I wanted to buy one and have saved the money for it. Seemed like everyone that wanted to buy one were "camping out" the store parking lot ala BestBuys on black fridays. I didn't get a chance to get one during the rest of my stay. The name Nikon got stucked in my mind ever since until I got out of the air force in 1968. Those guys (GIs) were correct in their praise of Nikon. I was collecting photography magazines almost each time I go to magazine stands and at the super market magazine sections. I learned more about cameras from magazine reviews and users'reviews and advertisements. Going back to my first SLR camera,I never was really happy with my Minolta ever since I got it. It overexposes most of the times. I wanted to try a Nikon, I know it is a much better camera. I could hardly afford one then because I just gotten married and my wife was expecting too. I bought a Canon slr instead. To make the story short, When I began to earn more money, after a 2-3 years, was when I decided to by a Nikon (F3). I kept it for more than ten years and didn't even dream of replacing it. As a matter of fact, I have invested on several lenses for it. When the digital age came about was when I kept abreast on photography again. I decided to go digital slr just 2 or three years ago. I chosed the Canon Rebel because it was so popular and out selling Nikon. Boy, was I impressed. Nomore negatives, etc. Instant previews, pictures, nomore going to photolabs and having to wait for things. I kept the Canon for a year and a half. In fact I even purchased a Canon G7 a few months after the Rebel. I have several cons on Canon. My Rebel's metering system sucks when on automatic modes and flash shooting. In manual mode it is excellent because I am in control, if I take my time. The Rebel, if I can recall, only has 8 megapixels. When megapixels (all manufacturers) went much higher and have reached 12s and 16's was when I decided to upgrade. I chosed the Nikon D7000 over its competetitors and I love it like I loved my F3. It remined me of my F3's performance so much and of course the D7000 is alot smarter camera. It has the lowest noise even at the highest ISO setting. Of course the resolution is great because of its high megapixels. I really have nothing negative to say about this camera except for the video mode (I only gave it a try just a few times) and its weight. It seems to get heavier the longer I carry it on my shoulder. It is a few ounces heavier than the Canon because it is mostly made up of magnesium. It is a minor price to pay, though, for a topnotch camera and there are other cameras that are even heavier. Full frames? I just thought I'd mention this very minor issue that most users could live with it for lack of any major thing to complain about.

I've only been using the D7000 for a few days but first impressions are sometimes useful to others and often forgotten as the newness wears off. So I'll share a few early impressions while they are still fresh in my mind. First off as others have pointed out this camera has a real Quality feel to it. Nothing at all like the Canon T2i and other enthusiast level cameras. It feels rock solid and very well put together. Weight wise it's not a lightweight by any means but it's nowhere near as large and heavy as the pro cameras. Still with the Nikon 70-300 VR attached I was glad to have ordered a fancy padded neck strap with it as I spend long days aboard my boat as a marine photographer shooting photos of watercraft, as well as long days in the mountains hiking rugged trails and shooting landscapes. In terms of being user friendly almost all of the controls are logically organized and conveniently placed. Compared to the Olympus E-300 that's been my workhorse unit for the past few years the D7000 is a virtual paragon of good design. This is a good thing because this is one very feature rich camera with so many bells and whistles that Nikon could easily (and profitably) offer doctoral programs in its use.My short lived love affair with Japanese factory manuals died a sudden death in 1984 when the manual that came with my Toyota pickup truck advised me to "Not use windshield wipers on dry grass!" And no, the last word is not a typo, that is precisely what the manual said. So even before ordering my new D7000 from B&H I ordered a 3rd party D7000 manual from Alibras. When it arrived I was all but overwhelmed by the complexity of this camera. Menus have submenus, and submenus have endless choices. The mere thought of someone new to digital photography buying this camera makes me glad I don't sell cameras for a living! Sure, as with any complex tool you can "Grow into it" but believe you me there are going to be some growing pains for those just becoming involved in digital photography! I should, in fairness, add that the factory manual accompanying the D7000 is not bad at all. In fact I would say it's one of the best Japanese manuals I've ever read.Happily by the time I had read a few hundred pages things began to look doable if I'd just hang in there and get the basics down. In fairness to the D7000 I should point out here that I've allowed myself to fall way behind when it comes to camera technology. Someone moving to the D7000 from a D90 or one of the many other later vintage enthusiast cameras put out by others won't face anywhere near as steep a learning curve.Speaking of which, even when things go bad there is often a bright side to it. To whit, the first time I took the D7000 out to make some images I managed to set the auto ISO feature incorrectly and thus wound up with 25 shots taken at an ISO of 3200! The bright side of this was that I'd been duplicating all the images shot with the D7000 with my trusty Olympus E-300 set at an ISO of 100. Now the E-300 is no slouch when it comes to image quality but low noise is not one of its strong points. Still, when I discovered I'd shot all the D7000 images at an ISO of 3200 I felt confident that the ISO 100 shots I'd made with my E-300 would be far superior. Imagine my shock when I discovered that was simply not the case. Quite the contrary, the D7000 images were superior! Wondering if this was a fluke I shot some photos of my cat in available light the next day at an ISO of 2500 and then compared them with the best images I've taken with the E-300 over the past several years at an ISO of 100. If you can believe this the D7000 shots were heads and shoulders better. In fact, the best shot of the bunch was shot with the Nikon 70-300 VR lens at a setting equal to 380 mm, at a shutter speed of 1/30" and an F stop of 5.6 and it was simply stunning! Every whisker sharp as a tack!So, it's fair to say that based on my initial experience with the D7000 I am quite pleased. I will get back with further comments after I've shot a few thousand more frames.12/17/2011Well I'm back. Having shot 15,000+ frames with my D7000 I can only say that I grow ever more impressed with this camera. Image quality is simply superb! I commonly get images of a quality I simply would never have believed possible back when in the 1970s when I was a full time photojournalist shooting with top of the line Nikons and film. High ISO performance is also spectacular and I constantly have to fight my fear that bumping up the ISO will cause radical dropoff in image quality as was the case with my previous Olympus E-300 camera. While it's always wise to shoot at the lowest ISO practical I've found that anything up to 1000 is just fine for most of my work. Image stabilization with my AFS NIkkor 70-300mm G is also superb! In truth my use of a tripod has dropped more than 75% since the purchase of this camera and lens. I am constantly astounded by how low I can go shutter speed wise while handholding this out

I migrated 2 months ago from D40. I read the reviews and was ready to spring until I read concerns about auto focus being blurry on shots. I ultimately purchased from ABT, which has a generous return policy. In my opinion, there is no focus issue. The camera is very good and I am very happy with it. I would note, I shoot with my kit 18-55 mm D40 lens and I am very happy with the shots.Given that this is a very expensive purchase, I had exhaustively looked at the reviews and the comment boards. The only surprise upon purchase is Nikon has added a clumsy USB interface that requires downloading all photos through its Nikon Transfer 2 program. I have an iMAC.SD camera cards should show up as external devices when hooked up. With my D40, all I do is connect the camera and download JPG/RAW files to my hard drive. However, the D7000 does not show up as an external device when hooked up. This is a real annoyance. Fortunately, I found a simple workaround.One Nikon support person claimed the issue was that I was using an "unapproved" SD card (I am using Transcend SD HC card). However, the problem of card nonrecognition persisted even when I switched to a different SD card from my D40, one that had always been recognized by my computer. Another Nikon support person claimed that the only way to transfer files was through their Nikon Transfer 2 program. My reading of the manual suggests that Nikon does not intend for the D7000 to directly show up as an external device. The manual only refers to the Nikon Transfer 2 program.In any event, with my Mac computer, only way to "see" D7000 files is with Nikon's enclosed Nikon Transfer 2 program. I already use Adobe Bridge and Aperture 3 and have no interest in an extra forced layer of preprocessing. Nikon support claims that its intermediary program is necessary because Nikon RAW files are different than other RAW files. Perhaps. But Photoshop has a plug-in that converts these files just fine, thank you. And as for JPEG these files, these should be unconditionally visible and easily migrated from SD card to hard drive, as there is no special conversion or handling required.But as I said, there is a simple workaround: Apple's Image Capture program. A different workaround was proposed by Ken Rockwell, who suggested purchasing a SD card reader. And I did, but a cheap reader from Radio Shack did not work, so I returned it. I was about to go purchase a different SD card reader, when I stumbled upon a far simpler solution. As I noted, iMAC does not recognize a plugged in D7000. Nor does Aperture 3 or Adobe Bridge recognized the D700. Curiously, however, iPhoto and Apple's Image Capture programs DO recognize the D7000. Go figure.Downloading with Image Capture is very, very easy and as simple as plug and download for the D40. It is faster and avoids all the hassle related to Nikon's Image Transfer Program 2. I use it all the time and now the issue of file transfer is transparent to me. It is a nonissue.I would give this camera get top marks save for this hassle factor for downloading photos. I should not have to use a workaround in the first place. Overall 4/5 because of this single issue.My only other kvetch is that auto ISO trends higher earlier than necessary. ISO 6400 is a little grainy for my taste, but certainly better than no shot at all. Grain starts at above 800. The auto ISO function is very nice, but it will go to 6400 in many situations when a far low ISO could be obtained. There are two solutions. First, I set the max ISO to 1600, which again the camera will move towards more often than not but better than 6400. I also adjusted the maximum shutter speed setting. But more than that, by and large I shoot manual to have greater ISO control, so this is not a problem.Finally, I gave this product 3/5 on price scale, but that is simply because of sticker shock coming from the D40, which I bought for $600 only 3 years ago. My D40 is now worth only $200, even though it is a great camera. My price point happens to be set lower than the market price. Would I pay more than $1200? No. Would I pay less? Sure, if only someone would sell it to me for less than this price. When I looked, the list price was $1200 and most places were asking up to $1600 because of a short-term shortage. In a year, the price will certainly be lower.So should you pay $1200? As I said, despite being cheap, I purchased the camera and am very happy. However, mine was a discretionary purchase. My D40 is great, but I was ready to upgrade. Coming from the world of the older D40. For me, the step-up is notable. If money is tight, then hold on a year. Alternatively, look at the D90 and other related kin which reportedly are comparable cameras. However everything is relative. For instance, if you are really penny pinching and looking for a decent DSL--go get the D40. It is a simply wonderful camera and it will serve you well. The D7000 is only if you have cash to burn.Apart from these minor complaints I am very hap

Please read my review on the Sony HX-20V where I talk about the best point and shoot camera and also talk about saving money for the Nikon D7000 to get a little background.Well, finally bought the D7000 with the 18-105mm lens on Thanksgiving day. It was such a fantastic deal that I had to take the plunge. For a special at $997 including a 16GB Transcend SDHC class 10 and an Amazon Basic camera backpack... it was just too good a deal to pass-on.I've been using it for about a month now and can report that it is an excellant DSLR. I can even use all my old AI Nikkor lens (only in manual mode since they are all manual lenses) but now I have 28mm, 50mm, 105mm, 43-86mm, 80-200mm, 200mm and a few more.With the VR and Autofocus on the 18-105mm zoom, doubt if I will be using the old lenses. But the 50mm is a F1.4 lens..... for non-flash pictures.I've been using my Canon EOS Rebel DSLR for about 5 years and the lens gave out (internal ribbon cable in the lens failed) so I've been itching to replace it. Almost bought a Canon 60D last year but I hesitated, which was good because I ended up with usually a more expensive Nikon D7000 as compared to normally ~ $200 cheaper Canon.I've setup the D7000 with a 32 GB SD card in slot 1 and a 16GB SD card in slot 2 and setup the camera to take NEF(RAW) into Slot 1 and JPEG Fine in Slot 2 simultaneouly. This is great way to take a picture since if you just want to send or move pictures around, the JPEG is lot smaller file and don't need any processing since all the processing is already done when you take the picture in the camera. For the NEF (Raw) files, they are just very big data file that must be processed in your computer. (The Nikon software included includes the conversion software for NEF (Raw) into JPEG or other formats. The NEF (Raw) allows you to maximize your manipulation of the picture itself in photoshop and other image processing software.So straying away from Nikon and coming back to the fold.....just feels better using a Nikon body. Even though it is a DSLR, compared to my old SLR's, just feels like old times.Just a quick initial commentsBut one scary note: when the package arrived it was left at the front door without signature....was suppose to require a signature and when I opened the box it was loose in the amazon box with no air in the air filled packing bags. Must have punctured during transit. So the Nikon box was just loose in the box. So far no damage to the camera. Although on the third day, when I turned on the camera----nothing. Had to cycle the power several times before it turned on. Fortunately just this one incident. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Back in the film days, you could sit on the drive for a few (meaning: press, and hold the shutter button on a motor drive equipped 35mm camera for a few seconds,) and expose 10-12 frames (meaning: capture 10-12 full res images,) in a couple of seconds without issue. Most DSLRs are limited to their individual processor speeds, and buffer sizes, and therefore, after five or six exposures, the camera "locks-up" temporarily, mis the tail end of a lot of action shots.But since most applications do not require full size (in this case 16-22 meg) files, the frame rate and buffer size of the D7000 is more than adequate to get 8-10 frames of medium size (9 meg) photos in one burst. This is the first DSLR that I've ever owned that has every thing I would expect from a serious camera. the two user programable settings allow the photographer to save setting that they go to frequently. Most of my photography is done in daylight, or with strobes, but about a third is done under tungsten lighting. The program modes allow me to keep one dedicated to the custom balance I use for tungsten lighting situations.The two SD slots mean you almost never run out of room on your cards.The D7000 has the solid feel of a film camera. Something, I have missed in other DSLR units. Color rendering in the shadow areas of the photos is frighteningly good at times. There is a richness in low light, and with tungsten lighting that is REALLY great.I use this as a main, but I would not hesitate to use it as a back up to a pro model. Unlike lower priced DSLRs, former 35mm photographers won't find themselves asking "Where's the...?" and "Why isn't there a...?" like they do with lesser digital SLR cameras. I've owned this camera for about two and one half years. Just a delight to own and use.

Hundreds of general reviews of the D7000 have already been written, so instead of trying to reinvent that wheel I will address specific issues that people who are thinking of upgrading may find helpful. If you currently own a D80 the upgrade is a no-brainer. Just do it, you won't regret it. If you're using a D90, as I was before, you may be considering the upgrade to a D7000 a bit more skeptically.I am a serious amateur/hobbyist with more than 50 years of experience in photography, and have progressed from a D50 to a D80 to a D90 (each owned for two years), to the D7000 purchased two months ago.Initially I wondered if the upgrade from a D90 would really be worth it. Well, it definitely is. The D7000 isn't an upgrade to the D90 in the traditional sense that we tend to think of upgrades, it's a whole NEW CAMERA. The improvements I'm most impressed with that matter most to me personally for my kind of photography?1. New sensor with greater dynamic range and superior high-ISO performance. The first DX body to come close to approximating FX cameras in these areas.2. New 39-point AF module that puts the D80 and D90's 11-point AF to shame in AF-C and makes easy work of any kind of action photography. Not only faster and more precise autofocusing, but also a significantly improved method for quickly choosing different AF modes.3. Improved layout of buttons and controls on the body, but with a nearly identical menu structure to the D90 that makes it easy to learn and implement everything, including the D7000's new features. The learning curve should be minimal coming from a D80 or D90. And there are enough similarities to the D300 to make it an easy transition.4. Metering, especially matrix metering, is more accurate in a wider variety of lighting conditions -- definitely improved over the D90 and a major improvement over the D80. A camera's meter readings are always suggestions, not commandments, and EV compensation is often necessary. But the D7000's matrix metering gets the exposure very close to right the vast majority of the time.5. The D7000's light touch (hair trigger) shutter release takes a little getting used to, but it definitely minimizes the chance of camera motion blur when taking a picture. I understand that D300 and D700 users won't notice much difference in the touch, but it's a major improvement if you're coming from any of Nikon's consumer DSLRs.6. The 6 fps continuous mode is plenty fast enough to capture very fast action like birds in flight. And the new dial configuration makes it easier than ever to change shooting modes quickly.7. Programmable U1 and U2 modes eliminate time-consuming menu diving and button pushing when you want to switch instantaneously between settings for different situations (landscape or scenic shots vs. action photography, for example).8. The introduction of several "pro body features" in a consumer camera like AF fine tuning, which is not something you need all the time or want to use indiscriminately, but it's wonderful to have when you need it.9. Better construction gives the D7000 a "pro feel" not present in other consumer grade Nikon bodies. A subjective opinion, I know, but just picking up a D7000 tells you that you're handling a very solid, serious piece of equipment.10. Yes, we all bemoaned the introduction of a new D7000 battery. But this new EN-EL15 is a powerhouse that will give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money. A very positive new enhancement.11. Last but not least (lest we forget the real purpose of a camera), I am taking better pictures (technically, at least) with my D7000 than I did with my D90 -- and doing so much more easily and efficiently. Compared to the 2-3 months it took me to adapt to the D80 and D90 when I upgraded to those bodies before I began getting really satisfactory results, there hasn't been any such prolonged learning curve with my D7000.I have not commented on the D7000's video capabilities because I don't shoot video with it. I have noted that autofocusing with any lens in Live View is rather slow, even in good light, and many lenses may have difficulty achieving an accurate focus lock in low light. And a few lenses may fail to autofocus in Live View at all. This is not really important to me because I very rarely use this feature, but it is something to be aware of.A word about lenses: Achieving the best results with the higher resolution of the 16MP D7000 does require good lenses. The 18-105 VR kit lens is adequate and will yield perfectly satisfactory results. However, obtaining the superior image quality that the camera is capable of calls for better quality glass. For an excellent general purpose "walkaround" lens that is also a Best Buy at $449, I personally recommend the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Nikon Mount Digital SLR Cameras. I prefer this Sigma to the somewhat overpriced Nikon 16-85 VR. To cover the telephoto range, I would suggest adding the excellent Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikko

I'm a semi pro photographer in a third world country with low budget, but some kind of a talent :)for almost 6 years i had my old good pal the nikon d40, i mastered it and from some time ago i found so many flaws in it .. it even started jeopardizing my work by not working properly, not shutting quick and all.. so i decided to get another camera, i was so eager to get a d700, d300 or d600.. but budget was not enough so i decided the d7000 was the next best thing, and i wasn't wrong at all!!! i invested my money on this incredible camera and the tank the nikkor 17-55mm f2.8... awesome couple! blew my eyes when saw the result of the first wedding i shot with this jewel! i know it is not the fantastic and perfect d3 or d4 (i hope when i become a master photographer in the upcoming years i'll be able to buy one) but for the money and features it is totally worth it! the quality is awesome, the controls are easy to handle, has many advanced features that will help you to improve as a photographer. Works great in low light conditions, focus fast and along with my tank lens it is just as fast as sound.. click click click! no more "wait a second..." issue i had with my ol d40...it might have some issues as any equipment, i read a lot before deciding to buy this one, but as for me i got a diamond (not a lemon thanks god) :) pretty happy with my purchaseif you are in my case (moving to the next semi pro level) this is the right camera to buy, invest more on a great lens. If you are already a super pro, then go for the d4, i think you would see the flaws in the d7000 as i see on the d40 now..as for me, i'm completely satisfied :)

No need to go into a long technical preview here, some other posters have done an excellent job at pointing out this little camera's finer points. One even had a "cool list" - which I found quite useful.One of my other choices (and sent back) was the D3200 among others. The D3200 to me was plasticy and almost toyish, and had [some] useful features. They call the D3200 an entry level camera and they mean it. We sat around comparing hundreds of photos between the D3200 and the D7000 the other day, and the D7000's results were night/day. I mean, REALLY jump-out-at-you noticeable. The D7000, even though about 6 megapixels smaller (24 vs 17?) ALWAYS produces better photos - especially when blown up. We've done a number of 3' x 5's done using raw, and the final product is awesome hanging on the wall. We asked the print shop about the 24mp D3200 files, and after they compared a few they overwhelmingly said go with the D7000's files. His comment was something like "yes, some of the cheaper cameras have a higher pixel count, but we noticed a lot of the pixels were duplicated and lacked color definition - they do that to use cheap sensor technology with the bragging rights of 24mp"And finally, the D7000 is just loaded with working features that make it a very useful tool. Sometimes you find a camera that meets all of your needs without breaking the bank. It's design is particularly natural - everything is where you think it should be. It does what you think it should do. The only negative I have with any of these high-end cameras is there's no native wifi built in. The add-on wifi thing for the D3200 doesn't count as it's much too hokey to be useful. It's not really wifi - if you don't believe me go get one and see. IMHO Nikon and Canon have really dropped the ball on 802.11, but they're probably thinking #1) they don't want to be in the networking biz and #2) It'll kill the battery life. But get a grip guys - wifi is here to stay, and it's only a matter of time before you realize it and build it into the cameras. Go ahead, be brave and beat the other guys to the market! (the mem card/wifi combo can be useful, but they have their own issues as they are not native to the camera)But the D7000 is a most capable camera. The full-auto on this camera is so incredibly intelligent - it's hard to make a bad photo with it. And when you want it to bend over backwards, you can modify it with manual controls in 10mil ways. Pay the extra few $hundred and be done with it - you'll be glad you did!

Five Stars to Amazon, 4 Stars to Nikon. Read on...After being a Canon user ( 450D XSI with 24-105L & 70-300IS 4.5-5.6, Speedlite EX 580EX), I finally decided to give Nikon a try and what better model than the much acclaimed D7000 to make the leap!Amazon promptly delivered my wishlist and the first 3 days I spent hours of controlled shots - Still life, Tripod mounted, manual and programmed exposures - comparing the image quality between my entry level, 4 year old Canon XSI and the D7000. While exposure accuracy and high ISO noise levels (significantly) were better on the D7000, I was aghast to notice that the D7000 could never match the image sharpness of my faithful 4 year old Canon, which cost less than half of the Nikon. Did I make a wrong choice? Google to the rescue - I quickly realized I am not alone in being unhappy with the soft images from D7000. Few more days of research, and a comparison with my friend's D90 reiterated my worst fears - MY D7000 PROVIDES SOFT IMAGES. No matter if I cranked up the default In-camera sharpness to 7 or 8 from 3 - these were simply not sharp. Swapping the 18-105 kit lens from my D7000 with my friend's D90 was quite a revelation - The problem was with the lens severely back focussing and not with the D7000 body - Whew!. The back focus was beyond what could be adjusted with D7000's AF micro adjust. By -20 ( the limit), sharpness improved, but still not matching to my old Canon.Then I called Amazon - requested for a replacement lens. The customer support person after a lengthy consultation with his supervisor, informed since the lens is part of the camera kit, they will have to replace both my camera and lens, and a replacement was being sent to me immediately - 5 STARS TO AMAZON FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT. As for Nikon, that Kit lens should not have passed their QC, which led me to doubt the fine camera's quality - So, only FOUR STARS FOR NIKON.Unfortunately, I had to go out of town for couple of weeks, while my replacement D7000 arrived and awaiting the verdict. OK, I got back and started the comparison between the old and the replacement D7000s and to my big releif, found the replacement body and the kit provided the sharpness I expected form a camera of this repute.With the old Nikon back in mail enroute to Amazon returns, and couple of hundred shots on my new Nikon (Controlled comparison tests, family outing and a kids' birthday party) later, I am ready for rating my priced posession. My benchmark is obviously the Canon XSI I was used to, albeit with professional ( L series) lens, and I am listing the subjective elements than the superior specifications.D7000: ProsOverall image quality (provided you are fortunate to get a 18-105 lens without back / front focus issues).Very low noise levels and good image quality up to ISO 1600, even ISO 3600 provides very usable pictures.Noticeably better dynamic range.Very good JPEG engine - Though I shoot primarily RAW, many JPEGS are useable as-is.More stable body, allowing hand holding at slower speeds. Extra weight does not hurt.Soft and refined shutter release compared to the Canon's metallic click.Higher res LCD & bigger view finder.More accurate Auto White Balance - Very few need post processing.Faster continuous shooting ( Not relevant to me, as I shoot landscapes, not sports)39 AF Points - especially when you want to compose with subjects off center.Movie mode with continuous AF - Continuous AF is not as reliable as in a consumer handycam, neverthelss it is there.2 SD card slots - allowing me to record RAW in one and JPEGS n the other.Cons:Only one so far - tendency to over expose under difficult conditions.18-105 Lens:Pros: Excellent range, light, good sharpness for lens of this price range, fairly fast focussing, relatively smooth zoom action.Cons: Heavy barrel distortion at wide end of Zoom, prone to lens flare when shooting into light.Bottom line: Was this a worthy upgrade? I gain better low light performance with lower noise levels - ISO 1600 on teh D7000 is comparable to or better than ISO 800 on the Canon XSI in terms of noise. Better dynamic range allows me to get pictures which would have burnt otherwise.Will keep updating as I get more experience with this camera.ThanksSuresh Nair

We are complete amateur photographers. We bought this to take great pictures of our new baby. It has millions of features we have no idea how to use...we just set it on Auto and went to town! The battery has lasted forever (we keep the screen off most of the time). I especially love that I can turn it on and immediately capture a moment. Most small digital cameras take FOREVER to start up and load the screen...so by the time it's ready, you've missed whatever you want to see. I also love the continuous clicking feature (just hold down the button) because it takes a lot of photos in rapid succession. Makes it much easier to capture those elusive infant smiles.I'm sure I'm not even close to using it to its full potential, but it does what I need it to do and takes gorgeous pictures! The software it comes with it is basic. So if you want to do some serious editing, you may want to buy some nice software separately.

I've had a Nikon D40 for about four years, and finally upgraded to the D7000 in advance of a long trip I'm taking.This review concentrates on what's different between the D7000 and the D40. That might sound strange since they're so different, but I think that it's a common upgrade- I bought my D40 to get my feet wet, took tens of thousands of pictures, and started bumping into the camera's limits on occasion, and learning to operate in those limits.To compare the D7000 to the D40, first I will give you the 'cons'-It's heavier and larger. You notice this when you carry it around. I could throw my D40 and kit lens in my bag and forget it's there.-It seems more prone to having the memory card door pop open. It might just be me, and maybe my hands will get more used to it, but I seem to accidentally dislodge the door and the little rubber plug near the battery door on a regular-ish basis when I'm pulling the camera out of my bag.-It's a little harder to set up. What do you expect? It's a lot more camera, and I don't do manuals.-The battery is slower to charge, and doesn't seem to last any longer.-The fancy AF system can be confusing if you're used to always using one point to focus and recompose.These 'cons' could just be my whining at no longer having my trusty familiar camera in my hand, and having to learn something new again instead of concentrating purely on the images.Some 'pros' compared to the D40:-The low light quality is leaps and bounds better. I hesitated to shoot the D40 at ISO 1600, and now I am willing to shoot at 3200 with the D7000. Even 6400 can give nice shots, and the HI-2 (equivalent of 25,600) can give very usable shots if you don't mind heavily post processing them and only using them reduced to web sizes.-The metering is noticeably better, so I have to adjust the exposure less, and have fewer blown highlights.-The viewfinder is larger, so its easier to see what you're doing.-The auto white balance has a much wider range of correction, and is more accurate. In difficult mixed indoor/outdoor lighting, I feel like I have a real shot at getting colors right with this camera. Even if the 'auto' isn't infallible, the adjustments are much easier to tweak, and have more range.-The dynamic range is great. I'm not sure if it's the Auto-ADR or something else, but I have been getting some great shots. As an example, I have somebody indoors with a bright light streaming in from the sun outside, and nasty overhead lights, and I am now able to much more reliably get shots that show her face with a nice soft graduation of light instead of looking posterized.One other thing to mention is that I've compared the D7000 to the D700 briefly, and I will say that the D700 still seems to be the superior camera. It feels better in the hand, the viewfinder is bigger, and you can read all over the internet about technical stuff that people will argue makes one better than another. In my eyes the D700 is better. Is it $1,000 better? Maybe, maybe not. If you're in the market, I'd say to go get your hands on both.In closing, you may want to know if I am I getting rid of my D40. Heck no! I couldn't sell it for much anymore due to its age, but it's still reliable and makes great pictures.

Take note this is my first Dslr camera. came a looong way from a kodak 8z812 is. Also i didn't not buy it from amazon as i buy pretty much every thing from here( sorry amazon)not your fault, i don't really trust something over 1,000 getting delivered to my house.I canot recommend enough how great this camera is. even to get started if you want to become a pro photographer and don't have enough money for the big boy cameras. trust me, this camera with. before i bought it i must of seen over a thousand reviews saying that it was a great camera and don't buy it with the kit lens. well i went on anyways and bought it with a kit lens since i didn't have a lot more money to buy a pro lens. the kit lens is great to get you started with the camera, I'm not going to lie and say you don't need anything else because you do. i did a practice wedding shoot for a friend, (REMEMBER NEVER AGREE TO BE THE MAIN PHOTOGRAPHER IF YOUR JUST GETTING STARTED, YOU WILL RUIN THE WEDDING) well anyways, while the photographer they hired was taking photos of them getting married i was doing the same thing and trying not to get in his way. here is what i notice about the lens.-First ---Inside a brightly lit church the lens will give you the photos you need. you might just need to bump up the iso a bit. and since i bought it with the 18-105 kit lens i didn't necessarily have to be in there face all the way. i can just stand back and take photos of them as well.-Second--- remember when i said you can zoom in to get out there way? yea ones you start to zoom in the F stop will go higher REALLY quick. so you need to compensate on a higher iso because if you don't the pictures will either come out dark or if you don't have a pretty quick shutter speed there going to be blurry.--third-- the camera made as much noise as the photographers 300s. take note when your inside a church and the priest is the only one talking that will be disturbing.....--Fourth-- The picture quality with the lens was ok. I would not say professional. to an average person the the photos looks great but for some one who wants to strive but the best results to become a pro is not.so the bottom line. i will completely recommend this camera with the kit lens. even if doesn't sound good. you will get better if you practice on the kit lens first and then when you go out and buy does expensive 2.8 nikon lens you will appreciated MUCH more.one last thing. when you do buy lenses. i would suggest to but FX lenses. they work perfect on a DX body and ones you upgrade to a FX body the lenses you bought won't go to waste because if you buy DX lenses and then put them on a FX body it will still 1.5 crop your photos because its a lens made for a DX, even if your on that FX body.they might be more expensive but worth it because the lenses are sure to last you longer then the body.any questions feel free to ask :)

Good camera, noticeable improvements from a D90. I shoot real estate and it's good to have the dual slots for SD cards as a back up. 100% view finder allows me to frame exactly what I see and want to show. Slightly better noise and color over the D90. Longer movie recording at full HD. Also a quicker camera for making adjustments and changes.I shoot in manual mode primarily. The 2 presets U1 and U2 can be very useful for having a couple of different settings ready for different effects.The dynamic range is about 3/4 stop better for highlights and shadows.Since I shoot RAW, at 16 mega pixels the file sizes are manageable and not too large, still plenty large for printing in high quality.Overall, a good camera that does the job for me. For under $800, it's a sweet deal.