Nikon D7000 review...

[StanyB]

Nikon D7000, a user review...

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Summary with links in this topic:

• posted 19 april 2011: D7000 (with kitlens), early impressions...
• posted May 1st: After 3 weeks of use...
• posted May 1st: D7000' amazing AF module, some samples,..., topic with many sample pictures
  
• ¨AF fine tuning lenses on D700:
  
• D7000'AF performance in really low light:
  
• D7000 AF: My settings and thoughts...
  
• D7000 battery
  
• Close-up and macro with Nikon D7000 and 105VR... with sample pictures.
  
• Some flower close ups with D7000 and 16-85...With sample pictures, also in full size (for registered users)
  
• D7000 vs D700. my impressions while using them side by side...
  
• D7000 incredible DR at base iso... With sample.
  
• Extreme macro with D7000 and reversed 28mm E-lens http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1195
  
• Some landscapes with D7000... http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=1227
  
• Nikon D7000 autofocus accuracy... With sample pictures.
• Which kit lens for D7000?
• D7000 and shooting RAW, before and after...With sample pictures.
• "One more thing...": D7000 is a camera for RAW shooters

D7000 related topics on this forum:
The Dynamic range of the D 7000 (from a Fuji S5 user), by H Smith
D700 and D7000 is a nice team..
More about Nikon D7000...
70-200VRII+TC-20 E III on D7000(DX),with many sample pictures...by LanceB

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[StanyB]

D7000 (with kitlens), early impressions...
door StanyB op Di 19 Apr 2011 18:26

After having tried D7000 at the Nikon booth during PhotoKina back in September 2010 and after having gathered and read lots of information about D7000 I picked up a D7000 with kitlens at Foto Roland-selection shop in Sint-Niklaas a couple of days ago...

My early findings, of which a lot is influenced by the daily use of my beloved D700:

• Shutter and trigger sound are soo much more silent than D700, wow, that's a relief... The very hard click of the D700 is one of the things I never liked about D700. Upto that there is a real silent mode which will finally enable to take pictures at the theatre Silent mode shooting gives some delay in the moment of capture, a point to take care about.
• Double card slot is a great feature
• I like the 1.5 factor lens focal multiplication and resolution increase for tele and macro over the D700
  
• Shooting speed while shooting 14 bit losless compressed does not slow down like it did with D300(s)
  (confirmed in Imaging resource D7000 review (http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7000/D7000A6.HTM):

  The big news however is the D7000's 14-bit RAW burst mode does not come with a speed penalty like it does with the D300S. The D7000 managed 5.88 frames per second in 14-bit RAW mode, which is more than twice as fast as the D300S's 2.67 fps 14-bit mode. )
  

  
  
• Buffer is very limited compared to D300, D700, D3...
  
• Amazing AF performance with 105 AF-SVR, 70-200 AF-)S VRII and 70-200VRII+ TCeIII combo. The AF performance with the 70-200VRII+ TCeIII combo is significantly better than what I experienced with D300.
  
• BKT button is very well placed but lacks more options
  
• PSAM turning wheel should be lock-enabled
  
• 7000 body is rather small, I prefer my D700 body, perhaps Nikon MB-D11 will solve this issue. I find the grip extremely expensive though...
  
• Native iso 100
  
• DR at base iso(100) is simply amazing
  
• Very nice, rich colour rendering and contrasty images straight out of the camera with SD setting and opened or PP(NEF) in Capture NX
  
• AF during movie mode is -until now- very poor compared to GH1-GH2, still learning...
  
• Sound recording in movie mode with 18-105 is ruined by VR and AF noise , still experimenting, hope the ME-1 Stereo Microphone makes disappear this issue.
  
• Images with the 18-105 VR appear to be very soft, I expect having to do some AF-fine tuning.
  
• The D7000 images show significantly more noise than my D700 at low iso(iso 320-iso640). This is very noticable in the shadow areas of images with high contrast.
  I contacted some other D7000 owners on this forum about this.

Will be continued...


Underneath message is part of email communication with Steve Bingham about very soft images I got initially with the 18-105 kit lens. Also I was rather disappointed with noise in shadow areas already showing up at iso 400.

Hello Steve!

Hope you’re doing fine.

Steve, I bought a D7000 last Saturday and I notice remarkable amounts of noise in the shadow areas of pictures taken at iso 400…
In relation to noise, compared to my D700 the results with this camera look quite poor until now, no real improvement over D300…
And the 18-105 lens is very soft, probably needs some AF tuning…

As an attachment you see the same D7000 NEF file opened in ACR and in another window in Nikon View.
In ACR the noise in the girl’s face in the shadow area is showing up quite strong already at iso 400…
When you open the same NEF in Nikon software the noise is gone, but also detail and sharpness…

If you want I can send you the original NEF file for examination

What’s wrong?

I think that this is the result of ADL being switched “on” by default, had a similar experience with D300 but not that bad….

Stany

[Steve Bingham]

Underneath is a copy from email communication with Steve Bingham.

Stany,
Something is horribly wrong. Are you looking at 100%? That's the max for simulating print noise. I just shot an entire wedding at ISO 800. Here is a sample converted in ACR. Nothing done except conversion plus .5 at 150% USM. It's a picture of two old farts (like me) at the wedding. The ISO is 800. Exposure was right on. It needs serious work, but notice how sharp her hair is? And her chin hair? (ugg) Taken with the 18-105.
Again, looking at any image with above 100% will do nothing but scare you. I print 2' x 3' with no problems and always set sharpness viewing at 100%. I use 50% for smaller prints. Hope this helps you.

I would love to have your problem NEF! I use yousendit.com. It's free up to a point. It's coming.

Steve

[StanyB]

Underneath message is part of email communication with Steve Bingham...

Good evening Steve,

• Some problems have been solved with my new toy since less than an hour.
  Sharpness is now good after -9 AF-fine tuningfor the 18-105 kit lens. (update: No consistancy in results though, don't like this lens...)
  Next weekend I'll check if other lenses still improve after finetuning as well.
  The D7000 with my 105 VR seems to work quite fine:
  http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1139
  
• Noise has improved since I switched off ADL. Iliah Borg confirmed me long time ago that ADL has an irreversible negative impact on noise(also on RAW files) because it’s a trick in exposure.
  But while noise has improved, it’s still quite far from my D700.
  Since the AF-finetuning, images at base iso look sharp –also with 18-105.
  
  I feel more comfortable with this camera purchase now and very probably will keep it. I like the movie mode…

Thanks for your assistance,
Kindest regards,

Stany

[Steve Bingham]

Hello, Stany.

Yep. ADL should be off. I concur. If using ACR, also remember that the Sharp icon (sharpening) should be set to .5 pixel at 50. Using the Adobe default of 1 pixel width is too strong for the tightly packed 18 mp on the APC size sensor. The D700 will always produce less noise, except when the D7000 is shot at its base ISO of 100. The DR of the D700 also quickly catches up with the D700 at around ISO 400. Also note that the Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) generally is about 3 dB better on the D700, except at the base ISO of the D7000. Ditto for the color range and color sensitivity EXCEPT at base ISO. http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en/Camera-Sensor/Compare/Compare-sensors/(appareil1)/680%7C0/(appareil2)/441%7C0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Nikon/(brand2)/Nikon

In other words, the D7000 makes a wonderful landscape camera - or for any other ISO 100 use. In fact, it is second only to the out-of-sight $$$ and very heavy D3x in this regards.

The complaints have come from less skilled shooters - focusing, etc, etc. ALL lens focus slightly OOF under some conditions. Think not? Try this. Calibrate your 18-105 at 18mm and then at 105mm (good luck). Or maybe at 1m and then at a distance. Very few lens can maintain an exact and consistent focus. It is what it is. Your lens seems well within tolorence.

Steve

[StanyB]

Hi Steve,

If using ACR, also remember that the Sharp icon (sharpening) should be set to .5 pixel at 50. Using the Adobe default of 1 pixel width is too strong for the tightly packed 18 mp on the APC size sensor.

Thanks you for the very interesting information about sharpening D7000 files. Also in NX this can be usefull.
Further on I under while became VERY happy with my D7000. It’s a perfect complement for my D700. With 70-200VRII + 2xTCIII it works incredibly good, D7000 ‘AF is blazing fast, even with this lens/TC combo.
Also my 18-105 performs well now, AF fine tuning at -9.
For wide and lowlight I’ll use my D700, for tele and macro I’ll use my D7000. For light travel D7000 as well..

Thanks for taking the time for me and kindest regards,

Stany

[Steve Bingham]

Hi Stany,
Glad you are enjoying your D7000. Mine is going with me to Antelope Canyon where I will do some HDR (Photomatix) as well as tone mapping, and maybe even a little double raw conversion. Just want to try some new stuff. Then next month to do some HDR panos at the Grand Canyon. I know, I gave up landscape stuff years ago, but I have the itch to do it again!

Steve

[Leen Koper]

Stany,
You wrote:

"7000 body is rather small, I prefer my D700 body, perhaps Nikon MB-D11 will solve this issue. I find the grip extremely expensive though"

Why does it have to be the Nikon MB-D11? It has just to hold the batteries and some extremely simple electronics. Withim a short time Ansmann or Hähnel will bring an alternative to the market that will be probably 40% of the price you 'll pay for a Nikon NB-D11.
I can understand the companies making things slightly different each time, trying to squeeze the extra dollar out of the consumer, but that doesnot imply that we will have to cooperate.

[StanyB]

• Under while my D7000 pleases me very well, especially for macro while it turns my beloved 105VR to a 152mm lens and with more resolution.
• Noise at low iso has become much better while setting ADL to low or switching off totally and shooting in neutral mode rather than standard picture style.
• Backfocusing has totally been solved with a standard -10 setting in the AF finetuning option. My images are surprisingly sharp straight out of the camera now
• The silent shutter is a dream compared to D700
• Movie mode gives soo much fun. Just ordered the hoodman cinema kit for macro and movie mode. (http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1066)
• AF with high quality lenses like 70-200 VRII, 105VR and 16-35 F4VR is amazing fast and accurate.
• The 18-105VR kitlens is not so fast focusing and has regular mis focusing in AF-S mode. I'll get a 17-55 F2.8 soon. It was my prefered lens on D200 and S5pro, much better than my 17-35 F2.8. (see comparison between 17-35 and 17-55 here.)
• D700 and D7000 is a nice team...

[StanyB]

In relation to my findings and comments about the D7000 ' AF, please notice that I am using D3 and D700 for years which means that I am aware about what is excellent AF.
Already back in September at PhotoKina I was very impressed with the D7000' AF.

After solving severe backocusing with the incredible AF-tuning feature Nikon offers since D3, my D7000 is focusing extremely accurate and fast with high quality lenses.

Here below some sample images with my 105 AF-S VR at very close focusing distance(1:1 or close to 1:1) taken handhold and one sample of a bird in flight with my 70-200AF-S VRII + 2xTCeIII combo.

• For some of the shots a thumbnail is added to show the focusing point as you can see it in viewNX.
• The images are shot in neutral picture mode and have no additional sharpening.
• For some I have added a 100% crop to show native sharpness.
• The images haven't got any post processing yet, and while they have been shot in neutral mode they look actually quite flat. I wanted to keep everything as it comes out of the camera after shot in RAW(NEF) and converted in Capture NX2. One click and all the below images would look more contrastity and/or vivid how I would like them finally to be...

iso 800, F7.1, 1/1600 sec


And a 100% crop:




iso 400, F7.1, 1/1000 sec


And a 100% crop:



iso 400, F7.1, 1/2000 sec


And a 100% crop:


Another funny 100% crop with a little guy I even didn't notice...



iso400, F10, 1/640 sec





iso400, F10, 1/1250 sec



iso400, F10, 1/500 sec


And a 100% crop:


It was quite windy yesterday so this hoover fly in flight wasn't easy to capture...
The underneath picture among these samples where there has been done some postprocessing and sharpening on the fly.


iso400, F10, 1/1250 sec


And a 100% crop:


And one bird in flight with D7000 & 70-200VRii+TCIII at 400mm; iso 640, F6.3, 1/1600 sec, handhold, AF-C, spotmetering
The 70-200VRii+TCIII has not been finetuned yet.


One more with D7000 and 70-200VRII + TCIII at 400mm, iso 400, F7.1 and 1/640 sec


And two 100% crops of the same picture:

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[StanyB]

After further finetuning tests of my lenses I found out today that my 70-200VRii+TCIII does not need any ajustment to deliver optimal sharpness on my D7000.
AF-finetune test was done on tripod, with mirror up, camera set at approx 10mtr from subject, focal set to 400mm(200mm x 2), F5.6(wide open) and 1/4000 sec shutter speed to avoid blur.
Test shots taken from +20 to -20 AF-finetuning.
Results were compared in Capture NX2 at 100% view as you can see here below. The left shot was at -10, the right at 0. The red arrows show the AF point.

[StanyB]

Yesterday I went to the nextdoor equestry club to take some horse pictures with the D7000 and 70-200VRII and I noticed a swallow couple flying in and out of one of the stables.
It was a very lowlight situation, so I didn't have big hope to get any usuable pictures.

This was the situation from outside...


And this was the situation what you could see after my eyes adapted to the dark:


I was amazed about the easyness the D7000 snapped focus every time in a total of about 20 pictures. It was the swallow couple moving nervously during the shoot which decided which picture I would use for my website, not a question of which picture was sharp or unsharp, they were all quite sharp...

I used the cameras PUflash (One more time I was so happy to have a flash aboard. (PUFlash was also one of the main reasons I exchanged my D3 for a D700 3 years ago)

Here two pictures converted from RAW in Capture NX2:
The first picture is a 60% crop of the original view. Camera settings were iso 800, 70-200VRII handhold, F5 and 1/320sec, PUFlash, VR on, neutral picture style.


The second picture is a 40% crop of the orinal view. Camera settings were iso 400, 70-200VRII handhold, F2.8 and 1/80s, PUFlash, VR on, neutral picture style.

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If you have questions, thoughts, your own findings, critiques or remarks related to this or other topics on this forum: Join this forum starting by your registration now!! Everybody is welcome. Read about how to make a registration here.
Sincerely yours,
Rita B, site owner.
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[Leen Koper]

Well, Stany (or Rita?), you convinced me at last. I 'm gonna buy one next week.(Together with a copy of Photoshop Elements 9.)

[StanyB]

The same difficult photographic circumstances 17 days later...
This was the situation from outside:


But inside, a lot has changed... the swallow babies became swallow youngsters...





Pictures are taken with D7000 and 70-200VRII + 2x TCeIII at iso 800 and shutter speed of 1/125sec. PUFlash was used to get enough light.
I was leaning on the cage door for some stability.

In relation to this D7000 user review: My D7000 snapped focus instantly in this very lowlight situation even though I did not use the middle sensor(see below)
Focus point as seen in ViewNX2:



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[StanyB]

I am using D7000 next to D700 and I find the D7000' AF simply fantastic, also in very low light situations (see link to samples underneath).
While I read quite often some comments on this and other fora who tell the opposite I will explain a little more my settings and thoughts about D7000 ' AF.

• As a former D2x user I have experienced the introduction of "Focus Tracking with lock on" which is for sure a great feature for group sports where a referee passing in front of the player you're following might ruin the picture. In the introduction time of D2x the same feature was bringing quite a lot of debate though and several users (including myself) preferred the more conservative AF of D1x (which I also had).

• So about D7000' AF my conservative settings remain while having a huge % of perfect in focus pictures, also in very low light situations (see link to samples underneath)
  My D7000'" AF settings for general photography, nature, BIF and handhold macro:
  
  • 39 AF points setting
  • single AF point selection
  • "focus tracking with lock on" set to OFF
  Some samples while using the D7000 with 70-200VRII + 2xTCeIII in very low light situations where it snaps focus instantly every time:
  viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1140#p3427

• Further AF-related settings: I use AF-C(set to focus-not release) for all handhold shooting, live view AF for portraiture and product photography on tripod and AF-S with the combination of self-timer/exposure delay mode(D11 in the menu) swtiched "ON" for landscape on tripod.

• Further more I want to add that I am not a fan of the 18-105 lens. Even though this is a sharp lens in relation to its price tag, I found the AF with this lens sometimes hesitating and sometimes totally off. I have a much better impression of the 16-85 about this.

• And last but not least I believe that many people suffer about handholding a camera which such a high pixel density as D7000 has. In this respect I find my D700 easier to use. Let's compare the intention of trying to make photons to hit the right tiny little pixels against big pixels on the D700 with playing darts where the bulls eye would be 3 times smaller...
  About the difficulty of handholding a camera with a very high pixel density there was an interesting article in one of this years Chasseur d'Images editions.
  The difference in resolution and detail in images between a 6-10Mp DX camera and a 16 Mp DX camera will only be striking when used with a proper handholding technique combined with some basic knowledge about the necessary relation between focal length and shutter speed or, -much better- when used on tripod.

[StanyB]

After some weeks of use I find the D7000 EN-EL15 battery capacity lasting significantly longer than the EN-EL3 in my D700 . Compared to the EN-EL4e battery in the optional D700 MB-D10battery pack makes me regret there is no such high power option available for D7000 though . Only for having vertical AF button settings the D7000 MB-D11 battery grip is very expensive. The good point is that there are alternative and cheaper D7000 grips available.



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[Leen Koper]

Could you indicate what make is on the market as an alternative (=cheaper) for the MB-D11? I couldnot find one yet.

[StanyB]

D7000 is an outstanding camera and TMHO the best DX format camera on the market but unfortunately there seems to be a problem with quality control which results in a number of bodies with back-front focusing problem.

Next to the important number of topics I was reading on Dpreview and other fora with people claiming soft images with D7000 (I guess that some of the cases is as a result of back/front focusing issue, another percentage as user error and probably some with a defective AF module ), both kits I bought were severe back focusing. This can't be a coincidence...
The first kit(D7000+18-105) needed a -10 adjustment and my second kit (D7000 + 16-85) needs an AF fine tune value of -15. Also my 105AF-S needed a -15 value.
I must say that such an issue is confusing, embarrassing and time consuming. I contacted Nikon service about this. I'm waiting for an answer..

I tested all cameras I got about focus accuracy and I did not have this issue with 2 D3's and my D700, neither with my D300. I only had a D200 which had to be send to Nikon for focus calibration some years ago.

I'm working on a topic where I explain how I do AF fine tuning:
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1178

[StanyB]

After fine tuning my D7000 became tack sharp...

Underneath a sample of a close up taken handhold, F9, 1/500 sec, iso 800:

The scene:


A crop:


And a 100% crop of the focus point area:


Another close up shot taken at iso 1600:

[StanyB]

• All images are taken handhold as a test for the responsiveness of the AF
• Picture style was set to neutral, sharpening to 2
• No post processing has been applied, all pictures look exactly like straight out of the camera(resized)
• Images were taken at iso 160, F8 and shutter speeds from 1/200 sec upto 1/320 sec
• 100% crops from the originals have been added
• There was quite a bit wind, which influences sharpness in a bad way...
• ...

And a 100% crop:



And a 100% crop:



And a 100% crop:



And a 100% crop:


With some fast postprocessing you get this:


And a 100% crop:


Registered forum members can download the full size tiff file(92Mb) of the above picture here: http://www.fotografie.fr/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1181

Which seems pretty good for a walk around zoom...

[StanyB]

D7000 vs D700. my impressions while using them side by side...

Since a couple of days I'm considering to sell my D700 because the D7000 is simply that good...

Even though D700 has a small advantadge in relation to AF, D7000' autofocus is simply fantastic ... viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1140#p3423 ...also in very low light... viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1140#p3427

Pro D7000:

• The D7000 is lighter to carry around
• AF points are much better spread in VF
• More silent shutter and extra silent mode
• Double card slot
• Much better LV mode than D700, I was amazed about the difference while doing a moon photography session with both bodies next to each other
• Movie mode, just for fun...
• More resolution, more detailed images
• extra reach with tele lenses
• extra reach with macro lenses...
• 100% viewfinder
• at base iso the D7000' DR is stunning, significantly better than D700, experiments while underexposing at iso 100 produce remarkable results (http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1140#p3503)
• Also at base iso and while having used both D700 and D7000 for the same kind of product shots where I had an extreme contrast between the near to white colour of maple wood (billiard cue shaft) on a velvet black background I noticed that while looking at 100% the image taken with D700 nearly fell apart on the border between Black & white whereas D7000 renders pefectly the colour transmission and border.
• and more...

Pro D700...

• Shalow DOF FX offers
• nearly noise free images at iso 3200...
• D700 produces deeper and more pleasing reds than D7000. (D700 reds look like D1x red colour output, which I liked.)
• D700' big pixels are much more forgiving for lens imperfections than a mass of pixels cramped on a tiny surface which easily lead to CA effects
• D700 is much more easy for handhold shooting than D7000
• More dedicated buttons
• More bracketing options
• Bigger buffer, even though the D7000' limited buffer is compensated with sandisk extreme pro 45Mb/sec cards
• Bigger and more confortable viewfinder
• Weather sealed body
• And more...

Con D7000:

• Limited buffer
• limited bracketing options
• limited dedicated buttons

Con D700:

• Terrible loud mirror slap and shutter sound which makes this camera unuseable in conditions where silence is important.
• Outdated Live View mode in 2011
• Narrow spread AF points in viewfinder

In case I would sell my D700 I would add a second D7000 body
Carrying two identical bodies is more user friendly than two different bodies...

Actually my D700 is just gathering dust and further more I expect a D800 to be released this year, which I expect to be significantly better tha D700 at high iso(like D3s), more resolution, movie mode and probably some interesting new features...

This considering has nothing to do with DX vs FX, I would never give up my D700 for a D300(s) (which I had) because D300 is soo inferior about IQ compared to D700 while D7000 is very comparable about IQ with D700, even better at base iso...

Thanks for reading and kindest regards,
Stany


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Update 2011.06.20: I was using my D700 with 16-35 F4 yesterday, wow... D7000 and D700 are a nice team!

[Leen Koper]

Just like you I own a D700 and a D7000 and I am thinking the same way. Just recently I did a part of a wedding with the D7000 (although my assistent covered me with my trusty D90) and I was surprised how well it behaved. Only pixel peeping could show me the (minuscule) difference between the two cameras, but my customers will never notice the slightest difference in print.
I came to the same conclusion as you did and I think I will sell my D700 too. And I won't be looking at a possible D800, because the D7000 will do. I still use the camera as a black box with AF and an A-setting. When the output is OK, it is fine with me. Shallow DOF has no meaning for me in my daily practice as has the weather sealing.
I think I 'll be completely statsfied with a D90, a D7000 and a D5000 for fun.

[James]

Let me know if either of you do want to sell your d700 bodies, I know someone that is looking and I would assume that yours are well looked after.

Thanks

[StanyB]

Last sunday at my grandson's 1st anniversary party, I was taking some intentionally badly underexposed snapshots to test D7000' DR.
(On the picture: My father and my grandson.)

The image was taken with D7000 and 50mm F1.8, at F1.8, 1/200 sec and iso 100. RAW and 14bit setting

The original:

registered users can download the original picture here: http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1188
If after downloading the file it might appear with a .tiff extension, it's definitely a .nef file. You can change the extension/save and after that you can open it in Capture NX2.

And the result after 3 clicks in post processing:

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If you have questions, thoughts, your own findings, critiques or remarks related to this or other topics on this forum: Join this forum starting by your registration now!! Everybody is welcome. Read about how to make a registration here.
Sincerely yours,
Rita B, site owner.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Support www nikonuser.info and forum with a donation...

[StanyB]

http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1195

[jholtz]

Wow! Nice shots!

Jim

[StanyB]

Just got in the latest edition of Chasseur d’Images(n°335)
In this edition there is a 10 APS-C DSLR-comparison with a brief summary of the complete test results of each camera.
Chasseur d’Images tests are done by very high qualified pros in a combination of lab testing environment and real life shooting.

• They mention and criticize the D7000 mirror slap vibration as cause for blur in certain circumstances.
  The tester literally writes: “It’s been a long time since I had to take care about mirror slap to get optimal sharpness”.
  This probable issue has been discussed also in several threads on Dpreview.
• They also blame the lack of quality control about AF (as I experienced with 2 (!) D7000-sets)

For these reasons D7000 only got a 4 star rating out of 5.

I don’t have any problem related to this issue because I mostly work with exposure delay, LV or relative high shutter speeds.

[Steve Bingham]

Just got in the latest edition of Chasseur d’Images(n°335)
In this edition there is a 10 APS-C DSLR-comparison with a brief summary of the complete test results of each camera.
Chasseur d’Images tests are done by very high qualified pros in a combination of lab testing environment and real life shooting.

• They mention and criticize the D7000 mirror slap vibration as cause for blur in certain circumstances.
  The tester literally writes: “It’s been a long time since I had to take care about mirror slap to get optimal sharpness”.
  This probable issue has been discussed also in several threads on Dpreview.
• They also blame the lack of quality control about AF (as I experienced with 2 (!) D7000-sets)

For these reasons D7000 only got a 4 star rating out of 5.
I don’t have any problem related to this issue because I mostly work with exposure delay, LV or relative high shutter speeds.

Hi Stany,

Yes, the mirror slap was proven on dpreview.com. Silent mode seemed to eliminate it (slows down the mirror). I guess I need to run a few experiments, like I did with my Pentax 6x7, to see at what shutter speeds it occurs. With the Pentax 6x7 it was in the 1/8 to 1.5 second range. I learned to handle it, when needed, with a small lead bag or a "dead hand" resting on top of the camera. Most of the time I simply avoided those shutter speeds.

I can't find the discussion. Can you point me to it.

Thanks,
Steve

[StanyB]

Went from S2 and S5pro over D3 to D700 and recently added D7000.
D7000 vs S5pro about DR, my thoughts:
D7000 has an amazing DR capability just like S5pro used to have, but technically in the opposite way. S5pro handled the highlights in an amazing way(especialy in the 400% setting) while D7000'strenght (especially at base iso) is in the shadow area. With D7000 no problem at iso 100 to recover 2 full stops EV without any noise showing up(see a real life sample earlier in this topic), which is special... After my findings D7000 has even significantly more DR possibilities than S5pro had, you only have to take care about highlights with D7000.

D7000 vs S5pro about skin tones, my thoughts:
On different fora there is a lot of discussion about skintones. Among Nikon cameras D7000 renders reds in a different way than D7000 and D1x does which influences skintone and makes it look a bit more pale. Adjustable with in-camera settings or with post processing though.
In relation to Fuji S5pro vs D7000 about skin tones and after having used Fuji's and Nikons for years I have another opinion than most Fuji colour lovers. Fuji was generating very pleasing skintones while D7000 is generating more realistic skintones, just like any Nikon.
Upto you what you like, tan where is no tan or pale. Most pale looking people simply love their Fuji portrait... ...

All together and TMHO D7000 is a much better camera than S5pro ever was. It's much faster, much more resolution, D7000 has even increased DR over S5pro, much better at high iso about noise and detail, better viewfinder, better battery life, uncomparable better LV, and more...

[Leen Koper]

I agree with you on the DR of the D7000; it is on par with the S3 and S5, although I prefer the way Fuji handles it. It is more logical to me as the problems usualy occur in the highlights. What have been the reasons for Nikon to think the other way around is unclear to me.

Regarding the skin tones Fuji has another way of thinking too. Nikon has undoubtedly the best skintones, the most natural, but Fuji has the most pleasing ones. In my professional practice I prefer the Fuji ones. Who does not want to look healthy?
Since I work with Nikon I often try to 'improve' the Nikon colours trying to imitate the Fuji ones and I partly succeed in it, but stil Fuji is 'better' than I can emulate.

[StanyB]

I agree with you on the DR of the D7000; it is on par with the S3 and S5, although I prefer the way Fuji handles it. It is more logical to me as the problems usualy occur in the highlights. What have been the reasons for Nikon to think the other way around is unclear to me..

I prefer D7000 over my S5pro, by far. I can't live with 6Mpix and the too strong AA filter anymore. I want a minimum sharpness on screen.

Regarding the skin tones Fuji has another way of thinking too. Nikon has undoubtedly the best skintones, the most natural, but Fuji has the most pleasing ones. In my professional practice I prefer the Fuji ones. Who does not want to look healthy?.

I prefer the real skintone over reddish-brown... To each his taste...

Since I work with Nikon I often try to 'improve' the Nikon colours trying to imitate the Fuji ones and I partly succeed in it, but stil Fuji is 'better' than I can emulate.

[StanyB]

Taken handheld at the Shönbrunn Palace in Vienna-Austria
http://www.nikonuser.info/fotoforum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=1227

In relation to this user review I post one sample about detail and sharpness:

The scene:


the lens that I used for this shot was the sigma 8-16mm wideangle. BTW and TMHO a great lens...

Screenshot of the 100% crop


The 100% crop:

[StanyB]

I am actually sorting among approx 900 picture I took on our holidays which we spend in Austria and Hungary this year.

Despite all BS which is written on the internet and after having used D3 and D700 for over 3 years I must say that I am really amazed about the AF accuracy D7000 delivers.
Among approx 900 images I have 2 pictures which were out of focus and I am convinced it was because I made a mistake...

I was doing all kind of photography, from landscape over portraiture and wildlife to macro and with 4 lenses (16-85, 70-200 VRII, 105VR and 8-16 sigma)
Some of the landscape picture I took were quite chalenging for the AF module(see sample), but no problem for D7000...


I was also doing some tests with a train driving in my direction (80 pictures in approx 10 series) and every(!) picture was in focus.















Support www nikonuser.info and forum with a donation...

[James]

Great findings Stany - I only realised last weekend that you can use the focus points in the same way that you can on the D700.... I thought that you were limited to individual points :O

This looks like an even better camera every time I read anything about it.

[StanyB]

• With my first D7000 I had a 18-105 AF-S lens. This lens is mechanically, built and about AF speed in a relation to its bargain price, (although AF speed isn't bad) , but it's extremely sharp.
  
• With my second D7000 I opted for a 16-85 AF-S kit lens and my expectations were very high. About AF speed and build quality it's significantly better than the 18-105 and starting with 16mm (24mm after crop factor) at the wide end it looks attractive, but about overall sharpness it lags behind the 18-105.
  A very big problem that I encountered with my copy of the 16-85 is that after AF fine tuning(*) this lens requires -17 at 85mm to obtain optimal sharpness while I had to dial -8 at 16mm. I even ended to put AF fine tuning in my favorite menu and changed AF-fine tuning according to the situation but this simply drives you crazy in situations where you want to shoot wide open.
  
• Finally I sold the 16-85 and went for the 18-200 AF-S VRII as a walk around lens and I'm sold for this one.
  The 18-200 delivers good sharpness over the complete focal range which covers everything from wide 18mm (27mm) to 200mm tele on DX(300mm). I was using the predecessor of this lens years ago quite often on my D200 and liked it a lot. A dream for travel or a Disney park visit...
  With this lens I dial -12 as fix AF fine tuning value(*) and it's OK at all focals
  Please do not expect the 18-200 to be comparable from 70 to 200mm with top grade lenses like 70-200 VR F2.8, but it does a wonderful job for what it's made for

If I would have to give a quotation about price/quality relation to each of the kit lenses it would be as follows
18-105 : ★★★★★
16-85 : ☆☆☆★★
18-200 : ☆★★★★
I will add more details and some samples with every lens later this week.

(*)About the necessity of AF fine tuning with my D7000 and all lenses I did not have the time yet to visit Procirep in Brussels to fix this issue. And even though I want it to be done by a professional Nikon service, my D7000 delivers perfect sharpness after manual AF tuning of all my lenses.

[danm_cool]

Hi Stany,

What about the red cast of the skin tones? After 6000 photos with the D7000, I sold it to get back a D200, because I shoot mostly portraits.

Cheers,
Dan

[StanyB]

Hi Stany,What about the red cast of the skin tones? After 6000 photos with the D7000, I sold it to get back a D200, because I shoot mostly portraits.Cheers,Dan

Hi Dan,
I don't have any problems with D7000 for skintones but I'm not an expert. Leen Koper, -moderator on this forum- is an expert though and he uses D7000 as well next to some other cams. I'll send him a message...

[StanyB]

a downsized copy of the original image(shot in neutral):
The D7000' auto WB was clearly tricked by the light here...


And the same image after some clicks in Capture NX2...

[Leen Koper]

Pretty late, but never too late. About the red cast of the skin tones in some images.
I too noticed it sometimes under studio flash conditions, but I shot at AWB ( which is usually OK in RAW). Adding a very, very tiny bit of yellow and just a little less magenta they all are OK again. Every camera has its quirks (with exception of the Fuji S2, S3 and S5 that almost in any circumstance delivered fantastic skin tones) as far as I know and I can live with the times I had to adjust the tones of my D7000.

[StanyB]

Just one more thing that walks trough my mind about D7000 is that -after having been using approx all Nikon bodies from D1x to D3s and everything in between-, I find D7000 the Nikon body that aims most towards RAW shooters, despite full time RAW shooters are not the typical D7000 buyers public... The difference of rendition between a D7000 jpeg and a D7000 NEF(and the potential in PP) is enormous.

[Leen Koper]

In my honest opinion, everybody who uses a camera like the D7000 should shoot RAW. It is the only way to use the full potential of this kind of camera because this camera is aimed at people that take photography serieusly. Just shooting JPEG is almost not a real option.

But that is just my opinion.

[James]

I think that any camera will give you more than the jpeg output the difference with the D7000 is that the dynamic range is so extreme compared to jpeg it will either be flattened (giving you lifeless images) or lost.

I played with one a few weeks ago to use it as a back up and I agree with Stany - the IQ at low ISO meets or exceeds the D700 if you process it well. It's a remarkable achievement for the price point it's in.

[Steve Bingham]

A few weeks ago I decided to test four lenses at their 85mm focal length. As I own the incredibly sharp Nikon 85mm f1.4G I was anxious to see how my other lens stacked up against it. Of course the f1.4G was superior but there were some serious surprises! I used MU and a very sturdy tripod and head on cement flooring. All shots were in raw and converted in ACR and later in DXO and Nikon View. DXO handled the moire slightly better, but it was still there. As resolution was superior to the old ISO 122233 chart, I needed three copies in order to properly test resolution. They were spread out horizontally and shot from the same distance (with everything perfectly centered) - maybe 4-5 meters or so. The images basically went from edge to edge on the three charts. Originally I was mainly concerned about concentricity of all the lens to weed out a possible bad copy. They basically were all perfect in this regard. Amazing quality control by Nikon. The 16-85 was a little short on the 85mm, maybe only 82mm. That was a surprise, although this is a fault of many lens models.

Here are the lenses:
Nikon 85mm f1.4G
Nikon 16-85 VR (VR off)
Nikon 70-300 VR (VR off)
Nikon 18-105 VR (VR off)

First the good news. At f5.6 all four lenses appear to be out resolving the censor in the center. That is, moire and the maze effect hit before I lost detail. In the corners and severe edge only the 18-105 had noticeable CA . . . which was easily corrected by ACR and DXO. I would need Nikon Capture for this feature as View is pretty simple. Remember that 85mm is probably a sweet spot the 70-300 and 18-105.

Conclusion:
I would feel very comfortable using any of these lenses at 85mm and f5.6 through f11. Even f16 would be acceptable for anything but huge print sizes. The winners, based on ALL factors including resolution are listed in the order above The amazing thing was all four out resolved the 16mp sensor on the D7000. This is good news for many, especially those considering the new Nikon D400 and D800. Of course only the 85 would work for FX.

[Leen Koper]

I think it is amazing that, according to your tests, even pretty cheap lenses like the 24-105VR and 70-300 VR show excellent results. That confirms my experience at weddings and portraiture when I use these lenses pretty often, the last years even exclusively (whenever the situation allowed) instead of my fixed focal lengths.
I hope -and think- the other focal lengths will show according results.

It is a rather reassuring thought. Thanks a lot!

[Steve Bingham]

Hi Leen.

Here are the results of the 85mm f1.4G. I will post the other results as time permits. You may download any of the files for closer inspection. At 200% you can definitely see where the moire'/maze kicks in - slightly before the resolution quits. At f5.6 and f8 all do a good job. http://dustylens.com/lens_tests.htm

[sandor]

Adding a very, very tiny bit of yellow and just a little less magenta they all are OK again.

Is it only in the skin tones, or is it a general WB aspect of the D7000 ? In that case, why wouldn't you adjust the AWB in the camera itself?

[James]

Hi Sandor,

White balance does not always correct the colours, if you think of it like a map the white balance sets your start point but then assumes your route is still the same, Leen is adjusting his route instead. I can post a couple of colour corrected files to illustrate the difference if you want?

[sandor]

Hi James, thanks for jumping in.

Yes, it would be nice to have a look at the skin colors with and without WB adjusted but with PP in the latter to see what you mean.

But as far as I know, any change in WB always influences colors. So I guess what you mean is that changing the WB does not always solve the problem ?
Nevertheless, my point was more like if WB adjustment would solve or substantially reduce the effect and make PP less cumbersome, you could prefer this way.
Maybe your suggestion to show us what actually happens will clarify why this doesn't work ?

Very informative post, btw.

[James]

Hi Sandor,

You are right, white balance will change the overall colours of the image, but it does it in total, depending on the light, lens, camera, etc you made need to change the levels of specific colours in an image.

Here's some examples of what I mean, hopefully it will become clearer!

First one, corrected on right, look how much the reds change - this might be a different white balance but look at the extra contrast that is found by correcting the colours too:
http://photos.jamestux.com/img/s11/v37/p683603473-4.jpg


Second, this one has the same white balance, corrected is on the left (just to be awkward, sorry!):
http://photos.jamestux.com/img/s6/v6/p668459711-4.jpg


Finally here is one that I made this morning to really illustrate the issue, both have the exact same white balance settings - the one on the left is with the default Lightroom profile, the one on the right is with my custom one from that shoot:
http://photos.jamestux.com/img/s3/v40/p566761240-4.jpg


All of them can be viewed larger in the examples section of my site (in testing) at photos.jamestux.com

As for saving time or making things less cumbersome - I use lightroom for this type of shoot as I can correct hundreds of images in seconds or minutes by applying en masse. It's a great solution for this.

I hope that helps,

James

[sandor]

Most definitely it helps, James. Thanks for the work.

Now the the first thing I would like to know is what you actually changed. Did you, by any change, generally, pull back the blue channel and increase the red ( and possibly yellow) channel ?

[James]

Most definitely it helps, James. Thanks for the work.

Not a problem, it's all on my computer anyway

Now the the first thing I would like to know is what you actually changed. Did you, by any change, generally, pull back the blue channel and increase the red ( and possibly yellow) channel ?

This is why it doesn't take time and why I use Lightroom.... I have a utility called colorchecker passport, that actually creates the profile from a DNG for me which I then just apply like you would apply portrait or vivid or any of those picture styles in Lightroom.

Once I've done that I then paste the white balance and profile onto all the images that were taken with the same lens and under the same lens on a shoot.

But despite appearances, it doesn't blanket increase the red, no - Nikon's blow the red channel in the output quite easily, with a corrected profile I get deeper reds that also have more tones in them. Yellow does look increased to me too.

I think that it must remap the actual curves on each channel too, the output is good enough that I've never bothered to try to do it manually, I think that the whole kit (card and software) was about £65 so it paid for itself very quickly!

[daveg]

Wouldn't using the Grey Point in NX2's WB section do the same thing without any utility?

It adjusts the Red and Blue Channels relative to the Green Channel and providing that you have a reliable Grey target it works like a dream.

Saving as a settings file and applying to all similarly lit images produces the same result.

All done within the NEF.

DG

[sandor]

I see what you mean, James. Actually, even after applying the new curves you might have to correct the white balance, DaveG (saw it on a video).

Basically, it works in most cases if you have one shaded and one well lit shot of the checker for each body-lens combo. It than corrects the colors based on the actual color and the colors reproduced by the camera. The profile saved is an easy thing to load.

The good thing is that there is some objective source to adjust colors. The way I do it is more or less the same, but without the color checker.
If I get a new lens/body, I will take a dozen or so pictures. I pick those out with the most difficult colors in it. In ACR (I do not run LR) I do all the color adjustments and save the profiles for each picture.
The second step is to apply each profile on every picture, and write down which profile one I like best. I usually save two of them depending on the color sensitivities I see on screen. I will apply either two on all the others. However, I do differentiate between day time and night time pictures. Day time profiles simply ruin your high iso's.

Of course the checker is better because I'm biased, and so is my screen. So I might go your way afterall. Thanks for the good advice James.

[James]

Hi Dave,

I don't think that it does do the same thing, no - I think that's more like setting the white balance, if you look at the neutrals in the images I posted they are all the same so they should be unaffected by the grey point setting. I think that this is a relatively new thing in photography, in film days you would choose the type of film you preferred and it would have a way of rendering colours (sweeping generalisation but Kodak might have more dominant reds and yellows and Fujifilm blues and greens) but white, black and grey were still white black and grey with either film.

So you just got to know how your film reacted in certain light and it was consistent now you can calibrate it more easily, like with printers and monitors too.

[daveg]

Maybe you could post the NEF of the colour checker to try it out?

DG

[James]

I'm happy to send you a NEF - but I was being polite it is just doing the white balance! I'll see if I can upload it here, if not what's your email address?

[daveg]

Hi James,

Apparently, I'm "not authorised sending private messages"?
Yes, you are. regards,Stany
DG

[daveg]

I am now!!

Thanks.

DG