www.photography.cafe

• From PhotoKina: Nikon D7000 : portraits from iso 100 until iso 25600
• From PhotoKina: D7000 iso 200 > iso 25600: 100% crops
• From PhotoKina: Nikon D7000 : portraits iso 100 until iso 25600-RAW files
• From PhotoKina: Video file with D7000 taken at Nikon booth PhotoKina

• High pixel density requires more steady hand/better shooting technique and more often tripod as only solution.
• Next to that: shoot RAW, you'll end up with sharper images without sharpening artifacts you get in jpeg.
• And, last but not least: use top-quality glass like 17-55 F2.8 and 70-200 F2.8 or primes. Lenses like 18-55, 18-105 and 18-200 don't get the best out of your gear, those lenses simply can't handle a pixel density like D7000 has. If your budget doesn't allow lenses like mentioned here above, there are some extremely sharp and low priced lenses available, like the 50mm F1.8 and many others. Tamron has some low priced and extremely sharp glass as well, the 60mm macro and 105mm macro are two of them. Other solutions is to prefer a high quality second hand lenses like 80-200 F2.8 which you can buy for the same price as fancy new DX zooms.

• About AF:
  As I experienced at Photokina after having used this camera extensively with 18-105, 16-85, 17-55 F2.8 and several other lenses, and even though many users seem enthusiast about the 18-105 kit lens (because it's a quite sharp lens, very inexpensive in relation to it's optical quality and because they didn't compare (yet) with top-glass), only top lenses make this great camera really shine about AF speed in both normal AF and live view mode and about resolution.
  From the Dpreview D7000' review:

  "We have found however that autofocus speed is highly dependant on the lens used. Whilst beginners with no immediate ambitions to upgrade their kit lenses will be perfectly happy with the speed of the 18-105mm, more advanced users will be pleased at how much more responsive the D7000 becomes when paired with a lens with a faster AF motor. This is not a problem restricted to the D7000 - it is always the case that the AF speed of Nikon's D/SLRs is at least partly limited by the AF motor in the lens. In the case of AF-S motors, the designation alone is no guarantee of speed. Some (like the AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8) are quick, and others (like the kit lenses and the AF-S 50mm f/1.4) are relatively slow. It is worth noting that older, D-series AF lenses achieve focus almost as quickly as the fastest AF-S models. The D7000's contrast detection AF system, which is used in live view and video modes, is not as fast as the class-leading (in terms of CD-AF performance) Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 and GH2, but it is a lot better than the previous-generation D90, and Nikon's current APS-C flagship, the D300S. We tested contrast-detection AF speed on two lenses which are representative of the 'fast and slow' models mentioned above - the AF-S 18-105mm kit zoom, and the AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8. With the 18-105mm at 105mm, the D7000's contrast-detection AF can move it from its closest focusing setting to infinity in 1.4-1.5 seconds (approx). This is only 20% longer than the time it takes for the same operation in phase-detection AF mode. Impressive performance. However, with the faster 24-70mm f/2.8 mounted, the D7000's phase-detection AF system essentially doubles in speed, achieving focus in 0.5-0.6 seconds (at any focal length). Live view (contrast-detection) AF is no quicker though, which means that it takes roughly twice as long as phase-detection AF with this lens."

• About resolution and getting the best out of this great camera...
  From the Dpreview D7000 review:

  No matter if you shoot JPEG or RAW, the D7000's combination of a high pixel count and good per-pixel sharpness means that you need good lenses to get the most out of the camera. We did the majority of our shooting on the bundled 18-105mm kit lens, and comparing results shot with other lenses it is clear that the 18-105mm is the limiting factor in this combination. So if you like to 'pixel-peep' you might want to put a couple of premium Nikkors or prime lenses on your wish-list as well.

  Before I moved to FX format the 17-55 F2.8 was my prefered lens on both my Fuji S5 and my D200. TMHO (and after having owned both) the 17-55 F2.8 is optically in the same class than the 24-70 F2.8 while producing the same very contrasty images with incredible detail and vibrant colours.
  If you go for a D7000, put the 17-55 F2.8 on your "What's next-to-buy-list." The difference is much more than only being able to use F2.8 over the whole focal length

StanyB wrote:Dpreview just published their D7000 review. Some thoughts:

If you go for a D7000, put the 17-55 F2.8 on your "What's next-to-buy-list." The difference is much more than only being able to use F2.8 over the whole focal length[/list]

StanyB wrote:An interesting contribution on this forum by Henry F. Smith Jr MD in relation to the D7000' dynamic range :
http://www.fotografie.fr/fotoforum/view ... =54&t=1123

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
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.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************