Camera Labs

EvanK, the reason for Nikon was quite simple: my wife's employer requires the use of Nikon cameras. I am unsure if this is for software reasons, or consistency for evidentiary reasons, or the whim of some admin type. She was an Olympus fan during the film era.

Nikkor lens are not a requirement. Her agency-issued combination had been a D300s with a Tamron 18-200mm zoom, before the D300s cameras were pulled from the investigators to use as lab cameras. The pool of shared D200 cameras seems to include a mixed bag of Nikkor and Tamron zooms. After buying her the D7000, I bought her a Tamron 18-200mm super-zoom, and she get amazing images with it, in spite of the predictable compromises.

I have offered to buy her an optically better zoom, with less zoom range, but she really seems to want to shoot 18mm to 200mm without changing lenses.

The D7000's amazing performance at high ISO settings has me wondering if I should get myself a D7000, too, in spite of my heavy investment in Canon bodies and L lenses. For now, I am trying to be patient, as the price of a D7000 is a large portion of the price of a full-frame camera, such as a Canon 5D2, or Nikon D3 or D3s.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

To put it simple,

- The D300 has faster shooting sprees, and a much larger buffer. So, if you want to use it in "CH", keep the D300.
- The D7000 is only marginally better under good light (ISO200). For landscapes alone, the difference is too small.

- But when low light comes to the table, the D7000 not only is on another level, it really is the current king of the hill. The only Nikon at this moment that offers better low light performance is the 4 times more expensive D3S. I photograph theater plays under very low light (EV0 or *less*), and it's when the D7000's sensor really shines. Very acceptable noise levels up to 6400, and usable web prints at ISO 25.600!

- The D7000 colors are *at this moment* state of the art regarding cameras with cropped sensors. It's color balance is so good, that all I ever need to alternate is between A1 (cold) and A2 (warm) auto-balance modes, depending on the job's requirement. Very rarely do I need to go to the RAW image, usually auto JPGs are more than fine.

- Not wanting to be rude, may I ask to those complaining about the D7000's colors what lenses were used? Beware that the D7000's high performance is very demanding on low quality lenses. It's very high resolution takes great advantage of lenses with low Chromatic Aberration and Lateral Fringing, for instance. High linear resolution is also welcome. Be sure to put some serious glass on it to see what's it's really capable of. I've found my best results with the Nikkor 35mm F/1.8 prime. Among the zoom lenses, I really like the 16-85 VR as an all-arounder.

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quality = preparation + attention + luck

I've used the Nikkor 24-70,70-200 2.8I, 50 1.8G, 85 1.4D, 35 f2. It performs more accurately with the G glass, but can still be used with the D lenses- although AF may have a bit of a hard time with "lesser quality glass." i'm currently considering the 17-55G to be the main lens with the d7000.

The d7000 sits in the bag as back up to my d700. Which IS hands down better at lowlight than the d7000. The d3s i sometimes use is on another planet when it comes to high ISO. I'm not sure what you're basing your theory on Paolo, maybe you're seeing something I'm not.

The colors I was referring to has nothing to do with basic white balance modes, i saw the "warm" setting a while back. Tried it and it still solved nothing. The camera can sometimes be very green, yellow, or purple heavy, which obviously would require fixing.

I'm able to breeze through d700 and d3s photos but the d7000 require a bit more time and photoshop play.

I'd have sold the d7000 months ago, but I keep getting hired for video work- and to me, that's where the sensor really shines. Especially when used with Nanocrystal lenses.

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