44 replies to this topic

[cor]

Some images are showing up on flickr supposedly showing that the D7000 has very good ISO performance. Can't wait to see the first underwater/blue shots at higher ISO.

http://bit.ly/bByuFR

[Deep6]

Some images are showing up on flickr supposedly showing that the D7000 has very good ISO performance. Can't wait to see the first underwater/blue shots at higher ISO.

http://bit.ly/bByuFR

Yes, may be too good. Production models should be available this Sunday (17 Oct.). I wait for reviews from the usual suspects - DX, DPreview, ...
Bob

Edited by Deep6, 15 October 2010 - 07:13 AM.

[Alex_Mustard]

I am hoping to try and a housing to review the camera in January/February time, when I will be in Cayman/Florida, to perform an underwater specific review of the camera for Wetpixel.

Alex

[loftus]

Yes, hard to believe! I am hoping B&H will start shipping soon, mine is on order.

[irnogs]

I went to the local Best Buy and lucked out. They had them in stock and I was able to pick one up today. I don't usually purchase from them, but the cheap extended warranty / accident coverage made it worthwhile. So far I'm really impressed. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy the video function too. The live view on the LCD is great and will make this a great camera for underwater when there are housings available.

[PRC]

Anyone seen any commentary on the Hi ISO performance of the D7000 ?

Looked on Dpreview but it is not there yet.

Paul C

Edited by PRC, 17 October 2010 - 09:01 AM.

[DuikKees]

To D7000 or not.
Like so many, I am actually waiting for the D800, but that can easy take another year.
So, what to do?
My D80 is realy getting at age, and the performance of D7000 is very interesting.

So I made a quick comparisson in PS, and I see enough possibilities to fit the D7000 in a D80-housing.
I think I will have a try, once I have my hands on a D7000.

Attached Images

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[tdpriest]

It looks like a lot of re-engineering of the control links is needed...

Tim

[loftus]

This is looking like a ridiculously great camera for the money!
Mine has shipped and should be here Monday.
I'm no video expert but the high ISO video here looks awesome to my eyes.
http://willboisture.com/?p=176

Edited by loftus, 20 October 2010 - 06:14 PM.

[Drew]

I just played with one from Japan for about 30 mins and a few things to note:

1. NO FULL MANUAL CONTROLS in Live View mode (well sorta): You have to preset Aperture BEFORE you switch to Live View mode as you can't change it while in Live View mode. You can however change ISO and Shutter speed. To change aperture, one has to go out of LV, change the aperture then go back to LV mode. Deal breaker for many (me!), but I should've just read the really big manual (22mb!) pdf and saved the hobbling to the shop.
2. Only 1080/24p: which is nice for the feature film set but for the PAL (25p) and NTSC(29.97p) crowd, only 720p available. DUH!
3. Dual card slots: MAJOR WIN for low end DSLR. Only problem is CF capacities still beat it by 2x. 128GB available now while SDXC is 64GB and much slower.
4. ISO NR works well @ gettng rid of noise. But you can't turn it fully off. According to the manual, NR is still done when OFF, just not as much as when ON, only @1600 and higher.
5. AF mode in video works. Face detection works too well, causing the focus to shift when any face pops up @ any distance.

I didn't have a lot of time to play with the camera and it was very crowded. The lack of full controls in LV mode sorta killed it for me but it's not as important for many others, seeing how a woman was hovering over the camera like a hawk about to strike, because it was the last one in stock.

[loftus]

I just played with one from Japan for about 30 mins and a few things to note:

1. NO FULL MANUAL CONTROLS in Live View mode (well sorta): You have to preset Aperture BEFORE you switch to Live View mode as you can't change it while in Live View mode. You can however change ISO and Shutter speed. To change aperture, one has to go out of LV, change the aperture then go back to LV mode. Deal breaker for many (me!), but I should've just read the really big manual (22mb!) pdf and saved the hobbling to the shop.
2. Only 1080/24p: which is nice for the feature film set but for the PAL (25p) and NTSC(29.97p) crowd, only 720p available. DUH!
3. Dual card slots: MAJOR WIN for low end DSLR. Only problem is CF capacities still beat it by 2x. 128GB available now while SDXC is 64GB and much slower.
4. ISO NR works well @ gettng rid of noise. But you can't turn it fully off. According to the manual, NR is still done when OFF, just not as much as when ON, only @1600 and higher.
5. AF mode in video works. Face detection works too well, causing the focus to shift when any face pops up @ any distance.
I didn't have a lot of time to play with the camera and it was very crowded. The lack of full controls in LV mode sorta killed it for me but it's not as important for many others, seeing how a woman was hovering over the camera like a hawk about to strike, because it was the last one in stock.

Were you ever thinking of purchasing this camera?
Still pretty good I think for a consumer camera.
What do you think of the video quality? Particularly the link I posted. My plan for this camera is to use it in the office (mostly my staff) who will shoot primarily before and after images (overkill) but also video clips mostly for marketing purposes on the web, in the operating room using operating room lights only sometimes, patient education type videos etc. In other words fairly high quality both video and still, but user friendly for non-photogs is very important.
When camera manufacturers make different models it seems they have to leave certain things out just to keep a camera in a certain user range, not just because of cost. Some of the things they leave out like the broader range of video speeds, aperture control with an extra step etc, would seem to be items that add little or no cost to the production of the camera, but are really just firmware type choices; or are there hardware limitations in this camera that dictate these deficiencies?

Edited by loftus, 21 October 2010 - 03:49 AM.

[Drew]

Well, videos are pretty much the same once they get compressed for online use. Bad compression can cover up noise. Haven't looked at that link yet. Not really interested in the D7000 but was just curious as to how Nikon handled the video portion.
I didn't really check out the camera in detail but you like Nikon, have Nikon lenses and want an all in 1 camera, this camera really is it. Shooting video with a DSLR can be frustrating, especially since the interface isn't video oriented. I didn't look at the auto modes but from what I've seen of D3s/D300s videos, it's not unuseable, just make sure your settings for color and WB are constant so you don't have issues with color and you should be ok.
The one thing I don't understand about this camera is the handicapped features. Even the lowly T2i has full manual control and Canon has a whole video division to protect. Nikon has no such wing to watch for and should technically be topping every Canon model out there with video functions. Look at the increased sales of 5D2 for the video features ALONE! The 5D2 is 2 years old and there are no rebates for it going into the holiday shopping season.
I'm pretty sure Nikon's Product Designers aren't the top video guys around and thus you see such incomplete approaches to video. They got AF in but aperture has to be changed outside LV mode. It's almost like Nikon is saying, well we got a really good product, but Canon will look bad so let's play nice and shoot our own foot. I was hoping Nikon would push Canon to achieve more, like Scarlet has with the 1Ds Mark IV.
Maybe Nikon doesn't see the market and is content with what share of the pie they have. Who knows? But the D7000 did trump the 60D in features, but that wasn't hard looking at the 60D.

[loftus]

My D7000 arrived today; very impressed so far. For purposes of this thread I quickly shot some images with the D7000 and the D700 from ISO 800 -6400
My impression is that this camera has better high ISO performance than any Canon DX camera and as good at least as the 5DMkII and 1DMKIV. I hope to see some comparisons posted as that is impossible of course to say for sure without direct comparisons.
I think the D7000 is quite impressive for a DX size sensor. These images are all RAW originals converted to JPEGS with no sharpening or other adjustments. Kit lens on the D7000 and 24-70 on the D700. I think the D700 still has a half to one stop on the D7000 especially with chroma noise, but performance of the D7000 is still pretty impressive; much better than the D300. I think it lives up to those original reports and postings.
These will be D7000 followed by D700 incrementally from 800, 1600, 3200 and 6400. All shot at f4
I'll play with the video later.

D7000 800 ISO

D700 800 ISO

D7000 1600 ISO

D700 1600 ISO

D7000 3200 ISO

D700 3200 ISO

D7000 6400 ISO

D700 6400 ISO

Edited by loftus, 26 October 2010 - 09:21 AM.

[Alex_Mustard]

Good stuff Jeff. Thanks for the info.

Alex

[PRC]

Yea thanks Jeff - this bodes so well for the next generation of D300.

P.S. that is a heck of a lot of crud on the monitor screen......

Paul C

Edited by PRC, 25 October 2010 - 10:21 PM.

[loftus]

Yes I think this sensor with a D300 control setup and adding the few features they left out, will make for a killer camera. A nice liitle add I noticed is the ability to set bracketing in 2 stop increments.
Auto focus in video seems to work well. The subject ( not face) tracking setting worked on my dog, so that bodes well for tracking big subjects underwater. From my limited underwater video experience, auto focus working well is the single most important feature if I am to be remotely successful with video, especially being used to relying on autofocus for stills. I am completely incompetent at getting perfect focus manually on an lcd underwater.
Yeah Paul, looks like I sneezed on that TV doesn't it?

Edited by loftus, 26 October 2010 - 02:44 AM.

[Aussiebyron]

I am very interested in hearing what people think, who actually have a D7000 in their hands. Until recently there has been alot of ifs and maybes.

I cant wait to get my hands on the D7000 and hopefully one of the first Aquatica housings for it. By the time it all comes together I will hopefully have Clear blue water at home with Leopard Sharks and Manta Rays!

Regards Mark

[loftus]

I am very interested in hearing what people think, who actually have a D7000 in their hands. Until recently there has been alot of ifs and maybes

No ifs and maybes, i think this camera is the real deal, maybe a feature or two missing for the pros, but absolutely making me think again of an underwater DX rig. I do really prefer my larger FX viewfinder image though. As for the video, at my level I can still get useable video without real time aperture control, but without autofocus I am unable to shoot any kind of useful footage. Old eyes are a bitch!

Edited by loftus, 26 October 2010 - 03:39 AM.

[PRC]

Yeah Paul, looks like I sneezed on that TV doesn't it?

Look on the bright side - at least it isn't on the camera sensor (yet).

Concur, with some D300 type bits added this sensor holds great promise.

Is there any indication that the next FF will have expanded focus point capability?

It struck me as strange that the 51 point sensor was used in the FF bodies - concentrating the focus points all in the middle.

Paul C

Edited by PRC, 26 October 2010 - 05:07 AM.

[Drew]

No ifs and maybes, i think this camera is the real deal, maybe a feature or two missing for the pros, but absolutely making me think again of an underwater DX rig. I do really prefer my larger FX viewfinder image though. As for the video, at my level I can still get useable video without real time aperture control, but without autofocus I am unable to shoot any kind of useful footage. Old eyes are a bitch!

Well AF is a blessing and a curse for video, Jeff. If you use full time AF, you run the risk of the dreaded "search for subject" that video users hate. Fish swims across the plane while you're focused on a sperm whale, opps focus is on fish now. Or a salp or particulate floats at you while you're chasing sperm whales mating... $@##!!! the focus is on the floating crap.
Old eyes may be a bitch, but electronic eyes can only be bitched at but not save that shot. Focus at 1-2m away and let DOF handle the rest.