NikonD7000 PT I

Nikon D7000 faken with a Canon EOS 20D

The Nikon D7000 is a great update to the D80/D90. It adds HD video to the mix of what I believe is an excellent camera. It just feels right in my hand, it has a good weight and my fingers land intuitively on the right place.

For shooting images the autofocus is a joy to use. The specs says it has has 39 focus points and 9 cross type sensors, but whats important to me is that the autofocus works  close to perfect.

The camera has a good size LCD screen on the back which you can see and set your menu items easily and preview images clearly.  You use the back LCD as a monitor for video which is good but when shooting video in daylight it can be hard to see.

The buttons on the back of the camera give you the menus, preview etc, but for me the best thing they've added is an ISO button. Press it and quickly set your ISO. It's one of the things I love about the EOS 20D I shoot with, quick access to ISO settings.

I've used a lot of film, aps and digital cameras.  For film I was purely a Nikon man.  With DSLR I have favoured the Canons' and their autofocus systems.  But with everything the D7000 has going for it I have no qualms about switching to this camera. Have a look at the specs at Nikon.com.

The camera specs says it handles high ISO for images and HD video and that's what I am going to experiment with and discuss in Part II of this review.  So for photography, if you want a fab Nikon DX camera, this is it.

Above images taken with the Nikon D7000

All photos by Fred Weimer

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