It is well featured, and has a great sensor. That said, I do think the AF is its weak point, but it can still perform well as long as you're used to it. I've never had 60% misses... that sounds insane to me. Some things to keep in mind:
1. The D7000 has rather high pixel density, so it will expose your errors more frequently. Aim for a quicker shutter speed, even if you have to bump up ISO. The D7000's noise cleans up VERY well, so don't be afraid to crank that ISO up. 1/FL isn't enough. It's more like 1/(1.5 x FL). If I'm shooting people who aren't very still, I try not to use less than 1/150... 1/250 for kids.
2. Ask TrenchMonkey for his advice, and buy him a beer. He will help you up your keeper rate.
aptyp wrote:
here is how hard it is to take sharp pictures:
1) point camera
2) press focus button
3) success
In day light condition and non-moving subject, yes! In all seriousness, AFD lenses focus really slow on my D7000. My 70-200 VR2 can nail focus of a motorcycle moving at over 100+ mph.
Get over it whingers
OP would have gotten help if he asked for it but he just came out and bagged a camera that many have great success with.
It was my experience when I went from my D70s to the D7k the initial files were not good. My problem was the the D70s was a lot more forgiving of poor technique and i was getting sloppy in my old age.
Had the OP stated his case and asked for advice he would have got it and no doubt part of that advice would have been that if all else fails, maybe that particular camera was the problem
Tim
Tim Ashton wrote:
Get over it whingers
OP would have gotten help if he asked for it but he just came out and bagged a camera that many have great success with.
It was my experience when I went from my D70s to the D7k the initial files were not good. My problem was the the D70s was a lot more forgiving of poor technique and i was getting sloppy in my old age.
Had the OP stated his case and asked for advice he would have got it and no doubt part of that advice would have been that if all else fails, maybe that particular camera was the problem
Tim ...Show more →
Did you read his post? He said "Is there any tips any can provide to steer me in the right direction with the D7000?"
How more explicit can he be about asking for advice? Besides he didn't bag the camera at all, he just said "disappointed with MY D7000".
Finally, regardless of his post, being courteous and modest has nothing to do photography technicalities.
Wow, what a &$@?storm. This is my fourth Nikon dslr and before this I have never had any problems. I agree that it might just take some getting used to but should we really explain away a cameras performance? I have not calibrated the lens yet and I am planning on going this route before taking any further action but damn people calm down. I am not here to flame the camera but instead camera to a forum that I respect for advice. If that bothers some of you move on to another post. Thanks to those with constructive criticism and advice.
[edit - I was writing up this post when the OP posted above. Not enough coffee to be fast...]
*sigh*
This place is getting chippier all the time.
OK - so the post read a bit like he was blaming the camera, but the guy was asking for input/insight/tips.
Will - even you had some issues with a couple D7K's you sent back for bad AF early on, right? Haven't you said repeatedly that you weren't successful with it right away and needed to get set up right for your style of shooting?
It is definitely true that the D7K will expose poor technique. It is also a pretty sophisticated/complicated platform that needs to be learned well and dialed in even for experienced shooters? Right? Put complexity like that in the hands of less experienced photographers (which is the target for the D7K, not pros) and you have the potential for folks who need a little help and insight. Which often leads them here. For me, this place has been extremely useful and almost always helpful...
The written internet doesn't allow for great transmission of intent. Let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt and be a little more positive and helpful in our reactions, or maybe just point him to DPR...
OP - it could be you, or it could be the camera. It might even be the lens and the camera (see Roger C's really interesting article on lens variation: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/10/notes-on-lens-and-camera-variation - sometimes an individual lens and a camera combo are better -or worse - together). Statistically, it is almost certainly you. The 80-200 is a big, heavy pro lens that will test your holding technique significantly, and the sheer resolution of the D7000 will make any issues show up. I'd also wonder what you're shooting and how your AF system is set up - both the D300 and the D7000 have pretty complex and capable AF, but the penalties of shooting with bad settings can be severe.
Since you bought a used camera, I'm wondering if you did a full reset when you got it. If you didn't, there might be an obscure setting somewhere you aren't aware of that might be impacting your success. Do a full reset (press both green buttons at the same time and hold) and see if that helps.
Lastly, I can't tell you how much I benefited from learning my new D300s well, courtesy of Thom Hogan's incredibly detailed "Complete Guide". I learned a lot about the technology inside the camera, too. I'd highly recommend it. Here is a link to his site: http://www.bythom.com/nikond7000guide.htm.
Will - even you had some issues with a couple D7K's you sent back for bad AF early on, right? Haven't you said repeatedly that you weren't successful with it right away and needed to get set up right for your style of shooting?
We had one clunker out of 8 in 2 years spec. shootin' rodeo. That was early on when focus issues were more prevalent.
With the technology and sensors today one can't expect a body to come out of the box nailin' keepers. Put in your
due diligence BEFORE complaining about the gear, is all I'm sayin'. The D7K is FAR from an entry level body.
trenchmonkey wrote:
We had one clunker out of 8 in 2 years spec. shootin' rodeo. That was early on when focus issues were more prevalent.
With the technology and sensors today one can't expect a body to come out of the box nailin' keepers. Put in your
due diligence BEFORE complaining about the gear, is all I'm sayin'. The D7K is FAR from an entry level body.
Hmmm...I thought you'd seen a couple bad apples, but in any case, you're hitting both of my points. There were some bodies out there with bad AF, and it is a pretty sophisticated beast. I read his comments as he was having a lot of trouble, not necessarily throwing the D7K under the bus - maybe he was, but hard to tell on the internet
Atyp---First, sorry but that was such a beginner comment as to rule you out of the conversation!
sure in really good light, with not too heavy a lens, and stopped down, it might be 1,2,3.
Otherwise, it is find a grip that allows you the best control. Plant your feet solidly. Control your breathing.
Gently depress the (not punch) the shutter release.
With little pixels, like the d7000, the angle of light reception is very small-it doesn't take much movement to smear an image.
I would suggest you google Joe McNally's "Da Grip" .
Again, thanks to all who have provided their input in an attempt to be helpful. I typically shoot families and kids outside. My subjects are always moving and you have to be moving too. I need my setup to be fast and able to take great shots as I am bending, squating, rolling, or whatever it takes to get a shot of a two year old.
Trust me, being in Western North Carolina I would prefer to be shooting landscapes all the time but the occassional kid portrait brings in the money for keep the hobby up.
Let me explain my original intent for the post. It was to ask other D7000 users of what they had to do to get great shots out of the camera that is all. I have taken tens of thousands of great shots with my D300 and I want the same out of the D7000.
Here is my summary of the useful stuff so far from this post:
1. Reset the camera
2. Learn to somehow roll around with two year olds more steadily
3. Play with combinations of ISO, shutter speed, etc. to suit my shooting style.
4. AF fine tune.
5. Evaluate my lenses to determine if they suit this camera if step 4 fails.
6. Study the different AF modes to understand them better for this platform.
Does that about sum it up? Also, on number 6 above does anybody know of a good starting point? I know the manual is one place but maybe something deeper?
The summary above is the reason I asked the question to begin with, not to start a pissing match. Man it is 10 am and I already need a beer. Thank god I live near Asheville, NC which is the best beer place in the country right now.
When I first got my D7K I was ready to use for a football. It was all me I changed and it became a fine, fine camera. Now since I've moved on to the D800 what I learned with the 7000 makes my D800 perfect. Take your time get the shutter speed up a little and you will also find out how good it really is.
On the AF - the focus 'points' on the D7000 are significantly larger than on the D300 - so you need to pay attention to an area slightly bigger than the box marked in the viewfinder top make sure there's nothing that could fool the focus system. This is much more of a problem wide than long.
Stay in AF-C, if you like to pixel peep the small movements will make a big difference.
Pay close attention if you shoot at wide apertures and like to pixel peep - your depth of field is a fair bit narrower at 16MP than 12 if you like to view at 100%, so critical focus matters more. Same with subject movement.
If your lenses are off (decentred for example) this can show up as AF inconsistency, so that's something else to watch out for.
Jason Moody wrote:
A long time ago I had purchased a lightly D300 and loved it from day one. Recently I got a good deal on a used d7000 and I am about to use it as a hockey puck. The focus is horrible. My Nikon 80-2000 has always been a great lens but on the D7000 it is horrible.
Between that and the odd controls I am about to sell the D7000 and drop back to the d300. Is there any tips any can provide to steer me in the right direction with the D7000?
Early versions of the D7000 had focus problems. Newer ones from what I hear are better. Send it in to Nikon to get looked at or use the AF fine tune feature.
when I first got a D7k, I thought its AF was sketchy. However, as T M points out, once you have it dialed in, the AF is very good.
I have had D300's D3's, 300s, 700's etc. and they all did very well. The D7k's I had were all about as good or better than the D300.
Almost as good with non BIM lenses, and perhaps a tad better with the AF-s lenses. However, I had to workout what AF combinations to use to get it working at its best for me/us. Once that was done, and a little AF tuning on some lenses, I had no complaints.
YMMV, or your D7k may be a bit off and need Nikon service.
I've shot with a D7000 and 80-200 2-ring. From what I've experienced, the 80-200 sucked at MFD at 2.8. It just wouldn't hold proper focus and the images were dreamy soft. It IS fine when shooting at portrait distances though, just not at MFD. Another thing I noticed about the combo is that the jerky AF torque while on AF-C can throw your focus off occassionally. My best results with this combo was using: AF-C, single point, release priority while holding AF-On, and not MFD (in other words, 5 ft or further). Good luck!
In all seriousness, AFD lenses focus really slow on my D7000. My 70-200 VR2 can nail focus of a motorcycle moving at over 100+ mph.
