dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I have a D7000 and purchased it new a few years ago. I have used it often and love it. I also have a D800 and love it also but still use the D7000 because it takes such great photos. The D7000 is a wonderful camera and you could probably use it for 20 years and still like the photos it takes. Great camera.

Dennis

AuntPhil Loc: Ireland

The D7000 is a very good camera. For me it's the first of the Nikon APS-C cameras where people can be happy sticking with it for a long time without a significant reason to upgrade. the D90/D300 were just a little low on pixel count, the D300 performs well in its higher ISOs for colour renditions but the absolute numbers for the D7000 ISO puts it at a level where it's usable in 90% of shooting settings. The main reasons to upgrade to another body from the D7000 for me would only be to go Full Frame. I'm not sure I'd want another APS-C body unless the D7200 offers a huge amount, which I expect it won't anywhere but pixel count.

I do have some issues with it, and that's mainly down to it being a lower end prosumer body. The absolute worst aspect about the D7000 is the placement of the ISO button. It's on the back, in the middle of a row of four buttons next to the viewing screen. It is very difficult to change ISO without reconfiguring your grip. If you could edit it through the menu settings I would love if you could put the ISO controls on the Bracketing button but that's just not an option afforded from the firmware.

Another problem is if you move to back button focus. The placement of the AE/AF-Lock button, which you'll use to back button focus is just too far under your thumb. It's manageable when taking a photo in landscape position, although not ideal, but it's quite difficult to use properly if you're using the camera in the portrait orientation. Of course this would be solved with a vertical grip, something that's on my long list of photography equipment to buy (after a new lens, and a printer, and film, and photographic paper, and possibly a MF camera.)

The back button focus issues leads onto my final big issue, the camera is quite small. This is fully a function of where the camera sits in the Nikon range. I shoot a lot with an F100, and the prosumer bodies of Nikon's film range were far closer to the professional bodies, whereas now in terms of the physical handling of the body the prosumer range is definitely more slanted towards the consumer range.

Finally, there's been quite a bit of debate about the D7000's metering and exposure settings. I find the default raw settings generally need tweaking for both exposure and contrast. Some say this is actually and advancement in the D7000's raw capturing over previous models, as it's giving you a much more accurate image to work on. And the edits can be your own. I haven't really worked with JPGs straight out of the camera but from what I have my concerns have been addressed a little, but certainly not enough to shoot only JPGs.

CO

You can set menu option d3: Show ISO/Easy/ISO. With that activated you can change ISO with the front command dial in P and S modes and with the rear command dial in A mode.

AuntPhil Loc: Ireland

I'm literally pulling out the D7000 now to change that. Thank you!

CO

I have that set on my D90 and D7000. I have to push the shutter button down halfway once first to get the display in the viewfinder activated but there's no need to continue holding down the shutter button. It will also show the ISO setting in the viewfinder.

EAM Loc: Milwaukee W

I had problems with back focusing. I did send the camera in and they checked it. Still have issues with weird focusing.
I simply don't care for all the dials,settings as I get overwhelmed.
The weight of the D7000 with a 2.8 lens makes me feel like I need a Sherpa to carry the stuff. I am one of those getting tired of a heavy camera. I have been looking at mirrors cameras and maybe will switch. Then I will sell my D7000 and the beautiful 2.8 lens.