Similarly to the hundreds of others out there for quite a while I also toyed with the idea of selling D300 and getting the all-new D7000. So when an opportunity of getting a new D7000 for a very reasonable price presented itself I jumped on it...The fact that I was in an exotic location, where I could put the machine into the tests within hours of the purchase, helped with the decision making process. The idea was to use the opportunity to get a cheap D7000 whilst abroad, get back, sell D300 and reduce the size and weight of my gear bag for future travels whilst improving an overall quality of the pictures (well, technological quality, not necessary meaning that I will take better pictures!). With the Internet buzzing with all the reviews about the greatness and superiority of the D7000 it sounded like the way forward. Well, two weeks later I am back to D300 whilst the D7000 enjoys having a new owner...
By this point many of you are already wondering: why? What’s wrong with it? Is it the hot pixels?
No – I haven’t seen any hot pixels and, if it comes to the picture quality, there is absolutely no problem with the camera. Quite the opposite: sharpness, noise, colour reproduction and metering of D7000 feels like two steps ahead of D300. Improvements in the picture quality are significant, no doubt about that. And there are many other great futures that D300 is in dire need for:
* ISO100 is back in D7000 – which means you may just get away without the 2-step ND filter to get the blur…
* low-light is no more a problem for D7000: ISO1000 produces photos - see for yourself below!
* putting the camera into Live View is now much more usable without the need for going back to your dials.
* the camera is extremely quiet compared with D300. Helpful if you shooting temples or events. And that’s without switching to the Quiet mode
* the virtual horizon is absolutely fantastic. I am not talking about the flight-simulator gadget on the Live View but about using it in your viewfinder. Assign the Fn button to switch your virtual horizon, get all your settings in place, switch it on and off you go: whether it’s a tight indoor shot or a set for panorama you’ll find all your photos perfectly levelled. Sweet!
Handhels @ ISO1000: no noise, great colours...
So, with all the great features and qualities already outlined you probably asking why on mother Earth did I go back to D300? Well, first of all, getting a smaller and lighter camera also meant getting a less comfortable grip, lesser built quality and, after a couple of ours of running around a historic site with a viewfinder glued to your face, pain in your arm. There are also some other caveats that make the switch to a smaller, less robustly built camera hard if you got used to toying with something like D300. So, in a nutshell, things that did not quite work:
* the grip is much less comfortable. It’s thinner and makes your hand feel crammed. I do not have big palms, though the small finger was hopelessly looking for somewhere to rest on. After half a day of running up and down ruined temples my palms were desperately calling for some rest!
* reduction in size also comes with less substantially rubberised grip – something that becomes apparent when you need to held the camera in one hand whilst hanging at the edge of wall holding with one hand to a tree or scaffolding. Probably not the most common position for photos, but I really liked the security that the rubberised grip of D300 provided. It feels that you will have that extra grip when you need it – and save your gear from high-impact meeting with the ground…
* rather annoying effect of down-sizing the camera is much smaller controls wheel at the back of the body. Add the OK button in the middle of the wheel and it becomes less accurate and slower in getting your focus points in the place you what them. Because of the extra button the thumb is not resting as comfortable as on D300. It also feels that the wheel is too low, hence you end up desperately pressing the LiveView lever instead…
* pixels and less buffer also can prove to be a problem in some situations. The buffer fills quickly up, stopping any operations for quite a while (a cup of tea or two…). On a number of occasions the last of the shots of fast-moving objects was the one that worked – well, you may just miss it when the buffer overflows and there is a long period of silence from the shutter! Examples? The two shots below are both taken as one of the last in a sequence…
* finally, if it comes to the built quality, D7000 feels less substantial. For example, pop-up flash feels cheap and about to pop out for ever!
None of the above may be a problem for many – especially if you coming from D90 or some of the smaller cameras. But for me these became a problem and so I will keep my eyes peeled for a wee longer till the D400 (or something similar) comes out.
When good buffer really mattered...
