Pixiq

Simon Stafford offers his first impressions of the recently announced D7000.

Since the introduction of the D3 and D300, with their respective 12MP sensors Nikon have adhered steadfastly to the ‘quality, not quantity’ argument in respect of the pixel count of a camera. The image quality produced by these models in terms of low electronic-noise, and those that have followed in their footsteps, particularly the D3s, have demonstrated unequivocally that it is not the number of pixels that really matters but how those pixels perform in conjunction with the in-camera processing regime.

However, as far as the pixel count of a camera is concerned the popular perception that ‘bigger must be better’ persists, and when it is stoked by the marketing hype from competitors producing cameras with more and more pixels, it comes as no surprise that feedback from the Nikon fraternity demanded the same.

Enter the D7000 and its all new, Nikon designed, 16.2 Megapixel CMOS (23.6 x 15.6 mm) sensor, with a pixel pitch of 4.78µm, which elevates the camera to the highest pixel count (4,928 x 3,262) of any Nikon DX-format D-SLR, overhauling the 14MP D3100, announced last month, and 12MP D300s, placing it second in the entire Nikon D-SLR range behind the ‘flagship’ 24MP D3x. 

Rather than replacing the highly popular D90, the world's first D-SLR with a video recording capability, the new camera adds to the Nikon D-SLR line-up. Looking at the broader specification and functionality of the D7000 it comes very close to that of the D300s, but in the seemingly endless game of technological leap frog that inevitably takes place when a new model is introduced the D7000 surpasses it in several key areas, and by a significant margin.

At this juncture I should add a caveat that the following comments and observations are based on my handling and examination of a pre-production sample of the D7000, and while I do not expect there be any alterations to the hardware the final production version it will probably undergo further fine-tuning of its firmware. This may well influence the observed performance of several camera systems, including autofocus, TTL metering, white balance, and image processing. 

The D7000 feels very solid in the hand despite is diminutive size. The top and rear plates are constructed from magnesium alloy, as is the mirror box chassis, while much of the exterior surface is covered with a rubberized material that gives the camera a very similar feel to that of the D300s; the body has also been sealed extensively against the ingress of dust and moisture. The viewfinder of the D7000 is a delight to use; with a solid glass pentaprism, it offers approximately 100% frame coverage and magnification of 0.94x, which makes the focusing screen appear large and clear. The 3-inch 921,000-dot TFT LCD screen, with its hardened glass cover, provides a crisp display of recorded images and menu screens alike. A single Lithium-ion rechargeable EN-EL 15 battery (7.0V, 1900mAh) that requires the new MH-25 AC charger (one is supplied with the camera) powers the D7000; as an additional safety feature the battery chamber has gained a secondary catch that retains the battery in place when the chamber door is opened.

The shutter release mode selector dial that has a separate dedicated lock button, is set below the exposure mode dial on the top left of the body and is another feature that mirrors the D300s (and D3s / D3x for that matter). It is a welcome refinement to camera handling, as it provides ready access to the usual single/continuous-low/continuous-high options, plus the quiet shutter mode, self-timer, infra-red remote release with mirror lock-up that is activated by the optional Nikon ML-L3 IR unit (an innovation on the D7000 is its rear facing IR receiver, so it is not longer necessary to reach round to point the ML-L3 at the front of the camera), and a full two-stage mirror lock-up function that can be operated by the optional Nikon MC-DC2 remote release cable (the camera’s remote release terminal also supports connection of the Nikon GP-1 GPS unit). While on the subject of the shutter unit the D7000 has inherited the same design of robust shutter mechanism as used in the D300s. It is tested to at least a 150,000 cycles and offers a top speed of 1/8000 second, a flash sync speed of 1/250 second, a maximum frame rate of 6 fps and a brief shutter lag time of just 50 milliseconds. The dampening of the mirror mechanism appears to have been refined, since it generates very little noise, and even less with the quiet mode that separates the action of raising the mirror and operating the shutter, from the lowering of the mirror and re-cocking of the shutter mechanism.  

The mode dial is used to select the now familiar AUTO, flash cancelled, SCENE modes, plus usual programmed-auto, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual exposure modes. Innovation comes in the form of the new U1 and U2 options that allow you to assign them frequently used settings, including ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation, so they can be recalled instantly by simply rotating the mode dial to the appropriate position.

Moving round to the rear of the camera the single-action, “flick” style switch to active Live View and its central on/off button for video recording, has been migrated directly from the D3100; it is quick, positive and effective. By making Live View that much more accessible I am sure the feature will be used more widely, so expect to see this style of switch appear in future models as well. Since exterior real estate on the D7000 is at a premium the designers have consolidated the controls for setting the autofocus system, so now the familiar focus mode switch on the front of the camera, which is used to select either autofocus, or manual focus also has a central button, which in combination with the command dials enables selection of the AF mode and AF-area modes. Overall the general handling characteristics of the D7000 are very good and paired with the kit lens, the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, it balances well; however, using a longer, or heavier lens and the camera soon becomes front heavy. The optional MB-D11 battery pack, with is pair of duplicate command dials, lockable shutter release, AE-L/AF-L button and multi selector switch improves handling in this situation, providing not only a larger surface area for better grip but also increases the mass of the camera to even out its balance.  

In addition to the completely new sensor the D7000 also receives two other entirely new major components, the 2,016-pixel RGB TTL metering sensor and Multi-CAM4800DX AF sensor. The former is a significant development, as it represents more than a doubling in the number of the sampling points compared with the venerable 1,005-pixel sensor that was first introduced way back during 1996 with the launch of the Nikon F5 film camera. That sensor has served in every mid and top of range Nikon film and digital SLR camera introduced since the F5, with the only notable modification being the addition of a diffraction grating as part of the Nikon Scene Recognition System, starting with the D300 and D3 models. It is too early to draw any definitive conclusions but with the benefit of more sampling points the D7000 will have more information upon which it can draw, which should enable the camera to make an even more accurate assessment as to the nature of the subject, or scene, and the prevailing lighting conditions.

The Scene Recognition System integrates information from the TTL metering and autofocus systems, plus focal length and focus distance information provided from the electronic chip contained in D and G-type Nikkor lenses. The camera uses this information to determine the likely position of the subject within the frame area further enhancing automatic exposure control, as well as providing improved AF tracking and automatic white balance performance. 

The new Multi-CAM4800DX AF sensor for the autofocus system has 4800 sampling points (the D3-series and D300s models use 3500) divided across an array of 39 AF points, which are distributed across the same area of the frame as the 51 AF points of the D300s. The central nine AF points are cross-type sensitive to detail in both the horizontal and vertical orientations, while the two outer blocks of 15 AF points are line-type sensitive to detail parallel to the long edge of the viewfinder frame. Another new feature migrated from the D3100 is the Full-time servo AF (AF-F) mode, which performs continuous contrast-detect autofocus in both Live View and D-Movie mode. The feature seems very capable at maintaining focus on a moving subject that remains at a near constant distance from the camera but does not appear to be quite quick enough to follow-focus a subject heading toward, or away from the camera. 

At this stage I have no empirical data concerning AF performance but subjectively the system seems to be quick and very positive, regardless of whether the camera is using its phase detection AF for stills shooting, or the contrast-detect AF in Live View Tripod mode and D-Movie modes; the latter allows placement of the AF point anywhere within the frame area. To facilitate shooting in Live View the D7000 has the same single-axis virtual horizon display of the D300s, plus the menu system also enables the user to configure the analog exposure scale shown in the viewfinder, to indicate any tilt in the same axis.  

Nikon have built a reputation on digital images that exhibit exemplary low levels of electronic noise, even at high ISO sensitivity settings. One of the main factors that contributes to electronic noise is the size of the pixel pitch, the smaller the pixel the greater the noise it generates, particularly at high levels of gain. The Expeed 2 processing regime of the D7000 therefore not only has to deal with more pixels than any previous DX-format Nikon D-SLR but also the smallest pixels of any such camera to date. Based on a handful of images I examined it looks as though that reputation will grow, as shots taken at the upper limits of the normal ISO sensitivity range (100 - 6400) demonstrate very well controlled noise. I noticed a perceptible difference between ISO3200 and ISO6400, with the former looking extremely clean and the latter having noticeable grain but still showing no sign of any chroma noise (I must reiterate these results are based on far from exhaustive tests using a pre-production sample camera, so should be interpreted accordingly). The broad ISO range should satisfy most shooting situations regardless of the conditions but for further flexibility it could be expanded to an ISO equivalent of 25,600 if necessary.

The built-in Speedlight (flash) unit can illuminate the coverage of a lens with a focal length of 16mm and is also compatible with the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS), in which is can be used in its Commander mode to control two separate groups of remote CLS compatible Speedlights.

The camera has dual SD memory card slots and supports both the SDHC and the SDXC standards, the latter offering significantly larger storage capacity and faster read/write times, which will be an important consideration if the D-Movie mode is used extensively, because of the considerably larger files it produces. You can install two cards in the D7000 to increase the shooting capacity, or alternatively specify storage of different file formats to each card, for example stills images can be saved to one card, while video files can be saved to the other.

I have already mentioned Expeed 2, which is the enhanced version of Nikon’s in-camera image processing regime. In the D7000 it includes 12-bit, or 14-bit per color analog-to-digital conversions and 16-bit per color image processing. Expeed 2 is also claimed to be more power efficient and deliver improvements to stills picture recording in respect of better noise reduction (this certainly appears to be the case), smoother tonal graduation and greater color fidelity; only full field testing in due course will confirm this. Additionally, Expeed 2 helps to support the video functionality of the camera, including its HD 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution and use of the H.264/MPEG-4 codec.

The D7000 offers both Live View and a video capability with options for full HD 1080p resolution at 24 fames per second (fps), as well as HD 720p at frame rates of 24 / 25/ 30 fps, and uses the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression codec to provide broad compatibility with popular post-production video editing software. The D7000 also has an input for an external stereo microphone. The maximum single video clip length has been extended to 20-minutes, regardless of the recording resolution, and there is also a frame grab feature that enables a single frame from a video file to be saved as a JPEG file. The ‘Flicker reduction’ function, first seen in the D3s to help match Live View projection and video processing to the frequency of mains AC supplies when shooting under fluorescent light sources has also found its way into the D7000.

One aspect of the D-Movie specification that does not seem to have drawn much attention is the new 'Manual movie settings' option in the ‘Movie Settings’ item of the camera’s Shooting menu. The default setting is 'Off' but select 'On', put the camera in to its manual exposure mode, and you then have full manual control of shutter speed (1/25 second, or shorter), aperture, and ISO during video recording just like the D3s! Brilliant!

The D7000 promises much and on first showing has the potential to meet the high expectations many will place upon it. Of course only time spent with a full production example, shooting in real world conditions will confirm this, so we will all just have to be patient and wait until later October, when the camera is due to be released.