Is the D7000 overexposure in bright light / probematic AF still an issue? -

I don't know if it counts as sorting out, but there never was an over-exposure in bright light problem and there never was a problem with AF.  Both were just user error.

There was the fact that the meter only goes to 16.3 EV, and if the scene is brighter it gets over-exposed, and the fact that the meter preserves correct exposure of what it thinks is the main subject even if that means allowing other areas to blow out badly.

And there was the fact that the AF sensors are large and quite a bit bigger than the little boxes in the viewfinder, and the algorithm does not weight detail at the edges of the focus sensor less than detail at the centre, so that the system is very good at tracking motion but can be distracted by detail just to one side and (usually but not always) behind the main subject.

First, there never was a overexposure in bright light problem. In Live view it does bias towards the Live view LCD brightness and this has the effect of some getting exposures that match the rear LCD on bright sunny days though often exposed brighter than they anticipated.  Very rare (relatively speaking) to see new AF issues like they had in the first runs. Still get AF posts though but frequency is now small.

Most really don't have a problem. Download the manual and if you understand the AF-Fine tune section you should be fine in doing it.

IMO, current samples focus just fine and there is no widespread problem .  A proper CDAF vs PDAF comparison will show if there is any fine tune required. There will always be exceptions.  Do a proper test/check early and with all your lens. Simply return a poor sample.  odds are in your favor.

How to test focus and fine tune

Good Luck.

Note: A D7000 replacement may be announce early next year.

You are not being honest with the OP here...many D7000 owners reported a REAL AF issue, including myself. And I'm tired of hearing the "user error" excuse - that one was worn out long ago. I owned a D90 for 2 years and a D700 for 6 months before selling the D90 and getting a D7000. What I'm getting at is that I knew how the AF was supposed to function and had two perfectly performing cameras to judge the D7000 against.  The issue was fairly severe with my copy, and was always a back-focus problem. Some lenses exhibited the problem worse than others, so I limited my usage to a couple of lenses and lived with it (and used the D700 far more, especially for anything important since the D7000 could not be relied upon). Live view was always accurate, but viewfinder photography was terrible.

I came across a post here where someone adjusted a hex screw inside the mirror box to tune the distance between the mirror and the sensor, so I tried it out. Long story short, it worked, and my camera has been flawless ever since, with every lens I own (Nikon 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 50 f1.8G, 18-105 VR, Tokina 11-16 f2.8, Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 OS, and Tamron 70-300 VC). I have turned AF fine-tune off, and no longer need any fine-tune with any lens. I even borrowed a 18-200 VRII and a 55-300 VR, and both of those were dead-on accurate.

It is my opinion, based on my own personal experience, that many cameras came out of the factory with improperly calibrated mirrors, which was the source of so many owner's frustration. It makes perfect sense as to why the AF was so poor when using the viewfinder, and so good using live view. Live view uses contrast-detect AF directly from the sensor (no mirror reflecting the image), but viewfinder photography requires the image from the lens to be reflected to the phase-detect sensors in the camera. If the reflection is too far away or too close to the sensor because of the improper mirror position, then when the mirror is raised, the camera uses the distance that was improperly reflected to the sensors to set the AF, resulting in, in this case, back-focus.

The 39 point AF in the D7000 is very good and very accurate, but you can see why it would make anyone having an issue, blame their problems on bad AF, when it is simply a poorly calibrated mirror. I believe that newer copies coming from the factory are calibrated much better than earlier copies were, and that is why there is much less discussion about AF problems lately. If you buy an older copy, it may or may not have a problem, but I am sure that, if it does, it can be corrected if sent to Nikon. I am certain that they know how to fix it perfectly by now. Test that copy out before buying it...don't buy it if it sucks. Pretty simple!

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K.B.

No.  The hex screw does not "tune the distance between the mirror and the sensor".  How could it?  The mirror is translucent where the light goes to the AF sensors so the mirror angle is irrelevant.  The hex screw adjusts the angle of the mirror so that the little boxes in the viewfinder are more accurately matched to the location of the AF sensors. That is nice, but it has nothing to do with underlying AF accuracy.

I agree for the most part. Only thing I would note is your experience is now not encountered very often (very small number now). I would also add that your experience is why I recommended to the OP to test early and properly as Nikon can indeed recalibrate quickly if required. Many who waited a long time were frustrated when a quick fix was available.

That's all correct and an easy fix....if encountered. No need to do it yourself though.

Well said. I would also note that the 4800DX AF unit takes a bit of practice to get the most out of it. It is not a point and shoot.

That's not correct.  The AF adjustment screw does in fact change the angle of the translucent window which also changes the angle of the AF sub-mirror (hinged behind main mirror) and does indeed affect PDAF focus. It is actually one of the things Nikon service does when they recalibrate the body.

The metering side of things is not a wow deal breaker send the camera back problem. DPR report it happens in bright light, but it's really an issue where the metering is overly biased to the AF point being used, bright light or not.

Think "D80" but not quite as bad metering wise for matrix. Yes it does overexpose and the metering is fooled quite easily in back lit situations...to me the D90 had more consistent metering and less AF point bias (they are all AF biased to a degree across makers) You have multiple metering choices and you can tune the meter. I would not dismiss the D7k purely because of this...but the metering is a bit hot IMO and in some cases it can be quite a bit over. Nikon as per usual have not bothered to address this which they could via a firmware update..it's not a show stopper though

For AF I had 2 D7000's which I bought recently so we're well into 2 years odd production on this model. I was never satisfied with the AF performance it was inconsistent and the AF fine tune in some cases not enough to compensate for the variation in focus. I personally did not feel the AF performance was acceptable, even with fine tuning the AF. Others may disagree but the performance was well below other makers where the AF is far more accurate and consistent. Overall not impressed.

But if you want to get one fire away, just make sure you can return it if you are not happy. In every other respect a great camera, I just feel the AF is quite important in any camera and the D7000's I had were below par.

Not true....check the Hogan comparison of the D90 vs D7K....much less bias in the D7K

Also, you can control the AF bias with the D7K with focus mode settings.

Again, not really the case if tested side by side (see the hogan guide where this was explained)

I disagree with Thom simple as that having used both cameras extensively I feel the D90 metering is better overall, though as ever not perfect (nothing is) just more consistent

Illustrates the over bias to the focus point very well

http://imagesbyeduardo.com/main/techniques/d7000-matrix-metering/

I don't consider the metering to be a major issues, it's not as good as I would expect but you can work around it. The AF issues yes much more worrying.

Plenty of D7000s had real autofocus issues - some of which were fixed by Nikon. That the marked AF zones do not match the actual ones is a significant design flaw - or at least an idiosyncracy that users have to deal with.

I have two D7000 bodies (as well as two D90's) and never had any exposure issues with the D7000's. Out of 26 AF Nikkor lenses, I've only had a back focus problem with one of the D7000's when using a 20mm/f2.8D lens. This was able to be adjusted (by me) and it works fine now. The same lens worked fine with the other body.

I have recently experienced oil spots with the first D7000 , now nearly two years old - heavens knows why it should start happening after all this time. I've just accepted that 'wet-cleaning' sensors is a part of life with digital cameras.

Yes there was a huge AF problem, and also an over-exposure problem.

I tested 14 different cameras from the first batch, at a local store. The AF was garbage on ALL OF THEM. They also seemed to be an over-exposure problem in some situations, but only with some lenses, not all of them.

Now this year I tested a few D7000's again in the same store, and the difference was like night and day. They focus perfectly and the meter is one of the most precise I have ever seen. It's like a completely new camera.

that a camera store would let you get your greasy mitts on 14 cameras and put a shutter count on all of them?  Please, describe your rigorous in-store testing procedure for us and name the city and store involved, we could use a good laugh.

D3x MEISTER, lol.

is allowed to run rampant through these many forums and spread his poison (check his recent history) without so much as a murmur from admin speaks very poorly of DPR.  Moderators coming soon?  Let's hope so.

Now, to the OP, if Barry hasn't already sent you bawling for the exits, which is what he lives for, to scare the pants off the newbies:

The D7000 is a great camera.  Buy it and take what will be without a doubt your best, sharpest pictures ever.  The internet forums are infested with tinkerers and tweakers, most of whom couldn't shoot their way out of a paper bag.  You won't find Ray Soares or Deepak or Potter or Mako in here bemoaning their equipment or lining up cobbled-together focus targets.  They have the fire in the belly to make their cameras work for them and produce outstanding results.  Believe it or not, Nikon actually knows how to build a camera better than anyone on these forums.  For starters, the camera does not overexpose or underexpose, you do.  That is what the histogram display on the lcd is for.  If you have blinkies, dial down.  Takes a half a second.  Read Ray's settings, absorb a few a day and learn how to take sharp pictures from the master, not the dweebs with their rows of batteries and deodorant cans.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/37815130

First, I would like to apologize to the OP for the rancorous tone that has crept into this thread.  Usually, this is a nice, friendly forum where truly knowledgeable people help each other, and discuss things reasonably.

Unfortunately, one person here has had something on the order of seven Nikon D7000's and was unable to get any of them to focus.  Rather than blame himself, he blames Nikon, and continues to haunt this forum, and bad mouth the D7K, even though he no longer owns a Nikon.

Having said this, there were a few defective D7K's with AF problems, early in the product cycle.  For that matter, I'm sure there still are.  All product inspections have a few clinkers slip through.

However, the number of cameras reported with AF problems was grossly exaggerated because of the design of the AF system, and some of its options.  It is easy for someone to set the camera to a mode which almost guarantees out-of-focus shots in certain situations.  People who were upgrading from point-and-shoot cameras, or who failed to read and fully understand the ramifications of their manuals, were the primary victims of this issue.

To the best of my knowledge, there never was an exposure defect.  Rather, some people did not like the default exposure for highlights in certain situations.  However, it is quite easy to set the camera to compensate for that.

Despite all the exaggerated complaints, retailers could not keep them in stock until very recently.  The vast majority of people who own the D7K, and every reviewer I have read, love the D7K, and call it one of the finest cameras in the world - certainly within its class.

You're going to bore the pants off people with your tiresome posts.

Anyone suggesting that a few iffy bodies were out very early in production is kidding not only themselves but potential buyers. I got my D7000's a couple of months back late in the production run. AF performance was not even up to budget DSLR levels let along semi pro class.

That's my own take, you're quite entitled to your own view. You can browse around various sources for more user reviews I think you will find there are continued AF issues raised with this model and for quite some time.

Let's hope they nail the D7100 and get that right.

You sent all 4 D90's back and before getting a D7K, if memory serves. Doing a side by side comparison of same scene and settings in both cameras...will indeed yield results inline with how Hogan did it. The D7K meter is a significant improvement of the D90. If you still have those bodies.....go ahead and post a comparison where the D90 shows better metering. Many would be interested and it's an excellent demonstration.

Yes, you have indeed linked Eduardo's good work many times.  Note it is not a comparison of the D7000 to the D90.  Also note, the AF bias is designed in and a known feature.  Also note that it can be turned off/mitigated with AF-Area mode selection(demonstrated in my gallery with 4 pics)

With the D7000...(different than the D90)..AF sensor information is also integrated with the metering RGB sensor. This causes the matrix meter to put less weight to the AF sensor than in the D90. Part of the dif is lens dependent.  If you used third party lens....there will be metering slight metering differences compared to using Nikon G and D-type lens. I thing your where using a nice 3rd party 90mm often and there will be metering differences with that lens.

For those interested in how the D7K biases the focus point in Matrix metering, here are examples.

AF Array left of center is primary in all



AF-S & AF-Area mode Single...most bias (no more than 1/3 stop and less than D90)

AF-C & AF-Area mode "single" less bias

AF-C AF-Area mode 9pt  no bias vs center point

AF-C & AF-Area mode Single slight bias

To really see the comparison,,,,you have to download originals and flick back and forth.

The D7k is a just a great tool. And cameras don't "overexpose", users make them do so. The present Matrix Metering system is pretty advanced but it's still an "averaging" system that will work well almost always. If you take some advice (from here) on how to use it in the few situations it may fail (like any camera would, actually), you could use it to get almost optimal exposure all the time. If you are still more interested in photography, then you learn about manual settings and spotmetering, that is how careful shooters use the in-camera metering. For flash, MM gives about perfect exposure 99% of time.

As for AF, well, again, one needs to learn how to use it. If one goes for all Auto, it's likely going to miss the main target now and then, since camera cannot know what YOU want in focus, and only one plane will ever be in focus, so you need to make camera focus on the part of scene you want to be in focus.

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Renato. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhlpedrosa/ OnExposure member http://www.onexposure.net/ Good shooting and good luck (after Ed Murrow)