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Nikon D7100 preview updated with studio scene and real world samples

Mar 25, 2013 at 20:07:49 GMT

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We've just received a reviewable Nikon D7100, and have been lucky enough to get access to pre-release raw support from Adobe, which has allowed us to add Nikon's newest 24MP DSLR to our studio comparison database. Our testing is ongoing as we work towards completing a full D7100 review, but we hope that you find the samples useful for the purposes of comparison against the D7100's competitors. As always, you can select any camera from our database to compare against. Click here to go straight to page 1 of our updated hands-on preview.

Click here to go to the studio comparison page of our D7100 preview

Samples Gallery

There are 36 images in the review samples gallery. Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), we do so in good faith, please don't abuse it.

Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at full resolution. Because our review images are now hosted on the 'galleries' section of dpreview.com, you can enjoy all of the new galleries functionality when browsing these samples. The links on this page will go straight to a slideshow.

We've also taken advantage of our first opportunity to shoot 'real world' images with the D7100 and its 18-105 kit lens. We've shot portrait, landscape and city scenes at base ISO all the way up to the camera's highest sensitivities to see how the camera performs outside our studio.

Nikon D7100 Preview Samples - published March 25th 2013

Click here to go to the samples gallery page of our D7100 preview

PREVIEW D7100 NIKON

Nikon D7100

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Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera, Body Only●	$1,146.95	Buy on GearShop
Nikon D7100 DSLR Bundle with 18-140mm and 55-300mm DX VR Lenses and Accessories●	$1,726.95	Buy on GearShop
Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera with AF-S 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 DX VR ED Lens●	$1,446.95	Buy on GearShop
Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera Kit with 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Lens●	$1,446.95	Buy on GearShop

Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR (Body Only)	$1,146.95
Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR (Body Only)	$1,146.95
Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens	$1,446.95
Nikon D7100 Digital SLR Camera & 18-105mm VR DX AF-S Zoom Lens (Black) with 55-300mm VR Lens + 500mm Tele Lens + 32GB Card + Battery + Backpack + Accessory Kit	$1,799.95
Nikon D7100 Digital SLR Camera Body with 55-200mm Lens + 64GB Card + Battery & Charger + Case + Flash + Filter + Tripod + Accessory Kit	$1,389.95
Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX NIKKOR Zoom Lens	$1,446.95
Nikon 13293 D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera Bundle with 18-140mm and 55-300mm VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black)	$1,726.95
Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens	$996.95
Nikon D7100 Digital SLR Camera Body with 18-200mm Lens + 64GB Card + Battery & Charger + Case + Flash + Filter + Tripod + Accessory Kit	$1,799.95
Nikon D7100 DSLR Camera Kit with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR & 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Lenses. Includes: 2 High Definition UV Filters, 32GB Memory Card, High Speed Card Reader, Extended Life Replacement Batteries, Full Size Tripod, Monopod, Deluxe Backpack & More	$1,849.00
Nikon D7100 Digital SLR Camera Body with 18-140mm VR Lens + 32GB Card + Case + Grip + Battery + Remote + 3 Filter Kit	$1,499.95

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Comments

Total comments: 84

So when is the dpreview review coming on the website? :)

0 upvotes

I don't get it. How could the 7100 JPEGs have even more greenish-yellow junk than 5200, given the same sensor and processor? The mole in Nikon's JPEG group continues his destructive work...

0 upvotes

D7100 Looks like an incremental improvement, BUT, when are these guys going to recognize that the photography ends at the sensor. ie, the glass and the exposure values, focusing VR etc all end up at the sensor. After that it is all "IT". Processing, noise reduction, Bayer algorithms. Features such as GPS, wireless. pano stitching, and on and on would be much more useful. There is little advantage with pixel count now that we are at the limit where the sensor resolution matches the glass in front. I vote for additional "IT" features, some of which haven't even been thought of yet.
I'm just saying.....

2 upvotes

The photos look ok to me....No worse than any other camera in its league right now.

0 upvotes

i like using the studio scene as a baseline comparison. it looks like up to iso 6400 the d7100 does a better job presenting some details than the d600. granted, by the time you get to iso 12,000 it is obvious that the d600 is better in low light. i was also pleasantly surprised to see the d7100 outperformed the d5200 at high iso. it is starting to make me think that removing the AA filter is the way to go. i currently have the d7000 and normally upgrade every other generation (i.e. d80 to d7000) but this is showing me that it might actually be worth it to see if my favorite camera shop in NOVA is ready to make a deal for my old camera. hold a camera for me Moe.

PS. why is anyone talking about 8k and 16k displays? these things aren't even relevant yet. my best guess is you will wear the shutter out on this camera before the 16k is the standard.

1 upvote

there will be live 8K broadcast before 2016 Olympics.

0 upvotes

... and they will shoot that with a D7300 :-)

0 upvotes

Not a magazine quality
I will wait for a better Nikon product

0 upvotes

???????

The IQ of the D7100 far surpasses what is needed for a high quality magazine sized print.

6 upvotes

The d7100 should be more than adequate for magazine quality. If this isn't good enough what about the early pro canons or nikons at 8 mp?...pros found these plenty good enough for double page prints, wildlife photographer of the year competitions etc...

7 upvotes

we are switching from paper to high resolution displays, for advertisement boards that are much more demanding than magazines.

8K (30-40MP) should be enough for most applications and 16K (120-160MP) might be about the highest output we'll ever need.

I agree that D7100's quality is low for "electronic magazines" on 8K displays which will become standard by 2020, and D7100 will become junk.

0 upvotes

Actually, it is good for all but the most unusual 8k and 16k displays. Just because you can display 30 or 140MP doesn't mean you can see them. An 8k retina-resolution limited display is 29" across. You won't find a handheld paper-replacement display anytime soon. You'll probably never see a mass marketed 16k, hand-held display in your lifetime that is at 300dpi/ppi, if only because even a full sheet of newsprint is significantly smaller.

3 upvotes

lol. Woman and humor. I'll never understand...

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

6 upvotes

You don't have to wait for a better Nikon product. Look at other cameras, like the Pentax K5 IIs on the studio comparison page above.

0 upvotes

for Bayer sensors, 16K is preferable for 8K display.

Pentax isn't better though it may look better to some eyes.

1 upvote

foldable displays are possible though they are not as good as Daily Prophet yet. instead of focusing on a tiny surface, we should be able to see a large 3D image in the air (like head mounted ones now). btw, I think 16K displays are needed for Africans (Maasais). 8K is for visual acuity of 1.0 (20/20) or lower. some young can do better than 2.0.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 11 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Huh? I shoot photos for magazines with my D300S, the D7100 trumps it in many ways, but I hear no one complaining. Just exactly what kind of expectations do you have? Unless you just posted that statement as a joke...

Comment edited 52 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

I like the image quality overall. The photos have a typical Nikon look to them, which is to say that the level of sharpening and contrast is on the conservative side (vs. Canon) but that isn't a bad thing at all in a lot of instances and leads to a more natural look. The color reproduction looks quite good as well.

2 upvotes

Except the green-yellow splotches all over the faces on high ISO as as ugly as they could possibly be.

0 upvotes

Could someone fill me in on what's going on here please? All posts, mine and few others bar one, that mentioned how well the K-5IIs did in the comparison still-life shots appear to have been removed from this forum.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 4 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

There's only been one post deleted in this thread so far. And that was about a 'roomate's half-sister makes who makes $66 on her computer'

5 upvotes

You can find them here.

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikon-d7100/5

1 upvote

I think the Pentax and Olympus belong to a "higher" category and thus cannot be compared fairly with others.

the NR algorithms used for raw-cooking in those cameras are complicated and we don't know how to quantitatively punish them yet. hope those talents at DPR or DxO can find out how soon.

2 upvotes

D7100 is said to have no AA filter, but why is it still softer than NEX-7 in the studio comparison? NEX-7 studio comparison shows better micro contrast too. Is it due to lenses used?

2 upvotes

"natually" the images should look soft without processing. you can make soft looking images crisply sharp by post-processing while you destroy some details and introduce some artificial noise that actually you loose information.

0 upvotes

Are you looking at the RAWs or at the JPEGs?

0 upvotes

This cam is as good as the D4 but isn't any much better than the D3200. Go figure!

0 upvotes

How do you know? There is no D4 review on DPReview yet to compare these two cameras.

0 upvotes

It seems that DPReview took my advice about 'Real World' samples.
This series is very helpful in seeing the capability of the D7100.

These are really good, useful 'Real World' sample images.

Thanks DPReview

0 upvotes

Everything we do.

We do.

For you.

4 upvotes

LOL!

0 upvotes

You are very welcome.

Thanks again.

0 upvotes

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/reviewsamples/photos/2483878/01dsc_0140?inalbum=nikon-d7100-preview-samples

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/reviewsamples/photos/2483903/26dsc_0428_acr?inalbum=nikon-d7100-preview-samples

It looks like the skies are still overexposed, just like the d7000.

0 upvotes

Firstly the first image was shot on manual so the photographer made the decision as to how bright the sky would be and they did an excellent job of balancing it with the relative darkness of the foreground. That image and the other one you linked really shows off this cameras incredible dynamic range.

The second image you linked to was shot on auto but the camera did a very good job of balancing the exposure between the subject ( building) and the sky. All lowering the exposure so the sky was less bright and retained more color would have done is made the building too dark and the whole image much more noisy.

So neither of these are "overexposed." You could argue for shooting in raw, protecting the highlights more and bringing the foreground brightness up during the raw conversion but that would lead to more noise so it is really a judgment call/personal taste kind of thing. I suspect these were shot in jpg anyway so it's a moot point.

0 upvotes

@Couscousdelight - so you really rely on camera's metering to get it right every time?. On all the cameras that I have had, I consider the camera's metering as a starting point and then adjust as needed.

2 upvotes

Good job on the preview ... and done in good time as well. Thanks!

2 upvotes

Looking at the high ISO samples and test images, it's clear that 24MP is pretty much the limit for an APS sensor. They should probably stop at this point and wait for the technology to catch up a bit.

3 upvotes

Really? I just compared the Canon 7D vs the D7100 at 6400 in raw. The nikon did better.

3 upvotes

pretty easy in this way!
you are comparing high iso from an old camera (canon 7d is from 2009) with this newer nikon!
there 's a 4 years distance between those two models which in hi-tech evolution it's a lot!

6 upvotes

It´s a fair comparison since the 7D is still actual, still being sold and costing quite a lot. It´s not Nikon´s fault that Canon was not able to change its APSC flagship. And from this point of view Nikon´s 24 MPx camera performs much better than Canon´s 18 Mpx.

7 upvotes

The Canon 7D may be the company's flagship APS-C camera... but the fact still remains that its 4 years old... One could argue that its almost 2 generations old... so making a comparison with Nikon's latest & greatest camera is not at all a fair comparison...

Wait till the 7D Mark II is out... probably sporting a 24 MP 1.5 crop factor chip... then we'll see just how "good" the D7100 really is...

1 upvote

lensberg: you are absolutely right. For now however the D7100 is probably the best APSC (along with K-5 IIs) and no matter how good the 7D Mk II will be, the D71000 will still be one of the best APSC DSLRs.

3 upvotes

And when is the 7D Mark II going to be released ? As far as I know it is vaproware.If you want to compare teh 7D Mark II, compare it with the Nikon D400 (again vaporware). That would be a fair comparison, vaporware vs vaporware.

5 upvotes

@Tap0: :-)

0 upvotes

@iudex
you are totally right : d7100 is probably the best actually ... but not alone! togheter with the k5IIs!! ;)

1 upvote

"Wait till the 7D Mark II is out... probably sporting a 24 MP 1.5 crop factor chip..."

Not "probably" at all, all first-party (Canon's) EF-S lenses are made for 1.6x crop factor, and using them on 1.5x will just magnify vignetting and other optical problems in the corners.

0 upvotes

Based on this comparison, from a pure pixel peeping stand point(noise and ressolution), it's not any better than my $400 D3200. Of course, these two camera are in totally different class outside of pure sensor quality.

3 upvotes

From these samples, I can say it is a great camera! Excellent color balance. Very detailed!

3 upvotes

Oh, God, here comes everybody making excuses already for the IQ.

This looks like a great camera, and I shoot m43. The reason to buy a DSLR is not IQ, but performance.

Remember film? Absolutely no difference in "sensors", but people still paid more for cameras that performed. That's what's going on here. You can stop already with the breathless analysis of what you found or didn't find pixel-peeping.

7 upvotes

IQ is one of the primary reasons for using a DSLR and IQ from this camera is excellent.

Nobody is making excuses, they want to see images with some better glass, that's all.

But even in the context of OOC JPEGs, all you need to look at is the fine detail of the tree branches in Image #3, and the stunning portrait of the boy, Image #16. Those two images are going to help sell a lot of D7100s!

Thanks DPR, nice job.

11 upvotes

marike6, pixel-peeping?

How out of character.

P.S. You forgot the gratuitous DXO quote, to enlighten all of us as to the parameters of IQ that can't even be made out pixel-peeping!

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

3 upvotes

@bobbarber

Dude, you are just trying to stir up something, and make something out of nothing. I have zero interest in addressing your snarky comments. Just here to see the images.

6 upvotes

Incorrect.

Actually, I wait for any and all DXO comments with bated breath, because I'm curious to know what the differences are between images that nobody can see!

It's like magic.

And educational.

1 upvote

If a non-expert is allowed to add his non-expert comments: the reason why I own a DSLR (a Nikon D5000) and why I am interested in newer DSLR (a D7100) is not only IQ. I am also interested in a large dynamic range, in a good Optical View Finder, and in features like active Day-Lighting.

...and by the way: my only lens for the D5000 is a Nikor 18-200 mm lens. And I am happy with it.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

A bit of an unjustified statement in my opinion, most people buy a DSLR to get better IQ..

0 upvotes

imho, you're absolutely right.

0 upvotes

Dynamic Range. That's it. If you can't get enough of DR you have to get by without it, no matter how many pixels you might see peeping, where you still see them, instead of blown out highlights and just black shadow areas.

What a marvelous camera. Great job!

0 upvotes

Moizes 2, It seems like you should show some respect to the people who put time and effort in this website day in day out for, "the readers".

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 54 seconds after posting

14 upvotes

DPR, please change the name of the 'Comment' section the the 'Customer complaint' section.

24 upvotes

Most of them ain't customers. I'd put 'the bitching section'. LMAO

8 upvotes

Dear DP! Don't you have a pristine lens to show a new camera ability, but this peice of garbage? It is a real world, absolutely real, wake up, please! Just take a 50/1.8G, make the images, than show. What a disrespect to readers!

1 upvote

They used the 85mm f1.8G.

1 upvote

The 18-105 VR is far from a piece of garbage. If you think that's what it is, you clearly haven't read the reviews. Not sure what you are seeing, but have a look at the full-sized images, #12, 13, 17, 18, and you will be hard pressed to find more beautiful, detailed sample images.

And #16, the ISO 1000 portrait of the boy is about as good as it gets for any lens. And as Mssimo mentioned, there are a few superbly detailed images from the excellent 85 1.8G. It's a bit ironic that you think DPR is being disrespectful by posting this wonderful gallery of D7100 images.

10 upvotes

Just wondering whether the images you mention are not made with the 85 mm prime (e.g. No. 13, no. 2). Anyhow I do agree that the pics shot with kit lens are amazing and there is nothing wrong with them.

0 upvotes

@marike: I guess the child on picture 16 is a girl, not a boy. ;-)

1 upvote

@iude
Of course she is. I should have paid more attention to the pink tops. Sorry.

0 upvotes

I've had the 18-105, and it's not as bad as the 18-55, but I'd never use it on the D7100 (even the D7000 would outresolve it). The pics in the gallery are far from the level of sharpness and detail at 100% that I've been getting from my D7100 + 17-55 2.8 and 50mm 1.8D. The pics definitely don't show the true potential of the sensor, even when using the D5200 hack on ACR. Hopefully it's even better when true D7100 support comes out.

0 upvotes

Seems lens are not exactly up to game.. Considering its probably only AA-less 24 mpix APS-C I think its most demanding sensor currently available?

That moiré on water is one reason why AA isnt that bad idea..

0 upvotes

What moiré on the water? Do you mean the normal pattern that ripples make? (If you are looking at reduced-sized images, you can create moiré from just about any regular pattern. There is no moiré in the full-sized images. There are, however, indications that Adobe hasn't quite got the new demosaicking down pat; thin one- or two-pixel diagonal lines are jaggier than they should be. No, that's not an artifact of a missing AA filter, but some leftover compensation for a filter that is expected but isn't present.)

10 upvotes

Stan, there is Moiré in the full sized images. Take a look at the studio shot. Look at the coin just above Mickey's head. That's not a "normal pattern", that's just plain old Moiré. It's present in the jpeg as well, albeit not as much due to chroma noise reduction.

I know there are ways to remove that stuff in post processing, but the simple fact is that no AA means you are likely to see Moiré patterns in high frequency signals. That's why the AA filter was invented in the first place.

1 upvote

I was referring to the "real world" image samples, Michael. Fixing moiré in the studio example is simply a matter of changing the size of the object on the sensor. In the real world, that's usually a matter of a small percentage adjustment in zoom level or a few inches (depending on the subject distance—it would be much less for macro) adjustment of the camera or subject position. Because the studio test scene is as close to identical as possible across cameras/sensors, at least one high-resolution camera is going to experience a worst-case scenario (and resolution targets are designed to produce it for every camera unless it produces really mushy images). Again, you can cause moiré patterns or other aliasing artifacts in *any* mosaic representation of an image unless the sampling frequency is substantially higher than the image frequency (more than two times). (We're probably not far from that, BTW, unless there's a revolution in optics in the offing.)

0 upvotes

The coin shot, by the way, appears to be a halftone reproduction of an engraving, and all of the cameras that can resolve it with any detail exhibit problems (not just the ones without OLP/AA filters). It is very much the same situation as resampling a digital image at a non-integer resolution using a next-neighbour algorithm; there will be aliasing (and with a Bayer-style matrix, colour aliasing will show before luminance aliasing).

1 upvote

Looking good D7100! Detail preservation looks good at 6400 iso and the lack of AA filter seems to help comparing with the 5200

3 upvotes

Seems like DP would've been better off waiting to post the RAW conversions. The pre-release raw support isn't doing the D7100 any favors. There are a lot of jaggies.

1 upvote

That could be due to no AA filter with the D7100 sensor.

2 upvotes

Any plans to employ a 500 exposure time-lapse test to corroborate if the debris and oil from the shutter wheel foul the sensor? Based on the D600, it appears important to know if the 500th or 1,000th shot will be as clean as the first. Having experience with several cameras suspect of internal sensor contamination, the results might be very helpful. The problem is not unique to Nikon.

6 upvotes

Testshots with a Kit zoom?? Why not put an 50/1,4 or any other good lens on it? For me this shots shows nothing, because this lens is simply outresolved!
manfred

10 upvotes

This actually make sense since this is the lens packaged with this body - for the buyer this kit - they would want to see these samples - but I do agreed that a better lens would be nice for folks with better lenses - perhaps DPR would do in the future?

Comment edited 38 seconds after posting

5 upvotes

I'd argue that the fact that the sensor highlights flaws in the kit lens is useful for potential buyers to know.
Three shots in the gallery actually are shot with the 85/1.8 (fixing a bug right now in the lens EXIF display that's preventing it from appearing). We do plan to shoot some comparisons for the review with the 50/1.4, but we can't ignore the kit zoom.

Comment edited 11 minutes after posting

12 upvotes

Using different lenses is a good idea, but that would take a lot of time, and I don't think DPR has a large enough staff to make that reasonable.
Right now, it seems like we have lens reviews to judge lenses, and studio samples to get an idea of how much can be resolved. Perhaps a good compromise would be to shoot half the pictures with the kit, and the other half with a designated high quality lens, like a fixed 50mm?

2 upvotes

This is remarkable: I have a D300S with the same lens here: 18-105mm and never liked it. However on the 24MP sensor with no AA-filter it looks like a totally different lens now. Kudos to Nikon for improving the APS-C sensor parallel to the D800E features.

4 upvotes

Amadou i know what you mean, but i have testshots with the 50/1,4 and it´s really night and day! The D7100 can not show her strength(resolution) with the Kitlens, the difference is simply amazing if you put a good prime on it!
manfred

0 upvotes

Stick to your guns Amadou. You know what's what, and using the kit lens is a perfect way to show what people will get from the basic Nikon package. You could drive yourself crazy playing the "what if" game, as in "what if we try the 85mm f/2.8 PC Micro-Nikkor tilt-shift lens...or the 1200 mm f/11 Nikkor ED-IF...or the 8mm f/2.8 fisheye....or how about we poke a hole in a piece of cardboard with a rusty nail and tape it to the front of the body." Piling independent variables onto an equation rarely makes it more precise.

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Actualy I would argue the opposite - almost all shots, and test scene first and foremost, must be done with a kit lens (or several, if there are several kits available), how most people will use it, unless it is a pro cam which does not come with an official kit, like D4. Also I would argue that they should be done in auto mode, at least with AutoWB, to test that important feature of the camera most users will also depend on.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 84

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