Let's cut to the chase

I am on the brink of purchasing the D7000 but am reading mixed reviews/opinions in this forum which cause me to hesitate egs.hot pixels,soft focus bla.bla,bla

Are there any owners of this camera out there who are totally satisfied with their purchase.If not ,why not and what do they wish they had purchased as an alternative be it a Nikon or a.n.other digital SLR.Honest and constructive replies would be very much appreciated.

Maybe you doesnt have read this one ? http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=36975545

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-D7000-14988

You will find tons of samples and unbiased analysis.

Mine rocks! I love this camera.

I have no complaints. love it so far

No problems with mine so far. My tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro has problems locking focus in low light. That's all.
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http://nicke.pictures.fi

Love mine--no problems so far.

My first 7k had two very stuck pixels viewable virtually all of the time in normal liveview and of course in shots. By normal liveview I mean I did not have to look for them with lens cap on.

I considered them "stuck" pixels as opposed to other cases where if one looks long and hard enough you'll always find a warm or cold pixel somewhere in the 16M.

I sent it back, got another...no problems whatsoever. very much like the 7k

Think of it this way - what get's more attention? Good media coverage or bad? Do you think it will be any different for forum posters? Just remember that you're looking at a small sample of vocal users that have problems while most are very happy with their D7000 - and that's just of this forum!

Personally, as a D90 owner, I would say go ahead and get the D7000! It's really looks like an amazing camera (little pricey IMO, but that's from the perspective of a D90 owner that can't justify the cost to his wife ). Best case: you have a GREAT camera; Worst case: you have a lemon which you can just take back and replace it right away. Unless you plan on taking 20min shots of your lenscap at high ISO instead of real pictures, I'm sure you will be quite pleased! :-D

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-Jaron
http://www.jhorstphotography.com

I had to return 2 and am on my 3rd because of hot pixels in video. This one does not have any problems what so ever.

It's a great little camera.
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Tommy
http://martindigital.zenfolio.com

My first one went back for back focus issues. Second one is perfect. Amazing camera. Probably going to replace my D700. I am getting tired of the size, weight and expense of FX. Sure it is better IQ at the high ISO extremes, but for 95% of my shooting I don't think anyone could tell the difference. And that is good enough for me. Your needs or experience may be different.

Just do it! every new release is accompanied by the same complaints.
--

'A man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.'
Winston Churchill

Mine works great! Early adopter. I moved from the Canon machine, too.

I think you are right, the D7000 output looks a lot like the D700 in terms of the satiny smoothness and liquidity of the images.

OP, go for it, it's the nuts!

Came from D80; no problems, I love it!

Here is the reality of things, as I see it:

1) People typically only post here, or on other forums, when they are unhappy. This gives a false sense of the amount of "problem units". There are millions of happy D7000 users.

2) 99% of problems I've read about have been user error. One of many reasons for this is that lots of new users getting the D7000 as their first DSLR and complain when they don't get amazing pictures automatically. I was guilty of this myself when I got my first DSLR. The odd unit may have a legitimate issue, as with any product from any manufacturer. You may also notice the more "skilled" users on this forum who have a D7000 have no issues - at least in the threads I have seen. No surprise there.

3) Stuck pixels are going to happen eventually no matter what camera you buy, even if they don't show up right away. Long exposures and/or really high ISO's will often show them. They can be mapped out by Nikon, or cloned out in 1 second in any post processing program.

4) Any "Soft" image from the D7000 is 95% of the time user error, or perhaps a problem with a lens - not the camera hardware. I'm sure the odd camera has an AF issue, just like every other camera. It's not common AT ALL. You will benefit from using better glass due to the 16MP sensor as well. Nikon also uses less default sharpening for JPEGs than the competition - you can simply turn this up in the menu.

Hope that helps, that has been my experience.

Mark

BackInTheGame said:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-D7000-14988

You will find tons of samples and unbiased analysis.

Click to expand...

Their D7000 9/10 score overall is more what I would have expected to see. I think DP Reviewers got too bogged down in picky detail and obscured the larger picture.

But of even more interest is that the K5 is apparently perfection at 10/10 (surprising?). Finally, the 60D at 8/10 is again what I would have expected and delivered in DPReview. Now where will K5 rate in DPReview? Another essentially meaningless Gold or Silver and unrelated and confusing numerical score.

If DPReview needs a page to explain scoring, then it's useless! Actually I feel numerical reviews are limited by so many factors as to be largely irrelevant and even misleading. I like seeing detail, comments, samples, opinions and conclusions.

I would advise DPReview to simply use Recommended or Not Recommended basically Pass or Fail).
--
John from Toronto
JBIPix Photoblog - http://jbipix.com

More fuel to the inconsistent DPR reviews. There's been a lot happening lately. PLUS they have been editing the published review on the fly with no corrections stated.

There's no way that they are accredited press/publication at this point.

Sorry to top post.

John_I said:

BackInTheGame said:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-D7000-14988

You will find tons of samples and unbiased analysis.

Click to expand...

Their D7000 9/10 score overall is more what I would have expected to see. I think DP Reviewers got too bogged down in picky detail and obscured the larger picture.

But of even more interest is that the K5 is apparently perfection at 10/10 (surprising?). Finally, the 60D at 8/10 is again what I would have expected and delivered in DPReview. Now where will K5 rate in DPReview? Another essentially meaningless Gold or Silver and unrelated and confusing numerical score.

If DPReview needs a page to explain scoring, then it's useless! Actually I feel numerical reviews are limited by so many factors as to be largely irrelevant and even misleading. I like seeing detail, comments, samples, opinions and conclusions.

I would advise DPReview to simply use Recommended or Not Recommended basically Pass or Fail).
--
John from Toronto
JBIPix Photoblog - http://jbipix.com

Click to expand...

Once I identified that I had a lens that was out of AF calibration that gave me misleading results concerning the "sharpness issue" of the D7000, I am completely satisfied. It's not a perfect body - nothing is - but it is a more than capable backup to my D700 and I am quite happy with it at the current time. Be aware that it (the D7000) does not tolerate sloppiness, cheap lenses, and poor technique at all. If you're just looking for a casual use camera, you're better off with something else like the 3100. The D7000 is "in" the mid tier category, yet, properly used, is absolutely capable of very serious professional results.

-m

That ephotozine's review is only about the camera they are reviewing, and they seem to do a very good job of it. Any current non-Nikon user would do well to read it if they are considering the D7000. I didn't look at the other reviews because my focus right now is on this camera. But I will have a look.

The information about the buffer would be very useful to someone shooting sports who wants to see the label on the ball, which requires a pretty long pull on the trigger sometimes. However, the people I know who do that shoot jpeg for the speed anyway (and use a D3s), so it probably doesn't matter since the real problem is with RAW. Shooting birds I rarely do more than three shot bursts without letup, so I don't think it will be a problem for me. Actually I will still do BIF with the D700 when possible, but the nests are almost always long shots, and this camera should be perfect for that. I haven't found any info to the contrary.