My Review

Originally submitted at Adorama

I Love This Camera, But...

By Moonshine Photography from Milton, VT on 2/26/2013

 

4out of 5

Pros: Solid but not too heavy, 2 SD card slots, Easy to Hold, Long Battery Life, Very customizable, AutoFocus, crisp clear photos

Cons: A LOT OF BUTTONS, Hard To Switch Lenses, Awkward Autofocus Button

Best Uses: Professional Shoots, Everyday photography

I want to start by saying that I bought this as a refurb, and the first one I received was defective. It would only autofocus randomly, and even on full Auto shooting mode it refused to focus. This is not Adorama's fault because it comes to them factory sealed from Nikon and is supposed to have been checked out thoroughly by Nikon. After a seamless hassle-free return and exchange my second D7000 works like a dream. I use it with an 18-200 Sigma DX lens, a 35mm Nikkor and an 18-55mm Nikkor and an SB-700 flash. I upgraded to this camera after exhausting my Canon Rebel XSi and needing something more professional to use. I'm blown away by the image quality and the customizable menus. I purchased a book on how to master this camera because there is so much to learn and it is really helping me. I generally take photos of children and the autofocus tracking so far has proven to be phenomenal. It has a focus lock that allows you to set a time limit on how long it stays locked on a certain object, such as a bird flying, if a closer object appears in the viewfinder. That means that if a tree or a road sign were to come into view when you are tracking the bird it will ignore them and stay locked on where the bird was for x amount of time, after which it will refocus on something else. Definitely a must have for candid child photography. I also do landscapes and am still learning how to configure the menus for optimal colors and white balance. Looking forward to summer when there are actual colors around.

What I don't like so far about this camera is more of a personal preference matter. I don't like how many buttons there are and how many require me to use my left hand. The ISO, WB, and playback buttons are all located on the left hand side of the LCD screen. On my last camera it was the opposite. I'm sure I just need to get used to it. I also have trouble remembering that the autofocus mode change button is on the side of the lens mount (not the lens itself, but just next to it on the body) and it is a bit awkward to push as I do have a bit of a fingernail and it is set inside of a switch. To change AF modes you have to hold this down while turning one of TWO dials on the right hand side of the camera. I am finding myself having to think an awful lot when changing modes and settings on this camera. This can cause me to lose a shot or two but again, I need to get used to it.

Changing lenses is also more challenging than it was on the Canon Rebel. It turns in the opposite direction and does not seem to slide into place the way my other one did. I am hoping this does not result in sensor dust as time goes by.

I bought this camera because I wanted something more challenging than the Rebel and more professional to give me confidence in taking my hobby to a new level. I do feel that this camera has fulfilled these desires and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade to a prosumer camera.

D7000 using 18-55mm lens and SB-700 Flash

Tags: Made with Product, Jumping

Handheld with no flash and ISO 2000

Tags: Made with Product

(legalese)

Fireworks In The Snow

Last night was the first time I have been to our town's Winter Festival.  Usually I'm a wimp about cold and going out at night into a blizzard seemed a little crazy but it was actually BEAUTIFUL out and I'm so glad I went!

My camera is now 3 years old and the other day while photographing my bread making adventures it slipped out of my hands and landed lens first on the floor at a bit of an angle.  My favorite lens, the 18-55mm kit that I use for EVERYTHING took the brunt of the impact and now no longer will autofocus.  It makes a sad little noise.  I am able to use it with manual focus which is a major pain in the patooty.  I do have a Quantaray 28-200mm lens that a friend was nice enough to give me a while back and its the closest thing to a wide angle lens that I have now.  It actually takes really nice sharp pictures BUT the thing that drives me nuts is the barrel (zoomer) turns in the opposite direction of all my other lenses!  This can be a real problem if you are quickly trying to zoom in on something and your brain is trained to turn it to the left, but the lens turns to the right!  Other than that, its a great lens.

We arrived at the Rec Park at 6:45pm.  My friend Becca and her two kids joined us at our house and we walked over as I live very close by.  We only had my 3 year old daughter with us and she rode in a sled.  Unfortunately when we arrived she played in the snow for about 5 minutes and then her hands got cold and she freaked out and was miserable for the rest of the time.  My friend and I walked back to my house and got her car which has a video set up inside and ended up letting Autumn sit in it the rest of the time watching Zhu Zhu Pets dvds!  Oh well!

At 8:00pm the fireworks show started.  Now, this is the night that Blizzard Nemo was to come through the state.  It had been snowing all day from a clipper system that came over us from the Great Lakes  (we live in Northwestern Vermont) and we had accumulated about 8-10" of snow from that.  It was still snowing pretty good last night, but right around 8:00 is when the winds from the Nor'easter started coming through.  I set up my tripod (a nice heavy one thank goodness) and my camera and started shooting.  I used an ISO of 100, an aperture of f/14, and a shutter speed from 10 sec to 15 sec for most of these.  Any faster of a shutter speed and I wasn't getting the dramatic look I wanted.  There were two snowmobiles parked in my foreground and multiple people standing around watching them in front of me.  I was the length of 2 soccer fields away from the source.

Here is a link to my album on SmugMug, where the quality is much better than Facebook:



The Festival continues this weekend.  If you live in the area and want to know more about the events click on this link to the facebook event page!