Nikon D7000 and lens combination.

KentYeti · #1 (**permalink**) 13-07-2011, 06:23 PM

Yes it's me. the Yeti who posted some months ago along the lines of not investing anymore in camera gear until well into next year! LOL! Well. I think I've got just about all I need now. For the long term.

I liked the Nikon f4 300mm with the 14TC on my Nikon D80. But then got the Nikon 17TC. Wow! Superb with the f4 300mm, giving me an f6.7 500mm lens. As good as the F4 on it's own. IMHO. And I am very picky.

Great to use that combination on a decent tripod with a fluid head: took some shots of a roosting Long Eared Owl at 1/10 and 1/20 sec with no probs. And still able to use it for birds in flight. But at somewhat faster shutter speeds!

But f6.7 is a bit slow. And the Nikon F4 500mm lens is a bit heavy. In the hand and on the wallet.

Answer. I just got the Nikon D7000. Read superb review after review about it. One or two may be independent I thought. Yes. They were.

Outstanding camera. Just about only used it in very poor light so far in just under a week. Still waiting for the sun to come out for more than ten minutes.

Just taken this shot in my garden with the Nikon f4 300mm plus 17TC and the D7000. 1/500th and ISO 3200. In very dull light.

I'm waiting for Photoshop Elements 9 to arrive, (earlier versions won't edit D7000 RAW), so this is from the RAW converted to a jpeg using Nikon's software and edited as a jpeg.

It's a 50% crop with some gentle Photoshop editing on the jpeg.

I got the D7000 for it's low light capability and am not dissapointed. I had to go back and check before posting this to make sure it was 3200 ISO. It was.

Focus seems much faster too. And many other things on it are an enormous step up from my faithful old D80.

Camera Body, Lens and TC have set me back a lot. But at less than 30% of the cost of buying the same body with the Nikon F4 500mm lens I've got a superb combination that I can still easily use for birds in flight as well as tripod shots.

Bryan

marvin · #2 (**permalink**) 13-07-2011, 11:35 PM

congratulations on your latest purchase. i got mine 2 weeks ago and am absolutely loving it, especially for macro where low light can be a problem.

cheers
tim

KentYeti · #3 (**permalink**) 15-07-2011, 08:16 AM

Taken after 21.30 last night.

D7000 plus Nikon f4 300mm and 1.7TC, ie a 500mm f6.7 lens.

1/15 sec, f6.7 and ISO 6400.

I knew the only way to get anything was to get a grouping of the birds to reduce cropping. I think this is about a 50% crop.

It was very, very dark indeed.

I am waiting for Photoshop Elements 9 to arrive so I can do a full edit from the RAW which will improve it a bit: I will adjust the exposure just a little for one change. This image is from a Nikon software convert from RAW to jpeg, with the jpeg edited a little.

I think I can say that so far I am absolutely delighted with the D7000!

Oh. I've looked carefully and am fairly certain all 6 of the owls are in the photo!

Bryan

enthusiast jules · #4 (**permalink**) 17-07-2011, 10:55 PM

I have had a Nikon D7000 for a couple of months and have been delighted, particularly by the battery life.On Friday I took 2,700 shots all with continuous auto focus, and the battery was reading 80%!.I think the quoted life of 4500 shots is quite conservative.As for noise, ISO 3200 looks like ISO 800 on my old D2Xs.Check the sensors rating on the DXO ranking, it even beats the Canon 1D MkIV.
I have had one problem, the cable release/GPS socket is incredibly tight.The other day the plug on my Hahnel release actually came apart in the camera, trying to remove it.Has anyone else had this problem? And no, I hadn't put the plug in the wrong way.
Regars Enthusiast Jules

KentYeti · #5 (**permalink**) 18-07-2011, 07:02 AM

Yes Jules, I've noticed the long battery life too! Very useful indeed. That's an awful lot of photos you've taken!

Not bothered with the remote release myself: I've been down to 1/10th second with my 500mm lens/TC combination and my old "Baby Vinten" second string video tripod. The shutter button is very light and I have to assume the internal mechanics are very well set up indeed. They must be. Do hope you get your release cable problem sorted.

Went to a new level last night having to use ISO 12800. Heck of a lot of grain of course, and I need to spend more than 30 seconds doing an edit to get a better result than below. But really wanted to get some flight/hopping around shots of the four Juvenile Barn Owls at Elmley last night. They will fly the nest very soon and I don't think I'm going to get anything other than dreadfully dull evenings this week. So just had to set 1/200th sec, (needed 1/500th really), turned it up to H1, (12800 ISO), and actually got a few photos where you can see it's Barn Owls I photographed!

Bryan

earthdragon64 · #6 (**permalink**) 18-07-2011, 07:36 AM

Hubby got the Nikon D7000 a few months ago and loves it. He got it as an upgrade from his old D40X, we already have a D200, but it's a bit heavy as hubby likes carrying the camera set up and ready to go, especially for bird flight shots.

I've tried the D7000, but don't like the auto-focus on it as much as I do the D200 and my old reliable D40. I also find I end up taking 3 or 4 shots when I really only want to take 1.

The upside is that hubby uses the D7000 exclusively so I get more use of the D200. I find it great with a macro lens for flower shots, it isn't too heavy carried in my rucksack until I need it as flowers tend not to do a runner whilst setting up.

Certainly agree with the comments on battery life for the D7000, we had a week on Benbecula and it didn't need a battery change at all, even though it was used 5 days out of the 7. The D200 goes through batteries much faster, apart from the weight, that's probably the biggest drawback with it.

Regards, Audrey.