Yesterday I got the Nikon D7000 Digital SLR camera as a gift. It’s a second hand one but works perfectly with very little clicks. I just can’t believe it. My dream was to have a digital SLR but due to budget constraints, I had to shoot only with my mobile phone camera, the OnePlus 6 Android phone.
I Need This Type of Camera
Although the OnePlus 6 has a great main camera, I felt limited There were many times where I missed certain shots and couldn’t get physically closer to the subject. For example, when shooting the Sumo Grand Tournament in Osaka. You can clearly see from the image how awful it was. Well, those days are over now.
A digital SLR is the perfect tool that will allow me to unleash my creativity. Not just that, it comes with the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR (optically stabilized) lens. This is far better compared to the 18-55mm kit lens and has much better reach.
The actual 35mm equivalent focal range is 27-157.5mm in 35mm terms. This makes the camera much more versatile as a general-photography/outdoors camera, just perfect for my needs.
Built for Outdoor Photography
The D7000 is also made of magnesium-alloy which means it’s very durable and it’s also weather-sealed. Again, great for an amateur photographer like myself who plans to shoot most of the pictures outdoors.
Now there are still many functions that I don’t know how to use. But that’s understandable considering that I am never shot with such an advanced digital SLR camera. I had a digital SLR many years ago, but that was an entry-level one.
I really liked that the camera has a dual-card slot. I do plan to buy faster cards for video recording. The camera has some “ancient” memory cards that were top-of-the-line back then, but not you can find much faster ones at a very cheap price.
Better Low Light Photos Thanks to the VR
As I mentioned previously, the lens has VR (Vibration Reduction). This means that I can shoot at slower shutter speed under the recommended one for a sharp image and still get a sharp image. I think it’s around 4-stop compensation but I am not 100% sure. Nonetheless, this means that it will allow me to shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds. I need it when shooting in the late afternoon, as the lens itself isn’t very fast and I personally prefer shooting without flash, and man times, the built-in flash isn’t useful for the type of shots I am taking.
Wider Angle Than My Phone’s Camera
One thing that I’ve noticed when I checked the camera for the first time, is that the 18mm (27mm equivalent) is wider than the lens on my OnePlus 6 smartphone. So I even get to shoot at a wider field of view, which is great. There were so many times where I wanted that extra field of view when shooting building at a certain distance, and now I’ll be able to do so. I mean, you can always go back by foot, but sometimes you want to shoot at a specific location and have a specific wide field of view for a particular shot.
Super-fast Autofocus
I also don’t need to worry about autofocusing speed, because this one is a beast. The white balance is also perfect, get it right even in complex lighting conditions on the first try, which means fewer re-shots.
Active D-Lighting
The D7000 has excellent color reproduction from what I’ve tested, with an option to enhance the images using pre-defined filters and Active D-Lighting that is very useful when shooting in high contrast scenes. I tried it and it works amazingly well, feeling up those shadow area and making the image look more even and therefore more natural, the same as you’ve seen the scene with your own eyes. This is something super important for me and it saves me a step in the image processing pipeline. Natural contrast is something that is hit and miss, at least for me. That helps in solving it.
Optical Viewfinder
There is nothing better for me than shooting through an optical viewing. I get that isolated feeling, like me and the subject and it helps me better focus on what I am trying to shoot.
One of the advantages of shooting with a phone is that you get that large (6-inch in my case) LCD display that serves as the viewfinder. This allows you to see outside of the area of the composed images when with an OV you’ll have to either move the camera, zoom out (if you use a zoom lens), or just put it down, look around the recompose. With a phone, it’s more convenient in that aspect.
Yet, for me, OV is the best way to go and as for right now, for me, nothing beats an optical viewfinder. Every capture has a significant and you get that feeling of stopping time. I like that feeling, it feels more powerful compared to shooting with my phone. That’s a personal thing, but overall it helps me compose my shot better, especially when shooting in bright daylight where phone’s screen visibility can become an issue.
With optical viewfinders is the other way around, you might find it hard to see the scene in low lighting conditions (depends on the light that passes through the lens). There is no way to artificially lighten up the screen like with electronic viewfinders.
Summary
I won’t open up this article for a whole review of the Nikon D7000 LOL, but I had to share my excitement. This means that you’ll get to see higher quality photos, and this is one of the most important things for a blog that is about travel and photography.
Can’t wait to discover more about this camera. Thanks for reading.