Nikon D7000 is finally in my hands!!

After almost 2 months of very hard time waiting for its official release in Malaysia, Nikon D7000 finally hits the stores here yesterday! Surely not missing any single day, I rushed to grab 1 immediately before the stocks run out! It is to replace my beloved but ageing Nikon D60 which I sold it hours after the official launch of the D7000 before Photokina Show 2 months ago! Why so sure? Because I’ve already found what I considered as the ultimate Digital camera for travel, and it is Nikon D7000!

After shooting my travel photos with it for the past 2 years, my still work as new D60 started to unveil its limitations, such as:

• I started to realise D60’s high ISO performance is not on par with my requirement. I love shooting night scenes. But I don’t like to drag my tripod everywhere I go (don’t expect me to carry a tripod along pub-crawling, do you? 🙂 );
• D60 doesn’t do bracketing. On travel, especially when time is limited, I couldn’t afford to miss any single shot. I couldn’t dump any of my photos because of them appearing blur, under or over exposed, and my travel mates closed their eyes. So I need to shoot multiple shots sometimes at one time;
• I need more Auto Focus points than only 3 with D60. I don’t trust the way where we focus on our object then only to recompose the frame. Even though in AF-S mode, your focus will be out especially when you shoot macro or close up portrait. I’d rather compose for the frame first then only select the closet focus point to my object. However, 3 AF points of D60 simply don’t get close enough.
• D60’s primitive metering technology sometimes couldn’t decide exposure perfectly. That wasn’t problem since I checked my histogram after each shot. But it took me at least 2 shots for a scene. So I need a more advance metering system and higher dynamic range in order to save some shooting time for the more important sightseeing time on travel.
• My D60 could do most of the thing I need to capture beautiful scenes on travel. However, I need to dig deep into its menu system to change those more advanced setting such as metering mode, AF mode, shooting mode, WB setting, ISO setting. And I need to reset some of them whenever I shoot either scenery, portrait or close-up objects. I need 1 or 2 touch setting speed for faster operation, again, to save my shooting time.
• I used to bring along my Panasonic Lumix DMC-28 on travel to shoot HD video. My D60 couldn’t do it and I need some podcasts on my travel blog (why Nikon needed to wait for 2 years to have HD video recording feature on DSLR since my 2-year-old Lumix already has it?).

All the above limitations of D60 is now overcome with Nikon latest DX-format DSLR, the Nikon D7000! What’s more importantly is, D7000 weighs as light as a D90!! This is a giant killer factor! This made me decided to upgrade my workhorse to D7000 over the heavier and bulkier D300s!

I got my D7000 from YL Camera Service Sdn Bhd in Pudu Plaza, KL, Malaysia. They were among the first few shops that got the stock in town. It really sells like hot cake. They’ve sold over 20 kits within an hour! I bought the D7000+18-105mm kit for RM4,550.00, inclusive with those freebies such as filter, screen protector, 8GB SDHC card, and camera bag. It still feels hot in my hand!

UPDATED: D7000 kit is selling for RM4,000 only currently (as of July 2011) which I think is a really good deal after less than a year from its availability in the market. Did I buy it too early? Not quite, I have shot more than 8,000 photos with it now, including my photos in Europe… 🙂

One of the few first test shots taken with Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 18-105mm. The weather was not perfectly clear and Picture Control was still with Standard setting.

How is it performing against the entry-level D60?

• With its high ISO performance which is at least 4-stops advantage against D60, I don’t have to carry my tripod every day and night on travel;
• D7000 has bracketing feature of 3 frames at one time. Now I have less worry to have photos with closing eyes, motion blur or wrong exposure;
• D7000 has 39 AF points so I can now focus more closer to my objects or portrait. And it focuses so fast and spot on!!
• Metering is now more accurate with spot on exposure evaluation! Its 2,016 segments sRGB sensor can now have more accurate White Balance under Tungsten / warm lighting. Look at the kids photo above. Though they were under halogen warm lighting, my daughter’s T-shirt still appeared to be white.
• D7000 has more than enough external buttons to select shooting options quickly. Also there are customizable ‘Preview’ and ‘Function’ buttons. Even better now D7000 is the first Nikon DSLR to have quick user setting recall switch, U1 and U2, which can store most of your shooting options to your preference and recall them by only 1 switch!!
• It’s also among the first Nikon to be able to record HD 1920 x 1080 video with a 16.2MP CMOS sensor, which finally matched my 2-year-old Lumix FZ28! So I don’t have to bring 2 cameras on my travel. Hooray!! 🙂
• I love its shutter sound very very much. It sounds so sweet but solid if compared with D60 which sounds flimsy and sluggish.

These are only my first impression on my new baby! I’m going out to shoot more photos and test more thoroughly on its feature now! So come back to check for updates story on my D7000 review!  –Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog.

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.