D7200 Pre release and early adopters discusion

sevencrossing

Having a DX camera as my primary kit give so many more functionality options for a budget whatever the size.

could expand on this a bit please

On the Pro dx wish list, seems to be functions that are only available on FX cameras

what functions does the D7200 have that the D750 lacks

Ironheart

It has 1/8000th, 18 frame 14-bit image buffer, 75g lighter, >10% smaller, $1000 cheaper, not on back order (i.e. It's available now). I'm sure there are others :-)

MJH_Photo

Whilst I agree with Hearty's and Ironheart's points...I also think Sevencrossing is meaning specific camera functions. The D750 has everything and more that a photographer needs, let's be honest, so it's hard to make a conclusive response in favour of DX over FX in terms of features alone. We risk going into the usual FX/DX debate!

The only true reasons (no matter what people say) that you'd choose a DX option over an FX would be fundamentally because of budget and/or bulk. I personally chose a D7200 over a D750 because I wanted the cropped images, without needing an extra few £££s for longer FL lenses (budget in my case). I'd love a D810 and a 600mm f4...wouldn't we all!

I know you can use a D750 (and other FX) in 'DX mode', but having tested both models, the 'reach' for that price is genuinely not to be sniffed at, and the quality is still superb. I got a D7200 and af-s 300mm f4d for £1450 (as I said earlier)...I can only just get an FX camera body for that amount, never mind a lens of any length/quality. It was a simple decision in the end for me!

heartyfisher

Yes the D750 was very very tempting.. and the D7200 had a few minor traits that I was hoping for that didn’t materialise (tilty screen and smaller body design like the D750, group af etc..), but the PhotographyLife review of the D7200 showed that it was a capable camera. I went shooting with my D7000 recently specifically to gauge if the D7200 would limit me compared to my D610 using the lenses that I have Tam24-70F2.8 and Nik70-200F4 These lenses work great on the D610 and provides a great general purpose range.. I am starting to like the Tam24-70 + D610 combo. However, these lenses on the D7000 are so exciting ! With the 70-200 the reach made available on the DX format and the sharpness (which is still beyond the D7000 sensor I feel that I am not reaching the potential for this lense) just makes it an awesome tele lense. with a D610 Its a nice general purpose tele and portrait lense. With the D7200 its still a nice tele but loses some general purpose usage bec it starts at 105 FOV instead of 70, but it becomes an awesome nature tele with 300mm FOV and with the D7200 in 1.3 crop mode, 400mm FOV.

The Tam 24-70 on the D610 is a good general purpose lense - I am starting to really like the 24-28mm end of this lense !! however on the D7000 it becomes an awesome portrait lense and general people lense (street, event, cozy portraits). I dont think there is an FX lense that provides this awesome portrait functionality that the DX 24-70F2.8 combo provides. ie 35-140 FOV (well maybe there is .. 24-120 F4)

In other words on DX these lenses becomes very nice specialist lenses and yet not losing its use as general purpose top class lenses.

So for me getting a D750 would be more of the same while getting the D7200 would provide me some new functionality.

If I were to have only 1 camera D750 or D7200. then the choice would depend on what budget i have left to get lenses. eg a D750 with a 28-300 and 50 F1.8 would be a nice combination.. but for the same budget I can get the D7200 with Tam24-70 and Nik70-200F4 (or Tokina 70-200 F4 ) I think I would prefer the DX system.( I think we can even squeeze in the 18-140 in the DX system budget [and a sigma 30mm F1.4])

sevencrossing

@heartyfisherthank you for your detailed analysis

The tilty screen is a good feature
As has been said before , size weight and cost are big advantages of the D7200
I would certainly consider one for a second camera
If the they were not important, I would suggest the D750 and the 80-400mm AF-S Nikkor f4.5-5.6G ED VR
but the above combination is indeed heavy and expensive

spraynpray

Personally, I was disappointed with the D750 tilty screen because it doesn't allow waist height portrait shots. The screen on my old D5000 was better although I hear some people managed to break it.

heartyfisher

I go to a meetup .. you know the type.. there there are 100 photographers in some nice scenic location(getting in each others frame LOL) any way I lent my D7000 and 18-200 to a friend.. and now they have the budget to get a camera .. they just bought the D5500 and 18-140 .. A nice kit i think if I didn't want the CLS and built in motor. less than 1000 it is an excellent kit...for a limited budget...

PB_PM

Personally, I was disappointed with the D750 tilty screen because it doesn't allow waist height portrait shots. The screen on my old D5000 was better although I hear some people managed to break it.

I suspect the reason Nikon went with the screen design for the D750 was for rigidity, over movement ability. While I too find the screen a little limiting the Wifi app kind of negates the need for it in some respects. Via a smartphone you can frame as you like and shoot while not touching the camera.

I've seen a lot of D5xxx cameras on eBay and Craigslist with broken screens, so that is somewhat telling. The design found on the D5100 and later is great for flexibility, but does have some rigidity issues. Not to mention it forced a redesign of the cameras physical control layout that is somewhat less ideal for higher end bodies.

spraynpray

I saw an unboxing video where the knucklehead was flipping the D5000 screen in and out in about a half-second repeatedly seemingly just to punctuate his sentences or summat. With eejits like that, most designs would have problems. @-)

manhattanboy

Ebay has a good deal on a refurb 7100 with 2 lenses for $700 today. Can't really get a better set-up for the money than that.

Ironheart

Traded my D7000 in for a D7200 this week. I'm very happy with the upgrades, oughta keep me happy for a while :-)

nukuEX2

Traded my D7000 in for a D7200 this week. I'm very happy with the upgrades, oughta keep me happy for a while :-)

How is it working out for you so far?

Ironheart

So far just going through the initial setup to get everything dialed the way I like it. Only took about 50 frames, and the detail is amazingly great. I started out with my 28mm f/1.8, will swap on my 35 next, and then some zooms. The focus is spot-on, no AF fine tune needed for the 28. So far, only shot in Manual, but the AF is super fast, even in low light, and great frame coverage. The body feels significantly lighter than the D7000. I want to test the buffer write speed out to various SD cards, to see if the Expeed 4 can push the bus a bit harder. I'll update here when I do.

manhattanboy

So far just going through the initial setup to get everything dialed the way I like it. Only took about 50 frames, and the detail is amazingly great. I started out with my 28mm f/1.8, will swap on my 35 next, and then some zooms. The focus is spot-on, no AF fine tune needed for the 28. So far, only shot in Manual, but the AF is super fast, even in low light, and great frame coverage. The body feels significantly lighter than the D7000. I want to test the buffer write speed out to various SD cards, to see if the Expeed 4 can push the bus a bit harder. I'll update here when I do.

Check out this post on the buffer write speeds for the 7200.
http://www.photographybay.com/2015/05/28/nikon-d7200-memory-card-speed-test/

I was amazed to see the Lexar Pro 2000x cards beat out the San Disk Extreme Pro cards.
Guess I finally have a new card for future purchases. After shooting for some time now with the 810 in DX crop mode, I definitely feel now that the "6fps" of my (albeit) 7100 is a lot slower than the "6fps" of the 810 in DX crop mode. Regardless, it is interesting to me to see that in the RAW mode that I would shoot in, the 7200 is really a 5fps camera.

heartyfisher

Got bitten by NAS .. ordered the D7200 :-) !! bet the D400 will be announced as soon as it arrives ...

retread

Got bitten by NAS .. ordered the D7200 :-) !! bet the D400 will be announced as soon as it arrives ...

I hope you are right. My NAS is needs to be fed.

nukuEX2

I have the D7200 with the 40 mm micro Nikkor f2.8!!! ) The D7200 is not a light camera. it has some heft to it and feels like you paid whole lot more for the camera. Sadly, I only got one lens with it. as the Sigma lens I wanted to get wasn't in stock but the 40mm micro Nikkor is a good walk-around lens, with the FF equivalent of 60mm with the fast 2.8 apertureI, as I'm trying to employ it as a poor man's portrait lens... ) Until I get 17-55mm f2.8 and two more FF lenses.

heartyfisher

A friend has the D7100 and the 18-35 sigma F1.8.. Its a very nice combination ... that is a great walkaround setup..

heartyfisher

Had a quick play with my new toy..d7200.... so far.. thumbs up .. double thumbs up for the af system!!! Have not looked at the images on the computer yet...its night time and the thing is like an owl compared to the d610 and d7000....the 51 af spread is fantastic esp in 1.3 crop mode... will write more when I get the chance to play with the images on my computer.

Nikonhotep

I'm wondering how the D7200 AF is compared with the D7100. I find my D7100 hunts quite a lot, or loses the focus it's captured, with my 80-400 VR when I'm trying to photograph, say, birds in shady conditions. If there's something with a bit more contrast before or behind, it often seems to think, "Ooooo! Shiny!" and go for it.

Even a bit of improvement would be welcomed. Manual focus isn't often an option, given that I'm after moving targets. I wouldn't mind improvement at higher ISOs, too, but the focus issue is of more immediate concern.

PB_PM

Good news, I've convinced my Dad to replace his ancient D80 with a D7200. Thankfully the controls are similar to the D750, so I can show him what to do without too much confusion.

Ironheart

You might try changing setting a3 Focus tracking with lock-on which defaults to 3 (Normal), to 4 or 5.
The both have the MultiCam 3500DX module, but the D7200 is driven by the faster expeed4 processor, and is sensitive to -3 EV as opposed to -2.
I can only personally compare to the AF of the D7000, which is blown away by the D7200.
This is a pretty good write up:
https://photographylife.com/nikon-d7200-vs-d7100

heartyfisher

The D7200 is dangerous.... before I had so stop shooting when it got dark at about 40 mins after sunset and I would be done cant AF any more.. Now the D7200 can AF on stuff where I cant make out what it is ..
Why dangerous? because I cant see where I am going !! its too dark to see .. I must bring a torch next time :-) and a tripod ...

Nikonhotep

Thanks for the suggestion, Ironheart. I'll give that setting a try this week. And yes, added sensitivity is what made me wonder if the D7200 might perform better. I was wondering if it made much of a difference in the "real world"

Heartyfisher, LOL! Thanks for the warning!

FreezeAction

I've ordered the D7200 and am thinking seriously of shipping it back to BH without even unboxing for a 7D MKII. I still have a tried and proven 24-70 2.8L lens that can be put on it and left on it for a special job that requires both ISO 12,800 and 8+ FPS.
The dollars are not there to shoot a full frame pro body of anyone's. I have to shoot what my customers will pay for. I've got great IQ with a D5300 for stills and the a d810 when needed. It all boils down to the right tool for the right job that will pay for itself. Something to think about is this, a carpenter doesn't buy a drill because he wants a drill, he wants holes. Rather than jury rigging the D7200 down to a crop mode for 7 fps and hope for the composition that will sell in all honesty I believe now after reading this thread I'm better off with the 7D MKII until demand makes the D5 the real and answer with my 70-200 f4 on it. I'm not moving on anything now until after a Saturday night meeting with the event promoter. Composition to me is just as important as IQ for sales and I'm skeptical of fps. I really wanted the D7200 to be the choice with the nikon glass I've collected but to many unanswered questions with it.