Nikon D7000 - maturity in digital photography? (02.09.2011)

„With this camera, even an amateur can make professional photos“- that is how the EISA judges described Nikon D7000 when awarding it. From the moment, this camera was released, it has received three very valued prizes: EISA, TIPA and a Red Dot  product design award. Although, regarding the price, commonly it would be a first-rate camera for the amateurs, it still gets awards from professionals. Why?

I like Nikon cameras. I have the habit of sometimes walking along the streets and photograph the local life and people, who characterise the environment. To perceive the surroundings of where I live more deeply, I do it with my old Nikon FT camera from 1975. This camera is older than me but it has never needed any maintenance. I am fond of its simplicity - its shutter speed, ISO, and aperture are quite sufficient main tools for the photographer. If I add a battery, an automatic measurement of shutter speed starts to work. Anyone can handle this camera. My 3-year-old daughter has also taken pictures with it and I hope it is still working when she grows a serious interest for photography.

Things so irresistible are rarely made anymore. One positive reason of why things are nowadays built so that they would break is that the producer sees some room for development. The first decade in digital photography will be remembered by technical solutions that are practical but nevertheless bad quality; the technology has developed so fast that there has been no point in making technics physically very resistant, because the technological solutions in the technics grow old very quickly. So, the technological and physical “expire date“has been kept in balance and the common user has had to been the one to pay for this development.

Nikon is no exception in this matter. During the digital era, they also have produced fast expiring plastic cameras, which technologically very up-to-date interior has expired in few months. But now, at last, they have come up with a camera, which body is made of magnesium alloy - a material that can resist years or tens of years of tough treatment. I will now explain why I think this is the sign of camera's technological maturity.

Our family got the D7000 at the end of a spring; it went into my photo bag next to the D3s. While testing this camera, it often happened that it moved right out of my bag into the hands of my other family members who also wanted to use it. In this period of time, Miriam, who is fond of filming with this camera, has taken pictures with it and also my wife, how in years, has not even bothered to learn what is ISO or where to fix shutter speed, has taken photos with it. But they have struggled with other cameras that are important to me (F5,D3s,D700). Even my 1, 5-year old daughter Hiie Maarja took a chance in the summer when I had fallen asleep under the bushes and pressed the right button. Many of the photos she made where worth to save.

Looking at Hiie Maarja I remember why I was called a hamster when I was a child. Her cheeks are often bulgy and something always needs to be chewed, may it be half of a cucumber or a carrot or a rubber. Every morning, her first thought is: food! The image of how she tries to reach out for the bowl of porridge shaking of eagerness to get to it is worth capturing. You can write it into the child's memory book and you can also take pictures, but all this cannot pass on the beauty of the process. On a dim spring morning, when my new camera was on the table and I was making porridge with kids screaming on the background, I pointed the camera towards Hiie and pressed the button. In return, I got the moments that I have always enjoyed but have never been able to capture properly and add to the family chronicle. Before D7000, I only would have been able to capture the dimness or nothing at all in that situation. D7000 on the other hand is always ready and that is why it is so dear to me. LOOK VIDEO!

Hanging outside with children, I never take D3s (because it is so heavy) or compact camera (because it is too slow and bad quality) But I can trust D7000 hanging on my shoulder and focus on the kids, may it rain or be muddy - the body of the camera is meant just for that. And do know why I love to photograph my children with that camera? Nobody, small or not, likes to smile or be pretty when they are told. When you ask a child to be still and smile, then most probably, as a result, the child does not want to be photographed anymore, or they lose their sincerity and start joking around. That is why; I have tried to capture my children when they are not in a forced position. For example, all the children that love to swing, lose their vigilance on the swing and just enjoy the moment. The challenge for me as a parent is to capture those moments and take a photo. So far, it has only been possible to take close portrait photos of a fast swinging child with a technics meant for the professionals. D7000 auto focus works fast enough in that situation even with one of the cheapest and quite slow Nikon lens 35mmf1.8dx. If a camera can do that then it is a sign for me that it is fast enough in any kind of situation.

One day, there are two jobs are ahead of me, a video interview and shooting and filming a concert. With me, I take the whole standard equipment; the bodies of camera are Nikon D3s and D700.  In front of one of them I use Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 with a standard reach and in front of the other I use telephoto lens 80-200mm f2.8. In this case it is important to note that since D7000 has a half frame sensor, telephoto lens gets a longer reach - it is a huge win financially, extra investment in a more expensive lens with a longer reach is not necessary. When the video recording function of D3s was revolutional, because due to its big ISO reach, it enabled to record a moving image in almost all lighting conditions, then technologically, the quality of the picture was not enough to show the filmed material on a movie screen, for example. The quality of a D7000 video recording is good enough to show one the movie screen or in television - it is totally possible to record a documental and a feature film. Also, this camera's sensor is much more sensitive than the human's eye, so lack of light does not exist for this camera. I was able to film the clip of Hiie in the dim morning because ISO 6400 picture is of high quality.

D7000 is by its build in accord with its values that photographers appreciate: simple and concrete access to all the functions. Its sensor is not worse or better than Nikon D3s’s, it is different. No other predecessor for a common user has beared this kind of comparison. It has a full automatic photographing regime that enables even beginners to take pictures. But if there is a wish to develop, the options that this camera offers are practically unlimited.

For the first time, there is a camera with a comfortable size in the reach of a common user that offers the results meant for the professionals. The quality of the picture is comparable to a professional camera. Its body is resistant – that is the reason why I am not afraid to share it with my whole family. I am sure, that this camera will last for years. There has never been a camera in this world that would be so flexible and have so many options. It seems that there has come a time when it is possible to see the purchase of a camera as an investment for years.

Tauno Ööbik
Video- and photographer

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