Is D7000 really that bad?

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p>Obviously this is not the case with all users, as this forum clearly demonstrates,</p>

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<p>Skyler, you are exactly right about that.</p>

<p>It happens that I brought my D7000 and 300mm/f2.8 AF-S to a children's gynmastics class yesterday. I only brought one camera body and one lens, plus a monopod to support the 300mm/f2.8. Space is limited there and I knew that I would be restricted to shoot from a distance. That was why I didn't bother with any FX body as I wanted the DX crop, and any lens that is longer wouldn't be practical in that environment.</p>

<p>According to LightRoom statistics, there are 238 images and 219 of them were captured wide open at f2.8. I got no more than a few frames with AF errors. But of course, I used a cross-type AF point pretty much all the time.</p>

[cyrus_procter]

<p>Shun, I get it. Your D7000 works just fine. I'm so glad yours has no issues.</p>

<p>However, it doesn't change the fact that my D7000 couldn't get that percentage of in focus shots from a tripod using cross type points to a well lit focus chart at F/8. If you get a good one, like you have, then great. If you get a bad one or it goes bad, its a real pain in the neck. I'm not saying its bad, I'm saying its inconsistent, and I don't mean my D7000 being inconsistent, I'm talking about the percentage of D7000's that have genuine focus issues from the factory or become that way from usage, and I say this because I have encountered many a D7000 that has the same AF issues mine does. Actually now that I think back when I got my D7000 over a year ago, I actually feel it was much more accurate back then. I feel like the longer I've owned it the worse its gotten. I actually had this D7000 repaired over 6 months ago for dust issues, I was shooting in sand dunes, and they completely replaced the entire AF system while they were at it. It got a little better but I never really felt it was good. While I imagine you'll point out that there is something wrong with my body, I say if a camera doesn't last 6 months before you've got to start having things repaired, that's not a good system, even if it works flawless for 6 months before breaking down.</p>

<p>Every time you post you specifically mention you shoot with the cross type points. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but cross type points should be more of an issue if one is shooting in difficult situations, not something that one should have to pay attention too every time one pulls the camera to his\her eye. After all if that's the case then I do think the D7000 has a weak AF, if you should be using less than 25% of the AF points. I shot well over 10,000 shots on several D3s cameras and never had an issue using non cross type AF points, matter of fact I used those a lot more than the cross type, and I have no issues using the D800's non cross type AF points either.</p>

[fotolopithecus]

<p>The thing that makes zero sense to me is the idea that Nikon wouldn't know how to fix an auto focus issue, with any of their cameras, especially after a year of people whining about it. I've had my D7000 almost two years now, shooting a fair amount, and its still focusing just fine. Skyler, if there actually is an issue with your camera, send it back to Nikon with your evidence, and ask them to fix it properly. On the other hand, I hope you're not expecting a twelve hundred dollar camera to focus as well as a five thousand dollar one.</p>

[cyrus_procter]

<p>Oh NO! You've done it now! Prepare to have the flood gates of criticism rain down on upon you as the powers that be remind you that all cameras have an equal AF system, including $1200 & $5200 ones, its really all in the user's ability to use them, not the camera's ability focus.</p>

<p>I don't think they are the same Bruce, and that's my whole point, I think the D7000 has middle of the road AF, its ok, but not pro level, not anywhere near the D4 series and definitely a big step down from the D3 series. Sadly these opinions will practically get you burned at the stake for heresy on this forum.</p>

<p>I don't know have time to fiddle around with Nikon sending in back in three or four times getting it fixed. Now that I've got the D800 I've never picking up a D7000 again.</p>

[fotolopithecus]

<p>Skyler, if your D7000 isn't achieving near perfect focus under good lighting conditions the same as, or nearly the same as any other Nikon you have then something isn't right. I would expect the D3s to do better under more trying conditions. I can tell you're angry at your D7000, but its only a camera, and cant fix itself. How much effort does it take to send your D7000 back to Melville, have it fixed, and then at least have a light weight alternative for when you want to travel light?</p>

[robert_hooper1]

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<p>"I do acknowledge that there is a very a good chance there is something wrong with my body, but its been this way since day one, its been repaired more than once and I just don't feel this is acceptable. Of course I'm very hard on my equipment, and I need a pro body….."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Skyler, didn't a car run over your D7000? And, didn't Nikon say it was too far gone to fix but you found some repair shop to fix it for $300, anyway? What's up with that?</p>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>Yes, here it is. Back on Jan 31, 2012; 12:44 p.m., you said:</p>

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<p>Hello,<br />So I have a Nikon D7000. It was in a Nikon soft camera case (large one) and a car backed over it. The camera itself is still in pretty good condition, but one side has clearly been "compressed". Even from the worst angle if I took a quickly glance I wouldn't even notice it was broken. The damage was sustained directly over the battery compartment, and the camera will not power on, although its like new, in excellent condition (non-damaged areas). So I sent it into Nikon Inc, and they gave me a quote, $200 to repair it. I approved it, they charged my card. I received it back this morning very excited that it would be repaired, sadly, when I opened it up, I discovered the camera in the condition I sent it along with a note from Nikon saying the camera was "Unrepairable" and that I had not been billed. I was kind of shocked to discover Nikon could not repair their own camera. I was wondering if anyone else had this experience and if there is a place that would repair it. Like I said the camera is like new, in excellent condition (its was less than 3 weeks old when it got damaged, less than 500 shutter count), even if it cost me $600 to get it repaired, it would be much better than having to replace it.<br />Any suggestions?<br /> Thanks in advanced!<br />Skyler</p>

</blockquote>

[Mike D]

<p>Skyler, if you paid with a credit card (I use Costco AmX) and the camera was only 3 weeks old, one of the benefits is the credit card company 90 day buyer protection program. AmX Insurance Co will give you your money back to purchase another D7000. You may want to check the fine print of your credit card company and , if available, take advantage of this little known benefit. Don't leave home without it. </p>

[fotolopithecus]

<p>You've got to be kidding me! You're the guy that ran over you're camera with a car, and you have the nerve to lead us all on this delusional magical mystery tour for the last couple of pages? Lol, man-o-man Skyler, do you need a wheelbarrow to carry those prestigious stones of yours around.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>This is why you never get your D7000 wet or feed it strange media after midnight. Suddenly gremlins everywhere.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>Bruce and Robert, if you actually read Skyler's posts you will see that he has used several D7000's and I believe only one of them was run over by a car so I'm sure his comments are not based on a damaged camera. My D7000 certainly wasn't handled roughly, and I feel his analysis closely mirror my experiences (as well as others). A lot of people seem to be on the defensive and I think it's because of the title which greatly exaggerates the matter and attracts attention.</p>

 

[ShunCheung]

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<p>I feel his analysis closely mirror my experiences (as well as others).</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ilkka, of course. Both of you insist on using mostly the outside line-type AF points under dim light in situations where the depth of field is thin, e.g. 200mm/f2 or 300mm/f2.8 wide open or f1.4 lenses wide open. If I used the D7000 that way, I too would have a lot of AF issues myself. I could have tried a hundred D7000 or D3, D4, D700, D800 and they would all have the same problem. The lack of cross-type AF points outside of the center of the frame is a very fundamental limitation in the design of Nikon's Multi-CAM 3500 and 4800.</p>

<p>By its nature, line-type AF points are only sensitive to contrast in one direction. Under dim light, they don't work as well due to the lack on contrast. Regardless of whether those line-type AF points are on a D3, D4, D800, D7000, or a Canon DSLR, the limitation is still there. While Canon manages to put more cross-type AF points towards the edge of the frame on the 7D, 1Dx, and 5D3, unfortunately, Nikon hasn't done so.</p>

<p>The difference is that at least you Ilkka are aware of that limitation, as you wrote on Jun 05, 2012; 10:58 a.m.:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>There are a number of factors that can lead to less good AF results: the use of screwdriver lenses instead of AF-S, the use of far off-center AF points instead of the cross-type points in the center of the array, the use of wide apertures, hand-holding instead of having the camera on tripod, and so on. I use off-center points a lot, together with wide apertures, and know that these are contributing factors</p>

</blockquote>

<p>As photographers, we need to understand the limitations of our tools and work around those limitations. For example, I usually print 8.5x11; Nikon DSLR's 2:3 aspect ratio is too wide anyway. Therefore, I place the face closer to the center of the frame to take advantage of the cross-type AF points and then in post-processing, crop the end with too much room for my final composition. I do that with Nikon FX and DX bodies alike, not merely the D7000.</p>

<p>If people are still reading this thread :-), the following site has a good description about the basics of cross-type vs. line-type AF points: <a href="http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-autofocus.htm">http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-autofocus.htm</a><br>

That web site works much better with Firefox than with Internet Explorer.</p>

<div></div>

[cyrus_procter]

<blockquote>

<p>Ilkka, of course. Both of you insist on using mostly the outside line-type AF points under dim light in situations where the depth of field is thin, e.g. 200mm/f2 or 300mm/f2.8 wide open or f1.4 lenses wide open.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes Shun, this is correct, because this is how I shoot my other cameras and they AF just fine. That's why I feel the D7000's AF is a big step down, because when I shoot it the same way I do my other cameras, I don't get the same results.</p>

<p>From your posts it sounds like you pretty much only shoot the D7000's and other camera's Cross type AF points. Perhaps if you spent more time shooting the outside points you would discover the behavior that Ilkka and myself have been discussing the big difference between the D7000 and the D3\D4 series.</p>

<p>To answer everyone else, my opinions on the D7000's AF is based on a D7000 that I purchased brand new, that was never run over, repaired by Nikon once (which according to their repair sheet completely replaced the AF system). I put over 25,000 photos on that camera in around a year, while that isn't terribly much I feel that is enough to draw conclusions.</p>

<p>The post you see about a run over D7000 was me picking up a backup body cheap by getting it for next to nothing (from the couple that had run over it) and repairing it. However I've put less than a 100 shots on it because by the time I got it back it was apparent my D800 was right around the corner and I was going to sell it anyways so I boxed it up.</p>

[robert_hooper1]

<blockquote>

<p>Bruce and Robert, if you actually read Skyler's posts you will see that he has used several D7000's and I believe only one of them was run over by a car so I'm sure his comments are not based on a damaged camera.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I did read Skyler's new and old posts, Ilkka. Which is why I am skeptical of Skyler's statement of facts. </p>

<p>You, I trust completely.</p>

<p><a href="00Zwn6">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00Zwn6</a><br>

<a href="00aJsa">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00aJsa</a></p>

 

[cyrus_procter]

<p>Robert, did you not see my response? That was a D7000 I bought from a lady because she ran over it and it was an investment. I've taken less than a 100 photos with that camera, basically I bought it and resold it. My experience with the D7000 is based on a D7000 that I bought brand spanking new from Amazon, over a year and a half ago and I have myself put 25,000 photos on it, about six months after purchasing it I shot in the desert and experience serious sand issues, so I sent it to be cleaned from that and Nikon repaired the AF on the their own, I didn't see much of a difference.</p>

<p>I buy and sell many cameras, at least you could pay me the courtesy of asking if my experiences were based on the camera that had been run over or not.</p>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>Okay, I have nothing more to add, anyway.</p>

[michael_s10]

<p>I've had a d7000 with autofocus issues that had been sent back to Nikon twice for repair of the autofocus system. Still, I'm not 100% satisfied with it. </p>

<p>An earlier poster in this thread said something that I had been beginning to suspect, which was that lenses with internal focus motors work really well, and AF-D lenses give lesser results, and that some of this is directly related to the time it takes to acquire focus. My prior camera (which I still own - a d90) would refuse to let the shutter open until the subject was really in focus. The D7000 seems to give a best guess and let the shot go through. When using the camera in challenging focus situations with relatively static subjects, I would get better results from the d90 in terms of focus than the d7000, since the d90 would give me better feedback. In situations with fast moving subjects and challenging focus situations, the d90 would get lesser results since it just would not acquire the target at all, and the shutter would not release.</p>

<p>I only have on pro lens - 105 f2.8 VR - and I get outstanding results with that lens consistently in a variety of lighting conditions. </p>

 

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p>My prior camera (which I still own - a d90) would refuse to let the shutter open until the subject was really in focus. The D7000 seems to give a best guess and let the shot go through. When using the camera in challenging focus situations with relatively static subjects, I would get better results from the d90 in terms of focus than the d7000, since the d90 would give me better feedback.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Michael, on pretty much all Nikon DSLRs, there are two Custom Settings to control whether the camera should capture an image only when it thinks it is in focus or just capture an image regardless. Those are the Release Priority vs. Focus Priority settings in Custom Settings a1 and a2 on the D7000, for AF-C (continuous) and AF-S (single) respectively.</p>

<p>If you prefer your D7000 not to capture an image unless it is in focus, select Focus Priority. However, the shutter will not respond if your subject is not in focus.</p>

<p>The AF motor inside the D7000 is clearly not as strong as those on the D2, D3, and D4. Therefore, if you use AF lenses that depend on the in-body motor, you will see differences in terms of AF speed.</p>

[cyrus_procter]

<blockquote>

<p>Michael, on pretty much all Nikon DSLRs, there are two Custom Settings to control whether the camera should capture an image only when it thinks it is in focus or just capture an image regardless. Those are the Release Priority vs. Focus Priority settings in Custom Settings a1 and a2 on the D7000, for AF-C (continuous) and AF-S (single) respectively.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I experienced the same thing as Michael, even on status shots with subjects that weren't moving. My D7000 will often "lock" focus when really focus is very far off. I put into focus priority mode and it doesn't solve the problem.</p>

[michael_s10]

<p>Shun - </p>

<p>The camera is in focus priority mode.</p>

<p>To be clear, we are not talking about being a "a lot out of focus" - but being an inch or two off with a shallow DOF can make a big difference.</p>

<p>Is the camera that bad? I'm still keeping mine, but I do a lot more work with it to understand how the AF engine behaves than I did with my d90 or d50 - but that could also just be an effect of both higher expectations as I get better at this.</p>

<p> </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Michael, if your D7000 is already in focus priority mode, and your focus is off by an inch or two, you may need AF fine tune.</p>

<p>Check out my review of the Nikon 85mm/f1.8 AF-S. I used two of those lenses and one of them requires -9 AF fine tune on my D7000, although that particular lens works fine with all of my other Nikon bodies. The other sample has no AF issue on my D7000.</p>

[cyrus_procter]

<p>You know Shun, I think you should try listening. We aren't asking for your help, and most of us are already aware of the basic settings you are talking about. We are reporting our findings, our experiences. There is this thing called a conversation, means it goes back and forth. You are like a preacher, preaching from the Nikon manual on a pulpit. You could be much better mediator if you listened, because you would probably come back with a response like "Gosh guys, I didn't know that people were having these kinds of issues with the D7000" rather than "My Nikon works flawlessly, therefore every other Nikon works flawlessly so you must not know how to work your camera" attitude. Not that you can't be like "and you have tried thus and thus and thus right?" but multiple people on this forum have had the exact same experiences, like sending it multiple times, issues with long fast glass, issues with AF locking but not really being in focus, perhaps its time you admit there are genuine issues, and be thankful your camera doesn't suffer from them rather than rubbing our noses in the fact that you got lucky and your camera works very well.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

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<p>"There is this thing called a conversation, means it goes back and forth."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Logically, that would include politely tolerating opinions that differ from your own and anecdotal experiences that counter your own anecdotal experiences.</p>

[michael_s10]

<p>I have a correction programmed in for that lens. It's important to understand that this is not a consistently off problem on the lens - it's simply the behavior of the autofocus system in difficult focusing conditions.<br>

Is my copy different from most of the others? I don't know. Is the behavior of the autofocus system generally a bad thing? I don't know that either. All I know is that it's different than my copy of the d90.</p>

<p> </p>

[cyrus_procter]

<p>I do politely tolerate Shun's opinion, I'm asking him to politely tolerate our experiences, rather than giving us ways to fix our experiences. As Michael pointed out, he's already programmed the settings Shun suggested, and as my experience confirms, its a behavior with our bodies, but Shun refuses to acknowledge that. The way he talks one would think that to him all DSLRs were created perfect, its the users behind them that are flawed, to me, both DSLRs and their users are flawed and I take it on a case by case bases and in the case of the D7000 I often do find users to blame, I also often find the camera itself to blame when the user is doing everything he should, and I find it varies from body to body, in the case of Shun's camera, it works quite well, in the case of mine and Michael S's and Ilkka's cameras, less so, Michael D's pair of D7000's didn't work so well until he got them repaired. Obviously this camera has a wide range of preforming as it should. So to go back to the original poster's question, if your D7000 works well then thank your lucky stars, if not, then there are real issues that plague it, that is not the user's fault.</p>