Barry Clemmons Photography

<p>Noreen, although I believe you are having some fun, I do in fact have the D7200 mounted on my 600mm lens and plan to get some shots of birds over the next week weather permitting. Not sure I will be shooting at ISO 6400 though. :)</p>

<p>And here is the D7200. The angle is slightly different from the shots yesterday since I didn't save those raw files as I thought.</p><div></div>

<p>Okay, I'm not a huge fan of NX-D but it is all I had to work with on the raw files. Here is the D7100 at ISO 6400 raw file converted to jpeg with no processing other than sizing for the website.</p><div></div>

<p>Shun, please remove my last two posts since I just noticed that they are not at 100% crop. I was using NX-D and am not familiar with it yet, but had to use it since it is the only NEF converter available at present. I will re-do them and post again. Sorry about that.</p>

<p>Tony, are you saying you want the photos cropped and saved as raw files for posting?</p>

<p>And here is the D7200 at 12800.</p><div></div>

<p>For comparison, here is the D7100 shot at ISO 12800.</p><div></div>

<p>Maybe it has been on Nikon's website for a while, but I just noticed that Nikon has all of their DSLRs broken down into "Entry Level", "Enthusiast" and "Pro". Under enthusiast level is the D7000, D7100, D7200, D750, Df and D610. Under Pro is the D810, D810A, D4, D4S and D3X. By the way, how many of you have put down $7,999 lately for the D3X? :)</p>

<p>I also have the raw images from the above two shots and will do my normal processing on them later today. As info, I also made two shots at ISO 12800 for comparison while I had everything set up. Like Shun I was surprised by the difference in the two cameras at 6400. I feel certain it is due to tuning by Nikon on the D7200 and makes one wonder if the same could be done for the D7100 through a firmware upgrade.</p>

<p>I used the same focus point with both cameras to acquire focus. <br> By the way, there is one difference between the two bodies if you use back body focus like I do. I assigned the AE-L/AF-L button to focus when pressed, but a half press with the shutter release also focused the camera. I had to read the manual (drat!) to discover a new menu item (a4) that disables the shutter for AF activation.</p>

<p>Here is the same shot using the D7200.</p><div></div>

<p>I ran a test tonight using the D7100 and D7200, both at ISO 6400 to see if there is an improvement with the new camera. Both shots were with the same lens (24-70mm) and settings made on the same tripod. Both shots are jpegs straight out of the camera and cropped at 100%. To me there is a noticeable difference, but others may not see what I am seeing with the full size files. The shot below is from the D7100.</p><div></div>

<p>Les, I am going to run a test later tonight at ISO 6400 between the D7100 and D7200 since that is where some of the improvements are supposed to be. At base ISO I don't expect any difference since it is basically the same sensor as I understand it.<br> Heytherek, some folks started receiving the D7200 last Friday since the dealers received them the day before.</p>

<p>I just ran it again using 12-bit and was able to get 16 shots before the buffer filled. If I'm not mistaken, the primary thing you lose with 12-bit is the ability to pull some details out on underexposed shots. </p>

<p>I just ran a quick test of buffer capacity. The setup for both the D7100 and D7200 was identical and I did the test two times with identical results. The D7100 hit 5 frames before the buffer filled while the D7200 hit 13 frames. The test was NEF files only and I used SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB cards. I moved the same two cards from body to body along with the same lens. Nothing scientific, but it does show a significant buffer increase as expected.</p>

<p>Shun, Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to start another 'is a D400 coming" discussion because like you I now believe that is a dead issue. I think this is just Nikon's way of saying get over it because this is as good as it gets as far as DX. I recently purchased a new DX body for one of my sons and it didn't contain the label like this one. Apparently this is something new beginning with the D7200. To be honest, with the increased buffer size and new AF the D7200 fits what I need in a DX body. Would I like more than 6fps? Sure. But at one time I got by with a lot less than that. If the ISO 6400 results are what I need I may even try it for some high school sports. I will try to post some ISO 6400 shots comparing the D7200 to the D7100 later today if possible. By the way, Janet Yellen hasn't used the word "patient" today has she? I may need to move some money. :)</p>

<p>Anastasia, welcome to the forum! I don't have the 70-300mm lens, but I just tried my 70-200mm lens on the D3S body for comparison. When simply turning the camera on I don't hear any noise at all from the VR. With VR on I hear the normal 'clunking" noise you describe when I depress the focus button, but with VR off it is again silent. What you describe doesn't sound normal to me, but I would wait for someone with the 70-300mm VR lens to reply just to be sure. I also wouldn't expect wear to the lettering on a lens that had only been used for 4 hours (at least normal usage). Fortunately you have time to replace the lens prior to your trip if it is indeed defective. </p>

<p>My new d7200 was just delivered. For the first time I remember there was a tag attached to the body with the model number and some marketing information. But what I found most strange was a circle with a camera image inside and the words 'Enthusiast Level DSLR". Since it is replacing what Nikon called their flagship DX body, then I take that to mean Nikon doesn't intend to produce DX bodies above enthusiast level. Or is Nikon just playing with us?</p>

<p>Shun, I believe the NX-D upgrade that came out this week has the raw converter for the D7200 included.</p>

<p>I received a call this morning that mine would be delivered on Monday.</p>

<p>And here is a 50% crop of the same image to give you an idea of what to expect should you want to crop in a little closer.</p><div></div>

<p>Jean, I am attaching a shot from my backyard feeder shot with the newer 80-400mm lens on a D7100. It was shot handheld at 400mm f/5.6 and 1/500 sec. The only post-processing was normal sharpening. I didn't put a lot of preparation into the shot, just walked out and waited for the first bird to land on the feeder. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what you can expect from this combination.</p><div></div>

<p>Shun is right. The days of significant advances from one model to the next are over, at least until some now unknown technological advance comes along. And based on the Yen vs Dollar value today the price should probably be between $1000 - $1050, but Nikon (like any corporation) is trying to patch up their bottom line for stockholders due to overall falling sales in camera bodies. And like Ilkka I am wondering why Nikon chose to eliminate the "flagship' designation from the D7200 announcement. I also wonder why they left the frame rate the same as the D7100 since an increase to at least 8 fps was one factor many people wanted. </p>

<p>Any mention of the weather sealing on the body? I would assume that it is probably the same as the D7100. Glad to see the deeper buffer, which as you say should be sufficient for all but the most demanding sports photographers. If Nikon had bumped the frame rate up to at least 8 fps it probably would have satisfied a majority of those who have been looking for the D300s upgrade. I look forward to seeing some high ISO sample photos as well, especially at ISO 6400.</p>

<p>Roberta, you are not alone. The same thing happened to me. I have a D7100 with a 600mm lens attached to it and on a tripod. On top is the SB900 flash with Better Beamer attached. I keep it near our back door for those times that the back yard fills with birds during the springtime. One day I was looking at the front of the flash when I noticed that the AF-assist illuminator cover was partially melted in the middle. I couldn't figure out what happened until I noticed the afternoon sunlight coming through an overhead window in the same room one day shining on the front of the Better Beamer. I wondered why it hadn't happened before since it always sits in the same spot. Then it dawned on me that as the seasons change the sun hits the window at a slightly different angle each day. The flash still works, but now the flash and Better Beamer are taken off each time after use. I guess I'm lucky it didn't burn completely through, or worse cause a fire when we weren't home. </p>