I love this camera - that's the bottom line for me. I'm taking a big step up from my first digital camera, the Nikon D40 which my husband wanted so he could start digital photography, and I could not be happier with my choice.
However, I think it would be a waste of money for any one not familiar with the adjustments we used to routinely make with 35mm SLR film cameras. The Nikon D7000 can certainly function as a fine point and shoot. But why spend almost twice as much on this over the lighter D3100 if you just want to point and shoot, and maybe edit with PhotoShop or some such?
For me, it's worth the difference because I want the freedom to quickly and easily make adjustments such as setting aperature or shutter speed to freeze or blur action; adjust the white balance on the fly for what I want the image to be; adjust the autofocus field and metering to suit the particular situation; switch from single shot to continuous, etc. The Nikon D7000 puts all that in menus and sub-menus like the inexpensive Nikons, but it also puts it out right on the camera body, available through just one button and the turn of a wheel.
Also, this ended up being just about as inexpensive for me as the Nikon D3100 because I would not have been satisfied with the kit lens on the D3100 - and replacing it would have been more expensive than using all the wonderful Nikon lenses I have left from the film days - WHICH NOW ALL WORK BEAUTIFULLY ON THE D7000. (Of course, I did get my D7000 for $1,199, not the current prices.) The inexpensive Nikons keep down weight and cost by not including a focusing motor in the camera - you have to rely on one in the lens. The D7000, like other top of the line Nikons, includes its own focus motor. Nice little bonus with the D7000 is its treatment of my old A1 lenses.
I have some optically very good, and very fast, A1s. With the Nikon D7000, I can program it to recognize them - with just the push of a button and turn of the wheel again. All I had to do was assign a lens number to each of the lenses and provide the focal length and maximum aperture. Now I can use them with no trouble, I just have to focus them as always. And the switch to go from autofocus to manual focus on the old lenses, or an autofocus lens that can't effectively autofocus in the particular situation (like my autofocus trying to pick up a tiny hummingbird in the middle of a rose bush this morning) is conveniently located by the side of the lens where my left hand would be going any way to grab the focus ring for manual focus.
This is one really sweet camera. It will do whatever you want. The controls are easy and simple to understand if you have the background in photography - or want to learn.
As I said, I think people are wasting their money if they buy this just because it is the new, hot camera when it is really more than they need. But, if you want to be able to control the camera settings, and do it quickly without having to mess around with the camera, this is great.
NOTE, after reading other reviews. Nikon DSLRs have never had great video, and this doesn't seem to be an exception - if you want a video camera, get something else. As for complaint about the manual, I think it goes back to my comments about needing to have some SLR experience or being willing to learn. I found the manual completely understandable - it generally even explained each function a couple of times if you read all the way through the several hundred pages of manual. Best way I've ever found to deal with this is sit down with the manual and the camera and really work my way through every setting, button, and dial so I know what I have.
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