Nikon D7000 Underwater

You willl probably do it but it would be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison of the D700 vs the D7000 in low light conditions.

 

Saw this baby at DEMA and boy did Nauticam came on lightning fast on this new camera.

 

Enjoy

 

Michel

Did a side by side here http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...=38246&st=0

There's about a stop in it in my opinion.

What an attractive dive site!

 

Now, I find the big D300s Nauticam very comfortable to use: is the D7000 comfortable, or are some of the controls a bit awkward? It looks a bit cramped on the right-hand side in Rob's photograph. Answers awaited at your convenience...

 

Tim

 

It should be noted that all Nauticam DSLR housings can have the handles moved out about 1/2" per side with the addition of p/n 25011 ($45), handle spacers (pair). I find that most men benefit from this, especially if you wear gloves.

Jack

Yes - this housing has the smallest handles with no spacers - this was so it would fit in Edward's hand luggage going to DEMA!

For my hands the handles were a bit small in 5mm gloves, but now in the Red Sea (28˚C) they are fine. If it was my housing I would put the spacers on, and they did send me some, but there was not time between the end of DEMA and me leaving for the Red Sea for me to get them.

Alex

Keep us updated Alex, I am very much looking forward for this review. On the same boat as others here, seriously considering replacing my D2x with this puppy. The AF performance is of specific concern to me, so could you please tell us in the review how it compares to the D2x (and other pro bodies)? Cheers!

Auto focus is really impressing me (in normal shooting mode). But it is not great in live view for video. Especially if you use a slow lens like the 10-17mm fitted with a filter.

But in all other ways the camera is proving first class.

Alex

Hi Alex, on the D7000 can you set shutter speeds higher than the 1/200th limit that the D90 has when using optically slaved strobes?

Cheers,

Jim.

Auto focus is really impressing me (in normal shooting mode). But it is not great in live view for video. Especially if you use a slow lens like the 10-17mm fitted with a filter.

 

But in all other ways the camera is proving first class.

 

Alex

That sounds great Alex, I am not interested in video, at all

Hi Alex, on the D7000 can you set shutter speeds higher than the 1/200th limit that the D90 has when using optically slaved strobes?

D7000 Flash Sync is 1/250.

But it is not great in live view for video. Especially if you use a slow lens like the 10-17mm fitted with a filter.

I'm not sure if I can think of a situation with 10-17 where live focus shooting video would be beneficial... Certainly midrange and macro lenses could benefit from it for hand held work, but with a lens this wide I don't see the point. Even the best af systems will lose focus and hunt occasionally, blowing the clip. In many ways not using live focus with a lens like this reinforces good video technique.

Not sure how sync is implemented on the D7000, but I am able to optically sync to 1/320th sec on my D300s using TTL/FP mode with 2x YS-110a strobes. A lot of the time you can tweak an extra bit of sync speed out this way.

Jack

Auto focus is really impressing me (in normal shooting mode). But it is not great in live view for video. Especially if you use a slow lens like the 10-17mm fitted with a filter.

 

But in all other ways the camera is proving first class.

 

Alex

What about live view with AF for stills? Equally problematic?

Is there a dslr that does it all, including great video and live view AF? Or only the ones that cost several thousand $?

Or is the nex5 the way to go for live view and both stills and video, without costing too much?

Thanks!

Live view for stills is a useful feature on this camera. The first SLR I have found this to be so - as shutter lag is minimal.

The standard flash synch is 1/250th (but you can change it to 1/320th in custom setting e1 and still have TTL. Coral fluorescence, D7000 + 60mm AFS. Nauticam housing, 2x INON Z240 strobes, Glowdive filters. 1/320th @ f/9:

Although the camera does not have a dedicated AF-ON button, you can assign the AF-L/AE-L to be AF-ON, which at the same time disables the AF function of the shutter. This works in both normal shooting and live view and it is a good way to shoot in live view - stopping the focus from hunting and giving you a push to focus function. However, we found it has too much of propensity to hunt to use it during filming while shooting video. As Peter says you can also hear the button being pressed on the video! For stills it is fine - as you wait for it to be focused then shoot.

Alex

Live view for stills is a useful feature on this camera. The first SLR I have found this to be so - as shutter lag is minimal.

 

Alex

Because you haven't tried any sony DSLR yet! ;-)

Because you haven't tried any sony DSLR yet! ;-)

Do they make a housing for it ;-)

Regards Mark

Hi Alex,

I would like to hear more about the Video on the D7000 especially the manual movie settings.

Regards Mark

Did some video continuous focusing tests this morning - both panning between near and far subjects and with moving fish - using the Nikon 60mm AFS f2.8 with no lights and no filter.

The static subjects with panning are fine, but flitting butterfly fish were a bit too much of a challenge. It hold focus most of the time on the butterfly fish, but in the end, when it looses it, the sequence is lost. Since I am not a vidiot I'll put the clips in the review, so that more experienced folks can judge the capability for themselves.

Alex

Although the camera does not have a dedicated AF-ON button, you can assign the AF-L/AE-L to be AF-ON, which at the same time disables the AF function of the shutter. This works in both normal shooting and live view and it is a good way to shoot in live view - stopping the focus from hunting and giving you a push to focus function. However, we found it has too much of propensity to hunt to use it during filming while shooting video. As Peter says you can also hear the button being pressed on the video! For stills it is fine - as you wait for it to be focused then shoot.

 

Alex

Would it not be valuable to use AF-ON or half press the shutter for video in a similar fashion to that you describe for stills, simply to fix chosen points of focus, essentially using autofocus as a way to focus manually rather than relying on one's eyes to judge whether the picture on the screen is in perfect focus or not. I ask this because I have a hard time with a videocam underwater judging focus on the screen. This seems to work for me topside. On camera sound underwater is of fairly limited use, recording mostly the sound of scuba bubbles. If sound is important adding an external hydrophone would be better would it not?

At risk of stating the bleeding obvious but - look at the number of hits that this topic is getting 1800 so far.

As an indicator of interest in the D7000 it may suggest that now is the time to buy Nikon shares - the D70 almost single handedly saved Nikon, is the D7000 poised for similar glory ?

Paul C

I guess Paul that alot of Nikon users like myself hav been waiting for a camera take on the Canon lineup. It would be interesting also to see what Nikon makes to take on directly with the Canon 5DmkII with maybe their proposed D800???

Regards Mark

Home, through the snow. Working on the review. Hope to have it up tomorrow - mainly dependant on me figuring out how to sort the videos for sharing.

Any volunteers for helping me - gratefully received.

Alex

....The standard flash synch is 1/250th (but you can change it to 1/320th in custom setting e1 and still have TTL.....

Alex

Thanks for clarifying that Alex. Looking forward to the complete review.

Cheers,

Jim.