D7000 to D7100 upgrade or not?..

I have the D7000 and was wondering how many of you have switched to D7100 and was it worth it??

I have not had mine in the water yet but am going to Bonaire next week. I have noticed on land that it focuses faster and more accurate with my 105mm even in fairly dark conditions then my D7000 did. I am a little concerned about defraction with small apertures though, on land with my 105 at f/27 not bad. But f/32 pretty soft. I expect it to really shine at wide angle. Alex Mustard and Tim Rock have reviews here on Wetpixel and I found to be pretty good reads. I up graded solely for better focusing and it appears to be substantially better. I am not sure I care about the extra pixels but I suppose if I need to crop I'll be grateful.

I really thought more people would have had switched ,even if it was a newer camera. I really wanted some feedback between the two cameras

I am not sure the upgrade is worth it because of the housing change, plus I have two D7000 bodies which both work perfectly. My next body will be FX for sure, and probably not for underwater - more for land (sports) - at least until I move somewhere I can use it a lot more often.

to D610 that is an upgrade

to D610 that is an upgrade

Might as well go all the way and get a D800 then.

That's the deal with upgrades. The camera body might be the least expensive part of the change. But changing housing could cost you $2000+ assuming you can sell your old housing easily.

My feeling is the D7100 is a nice upgrade by itself, but not enough of a difference to justify the cost of buying a new $1000+ body and spending $2000 more on a new housing.

Now, upgrading to the D800 will give you a big bump in usable resolution, but you likely will have to get new lenses too.

Upgrading to the D610 will give you FX, but is it really better than what you have? I would suggest the differences are not that great, particularly between D7100 and D610.

A *good* DX upgrade would be the mythical D400 which would have a much bigger buffer, 8-10fps, buildin wifi, professional controls, etc, etc... but I'm thinking I might get a flying car before Nikon decides to give us a D400.

I have struggled with the same thought process. I'm not ready to upgrade yet, but if I were doing it today, it would likely be D800.

Here is review, to save you searching:

http://wetpixel.com/articles/field-review-nikon-d7100-and-subal-nd7100/

I just got back from Bonaire where we spent just a week. I can confirm that the D7100 seams to focus faster then my D7000. I used my 105VR most of the week and seldom used my focus light. I used my brand new D7100 with a new Aquatica AD7100 housing and I am hoping later this week to post a short review of what I liked about both camera and housing

Below shot with 105 VR with a +5 SubSee close up lens. With the plus + 5 and the 105 I had no troubles shooting in auto focus with the + 10 if the light was fairly bright and what I was shooting had some contrast to it, it would focus most of the time without a focus light, it would just take a little longer and you might have to get it close on a high contrast object first.

100 ISO, 1/250, F/27 with SubSee +5

Great Shot Paul!

Paul

That is a nice shot. I look forward to your review.

It is a shame their is a very slight difference between D600 and D7100 it would have been nice to be able to use the same housing for both cameras. I have the D600 for above water use.

Paul, that is a great shot! Is that cropped much or at all?

Just one side, I made into an 8X10 instead of an 8X12.

Thanks, that's great. The 8x10 I prefer too if framing and matting it myself. Lots more options.

Just finished my first dive trip with the D7100 after switching from the D7000. I agree entirely with Paul that the focus is much faster. Also, the increased dynamic range will be a plus when shooting natural light for sure. It is true that the new housing cost is a substantial consideration in the upgrade decision. However that cost compares favorably with the costs of new lenses if you go with an FX upgrade. I'll not get into the whole DX vs FX debate, but there are some good reasons for shooting DX, especially for macro. Alex Mustard uses both formats for good reason. My decision for the change came when I was about to upgrade my D7000 Nauticam housing to add their new vacuum system. Considering the cost of adding the vacuum system to the old housing, I figured the upgrade decision came down to about a $1000 difference once I sold my old system. I REALLY like the new Nauticam NA-D7100 housing as well...many nice new features over the D7000 housing. Were it not for the decision to add the vacuum system, I would not have considered the change as I don't think the camera changes alone warrant the expense, but in the end the combination of the new body and new housing has made for a substantial upgrade. I'm very pleased with my decision to make the change. FWIW.