My first encounter with a Nikon DSLR (and what got me to eventually switch to Nikon as my primary system over Canon) was my Significant Other's Nikon D7000; The very same camera that was used for this review. Back when we first met she wanted to learn how to use this camera better, and it was a fairly complex camera with a lot of features for someone starting out. So I decided to pick up a cheap Nikon DSLR of my own in order to learn it so I could teach her more about her own camera.
The Nikon DSLR I bought to "teach" myself Nikon was not a D7000. Back in 2017 even though the D7000 was seven years old it was still worth a fair bit of money considering the Nikon D7200 just came out (which I will be reviewing in a later article).
At the time I had to start with something cheaper that had a lot of the same controls to learn how Nikon DLSRs worked, which was the Nikon D90. That camera was later traded in to get my own D7000 at a more reasonable price a year later which I would later trade up for my second D7200 that I own today.
Since I don't have a D90 and they have went up in value (whereas the D7000 keeps going down) it likely won't be a camera that I'll get to review for this project unless I get really lucky and find one for sale at about half of their current going rate.
Released in 2010, the Nikon D7000 has a 16mp APS-C CMOS sensor, that was also used in the D5100. At the time the D7000 was designed to be a partial successor to the D300 as a D400 with the upgraded 16mp sensor was never made.
Canon would in turn split the Prosumer and Pro Digital bodies between the 60D and 7D and gave both a different feature-set, whereas Nikon would consolidate both into one camera the Nikon D7000; a strange hybrid-successor of both the D90 and D300 in one camera.
The D7000 was Nikon's pro level APS-C body that would continue with the same feature set until the D500 split the line between Prosumer and Pro APS-C cameras back one last time.
The D7500 would be the last camera of this line but would be drastically scaled down to be more of an "Pro-sumer" model just above a D5XXX series body to not compete with the new Flagship APS-C body the Nikon D500. Nikon removed many of the the features the D7XXX line had over the D5600 other then the top screen which stayed. In this regard the Nikon D7500 was actually a successor in the D70/D80/D90 line more then it was for the D7200.
The D7000, D7100 and D7200 would become one of the most popular APS-C DSLRs on the market due to the Dual Card slots, drive mode toggle switch, top display, and weathersealed construction competing and outperforming the Canon XXD line and competing directly the Canon 7D. They provided great value in features for the cost.
While the 60D and 7D sensor was two megapixels more in resolution then the D7000's sensor, Nikon made up for this in having superior Dynamic Range.
In 2018 my SO shot as a backup photographer at the one (and only) outdoor wedding I have/ever will shoot and the Nikon D7000 to my surprise did a lot better with harsh shadows then even my much newer Canon 80D. This event made me start to gain interest in Nikon which was sealed by my less "weathersealed" Canon 80D getting water damaged during a rainy day of shooting at the State Fair in 2019.
Shooting this camera again after using faster more responsive DSLRs like the D7200 I started to feel a few things that did really show the age of this 13 year old camera. First and foremost while the D7200's liveview Autofocus is the one weak spot that camera has, the liveview AF on the D7000 is even more primitive to the point where it is practically unusable.
The PDAF through the OVF is a lot faster and more accurate then the live view; but it still struggles to lock on focus in some situations the D7200 does not struggle with using the same lenses.
Overall this camera is still fun to shoot and gets a lot of good results; but after shooting both the D7200 and D7000 in the same week (as I had both at the time) I was able to compare the differences between the two and there were quite a few things I missed not having that the D7200 has; and they otherwise feel and shoot almost identical. There isn't enough "Retro charm" or look to the photos the D7000 takes over the D7200 to have it hold a special place in my heart for that reason either.
This camera will go back to my GF, and since my D7200 has a lot of the same controls and menus carried over from the D7000 I can still use that camera as a teaching aid to help her out should she ever decide to get back into photography.
At any rate it was a good idea to take this camera out and test/use it again as she has not used it in three years, so I'm glad to report that her DSLR works and takes solid photos just as well as I remember from the first time I used it. The love I had for this camera has since been replaced with the D7200 that I am glad to have back, which is still on my list of cameras to review later this year.
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