It wasn't until Micro 43rds came out in 2008 with the Panasonic Lumix G1 soon followed by the Olympus EP1 that mirrorless would start to gain popularity. But for the next decade up until around/after 2018 whether you shot a DSLR or a Mirrorless camera was very much a "choice" and camera MFG would often show you the pros and cons of either format.
This started to change when Sony abandoned their A mount Hybrid SLT system in 2014 (which was still a Mirrorless camera in all respects but people treated it as a DSLR) and went full into pushing their E-Mount Mirrorless system as the only option for ICL from Sony going forward.
It was the beginning of the end for DSLR cameras even though it would take Canon and Nikon another 5 years to make this leap and start to mothball their DSLR mounts; but any DSLR released after Sony fully committed to E-Mount in 2014 I would classify as a Swansong camera.
Past this point most DSLRs would stop getting "better" or more innovative in order not to compete with the newer Mirrorless cameras. In the 2020s DSLRs would become a very small niche, with only Pentax doubling down on continuing to develop the format (for now).
While you can still buy brand new DSLRs from Nikon and Canon a lot of these are cameras that were developed before 2018 and are still kept in production until they run out of parts or until stockpiled warehouse supplies run out.
The Nikon D7200 came from the beginning of the last generation of DSLRs that pushed the envelope of what these cameras could do, and also included cameras like the big sister Nikon D500, D750, Canon 80 and 90D and Canon 5D Mark IV.
Many cameras of the last of the DSLRs released after the D7200/D750 and 5D Mark IV era around were made to be worse then the previous generation; such as the Nikon D7500, Nikon D3500 and Canon Rebel T100. These cameras were produced to soak up surplus sensors and appeal to more budget-friendly audiences; signaling the end of the DSLR era.
In many cases "upgrading" to this last generation of DSLRs IE going from a D7200 to a D7500 would actually be a downgrade. The D7500 takes out more premium features such as a second card slot and weathersealing along with using a sensor that isn't very different then what the D7200 uses.
As such, the D7200 is my swansong DSLR- a great end to a format that is going to be no more then a footnote for camera collectors such as myself in another 5-10 years.
Released in 2015, three to four years prior to the 2018/2019 Nikon/Canon DSLR drop dead year the Nikon D7200 is a Professional APS-C crop DSLR featuring a 24mp CMOS sensor. While it wouldn't be the last DX crop DSLR from Nikon, it shall be the newest DSLR that I own as anything newer really doesn't give me all that much in terms or performance or image quality that the D7200 doesn't provide.
I bought my first D7200 used in 2019 after my Canon 80D had an early "death" due to weathersealing failure in the battery compartment (while I got the 80D to work again- I didn't trust it after it had shorted with water getting in the battery compartment so I sold it and moved to Nikon).
This was a camera that I was planning on setting me up for the next 5-6 years as my primary workhorse camera for event photography. But that workhorse slot only lasted one year as the unpredictable happened: the world went into Lockdown due to the COVID Pandemic.
Facing a tight budget and not being sure of when or even if events would be allowed to come back, I was forced to sell my first Nikon D7200 in the summer of 2020 in the middle of the Pandemic to pay mortage for a month I was unemployed.
I would get to re-buy another one two and a half years later in early 2023 for $200 less then what I sold my original D7200 for; but by that time I already owned a Z50 and would later double down on upgrading my M43 camera to the very capable Panasonic G9 a few months later.
At time of writing this I own two mirrorless cameras above the D7200 in terms of being more modern, reliable and having faster AF and more features; leaving the D7200 as the best mirror-flipper I own but no longer the best or tied for the best camera I own.
I'm happy that I did re-buy this camera in 2023 vs letting it go and fully moving on with the Z50 (as I could have) even if the "future of Photography" at this point is all Mirrorless.
There's also a lot this camera can do that I am still only beginning to discover, and having a native mount camera to mount the lenses in my budget that I can afford (Used Nikon F mount) still has some advantages over adapting them to the Z50.
I have a ton of native mount glass for this camera including some like the Tamron 60mm macro lens which does not play well at all on a mount adapter. The larger body also balances better with bigger lenses such as the Nikon 80-400 that I shot many of the photos for this review with.
The biggest downside to this camera or its Achilles Heel, which I touched with on my D7000 review; is that the Liveview AF accuracy and speed is not the best even when compared to other DSLRs of its age such as the 5D Mark IV or Canon 80D.
This camera is built to appeal to the DSLR traditionalist who lives shooting with the Optical Viewfinder, Liveview shooting being more of an afterthought then a focus on this camera.
In addition the D7200 does not have the burst speed of the Z50 or G9 and lacks the better AF tracking including Animal tracking present on newer Mirrorless cameras. It also does not have the UHS II support of the G9 as well (but neither does the Z50).
While this swansong DSLR is no longer my best camera, and may fall into more of a backup or secondary camera role it is still an extremely solid camera I plan to shoot regularly for many years to come in large part for not having a true upgrade path to this camera in mirrorless format due to Nikon dragging their heels on making a Pro/Prosumer APS-C Z mount camera.
So enjoy a few photos I took this week with the camera that really sold me on Nikon APS-C cameras; the Nikon D7200 a final ode to the DSLR:
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