Nikon P7000

[John Angulat]

Hi all,
Nikon has recently announced the release of their P7000. It looks like Nikon may (and I stress may) finally offer some competition to the well received Canon G10 / G11.
Question is this - has anyone had an opportunity to actually see or use one yet?
Even though I'm a die-hard Nikon user, I planned on purchaing a G11 in November (for casual walk-about shooting). Then this comes out!
Should I stick with my original plan, or trust that Nikon finally got "small camera" technology correct?

From DP Review: http://dpreview.com/news/1009/10090819nikonp7000.asp

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

I am still using a G9, but it looks to me like there is not much reason to stay with small sensors now. My next camera will likely be a Sony "translucent", but now we have several choices of small cameras with much better quality than the G series.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I sold my G10 for $350 to a photography student. I saw them selling for up to $600- $1000 as they are no longer made!

I'm using the Richoh GXR with the large APS-C size sensor and it is a fine camera with the 50 mm macro lens.

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Clayton, Asher - Thanks for the input.
Maybe my question was poorly worded - I was hoping for opinions re: specifically the Nikon P7000.

 

[Wendy Thurman]

Clayton, Asher - Thanks for the input.
Maybe my question was poorly worded - I was hoping for opinions re: specifically the Nikon P7000.

I've been awfully dormant around here for many reasons- life, work, the guitar, yadda yadda. Anyway, I bought one of these today. I've read a lot about the P7000 and it has firmware issues but nonetheless I selected it over the G12 because a) I think Nikon rushed it to market for Photokina and will provide a download fix, and b) I'm a Nikon user and know the menus, have NX2 software (which doesn't work with the P7000 but see a) above), and c) it will do things the Canon will not, or so I understand. At any rate, I purchased the camera in Dubai this morning and am flying to London tomorrow morning. The camera will get a workout in the next week and I will post my thoughts and results on this thread. I know I am a month-and-a-half late on this thread but will keep it alive for those who may be interested in this camera.

All my DSLR's are at home so this camera is it- the only thing I have to work with.

Wendy

 

[John Angulat]

Not to worry Wendy, globe trotting soul that you are!
Its good to hear from you and I hope all is well.
Disappointingly, I didn't get much of a response to my question.
Oh well...maybe if I asked about a Canon...
Anyway, I purchased one about a month ago.
Work's been rather all consuming so I've only played around with it 2 or 3 times.
So far, can't find a negative thing to say about the camera (for a 400 buck P&S).
I'm betting you'll love it.
Have fun!

 

[Wendy Thurman]

I think my globe-trotting days are rapidly coming to an end. I'm looking at a job in either Arlington, Virginia or Cambridge, Mass- I'm about done!

Anyway, I'm going to use the P7000 in RAW and aperture priority mostly, or that's the plan anyway. If you have any recommendations regarding settings please post them- might save me a bit of learning curve frustration.

Wendy

 

[Asher Kelman]

So far, can't find a negative thing to say about the camera (for a 400 buck P&S).

John and Wendy

Can you test if there's a silent mode. IOW, can it shoot silently. The Canon and GXR digicams synthesize shutter sound. Switch these off and the cameras are silent. Perfect for music rehearsals and performances, especially at close quarters.

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Yes, there is the ability to turn off all sounds.
Menu/Set up/Sound Settings.
You may disable "Button Sound", "Shutter Sound" or both.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yes, there is the ability to turn off all sounds.
Menu/Set up/Sound Settings.
You may disable "Button Sound", "Shutter Sound" or both.

Thanks John! so how quiet is it then?

BTW, there's a really good review here comparing features with the Canon G12 and touching on the Panasonic Lumic DMC-LX5.

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Thanks John! so how quiet is it then?

Asher

Hi Asher,
The buttons and shutter are virtually silent.
Now, with that said we must remember there will be some sound associated with the lens autofocus motor, especially when initially powering on (or powering down).
Actually focusing thereafter is almost imperceptable.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Asher,
The buttons and shutter are virtually silent.
Now, with that said we must remember there will be some sound associated with the lens autofocus motor, especially when initially powering on (or powering down).
Actually focusing thereafter is almost imperceptable.

John,

That adds this camera to the small list of digicams, (so far the Ricoh GXR, Canon G 11 and G12 and now the Nikon P7000), suitable for adequate surreptitious snaps during serious moments, especially low light classical music recitals.

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Quiet? Yes, but low light advantageous? I'm not sure I can say.
I've not had an opportunity to play with it indoors, sans flash at higher ISO's.
I suspect the image quality may suffer from excessive noise.
I'll try to shoot some comparison images this weekend.
However, the only "standard" I'll have to measure against is my D300.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Just ISO 800 and 1600 would be great.

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Uh...."Houston, we have a problem"...
Ok, I'll start this off with full disclosure - I do not shoot RAW.
Never did, never will and couldn't care less about the format (and I'm not open for debate on the subject).
With that said...
Now, for the second disclosure - after attempting to satisfy Asher's request for some sample RAW images I find the P7000 does NOT capture RAW files in the "standard" Nikon .NEF format.
The files are .NRW, some new wiz-bang RAW format that is apparently only supported by Capture NX 2 (which I do not have ) and the View NX 2 freebie viewer s/w that comes with the camera.
Ergo, no editing in PS with ACR.
It's of no consequence to me, but I'm suspecting Wendy's gonna be real pissed off!

 

[Wendy Thurman]

Uh...."Houston, we have a problem"...
Ok, I'll start this off with full disclosure - I do not shoot RAW.
Never did, never will and couldn't care less about the format (and I'm not open for debate on the subject).
With that said...
Now, for the second disclosure - after attempting to satisfy Asher's request for some sample RAW images I find the P7000 does NOT capture RAW files in the "standard" Nikon .NEF format.
The files are .NRW, some new wiz-bang RAW format that is apparently only supported by Capture NX 2 (which I do not have ) and the View NX 2 freebie viewer s/w that comes with the camera.
Ergo, no editing in PS with ACR.
It's of no consequence to me, but I'm suspecting Wendy's gonna be real pissed off!

I knew about the weird RAW format going in. I have NX2 but they'll have to release an upgrade for it, I think. Same with CS4 (which I found wouldn't open D3x files without downloading the newest upgrade). No worries- sooner or later they'll get around to it. I think the freebie viewer will save files in a tif format so it's all good.

Wendy

 

[Asher Kelman]

I have no doubt we can open the RAW files. If not the JPGs are fine!

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I have no doubt we can open the RAW files.

Correct, the first attempts are encouraging, DCRaw (and LibRaw after a patch) are apparently already capable of dealing with it:
http://zo0ok.com/techfindings/archives/147. In time there will be more options.

Support by CS4 is unlikely, you'll probably have to upgrade to CS5 (that's how Adobe forces their loyal customers to upgrade), because I'm not sure that ACR 6.3 will be available for CS4. The bypass via a DNG conversion presumably won't work due to Nikon's intentionally encrypted color encoding. Lightroom 3.3 or 3.4 will probably support the new Raw format.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Wendy Thurman]

Here's a shot done today, saved as a tif file, opened with Capture NX2 and converted to B&W. I think I need to play around with the autofocus modes- I read something about that on the Nikonians forum. I've got the sounds shut off on the camera and it's dead silent. This is actually a handy little camera; it's showing some promise. I can provide the raw file if anyone would like to experiment with it but it's 15 megabytes (or a file with more color in it should that be preferred- this is aimed at Asher!). Very flat lighting today in London. Bloody cold as well. ISO 400 and I think 800 or 1600 would be ok though I haven't tried that yet. The camera does have plus/minus three stops of exposure control as well.

Wendy