History and Practice of Photography - Model Nikon d7000 - Essay Example

History and Practice of Photography Course: Professor: Date: Executive summary This report looks into camera Model Nikon D7000 and lens AF-S Nikkor 28mm 1.8G. The report analyses the camera specifications, giving details about its advantages and disadvantages in sensor size, shutter speed and the sensor sensitivity. The next area that this report looks at is the camera body and design, the camera is made of magnesium alloy body and a rubber hand grip in a compact design. Having an internal as well as external flash is another aspect of design that is in this camera. The camera can operate in either manual or automatic modes in various settings. Looking at the lens, it is made up of high quality plastics making it durable and tough to work in harsh environment. The aperture can be controlled either automatically or manually in the barrel of lens. The lens has a foal distance of 0.25m.From this report, the major competitor to this camera is Nikon D7100 which has a higher resolution and is a recent make. But comparing the price of the two cameras, D7000 is cheaper and still has a good resolution of 16.2MP. Table of Contents History and Practice of Photography 1 History and Practice of Photography 1 Course: 1 Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Specifications 4 Advantages 4 Disadvantages 5 Sensitivity of the sensor 6 Advantages 6 Disadvantages 6 Body and design 6 Advantages 6 Disadvantages 7 Flash power 7 Advantages 7 Disadvantages 8 Operations mode 8 Advantages 8 Disadvantages 8 Lens (Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G.) 9 Advantages 9 Disadvantages 9 Price 10 Advantages 10 Disadvantages 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Appendices 13 Introduction The Nikon D7000 is a camera that was launched in November 2010 by Nikon USA. The camera served as a compelling upgrade to the D90 which had been in the market. The camera combines the elements found in the D90s with those of D300. One of the aspects that Nikon D7000 has is an Ai indexing tab on its lens mount. This helps in mounting up to 9 non CPU lenses which can also be registered with the camera. One of the lenses that this camera supports is AF-S Nikkor 28mm 1.8G. This lens has features that are not available in any of the Nikon lens type. The lens was introduced into market in the year 2012 and designed to fit professional photographers. This report looks into the Nikon D7000 using the AF-S Nikkor 28mm 1.8G and analyses the specifications and performance characteristics looking at both advantages and disadvantages (Zoltan). Specifications Advantages Nixon D7000 has a high resolution CMOS sensor of 16.2MP. A CMOS sensor is in the group of active pixel sensors (APS) which are sensors consisting integrated circuit having an array of pixel sensors. The pixels in these sensors have a photo detector and an amplifier. Camera shutter acts as the curtain that is in front of the sensor and it stays closed up to the point when the camera fires. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of seconds. Shutter speed is one of the most important pillars of photography. This is due to the responsibility it has in digital photography such as blurring or freezing actions. Nikon D7000 allows the users to set shutter speed automatically or manually. In the automatic selection, both the shutter speed and aperture are selected in an automatic process by the camera. In most cases, the auto mode of selection offers the best quality of pictures. This is done through setting the camera to shutter priority. In this mode you set the shutter speed and camera sets aperture automatically. The camera offers a shutter speed of 150K actuations. The shutter blades are fabricated from composite Kevlar making them durable. This makes them to offer high accuracy in all conditions. Manual shutter mode is also possible in Nikon D7000 (Zoltan). Disadvantages The camera has several disadvantages in its specifications. These disadvantages stems form the camera using an earlier fashion of processor. Nikon D7000 use Expeed 2 processor which has a lower speed than the current Expeed 3. Images taken with models which use Expeed 3 processors are of high quality especially in high ISOs. This disadvantages Nikon D7000 from its successors such as Nikon D 7100. Another disadvantage is shutter failure which occurs when large variance occur (Zoltan). Sensitivity of the sensor Advantages The Camera sensors offer an ISO of 100-6400 which is expandable up to ISO 25,600. The sensor has incorporated RGB color filter array. This sensor has the ability to recognize scenes due to high number of sensors (2016) and focus accuracy. Due to its ISOs, it can work even in low light conditions. The sensor has a high signal to noise ratio, which contributes to its high sensitivity (Dhanti). Disadvantages The major disadvantage in this area is having stuck pixels when watching videos which have been shot in dark backgrounds or high ISO settings (Dhanti). Another disadvantage arises from its resolution compared to related to other cameras having related specifications. Compared to Canon 60 D, the image captured by Nikon D7000 has lower resolution. The Canon produces a more sharper images with great contrast. Several cameras in the same class also edges it out in the resolution part. Body and design Advantages The camera body is compact and light weight. The body is made of magnesium-alloy top and back covers and a rubber coating for hand grip. Nikon D7000 is dust and moisture sealed to protect the sensor from the dust which can degrade the image. The camera has a multi power battery pack to ensure long use. This enables the user to switch at will the power supply from the internal power supply. The internal power battery is capable of recharge (Zoltan). Disadvantages Disadvantage in the body and design arises from the weight, the camera is heavier than its predecessor Nikon D90. The weight of Nikon D7000m is 786g while that of Nikon D90 is 713g. weight becomes a problem when increased due to portability (Zoltan). Flash power Advantages Nikon D7000 like the D90 and D300s has an internal built flash. This flash can operate in five different modes: slow sync, front curtain sync, red eye reduction, red eye reduction with slow sync and rear- curtain sync. The flash brightness is adjustable from-3 to +1EV. This is adjustable in one third steps. The D7000 speedlight can be used manually as a repeating flash. The internal flash of the camera is powerful having a guide number of 12M or 39 feet. This is achieved at ISO 100 in complete manual mode. The speed for the build in normal X-sync speed is 1/250s but it’s possible to have 1/320s while using the Auto FP option in the reduced range (Zoltan). Nixon D7000 also includes an external flash hot shoe which is located behind the pop-up flash compartment. The purpose of the hot shoe is to accommodate the Nikon accessory flash units and other third party flash units. The flash range of D7000 is lens dependent though in most instances, the camera is sold as body only (Lars and Barnaby). Another prominent design that comes with the Nikon D7000 is a 7.5 cm LCD monitor. This monitor has a VGA wide viewing angle made of toughened glass. This helps the user to see the work in details. A major disadvantage in design is lack of touch screen which are available in the competitors (Dhanti). Disadvantages The flash system of Nikon has several disadvantages.The major disadvantage comes from third party flash models since they do not support all flash modes in the camera. This limits the use of third party flash as some of the modes not supported are vital. Another disadvantage is that D7000 flash coverage is 16mm and images taken with larger coverage tends to be less even. The limited distance becomes a disadvantage to professional photographers who would want long range shooting using the flash (Dhanti). Operations mode Advantages The Nikon U1 and U2 positions are modes that help the camera to recall everything in its settings. The camera has also an auto focus AF mode. In addition, Nikon D7000 offers the user with several select modes (all, some, 3D among others). The camera also allows manual focus in camera mode. Nikon D7000 features a movie mode with autofocus. This helps the user in live view shooting provided the lens supports it. The auto focus mode in video shooting adjusts the focus automatically. Disadvantages The major disadvantage in the operation modes is the video autofocus mode. This is because it is very audible especially when one is using an internal microphone (Mark). Having audible video mode leads to problems in situations where no nosie is required. This may bring to disruptions in shooting wildlife or small childrens where no interference is required from noise. Lens (Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G.) Advantages The camera offer compatibility to Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G lens. This lens has an AF drive and Nano crystal coat. These aids in minimizing flare during backlight shooting conditions. The lens is made up of high quality plastics making it durable and tough to work in harsh environment. The focus ring is made of rubber which dampers it to operate smoothly (Lars and Barnaby). Aperture refers to the opening of the lens’s diaphragm which allows the light to go through. The calibration of aperture is numerical in a distinct format such as 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4 and 5.6 in that order. This is according to f/ stops. Having a lower f/stop leads to a large opening in the lens making the image to have a blurry background. To have a sharper image, it’s therefore advised to use a higher f/stop (Tamron USA). Focal length is the distance between lens’ nodal point and camera image plane in mm. Using focal length, it’s possible to determine the angle of view characteristics of the lens. Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G lens has an equivalent focal length of 42mm with an equivalent aperture of f/27 which is full format equivalent in terms of depth of field. The lens offers minimum focus distance of 0.25 m which is maximum magnification ratio of 1: 4.5 (Tamron USA). At smaller apertures of 80 mm, it’s possible to control diffraction. The Nikkor aperture is adjusted in the lens barrel. Using this type of lens, aperture can be adjusted manually or automatically (Dhanti). Disadvantages The major disadvantage of the lens arises from the size. Nikon 28mm f1.8G lens is rather big adding more to the camera weight. The weight of the lens is at 330 g which almost half that of camera itself. This leads to problem in balancing when taking photos. The cost of the lens is also high compared to the lens of its type (Dhanti). Price Advantages Nikon D7000 faces competition from D7100 which is its successor. The D 7100 offers higher resolution with increase of up to 50 percent over D7000.This means that the images from D71000 are sharper with resolution of 24 megapixels. Despite the new entrant of D71000, D7000 offers a good option due to its pricing which is cheaper by 250 pounds. The Nikon D7000 costs for 650 pounds while the D7100 costs 1099 pounds (Mark). Disadvantages Despite the price being cheaper than its main competitor D7100, the price is still high compared to other phones with same specifications such as Canon D90 (Mark). Conclusion Nixon D7000 is a digital camera that is satisfactory in usage due to few drawbacks it has compared to advantages. The camera is compact and has specifications that have been improved from previous camera models such as D90. Having 16.2 megapixel sensor and a high speed Expeed processor makes it an ideal camera for professionals. The camera has high quality output images in all ISO setting which ranges from 100 to 25,600. From the research done in this report, it has been established that the major advantages of this camera are: high quality image, many high end features and detailing when using high ISOs. The camera has also several setbacks such as having inaccurate view finder which do not show ISO apart from when adjusting. The price rating is fair compared to the features that the camera has. References Dhanti, P. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Nikon D7000 (Review)”. Latest Tech News. 2010. 13 Sept. 2013. . Gordon, L. “Nikon D7000”. Camera labs. Dec 2010. 13 Sept 2013. . Lars, R. and Barnaby, B. “Nikon D7000 Review”. Digital Photography Review . Dec 1. 2010. 13 Sept 2013. < http://www.dpreview.com/news/2010/12/01/nikond7000review> Mark, G. “Nikon D7100 Review”. Photography blog. 25 March. 2013.13 Sept 2013. < http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/nikon_d7100_review/ Tamron USA. “Focal Length Comparison Tool”. Tamron USA. Austin Blvd.2012. 13 Sept. 2013. Read More