Nikon D7500 test and features

The release of the Nikon D7500 was a very controversial event. On the one hand, just a year ago the phenomenal Nikon D500 came out and made you believe that a professional camera didn’t have to be a full-frame camera. On the other hand, the Nikon D7200 has become a true people’s DSLR, combining great ergonomics, advanced functionality and an affordable price point.

It took something phenomenal to surpass that success. Had to take into account that the market was moving at an enormous speed towards mirrorless cameras. There are already compact versions with small sensors and miniature optics for reportage fans, and full-frame monsters loaded with giant sensors, five-axis stabilization and other tasty technology. The niche in the middle isn’t empty either. The situation is so complicated that Nikon CEO Kazuo Ushida mentioned in a recent interview, and later a company spokesman confirmed, that Nikon is developing its own mirrorless camera. Apparently, as a result, something more serious than the Nikon 1 will appear on the market.

And in such an ambiguous situation, Nikon is releasing a classic DSLR that will compete with the ultra-popular Nikon D7200 and simultaneously draw attention away from the Nikon D500. It looks like a smart mix of technologies that will keep DSLRs busy for a while, capturing the interest and budgets of amateur photographers. Let’s find out.

Continuous and test shooting: Anton Agarkov,

Subject Shooting: Sergey Razin.

Nikon D7500 Specifications

Sensor DX-format CMOS sensor measuring 23.5 x 15.7 mm with 21.51 megapixels and a maximum frame size of 5568 x 3712 medium and small RAW files can be shot dust-free sensor cleaning system, reference data for automatic dust removal in post-processing Capture NX required

Autofocus- Advanced NikonAdvancedMulti-CAM 3500 II autofocus module with TTL phase detection, fine-tuning, 51 focus points including 15 cross-type sensors 1 sensor supports f/8 aperture and AF assist light range approx. 0,5-3 m

Autofocus modes-Continuous tracking AF AF-C automatic AF-S/AF-C mode selection AF-A predictive tracking focus turns on automatically based on subject condition manual focus M : electronic rangefinder possible

Exposure metering-TTL exposure metering using an RGB sensor with a resolution of approximately 180,000 thou. pixels. Matrix: 3D color matrix metering III with type G, E and D lenses color matrix metering III with other lenses with built-in microprocessors .

Center-weighted: approx. 75% of measurements are taken of the 8mm diameter circle in the center of the frame. You can change the diameter of the circle to 6, 10 or 13mm, or apply a weighted average over the entire frame.

Spot: Measured in a circle 3.5mm in diameter about 2.5% of the frame centered on the selected focus point.

Brightness metering: available with G, E and D lenses

ISO-100 to 51200, can be lowered to 50 or H 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 equivalent to 1.640.000 . It is possible to automatically control the ISO

Shutter Speed Range- 1/8000 to 30 sec, 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV, Shutter Speed by Hand, Shutter Speed Timer, X320

Shooting modes P, A, S, M, Full auto, Effects, Scene, two slots for custom modes

Lenses- Nikon F bayonet with AF mating and AF pins

Image stabilization – the camera doesn’t have it, many Nikkor lenses do

Viewfinder-Direct reflective viewfinder with pentaprism with 100% frame coverage, diopter adjustment from -2 to +1

Monitor- TFT tilt sensor TFT monitor with a diagonal of 8 cm, an angle of view of 170 °, almost one hundred percent coverage, manual adjustment of brightness, turn on and off the screen using the viewfinder sensor approx. 922 thousand. dots VGA

Photo formats – 12-bit and 14-bit RAW, available in full 5568 x 3712 , medium 4176 x 2784 or small 2784 x 1856 RAW, TIFF RGB , JPEG with high, medium or low compression. RAW+JPEG

Continuous shooting-single burst, continuous up to 8 fps with tracking focus, delayed shutter with 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds delay and the ability to shoot a series of 1 to 9 frames at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 seconds

Interval timer photography – yes, flexibly configurable

Videotaping- 4K up to 30 fps with an additional cropped factor of 1.5, Full HD up to 60 fps. Electronic image stabilization

Interfaces-High-speed USB with Micro-B connector, HDMI Type C, remote control connector type MC-DC2, 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks

Memory cards-one SD slot, SDHC UHS-I compatible , SDXC UHS-I compatible

Power – EN-EL15 battery

Dimensions- Approx. 135.5 x 104 x 72.5mm

Weight- Approx. 720g with battery and memory card, but without protective cover approx. 640 grams camera body only

The design and ergonomics

All as in the good old days – moderate weight, the dimensions of an average DSLR, deep comfortable grip, which will suit both people with big hands and the owners of gentle hands with long slender fingers. I spent ten days with this camera in Kyrgyzstan, and I never once felt uncomfortable or tired with it. Nikon D7500 body, unlike the D500, which is made of magnesium alloy, is made of durable plastic. The camera weighs just under 640 grams without the memory card and battery versus the 740 grams of the Nikon D500.

Since the camera is breathing down the neck of the Nikon D500, then we will compare the D7500 with it. General appearance and arrangement of controls suggests that the camera is aimed at advanced amateurs. The main sign of this is the two camera control wheels on the grip – one under your index finger, the other under your thumb. On the left side of the top panel there is an “amateur” mode button. Two dials to be exact. The top button, which is unlocked by pressing the small button in the center of the dial, selects the shooting modes: fully manual, shutter priority, aperture priority, program auto.

Not bad for those who have not yet figured out the manual modes. I’d advise moving away from these automatons sooner, though. The camera takes over the setting of settings based on the algorithms embedded in it, which are not always transparent. it’s much better to understand how a pair of shutter speed and aperture and ISO value affects the future picture, and to get more predictable results by controlling all shooting parameters.

In any case, the Nikon D7500 is not only favorable to beginners, but also gives opportunities for growth and prospects of working with complex scenes on manual modes. In addition, the mode dial also has a couple of “slots” for custom settings. This is convenient if you have to shoot repetitive scenes more or less often, or, as part of one event to move from the street to the room

Under the mode dial is the continuous mode dial, which is very familiar to Nikon D7200 owners. You press the small button with your thumb to unlock the dial, and rotate it with your index finger.

On the right side of the top panel is the traditional shutter button for all Nikon cameras and the rocker switch to turn on the camera and the backlight of the auxiliary information screen. Between the shutter button and the information display, there are the video recording, exposure compensation and ISO buttons. To move the latter under your right hand index finger was a great solution that came with the Nikon D5 and is repeated in newer models. Experience has shown that moving this important button from the left side of the top panel to the right has been a great solution – it’s much easier to access here.

The controls on the back panel remain the same. There are a few important differences from the F500. There’s no joystick to choose the focus point, the af-on button is gone to be fair, the function is rather amusing, so many will survive the disappearance of this button without a problem , and instead of the programmable Fn2 button at the bottom of the left column of buttons there is the info button. Everything else is in its place – the switch that locks the focus point, the multi selector, the LiveView button and the rocker switch between photo and video modes.

I’d like to dwell a bit more on the controls on the front panel. The bracketing buttons and flash buttons stay where they are on the right side of the body when looking at the camera from the lens . This is also where Nikon’s professional cameras traditionally have a pair of connectors – a center pin and a 10-pin connector. The Nikon D7500 has neither. If you want a remote, you have to use a wireless solution like the WR-1 or a couple of WR-R10 WR-T10. Or you can use the good old wired remote MC-DC2, which doesn’t even need batteries.

On the left side of the front panel are two programmable buttons Fn1 and Fn2. And Fn1, which is in the deepest part of my grip and yet easily accessible was replaced by an aperture repeater – a function that allowed me to cover the aperture and see the depth of field through the viewfinder before I pressed the shutter. On the programmable button Fn1 you can hang a lot of functions – from the AF lock mode and exposure to the virtual horizon and simulating flash. But the aperture repeater isn’t on the list. I use this function quite a lot and I missed it with the Nikon D7500.

The Fn2 programmable button is on the left side below the lens, in exactly the same place as on the D500. And it’s just as awkwardly located as it is on the five hundred. You get used to reaching for it with the ring finger of your right hand, but it takes a long time to get used to it.

In general, all the controls are in their usual places, all the buttons are large, with a moderately elastic stroke. Wear gloves to use the camera.

Viewfinder and screen

Rectangular viewfinder is slightly smaller in size than a full frame viewfinder, but bright. I shot with the full frame Nikon D810 in parallel, I had no discomfort with the smaller viewfinder. As with all other Nikon cameras, the viewfinder displays all the key information about the shooting – shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation and autofocus assist, as well as ISO which, if desired, can be replaced by the remaining shots counter.

The built-in auto-horizon is implemented in the same way as in the D500 and D810, with small bars on the bottom and right side of the viewfinder that show the deviation from the horizon on two axes. It’s much more convenient than the framed-frame system used in the Nikon D5.

Special attention deserves the monitor camera. The D7500 has the same size 8 mm diagonal as the D500, but with a smaller resolution of 922 thousand dots versus 2359 thousand dots. Such a difference in resolution has not affected the use of the camera in any appreciable way. The fact that the Nikon D7500 has a tilt and touch screen helped me a lot. On the touch screen, you can flip through the menus and change camera settings, select the focus point, or even take a picture with a touch of the finger right after selecting focus point. But the most time-saving feature of the touchscreen is the photo viewing phase. You can zoom in and out of pictures by sliding or spreading two fingers on the screen pinchtosoom swiping through pictures. With a couple of clicks you can assign a rating to your photos, allowing you to pre-select them right in your camera

By default the monitor shows service information with shooting parameters, in contrasting dark font on a light background. You can change the background color to dark and the font to faded so the screen doesn’t hurt your eyes as much, or turn off the automatic output altogether. Also, regardless of settings, the screen turns off when you hold the viewfinder up to your eye.

monitor on the D7500 hinged, which allows you to not crawl through the mud, if you need to shoot something from a low angle and not shoot blindly from a high. The construction of the monitor is slightly different from that of the D500. Its lower edge is sunk into the camera body, which is not very comfortable, because my hands are intuitively drawn to lift the monitor is the bottom left corner, and rest against the body. So I recommend picking up the monitor by its center part, especially since there is a small notch for this on the bottom of the hinged panel.

The matrix and processor

The Nikon D7500 is a camera with a sensor with Nikon’s traditional 1.5 megapixels. It means the sensor diagonal of this camera is one and a half times less than the diagonal of 35mm film so called full frame . Cropped sensors have recently completely got rid of their main drawback – high, compared to full frame, noise. So these cameras are now pure pluses. The main one being the smaller size and weight of the camera itself and the lenses in comparison with full frame cameras.

The Nikon D7500 has the same 20-megapixel sensor as last year’s hit D500. On the one hand it seems a strange step to lower the resolution of the sensor compared to the 24 megapixels of the Nikon D7200. But on the other hand, the new sensor has a wider dynamic range, better signal-to-noise ratio at high ISOs, and RAW files from it stretch better.

Daytime shooting – watch the whole series

Evening shots – watch the whole series

The ISO of the sensor changes from 100 to 51200, expandable to 50 at the lower end of the range L1 value .0 and exorbitant 164000 at the top of the range value H5.0 . ISO values up to 640 can be considered usable without any limitations. After this value, the character of the noise changes, it becomes more evident, but not catastrophic. Noise gradually grows up to ISO 8000, after that point it becomes appreciable, but bearable. Color noise appears after 16000, but even at 25600, the photo retains its dynamic range and colors of subjects. So, with the limitations, even ISO 25600 can be considered working on this camera. At ISO 51200, the colors lose drastically, and the color noise becomes too much. Hi2 is still a very good value and can be considered very useful when you have to shoot in those times when there is no light at all. And the Hi3 and above is pure marketing. At the Hi5 limit, you can barely read the scene behind the noise.

In addition to the manual ISO setting, there is the Auto-ISO function, which allows the user to automatically raise ISO when a certain critical long exposure is reached. The function is set quite flexibly in the corresponding menu item and helps a lot when you have to shoot in a sudden change of light.

The camera allows you to shoot RAW files with 14-bit color depth in the AdobeRGB color space. It’s important for those who heavily process photos. I’ve noticed that NEF files with the Nikon D7500 stretch well in shadows and highlights, which is especially important in landscape photography with its large amounts of processing.

In addition to full 20-megapixel RAW files, the camera allows you to shoot medium 11.6 and small 5.2 raw files. This can be relevant if you need to shoot time-lapse blanks that need to be processed before being glued into a video. Or need to do a through shooting like a news report, which will require processing at a low resolution of the photos.

For processing photos in Nikon D7500 is responsible for the same exact processor EXPEED 5, as in the Nikon D500 and flagship D5. Thanks to it, the camera quickly and accurately copes with vignetting and noise reduction at slow shutter speeds and high ISOs. However, the influence of the processor on the processing of photos can be completely turned off or reduced to zero. For example, the processor may take too long to subtract noise from a nighttime photo that you had to take at slow shutter speeds and high ISO to get a clear photo of the milky way and stars.

D-Lighting – see all presets

PictureControl to see all the presets

Another traditional Nikon feature that’s quite useful is PictureControl. It allows you to choose from several presets to get the saturation, sharpness, or contrast you want in your pictures without any processing. Or vice versa it is better to null all these parameters in order to have more room for maneuver afterwards. It is important to note that the Nikon D7500 PictureControl modes are set separately for photos and videos, which is convenient because videos from the camera often have to touch up, and color correction operations are much better in an image with averaged colors and reduced contrast.

In addition, the camera’s processor can fight moderate overexposure by turning on Active D-Lighting. However, practice shows that even with D-Lighting turned on at full speed the camera compensates for over highlights very poorly. It’s much more efficient to simply shoot the same scene in RAW and pull the right information from the lights in post-processing.

Exposure metering, autofocus, and continuous shooting

The Nikon D7500 has the same 180K pixel RGB sensor for exposure metering as the D500, so even with matrix metering turned on, the camera can handle most scenes, even fairly complex backlit ones.

The autofocus system in the D7500 is a little simpler. The camera has a NikonAdvancedMulti-CAM 3500 II advanced autofocus module with TTL phase detection, fine-tuning, and 51 focus points. There are 15 cross-type sensors and only one supports f/8 aperture. This is three times less than on the Nikon D500. On the Nikon D7500, all the focus points take up 60 to 70% of the frame.

Snapshot AF and tracking AF, and auto focus, which allows the camera to choose whether to focus on a subject once or to track its movement. In tracking mode, the camera allows you to choose to automatically focus on a single selected point or group, and you can select any point in the frame within the area where they are located. You can also let the camera automatically assess the scene and focus on one of 51 points, or on a group of 9 or 21 center points.

Nikon D7500 special project

But the mode I find the most interesting and it has helped me out many times when shooting dynamic scenes is the 3D focus mode, where you set the point on the main subject and the camera itself moves the focus point by tracking that particular object.

So, the Nikon D7500 copes with this difficult task just fine. It clings to dynamic subjects, and keeps it in focus in all, even the most difficult situations. As I worked with the camera, I had no problem tracking the movements of riders that were moving parallel to me or galloping right at me. Even though I occasionally encountered objects in the field of view, the camera kept the focus on the initial selected subject. And the autofocus works with slow lenses too.

By the way, the new camera comes with the AF fine-tuning technology previously used on the Nikon D5 and D500. The essence of the technology is that it uses data from the contrast focus sensor which is used in LiveView mode to fine tune the phase focus sensor. This lets you get rid of back and front focus without calling a service center or having to do it yourself at home. This function works with all lenses without exception, including third-party optics.

CH speed shooting – watch all the frames

Speed shooting CL – see all frames

But keeping a fast subject in focus is half the battle. You still have to catch the most spectacular moment, the most interesting phase of the character’s movement. For that, the Nikon D7500 features continuous shooting at 8 frames per second. Certainly, it’s less queue of 12 frames per second on D5 or ten on D500, but still the rate of shooting, in fact, amateur camera is impressive. If necessary, the camera can be switched to slow burst mode and slow it down to a more economical 1-7 frames per second the option is set in the menu .

But who needs slow speed when you have high speed?? That made sense on the 500 with its bottomless 200 frame buffer. But the D7500 forces you to behave more modestly. When shooting RAW, only 33 frames fit in the camera’s buffer. Obviously, if you hold down the button and shoot long bursts, after four seconds the camera will start to shoot slower – a few frames per second.

All data is recorded on a single SD card. Yes, just one, no redundancy and no overflow protection. The camera supports SD, SDHC UHS-I compatible , SDXC UHS-I compatible memory cards, and I highly recommend using as fast cards as possible in the Nikon D7500 to at least speed up the upload of photos from a small buffer.

Watch all videos

LiveView and shooting video

Switching to LiveView mode, as on all other modern Nikon cameras, on the D7500 is done by pressing the Lv button on the back of the camera. It is in LiveView mode that the full potential of the pivoting display for lower and upper camera angles is unleashed. In LiveView mode, the entire field of the frame becomes available for focus point selection, and the ability to one-touch select the focus point greatly speeds up operation. Unfortunately, in LiveView mode, the camera stops working with the fast and tenacious phase AF sensor and switches to a contrast AF sensor, dramatically slowing down. Where the Nikon D7500 was catching and holding the subject tenaciously, the camera begins to behave tentatively, wobbling with autofocus. It’s almost impossible for the camera to keep a dynamic subject in focus in LiveView mode.

But with video it’s quite interesting. The camera can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second in 30-minute clips, which is not bad. True, in 4K shooting mode the camera does not work with the entire sensor area, but with an additional cropped factor of 1.5. Keep that in mind when picking up wide-angle optics for video recording, as even 18mm of a standard lens will turn into a 27mm lens when shooting in 4K. Also interesting that the camera can shoot 4K timelapses not as works of single frames, but as montaged video.

The Nikon D7500 shoots lower resolution video with no additional cropping and frame rates up to 60 fps. Also for these resolutions, electronic stabilization is available in addition to optical stabilization.

As for the autofocus when shooting video, all the same difficulties are preserved here as when shooting photos in LiveView mode, so it makes sense to learn to quickly and accurately point to focus manually. All the more reason to zoom in on part of the frame for the initial focus.

The Nikon D7500 has a jack for an external microphone for sound recording, and you can plug in headphones to control the sound in the camera. For those who want to use this camera for serious photography, it is possible to connect an external monitor via HDMI type C.

Wireless capabilities

Almost all modern mirrorless cameras allow you to quickly and easily transfer your pictures to the phone. Nikon also has this feature, but to do so you will have to install the SnapBridge software on your phone, turn on the camera and your phone Bluetooth, pair up and only then will you be able to start getting fresh pictures from the camera on your phone

the camera by default sends to the phone only photos taken in jpeg format not a bad incentive to shoot RAW+JPEG . By the way, any photo shot in RAW can be processed by the camera itself – correct white balance, increase contrast and brightness – saved in JPEG and sent to the phone.

SnapBridge also allows you to use your phone as a remote to control the camera. When connected, the LiveView image is displayed on the phone screen, as well as basic shooting parameters. True, you can’t control them with your phone, only to take a picture.

Choice of lenses

If you decide to use the Nikon D7500 as your primary camera, it’s best to choose a fleet of optics for it so that you can take full advantage of the compact cropped camera and optics. That’s why I recommend looking first at Nikkor DX lenses designed for cameras with a cropped sensor.

The most responsible should take the choice of the staff lens – with it you will shoot the vast majority of all subjects in the landscape and in the reportage. The Nikon D7500 comes standard with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mmF/3 lens.5-5.6G ED VR. Not a bad light and compact lens with a stabilizer that, in terms of full frame, covers focal lengths from 27mm to210mm, making it a versatile zoom for easy walking and travel when you don’t want to lug a bunch of gear around and constantly change lenses.

Nikon D7500. Camera Features

1. High-end low-noise DX-matrix with a cropped factor of 1.5.A cropped sensor allows you to make the camera and its lenses smaller without sacrificing image quality. Nikon D7500 sensor works great even at relatively high ISO settings. So noise up to ISO 800 can be considered virtually indistinguishable, and the sensitivity up to 25600 can be safely considered working for most subjects that do not require perfect technical quality.

2. All the benefits of a DSLR.Yes, in today’s photographic world being a DSLR is already a feature. It is commonly believed that mirrorless cameras are the future and have a lot of advantages compared to their SLR counterparts. Nevertheless, this is not quite the case. SLRs are heavier and more gripable, better balanced and more comfortable to hold. Reflex cameras last 2-2.5 times longer on a single battery charge and are ready to shoot right out of the box unlike mirror less cameras which take a few moments to start producing images on the monitor or viewfinder after powering on . And this despite the fact that the gain in weight in mirrorless cameras compared to DSLRs at the same sensor size is not so great.

3. Huge fleet of optics.The camera is compatible with both modern AF-S and AF-P Nikkor lenses as well as older “screwdriver” lenses like the legendary AF Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8. Nikon offers a huge variety of lenses in all focal lengths and for all purposes. A series of lenses are available specifically for cameras with a cropped sensor that produce excellent picture quality at small size. At the same time with Nikon D7500 compatible lenses for full frame cameras. While Nikkor prime and wide-angle lenses make absolutely no sense to use on a NikonD7500, the full-frame TVs on this camera give amazing results because their focal lengths are multiplied by the cropped factor of the camera. So, by installing the super-telephoto AF-S NIKKOR 200-500MM F/5 on the Nikon D7500.6E ED VR you get an equivalent focal length of750 mm, which may be enough for serious photo hunting.

4. Fast shooting speed and responsive autofocus.The shooting speed of 8 frames per second you will not find on every professional camera, and Nikon D7500 is capable of it. The tenacious and fast autofocus combined with this speed makes the Nikon D7500 not a bad tool for shooting dynamic sports.

5. Professional performance at a reasonable price. The Nikon D7500 has a sensor like the Nikon D500 professional camera, and a processor and exposure metering module like the flagship D5. The camera has high shooting speed. At the same time, the price of the camera with the standard lens AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140MM F/3.5-5.6G ED VR is 113 thousand Dollars

6. Vast video shooting capabilities.The Nikon D7500 can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second, with a single clip limited to 30 minutes in length. The camera can shoot 1080p movies at up to 60 frames per second with digital vibration reduction, which will work in conjunction with the VR system in the lens. The camera can also shoot 4K timelapses, you can connect headphones, a microphone and an external monitor, and PictureControl profiles are separately adjustable for stills and video.

7. Wireless capabilities.With the help of SnapBridge any photo taken on Nikon D7500 in jpeg format can be transferred to your phone or tablet. It’s also possible to remotely control the camera with your smartphone – you’ll receive a signal from the camera to your device’s screen and control the shutter release.

Nikon D7500 test shots

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