new equipment celebration thread

[Marlton Mom]

It's still not too late to run over to Manhattan and pick it up in store!!



Just kidding!


Marlton Mom

 

[pgowder]

Who doesn't love seeing those three beautiful, beautiful words on the UPS tracking page?!

I can't wait for this workday to end!

Yep, those days are great!

I'm waiting for my notice now on the new lens.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Only problem with that phrase is if they have it out for delivery and nobody is going to be home. Hate driving to the UPS delivery center to pick up a package.

That's why I have everything sent to work.

Which can sometimes be REALLY bad. There's no way I could make it through the day with a new camera sitting on my desk.

 

[Gdad]

Hate driving to the UPS delivery center to pick up a package.

At least you CAN do that with UPS- with USPS or FedEx you are just s-out-of-luck until the next day. I am no stranger at the UPS facility.


@UPS by ~Life by the Drop~, on Flickr

 

[saturndb]

enjoy your new camera! Hopefully by now the UPS site has that one word we love as well....... delivered!

 

[Mickey_Firefighter]

Glade to here that. Have fun playing with it.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Our Fedex in Oklahoma allowed pickups. It was really convenient both because it was on my way home from work and because it was well run. Our UPS was on the other side of town and was crazy to do business with. You couldn't pick up you package until it was offloaded from the truck, but that didn't happen until about an hour after they closed. So you had to get there before they closed and wait for an hour while they gave you dirty looks.

Where I live now, they often ignore the signature requirement and just leave stuff. Ad to that the fact that my wife is often home and I haven't missed a package in years.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Yeah I can do a pickup at my Fed Ex sorting facility.

I get about one Fed Ex or UPS package per week and I know both of my drivers pretty well. They'll leave the package on my front stoop at this point, unless I have a relief driver. Then it's a hassle.

If it's something expensive and I don't want it sitting out there, I'll just have it sent to work.

 

[Groucho]

At least you CAN do that with UPS- with USPS or FedEx you are just s-out-of-luck until the next day. I am no stranger at the UPS facility.

Just the opposite here - no UPS pickup the same day (though you might be able to stop out and hang around and they may take pity on you), while FedEx usually lets you. The main UPS warehouse is actually only a couple miles from my house. FedEx was farther away, but since then, they've built another warehouse that's even closer.

(I've got something coming on a FedEx truck tomorrow myself... and just happen to have the day off!)

 

[rossb]

Who doesn't love seeing those three beautiful, beautiful words on the UPS tracking page?!

Enjoy, I'm sure you will love it.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it and see if you think it's really "worth" the upgrade from the D90 in terms of features, IQ, etc.

I have both cameras and I've shot them side by side. As far as IQ goes, the 7000 is not really an upgrade. With respect to features, the 7000 certainly has more features and menu items. The ability to fine tune lens AF is pretty big. So is the faster flash sync and a base ISO of 100, which essentially gives you even more flash sync speed over the D90. The drive mode dial is also a nice feature.

 

[rossb]

The mirror lock will also be very useful with your long exposures. There is also a cool new option called delayed exposure. When the option is on the mirror goes up and stays up 1 second before the exposure for a steady image.

 

[WDWFigment]

The mirror lock will also be very useful with your long exposures. There is also a cool new option called delayed exposure. When the option is on the mirror goes up and stays up 1 second before the exposure for a steady image.

So far I am really liking the camera. It's too early to give a decent review, but in my short time with it last night, here's what I noticed:

• fairly insubstantial improvements in high ISO. ISO 3200 and 6400 looked cleaner, but not by a ton
• similar button layout to the D90 (but with more). Took no time to transition from the D90.
• better dynamic range than the D90. I really noticed this when photographing our Christmas lights.
• Some killer features: virtual horizon, Quiet mode, U1 & U2
• Can't comment on IQ yet.
• The body felt noticeably more well built than the D90.
• instant SDHC card backup will be great.
• Really fast AF, even with my lenses that "hunted" with the D90.

That's all for now. For me, after all is said and done, this will only be around a ~$200 upgrade. I know I could have put that money towards a new lens, but even if there is no upgrade in IQ and even if the high ISO upgrade doesn't turn out to be that great, this is still worth it for me. The dynamic range is a huge deal for me as I typically don't do HDR, and all of the features as well as the "feel" of the camera easily make it a smart move.

 

[annnewjerz]

That's all for now. For me, after all is said and done, this will only be around a ~$200 upgrade.

I feel like for a $200 upgrade when all is said and done, it was a STEAL!

I'm sure my eventual upgrade will cost more, but knowing how much I loved going from the D60 to the D90 (mainly because of features like more focus points, better high ISO images, etc.), I can only imagine I'd also find the upgrade to the D7000 worthwhile and not be too concerned about the money.

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[WDWFigment]

I feel like for a $200 upgrade when all is said and done, it was a STEAL!

I'm sure my eventual upgrade will cost more, but knowing how much I loved going from the D60 to the D90 (mainly because of features like more focus points, better high ISO images, etc.), I can only imagine I'd also find the upgrade to the D7000 worthwhile and not be too concerned about the money.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Hey...if you don't mind selling something on CL and waiting for a MIR, get the Epson R1900 with it now. I'm sure your upgrade would only be around $300 or so if you do.

I was shocked at how beastly that printer is. According to UPS, it weighed 38 pounds. I don't doubt that at all!

 

[rossb]

I gess J&R finnaly shipped it.

[*]Some killer features: virtual horizon

That is a good one, I assigned it to the Fn button on the front of the body.

 

[Gdad]

1. better dynamic range than the D90. I really noticed this when photographing our Christmas lights.
2. Some killer features: virtual horizon, Quiet mode, U1 & U2

From my little bit of using the camera I think the improved DR is mainly on the bottom end- meaning it seems much more adept at pulling detail out of the shadows than it does at recovering highlights. I think this might be because it is setup to push the exposure to the max and get the lowest noise possible (which seems to be the first thing everybody looks at in a new camera model) but especially shooting UWA it seems to have a tendency to blow out some clear blue sky. I had dozens and dozens of shots with the 10-24 that were unusable due to some lost sky that would have been easy lifting for the D700 to recover. Next outing I'll be shooting at a -0.3 or -0.7 EV to make sure it doesn't happen again.

One nice new feature I did not even realize it had until I came across it in the menu was the AF Fine Tuning- not sure if the D90 did that or not- but I was thinking it was something I was going to be missing- not so.

And I like that 'quiet' shutter mode too- pretty cool. Actually even in normal mode the shutter has a pretty smooth quiet sound to it.

 

[rossb]

One nice new feature I did not even realize it had until I came across it in the menu was the AF Fine Tuning- not sure if the D90 did that or not- but I was thinking it was something I was going to be missing- not so.

The D90 does not have that feature. Keep in mind your zooms will probably require different levels of tuning across the focals. My 18-200 was a bit off on my D7000 (it is fine with my D90) and I had to compromise on a tuning setting that worked best across all focals. It was nearly perfect at 18mm and backfocused by about 7mm starting at around 70mm. If I dial in -7mm AF tuning 70mm looks great, but 18mm actually gets a bit worse. I ended up compromising on -5mm. Also note, AF fine tuning only really makes a big difference when you focus closer than the infinity point. AF tuning changes don't really change your lens performance much when you are locked at infinity.

 

[Gdad]

I gess J&R finnaly shipped it.

Yay!

Also note, AF fine tuning only really makes a big difference when you focus closer than the infinity point. AF tuning changes don't really change your lens performance much when you are locked at infinity.

Good to know!

 

[GvilleDisneyDad]

I hope that you will enjoy your new D7000 as much as I'm loving mine! I upgraded from the D5000 and there's a big difference in accessibility, features, and build quality, IMO. Probably not as much of a jump for you coming from from the D90. My net upgrade cost was about $400 and I think it was worth every penny.

I also picked up the rokinon 8mm fisheye (as a result of seeing the wonderful images on this board) and I've been having a blast playing with that lens and the new camera.

 

[DVC Mike]

I hope that you will enjoy your new D7000 as much as I'm loving mine! I upgraded from the D5000 and there's a big difference in accessibility, features, and build quality, IMO.

Same here! I upgraded from the D5000 to the D7000 and also picked up the Nikkor 16-85m VR, and the Nikon 10-24mm VR just arrived yesterday!