More Bang For The Buck With Nikon

Yesterday's arrival of the D7100 fills a need that we have felt for the last few weeks - an APSC-size sensor with 24.1 Megapixels and the Nikon lens mount.

The chassis is the well-proven D7000 type. Nikon enthusiasts know that this is the result of the continuous development all the way from the D60 days - as each successive generation of camera is introduced the body build quality improves - magnesium castings for structural rigidity - and the electronic performance steadily upgraded.

This means better low-light performance - improved video working - and in this case a more finely divided sensor. I hesitate to say that 24.1 Megapixels will be the final achievement for the 18mm x 24mm sensor because I know that some of the extremely tiny sensors on compact cameras and cell phones can be hold even smaller light-sensitive divisions. Who can say if the major manufacturers will try to make a higher number in the future...

In any case, this should be a perfect camera for the landscape artist or for people concerned with extreme detail. The carry weight of the camera with the average wide-angle lens is also favourable - it is no fun trying to lug a camera that is the weight of an anvil if you are expecting to climb mountains  looking for a view.

Likewise, workers who expect to lug the aforementioned camera through a long day at a wedding or event might welcome this sort of Nikon - every gram of weight you don't support means your arms will feel better.

Of course the camera has all the normal Nikon features - dedicated custom channels for pro's, helper programs for the perplexed, standard PASM for everybody else. Quick-clck bracketing button on the left side of the body so that you do not have to re-program it from the menu. Preview button tucked up near the lens for stopping down.

Interesting feature - if you can live with 15.3 Megapixels in your picture...you can turn on a 1.3X feature that gives you just that much more reach with telephoto lenses. In the case of the 18-200 I put on for the heading shot, this means you are fielding a 260mm. Good for sports - good for portraits if you really don't want to go close to the subject...

D7100 - in store now.