Buddy the Nikon D90 died a few days into the new year. His symptoms were the dreaded CHA error and the curious F90 aperture setting. He's been sent off to the camera hospital for surgery. I won't see him again until mid February at best. Before dropping him off to be fixed, I researched a number of other Nikon DSLR's and decided to get a D7000 camera body to have as a second camera. The D7k (as all the cool photo dudes refer to it as) has a number of excellent things going for it: a sealed body against dust/moisture, a magnesium frame, compatibility with all my current lenses, active D-lighting (which gives your images more dynamic range, slots for two memory cards, a bigger sensor and on and on. What my D7000 didn't have though, was a reliable autofocus system when shooting relatively close subjects with the lens close to wide open. It consistently focused on things that were behind the object I intended to focus on, and indeed, behind things the D7k told me it was focusing on... When I first noticed this, I blamed myself. I thought "Oh - you dunce - you didn't notice what the camera was telling you it was focusing on.. " and I would go and retake the picture. Then I thought "Hmm - maybe it's because the D7k with it's Joe-Big-Ass sensor is more sens-a-TEEV to subtle movements.. maybe I have to use a tripod and use the remote shutter button.." That didn't help neither. This penchant for focusing on things in the background was evident in every lens I tried, the 50mm 1.4 Nikkor, the 35mm 1.8 Nikkor, and the 10mm Nikkor fisheye. There's tons and tons and tons written about this D7k back focus behavior out on the interwebs. Apparently there's a work-around for it as well, something Nikon calls Auto Focus Micro Adjustment. The theory is that you set the auto-focus micro adjustment for each lens you attach to your body (by taking test shots) and then the camera remembers the setting from then on... Some apparently have had success with this. Some folks have not. Personally - I don't want to pay a butt-load of money for a camera body and have to engage in a fucking science project to get it to give me the images that my fucking $300 point-n-shoot Canon Powershot will give me with no screwing around at all. When I have to muck with the camera in such a way - it begins to remind me of Windows and we all know how I feel about Windows.. So last night - the D7k (who I named Charles - because he seemed like such s serious fucking camera), went back in his gold Nikon box and was returned to the store. The store manager asked me if I had any issues with the camera and then offered "Focus issues?" hmm.. I'm not the first one to be returning their D7k apparently. When I explained to him what was happening, he played uninformed. When I asked him about Canon's problems in this area, he said "Well they all have their little issues.." When I asked him what Canon's problems were - he couldn't name one. He did say the D7k would be better in low light than the Canon EOS 60D.. I thought to myself "Excellent - it would give me a well-lit out of focus subject.. pissa." In the end - the store - much to their credit took Charles back and I got a full refund, even though I was outside the 7 day full refund window (it was 14 days). I'll be sure to go back to them for future purchases.. Sigh. I miss Buddy the D90. A lot. Buddy displayed *none* of these focus problems ever. He was a good and truthful friend. When he told you he was focused on something, he was true to his little camera word.. Feel better soon Buddy... |
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