The First Impressions

So... I've been shooting with D7000 for a few weeks now and the first impressions are nothing but positive.

First, it is a steep learning curve, mostly because D7000 has a multitude of controls and options. It is, however, true only if you want to use them, since Nikon makes it extremely easy to just pop the camera out of your bag and take extremely good pictures with either the full auto mode, or one of the "scenes".
The scenes are a nice add-on for someone who wants to add a bit of control to the way the camera sets up all the options, but for various reasons (experience, time, shooting conditions) does not, or can not be burdened by the multitude of controls. Some of the scenes seem to be very narrow in use (like the High Key and the Low Key), but in general they do a great job and can be a time-saver. I have tested a few of them, including Child, Portrait and Party/Indoor scene modes, and I was very pleased with the results.

Going to a fully "manual" mode, controlling all the aspects of the camera is a different beast altogether. Nikon D7000 has such a multitude of options, that it takes a while to master them all. I have to admit, I did not even begin to scratch the surface of all of them, but as time goes by, I'll give them all a try.

One of the things I started doing after switching from D40 to D7000 is the format. My D40 was set up to take JPGs only and I was always satisfied with the results. As I started using the D7000 I wanted to test out how good the in-camera processing is, as compared to the raw files. So I set the camera up for both NEF and JPG formats and downloaded them using Adobe Lightroom, with no pre-processing. After tweaking some of the settings manually, using a few build-in presets and one I got from a pro David Perl at David Perl Photography, I have to say, while I can generally live with the JPG format, it seems to me a bit too saturated (reds are way to red) and "dull" (contrast-wise). Most of my first steps were around people and portraits, so I still have a lot of testing for outdoor/landscapes, but I think the JPG format will be disabled on my camera soon.

More to come, as I'm getting ready for some extensive landscape photos.