BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Interesting review from nature photographer Jason Odell. In it he manages to expose something that I looked for and couldn't find - one of the things I was sure Nikon would make sure they didn't let happen...
Pardon me but, "Sonofabitch!!!" It sounds like they upped the sensor size by 33% over the D7000, but kept the same freaking buffer - one that was already too small!! On the D7000, I get about 8 or 9 frames before it starts barfing. Get an eagle flying at you and you'll chew those frames up in 1.5 seconds, and then if you've got a real fast card you'll wait a second and then be lucky to get 1-2 fps after that. With the bigger images you'll fill your buffer in 1 second. ONE SECOND!!! Are they kidding?! If I choose the 1.3x crop then I can get 8, or 12 if I shoot 12-bit, so that's another whole second. It's likely that I'll use one of the User settings specifically for birds in flight, so it becomes less cumbersome to think about changing your resolution settings every time you're aiming at a hawk. But to have do it just so I can get the camera to perform as well as the D7000, which has been knocked for this limitation since it came out, doesn't sit well.
Now some of you will simply say, "Then don't shoot RAW and you'll never have to worry about it." Well, without the anti-aliasing filter there's more of a need to shoot RAW to perform proper sharpening. For gun enthusiasts, it would be like having a significant automatic weapon and a 6 round clip. Or putting a 65mph speed limiter on a Corvette. Crazy!!
I need to pour myself a glass of something and slowly ponder this thing again. Not sure how I missed it the first time out, but the idea of this as my wildlife camera is what made me decide not to go with a second FX camera. And while it's by no means a one trick pony, Nikon managed to limit the one trick I really care about. And they limited it to the extent that I'm seriously considering cancelling the order and reassessing a D800 (where I'll get ~16 lossless RAW images in FX mode buffer) or a second D600 (where I get about the same, and over 30 if I shoot cropped).
Frame Buffer: Ok, I had to dig around to find this, as it isn’t on Nikon USA’s website. It is, however in the specs at Nikon.com. The D7100 frame buffer is 6 lossless-compressed 14-bit NEFs, or 7 lossless compressed 12-bit NEFs. That’s really tough to swallow for a camera touted as being fast. I’m afraid that almost kills the D7100 as a birding camera for me.
Pardon me but, "Sonofabitch!!!" It sounds like they upped the sensor size by 33% over the D7000, but kept the same freaking buffer - one that was already too small!! On the D7000, I get about 8 or 9 frames before it starts barfing. Get an eagle flying at you and you'll chew those frames up in 1.5 seconds, and then if you've got a real fast card you'll wait a second and then be lucky to get 1-2 fps after that. With the bigger images you'll fill your buffer in 1 second. ONE SECOND!!! Are they kidding?! If I choose the 1.3x crop then I can get 8, or 12 if I shoot 12-bit, so that's another whole second. It's likely that I'll use one of the User settings specifically for birds in flight, so it becomes less cumbersome to think about changing your resolution settings every time you're aiming at a hawk. But to have do it just so I can get the camera to perform as well as the D7000, which has been knocked for this limitation since it came out, doesn't sit well.
Now some of you will simply say, "Then don't shoot RAW and you'll never have to worry about it." Well, without the anti-aliasing filter there's more of a need to shoot RAW to perform proper sharpening. For gun enthusiasts, it would be like having a significant automatic weapon and a 6 round clip. Or putting a 65mph speed limiter on a Corvette. Crazy!!
I need to pour myself a glass of something and slowly ponder this thing again. Not sure how I missed it the first time out, but the idea of this as my wildlife camera is what made me decide not to go with a second FX camera. And while it's by no means a one trick pony, Nikon managed to limit the one trick I really care about. And they limited it to the extent that I'm seriously considering cancelling the order and reassessing a D800 (where I'll get ~16 lossless RAW images in FX mode buffer) or a second D600 (where I get about the same, and over 30 if I shoot cropped).
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