Nikon D90 vs. D7000 - Should I Upgrade?

Nikon D7000 is already getting huge attention. The most common question that I hear about the Nikon D7000 is whether it is worth upgrading from the D90?. Well, the Nikon D90 is an amazing DSLR. In August 8, 2010, I was going through the 2010 BCNRanking for the DSLR and Mirrorless market in Japan. The numbers can probably speak from themselves, with the Nikon D90 is at the firs place with 13.0% market share.  The D90 has stepped over the Canon EOS Kiss X3 (11.5%). Nikon has really succeeded in penetrating the enthusiast market with great success.


On September 15, 2010, Nikon has introduced a new DSLR, the Nikon D7000. In this Nikon D90 vs. D7000 comparison review, I want to go through the D7000 specs and compare them against the D90 specs. Not always when a new DSLR is announced, it means that you should immediately upgrade to that new model. It mostly depends on the type of your shooting habits. For one photographer, a better lens will probably be a smarter investment, and for another, the D7000 will be a dream come true. So let's go through the main features, and see what are the main advantages of each one. Later, you can decide if the Nikon D7000 is really worth the upgrade price. I am considering that you already have the Nikon D90, and want to make an upgrade to the D7000. OK, let's start.

Sensor

The first change that you observe from the specs is the new sensor. The D7000 sensor has higher resolution (16.2MP) compared to the D90 (12.3MP). I think that Nikon has decided to utilize a higher resolution sensor, because of photo editing needs of enthusiast photographers. When you've got more resolution, it means that you get more freedom when cropping your images. Both enthusiast and professional photographers understand the importance of editing their images in photo editing software. For the Entry-Level DSLR market, it is less significant. Having a photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom 3, can really help improving the picture, especially if you shoot RAW.


As an enthusiast-amateur photographer, I find myself polishing many of my digital images in photo editing software. Editing your pictures in photo editing software is a natural process of getting the best possible image., especially when you shoot raw. Some photographers look at it like a digital dark room. So more pixels, means more cropping freedom. Even so, when you have more pixels on a sensor of the same size, it also means higher pixel density (D90: 3.3 MP/cm², D7000: 4.6 MP/cm²). At the same time, it can lead to more noise in high-ISO settings. There is a balance of how much pixels you can put on a sensor, before you can see a degrade of image quality. Even so, camera sensors keep improving, and large pixel count doesn't always mean lower image quality.

We currently don't have any lab-test reviews which test this claim, but I have a feeling that the Nikon D7000 won't disappoint in this area. So you can call it an advantage over the Nikon D90, especially if you want to have more options for cropping your images later.

Having more megapixels also means that you can produce large prints. I personally don't usually print my picture, but keeping them on my computer and on a backup hard drive. The difference is small between 16.2MP and 12.MP, so not a real advantage for photographers who love to print their images.

ISO

We can see a difference in the ISO range between the D7000 and the D90. The Nikon D7000 allows shooting in ISO 100 up to 6400, whether the D90 native ISO starts from 200 up to 3200. Both cameras have an extended mode. The D7000 can climb up to 25600, whether the D90 goes up to ISO 6400.
The one step advantage of the Nikon D7000 can become a real advantage, only if the image quality will satisfy photographers demands. In many cases, the image quality in the top ISO setting is usable for small prints only. However, as I told you earlier, there are many enthusiast photographers who are already familiar with noise reduction software, and tend to use them frequently. In practice, you can take a ISO 6400 noisy image, and turn it to a silky noiseless smooth image. I personally use Neat Image, but there are other good products out there.
Higher ISO setting, means that you can shoot images that otherwise weren't possible. It's all depend on the camera, lens, lighting and skills. Even if you take all of that into account, still, having higher sensitivity can really help getting that important shot. It is very important when taking picture in low lighting environments, were lighting condition are far from being optimal.

I see the ISO 25600 an advantage for some photographers. Even so, I rather stay with the D90 and spend my money on a faster lens, then upgrading to the Nikon D7000 alone. Having a fast optical stabilized lens can really helps sometimes. Of course the VR won't help you out much when the subject is moving, but in many cases, it is very helpful. If you tend to shoot with a telephoto lens without a VR, you should probably think of spending your money on a better lens, rather then upgrading. Overall, I think the better ISO sensitivity is an advantage for both enthusiast and professional photographers.

SDXC Support

SDXC is the next generation memory cards, features higher capacity and fast Read/Write speeds. Furthermore, with SDXC card you get higher performance when transferring images to your computer. According to my knowledge, the Nikon D90 doesn't support SDXC memory cards, only up to SDHC. Maybe it will be supported in the next firmware, I don't know. So as far as I know, the D7000 supports SDXC and the D90 does not (correct me if I am wrong).

SDXC cards will continue to be developed and upgraded over the next years. They will come in larger capacities and faster Read/Write speeds. In terms of storage, the D7000 is future proof, for now. Not anyone should look at it as a negative aspect. I think that there are many enthusiast photographers who still use average speed capacity cards.  After saying that, I also think that if you shoot a picture in the full camera resolution (16.2MP) or/and in RAW format, the SDXC has an advantage. Memory card's prices will continue to drop from month to moth. Because you will probably keep your camera for around 2-5 years, it seems that the SDXC comparability is a real advantage.

Dual Memory Cards Slot

The Nikon D7000 comes with a dual memory card slot. Yes, you can use two SD/SDHC/SDXC cards together in-camera. It means more storage, without the need to insert a new card. If you shoot JPEG+RAW, this extra slot will help you separate RAW files from JPEG files. Furthermore, You can use the extra card for backup. Even so, the main advantage of having another card is probably for shooting HD videos. If you leave the battery life aside, having a large memory capacity, means longer HD videos. This is even more important if you shoot videos on in 1080p Full HD, which the D7000 supports.

Having an extra memory card slot is a great advantage. Of course you can live without it, but if you mainly shoot RAW or love capturing 1080p HD movies, this is a very important feature for you.

1080p HD Videos (up to 20min)

Nikon D7000 is capable of shooting 720p and 1080p HD videos. The Nikon D90 only features 720p videos. 1080p will be a standard on future Nikon DSLR cameras from this day forwards. Even so, when comparing the D90 vs. the D7000, the D7000 has certainly has an advantage of having both 720p and 1080p. This advantage will probably be more important for photographers who intend to take advantage of that feature. There are photographers who don't really care about 1080p or the HD video feature.

If you find yourself shooting a lot of videos and watching them on your Full HD HDTV display, then the 1080p/24 becomes a clear advantage here. If you don't intend to shoot many HD videos, this feature is certainly not worth the upgrade. Regarding the video quality, we still need to stay up to date with future in-depth reviews. By observing the Nikon D7000 video samples that exist on the web, I think that the image quality as improved a bit.

The Nikon D7000 also allows photographers to shoot 1080p HD videos up to 20 minutes long. The D90's video capture is limited to 5 minutes. At lower resolutions, you can capture videos up to 20 minutes. So if you love shooting high-resolution HD videos, the D7000 is probably worth consideration.

Another thin that I have almost forgotten to mention is that the D7000 also supports full time AF while shooting videos. The D7000 utilized contrast-detect AF system to allow photographers to get AF while shooting movies.

1/8000 sec Shutter Speed & 6fps Burst

Having faster shutter speeds is certainly an advantage for sports photographers.  Pack it together with 6 fps vs. Nikon D90 4.5 fps, and you get a better sports photography DSLR. For many sports photographers, this feature alone worth upgrading from the Nikon D90. Nikon has also employed a brand new 39-point AF system and a new 2,016 pixel RGB 3D Matrix Metering System. Taking all of those variables into consideration, if I was a sports photographer, I would most definitely think about upgrading to the D7000.

Upgrade? - It Depends

Other improvements include a 100% coverage Pentaprism viewfinder, compared to the D90 96% coverage. The D7000 is a bit heavier (~80g) than the D90. The D7000 employs Nikon's EXPEED 2 imaging processor, Active D-Lighting and magnesium alloy body. Overall, the Nikon D7000 presents a new landmark for Nikon. It has raised the bar again, and really made the competition very interesting.

Whether you should upgrade to the Nikon D7000 from the D90, it is all up to you. You should carefully consider the advantages by going through the specs. If you find that there is an important feature that you find on the Nikon D7000 and not on the D90, maybe it will worth the upgrade. Even so, I think that before making a decision, you should ask yourself, whether you should buy a new better lens or spend your money on the D7000. It is a great DSLR, that I am sure that will satisfy the most enthusiast photographer.

It is more durable due to the Magnesium alloy chassis and its shutter was tested to 150K shots. It seems like Nikon has improved almost every feature, by presenting a new DSLR that can easily compete against its rivals. Nikon really deserves "Thumbs Up!" on this one.