Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Auto Focus-S DX NIKKOR Zoom Lens

I have only had this camera or a week now, but I have to put in a review because it is just that good!Nikon did an excellent job with this camera. I have shot about 500 pictures and different events over the last week and the image clarity and detail is superior to the D3100 and D5100 that I have had in the past. Outside photography is really easy with any camera, so I wanted to do a real comparison to indoor image quality with limited lighting so, I snapped on my 1.8G lens and went inside to shoot an event and I got outstanding results. The depth of color is amazing and the detail in the images were just amazing. Removing the low pass filter helps this camera excel in the low light environment excellent move on Nikon's part. The grain is smaller at identical ISO's compared to the D5100.The camera body is laid out well. They squared things off in comparison to the D5200 thats out now, and changed the LiveView switch over to a button which I like. Everything seems to be just in the right place for my hands. I don't have really large hands so it just works.I did get this camera with the kit lens, since it was immediately available versus the body alone. I must say that I'm impressed with the kit lens. it only goes down to 3.5G at 18mm which isn't bad but if you want to reach out and grab a shot at 105mm your aperture moves up to 5.5 which requires a shutter speed adjustment or ISO boost to get the shot. Fortunately adjustments in manual mode are quick and easy since you have 2 quick adjustment dials, and ISO adjustment is right there at your left finger. I didn't like that the default setting is to see the shot count on the viewfinder versus ISO, but its a quick change in the menu system to make the ISO your default display option.Another awesome feature that was added is the white balance adjustment. Now you can frame up your reference shot, shoot a gray card in that scene, select the gray card in live view and make the WB adjustment right there and save that as one of the presets for the shoot. No more batch editing in Lightroom. Totally awesome!!The only gripe I have on the camera right now, and its not on the camera itself is that Adobe Lightroom hasn't been updated yet to read the RAW files from this camera. I can read them in photoshop but thats a 1 by 1 process and I need to get them into Lightroom so I can do some batch processing. Knowing that shortcoming, I shot RAW+JPEG all week so I could still get them into LR and get the photos out to clients.If you are looking for an excellent camera for DSLR photography and don't want to make the plunge in FX format. This hands down is the best DX format camera on the market PERIOD. Don't look anywhere else.UPDATE: Used the camera to shoot some 1080P video. In manual mode you have full control over the ISO, fStop, and Shutter Speed. Having full control over your exposure for video is awesome. Haven't used a DSLR for video work before, but now I can see why its so popular. You have easier access and control over everything. Its even better than my pro HD camcorder that I own. Can't wait to get outside this spring and see the quality of video with lower ISO's. Had to shoot between 2000-4000 ISO to get good exposure at 4.5g inside with contrasting light and dark areas in the room I was shooting in.

I had to make a major decision before buying the D7100: FX or DX. I have been dithering for quite a while and have a hodge podge of Nikon lenses. FX lenses include the 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/4.0, and a TC-14E II teleconverter. DX lenses include the 10-24mm and the 85mm VR micro. My belief is that DX was the right way to go for me because 1) good DX cameras produce superb photos, 2) I can buy less expensive lenses because the pretend focal lengths are larger, 3) only the sweetest part of FX lenses (their centers) will be used, 4) DX camera bodies will remain less expensive, and 5) my default print size is only 13"x19". This introductory paragraph is not to convince you that DX is the right way to go but to explain why I bought this camera instead of a D600 or D800.Let me start by saying that I love this camera! Nikon managed to do a few stupid things that I'll mention below but let's talk about the positives first. The shutter release - including focusing, VR, and metering - is so fast that it's hard to press just half way to lock readings. I'm sure there is some shutter lag but I couldn't measure it. Focus is spot on with all my lenses and I have not used the capability to do individual lens adjustments. Other positives as reported by most other reviewers: camera feel (solid); good controls; sensible blend between menus, buttons, and dials; viewfinder setup and image size; etc.I have read some other reviewers that say this camera isn't very sharp. Not so! If you have moved up from a 10-12 megapixel to this one, you can be fooled as I was. I typically pixel peep in photoshop with the image at 100%, i.e., one picture pixel per one monitor pixel. You are looking at a much smaller piece of real estate in this mode when you have twice as many pixels per unit area and that means that you are looking at smaller, less contrasty details. Remember, manufacturer's MTF curves pretty much measure contrast as an approximation to sharpness. Of course the pictures look "oh my god" sharper when you print them since they have twice as many pixels per unit area on paper.I shoot 14-bit raw images with loseless compress and rarely use the 1.3 crop mode though I've mapped crop mode to one of the external buttons. Warning, the full-sized raw files are 25-30 megabytes and that means you can only store about 35 files per gigabyte of hard disk. So make your plans carefully before buying your next large pixel-count camera. Further, photoshop 16-bit psd files from D7100 images take 137MB on disk. I think that I would have bought a less capable camera if I were not shooting raw and running a 16-bit post process. Raw and 16-bit processing are not snobbery, rather they allow me to make up for virtually every type of error at picture-taking time except bad focus, bad subject selection, and excessive camera shake. That for me is the big advantage of digital photography but the D7100 or any other large pixel-count sensor makes you pay in disk storage.Now lets talk briefly about a few snafus. SubjectDistance is a standard Exif parameter and used to be generated in all Nikon DSLR images. ApproximateSubjectDistance is not a standard EXIF parameter but D7100 firmware generates it instead of SubjectDistance! Why is that bad? Three reasons: 1) photoshop will not display the field, 2) ViewNX 2 - Nikon's own software - dosen't display this nonstandard field either, and 3) Nikon support staff will not comment on whether or not either, neither, or both software and firmware will be repaired. The simplest way to recover the information is to load the sidecar file created by photoshop into a text editor and search on "distance" and read a fractional number. I can also convert that distance from metric if I like using a pencil or a calculator. Only a diseased mind could cause such nonsense.Another snafu reported by many in these reviews is the smallish memory buffer that limits rapid shooting. Memory is really cheap - I'd guess that for a two dollar bill, four times as much memory could have been included. I almost never use multiple shot modes or bracketing; rather my problem arises when my shutter finger gets itchy. This is a rarely occurring issue but the symptom of an outrageously dumb parting decision.I have rated this camera 5 stars in spite of these silly design flaws. However, I'd pay money to enter a raffle to paddle Nikon suits who impose these decisions. (The other manufacturers are just as lame.) It's a great camera, impressive in so many ways. Picture quality is great and the camera is capable enough to allow top-notch image capture despite a huge number of tough environmental conditions.