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Author Topic: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum  (Read 1279 times)

luxborealis

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D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« on: May 19, 2019, 08:57:41 am »

So, having purchased the Nikkor 200-500mm and using it for a week on my D800E, I'm finding I want more pixels on the birds I'm photographing. DX crop on the D800E only gives me 15mp, so I'm looking at a DX crop body to use on the lens.

I've read all the reviews, field reports, and recommendations regarding the two bodies and I simply cannot decide...
  • The D7200 seems more than capable and, with 24mp, it seems like the best choice, even though it may not have quite the same AF, buffer, speed and high ISO capability.
  • The D7500 has better AF, buffer, speed, tilt&touch LCD, so it seems like the better camera but it has only 20.7mp (WTF Nikon?!?!? You had a good thing going with 24mp) - only a 40% upgrade from the 15mp on my D800E where the D7200 is a 60% improvement in pixels.
Has anyone out there used both cameras and can definitively say, "Yup, this one is hands-down better for birding because..."?

(Note: I've considered the D500, but it's more camera than I need just for bird photography. I also considered picking up a D850, but it's DX crop is only 19.4mp, not really an advantage to me, especially as the D800E is serving me just fine for my landscape work.)

Thoughts...?
« Last Edit: May 19, 2019, 09:01:51 am by luxborealis »
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Ray

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2019, 10:07:45 am »

A few years ago when I was using both the 24 mp Nikon D7100 and the 36 mp D800E, I did some tests using both cameras with the Nikkor AF-S 80-400 G, cropping the D800E shots to the same FOV as the D7100, then downsampling the D7100 shots to the same pixel count as the cropped D800E shots.

Some of the shots were of birds, and there was no doubt that the D7100 shots were sharper and more detailed. I've always found a 50% increase in pixel count to be a worthwhile improvement. A 25% increase will be less noticeable and perhaps not worth the trouble and expense.

By the way, I don't know how you got the figures 60% and 40%. Nikon full frame is 2.25x the area of DX. The D800E is 36 mp. 36/2.25 = 16 mp. 24 mp is 50% greater, and 20 mp is 25% greater.
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luxborealis

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2019, 10:27:58 am »

By the way, I don't know how you got the figures 60% and 40%. Nikon full frame is 2.25x the area of DX. The D800E is 36 mp. 36/2.25 = 16 mp. 24 mp is 50% greater, and 20 mp is 25% greater.

Thanks for the info about your experience with the D800E and the D7100. Very helpful.

The figures I quote are for DX cropped D800E to compare DX to DX. According to Nikon's specs, in DX mode, the D800E captures 4800x3200 = 15.36mp. I rounded to 15mp and perhaps I shouldn't have, but the point is still the same. It's actually 56% and 35%: (24-15.36)/15.36 = 56.25 and (20.7-15.36)/15.36 = 34.8
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Rob C

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2019, 02:33:48 pm »

Next, you'll be telling me my D700 is a crock of it! It has 12 mega pixies! Love it.

Seriously, though, maybe you are not thinking through the D500 solution fairly?

luxborealis

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2019, 05:38:10 pm »

Seriously, though, maybe you are not thinking through the D500 solution fairly?

Thanks Rob. You may be right, but the D500 is twice the price. For the photography I plan to do with the 200-500 (less significant to me than landscape), I just can’t justify the extra CAD $1000.
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fdisilvestro

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2019, 06:52:48 pm »


  • The D7200 seems more than capable and, with 24mp, it seems like the best choice, even though it may not have quite the same AF, buffer, speed and high ISO capability.
  • The D7500 has better AF, buffer, speed, tilt&touch LCD, so it seems like the better camera but it has only 20.7mp (WTF Nikon?!?!? You had a good thing going with 24mp) - only a 40% upgrade from the 15mp on my D800E where the D7200 is a 60% improvement in pixels.



Disclaimer: I have not used any of those two specific models, but:

Thinking of birds photography (in flight, I presume) and sports photography:

Advantages of the D7500:
- Better AF
- Higher fps (8 vs 6)
- Larger buffer (50 raw vs 18 raw)

IMO these characteristic trump the extra pixels of the D7200. I prefer to have a sharp 20 MPx photo than an out of focus 24 MPx. Oh, and having to wait for a full buffer to empty, is one of the most frustrating experiences in action photography.

On top of that you can take 4K video (which may be the reason of going to that sensor)

Ray

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2019, 12:32:14 am »

Disclaimer: I have not used any of those two specific models, but:

Thinking of birds photography (in flight, I presume) and sports photography:

Advantages of the D7500:
- Better AF
- Higher fps (8 vs 6)
- Larger buffer (50 raw vs 18 raw)

IMO these characteristic trump the extra pixels of the D7200. I prefer to have a sharp 20 MPx photo than an out of focus 24 MPx. Oh, and having to wait for a full buffer to empty, is one of the most frustrating experiences in action photography.

On top of that you can take 4K video (which may be the reason of going to that sensor)

I agree. Whilst the resolution difference between a D7200 and an equally cropped D800E image should be noticeable, I doubt whether the resolution difference between the D7200 and the D7500 would be noticeable without extreme pixel peeping.

The additional features of the D7500, such as better AF, larger buffer, and 4k video, should outweigh any slight resolution advantage of the D7200.
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bob_noble

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2019, 12:18:14 pm »

The interesting thing is that sensor in the D7500 isd the same ast D500.
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Lightsmith

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2019, 02:36:01 pm »

I noticed a great deal of difference when going from a 12MP FX camera to a 24MP D750 that provided a 50% gain in resolution. Going from the D7200 to the D7500 the gain in resolution is less than 8% and negligible. ISO related noise is going to be the primary factor and when I shot with the D7200 I found it to be better at ISO 6400 than my D3 was at ISO 4000.

For my part the two SD slots on the D7200 would make it my choice. The gain in autofocus performance with the D7500 is not going to make for significantly more keepers. The D500 is in another class altogether with triple the number of AF sensors and a dedicated autofocus processor. A used D500 in excellent condition and fewer than 10K clicks can be bought for $900, or only $300 more than a used D7200 in similar condition. The D500 is without a doubt worth spending the extra $300.
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DP

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2019, 04:26:55 pm »

I noticed a great deal of difference when going from a 12MP FX camera to a 24MP D750 that provided a 50% gain in resolution.

linear resolution gain (theoretical, exccluding shutter shock and other vibrations and assuming ideal lenses) = sqrt (24/12) < 50% ... practically less... so where 50% is coming from ?
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luxborealis

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Re: D7200 vs D7500 Conundrum - Solved
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2019, 08:01:09 pm »

For better or worse, I bought the D7200. Why? Hard to resist CA$795 w/ extra batteries and battery grip. In the end, having a few more mp was less important than being able to use my 105 Micro-Nikkor D lens, although the tilting LCD would have been nice.
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