I recently purchased a small upgrade for my personal camera, the Nikon D7000. I have a modest collection of F mount glass and wanted an entry level pro body with some of the features the lower-end models lack like screw-drive AF support, increased AF points, bracketing, and intervalometer functions built in. One of the more unexpected, or at least underestimated features of the D7000 is it’s great video recording.

Now, I’ve shot a ton of still and video on the tried and true 5D, and the Nikon is no 5D, but it works great and I’ve been using it to produce multimedia shorts for the newspaper I work for. The camera is a solid piece of kit with a full magnesium alloy body and really feels like a “pro” tool while still being fairly petite in the hand. Despite it’s diminutive size, the body feels just as comfortable with a 300mm handing off the end or a minute 50mm pancake. The ergonomics are really great, and the button placement is pretty good, though because of it’s size, not as perfect as the amazing D4 or Canon’s 1D series. As far as video quality goes, it’s not best-in-class, but you’d be hard pressed as a normal viewer to find flaws. Also, the fact that the bitrate is slightly lower than Canon’s video output means that the footage is even easier to work with and doesn’t need compressing before importing into Final Cut.

Since I started working with the camera, I’ve been nerding out on glass, audio, and camera movement and making the accompanying late-night amazon binges. I’ll be doing a post on what gear I use for my multimedia pieces once I get more comfortable producing them and start developing habits. In the mean time, here is some test footage I shot this weekend so you can get a feel for what images you can get out of the body with decent glass and some nice condenser mics on a field recorder. Check in periodically on the multimedia tab for some of the work I’m doing for the Daily Iowan, once I get in the swing of things I should be doing one to two pieces a week.