In the UK the sponsor of NR seems to be Google AdWords
who are current pushing Amazon and Mercedes

Important to do careful research on the reviews of any online seller. The sponsors of NR have outstanding records for customer service.

If you haven't already bought your camera yet then I would go with the Nikon D800. Warehouse Express aka WEX offer a great service. The price at the moment (November 2012) is £1989.00 and offer next day delivery if ordered before 2.00pm in the UK.

For the difference in price, get the D800!

Darren ,
buy the D800 without asking we'll love it , get it from amazon.co.uk

Okay ... long story - I received my camera back today (11/27) from Nikon. Looks like they just made adjustments as they do not list any parts on the invoice(shop write-up - Service rank B2, Adjust Mirror, Adjust Mirror Angle, Adjust Auto Focus Operation and Clean CCD [hmm... maybe the CCD is adjacent to the CMOS?]).

The camera is definitely working much better then it was when I sent it in 2 weeks ago. I can easily say that thus far I am very pleased with the results. Before sending it in to Nikon I cleared all adjustments and lens profiles etc. So far this evening I have just been shooting with my 80-200 f2.8 inside the house. This lens was my biggest challenge with focus from day one on the D7000 (purchased the lens new back in 1995, I won't mention the price I paid for it back then). The D7000 photos taken with this lens were always soft or way out of focus. If I adjusted/added compensation at the 80MM then 200 would be a mess and the same in reverse. While photos taken with either my D50 or D90 on this lens always looked far better. Actually I think photos taken with the D50 with the 80-200 has always seemed sharper to me-eyes; not sure but this may be due to my eyes and the lower pixel count (CCD?), fewer focus points or just better/less-complex focus system back in the day... just my comment - no hate mail please.

I plan to take the D7000 to my son's hockey practice tomorrow night to see if there are also improvements with fast action shots, as well as, try a few other lens. If you don't see another post from me than the camera is performing fine. Or where it should have been when I bought it new 2 years ago. Again, I can see a big improvement in detail, focus and sharpness when using Lightroom and zooming on the 30 inch monitor.

Less the repair cost I cannot complain about the service as I shipped the Camera to Nikon on the 12 of November by UPS ground and it arrived at my doorstep this evening. Nikon's work status timeline was as follows: 11/15 - waiting repair approval, 11/16 work approved (me), 11/19-21 "Shop"; 11/23 "Bill". The on-line workorder still shows the status "Bill" today. Even though per the tracking number I see it was UPS'd late yesterday evening.

Again ... so far I'm very pleased with the repair turn around and how it is behaving with the 80-200.

Cheers, be well & take lots of photos!
MyR3

spraynpray said:
Surely your walkaround lens must have a problem if the focus wanders as you zoom it? I thought back focus would have to be persistent back focus if it was the body?

I'd agree with you, Andrew, except that I have used (and loved) this lens extensively on a D300 and a D90 with no problems at all.

It's obviously not a huge problem, considering I've been using this camera for two years now, and—ironically, being a scientist—I haven't studied it very carefully and systematically. It might just be my imagination, too, but my D90 nailed the focus consistently and I feel like I sometimes have to inveigle the D7000. Maybe it's just slightly less consistent is all, but I'm admitting that the average doesn't seem to be in focus. I don't think I'll do anything about it. Maybe I'll just wait for a new lens to come into my life...

Just as an update,I traded my D7000 in for a D600. I was unhappy with the D7000 files in general, let alone the focusing issue. The D600 is an outstanding camera, although with a possible sensor dust issue... and of course it's £1000 more than the D7000, but well worth it.

Gary

jonnyapple said:
I'd like to know what you think about the fix, MyR3. I'm thinking I've been in denial about this for two years now and should just pony up to get it fixed. The problem can't be corrected on my walkaround lens because I need a different AF fine tune for different focal lengths. My primes are fine. I'd like to hear how it goes for you.

Hi Jonny,

That's interesting. Surely your walkaround lens must have a problem if the focus wanders as you zoom it? I thought back focus would have to be persistent back focus if it was the body?

I'd like to know what you think about the fix, MyR3. I'm thinking I've been in denial about this for two years now and should just pony up to get it fixed. The problem can't be corrected on my walkaround lens because I need a different AF fine tune for different focal lengths. My primes are fine. I'd like to hear how it goes for you.

Complaining will not help as Nikon considers this a Prosumer camera and they make their money from they high end pro stuff and pro lens. Only a class-action event would wake them up.

For me I've been chasing the back focus around for a while on my D7000 and I should have sent it in for repair while still under warranty. My bad as I just sent it in for the repair at $224++. Oh well I hope it works better once returned.

Based on all of the readings on [NR] and elsewhere this looks like a well know Nikon D7000 problem. I ordered my D7000 when it was first announced 2 years ago and waited about 3 months for delivery. Sounds like rush production and cutting corners to fill orders. For me - lesson learned - I will wait 6+ months after the initial release before buying another Nikon DSLR. Hopefully my next camera will be a full frame camera.

Although, from some of the latest online information it looks like Nikon has similar problems with the new D800 and D600's.

danielT said:
Hi guys,

My first time here :D
I just need your opinion on this issue.
After having the D7000 for over a year a bit, I
found some small dust specs on the sensor and sent the camera to Nikon.

I am sure mine has back focus issue so I told them to correct that issue as well.
A week later, they told me a price of 224 dollars.

I called them and complained that the cost is too high for sensor cleaning since back focusing was a manufacture defect. But the representative didn't seem to acknowledge that at all. He said he will put a request for me.

What do you guys think? It will be great if I can have some advises.

Thank you in advance

The aforementioned focus problem is related to the lens, I had similar experience with the 16-85vr I've had. The 16-35 is spot on every time, even at macro distances. :-)

I thought that the focus problems of the D7000 had been resolved. That's the reason I am waiting for the D 400.
My FM2n focuses pretty well in spite of my eyesight that is getting worse.

Hi all..

And there was me thinking (and being told) it was down to my apparent inability and lack or experience!..

I find focusing and a focal length less than around 35mm very poor..I took shots of the trees at the end of my garden at 18mm (18-105 lens) and found them very soft..the 8mpcamera on my Samsung S2 phone is sharper!

I have tried all sorts of permutation with f stops, focus points etc etc..and got the same poor results every time...

Back to the shop it goes!!

I used Aperture for years on a Macbook, but have found Lightroom 4.2 is so much easier overall and seems to have more functions especially in the brush work. One exception, possibly my dumb, but the clone tool on Aperture is better, IMO.

I now use a Macbook Pro, and do the photos on an external 1.5TB hard drive.

proudgeek said:
. I currently use Aperture with the Nik plug ins. Is that not adequate?

I have to confess I have not used aperture . I have friends that do, and they seem content

So if you are happy with Aperture then I cant see any reason to change

For me and any many others, it has the very big disadvantage, it does not run on Windows

Lightroom is cross platform

sevencrossing said:

to get the best out the D800 you need Lightroom 4 and a fairly modern computer

Seven, I understand the need for a "modern" computer given the file size. I'm currently running a Macbook Pro but it's 3 years old and I'm in line for a new one. What I'm curious about is the necessity for LR4. I currently use Aperture with the Nik plug ins. Is that not adequate?

I hope you love it, dazzy. Welcome to the forum.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies and brilliant advice. I purchased my D800 from a well known Nikon dealer in London (nr Victoria). Had brilliant service and only paid £2,000 for it.

Thanks again

Dazzy

thanks, but I'm on a D7000 now, and will stay on it until something more fitting comes along. if not for the focus points, the D600 would have been it (I've seen the video samples).

before the D7000 I had a 5Dmark2, which I hated for different reasons, and before that a D90. the D7000 was only supposed to hold me over until my dream Nikon FX camera would come along :)

Make certain you can return it for a full refund no matter which camera you choose.

sevencrossing said:

Since I "upgraded" from a D700 to a D800 the only time I use M is panos and exposures over 1 sec. The rest of the time I use aperture priority and auto ISO

I do switch the focus setting but once you get used to the controls it is not a problem
I might lose 1 in 100 shots due to forgetting to switch the focus setting

I have lost no shots due to incorrect exposure

different people, different preferences.
the fact that you only use M for panos and long exposures, does not mean that everybody uses it that way.

my two user settings have more than one difference between them; I use spot metering when shooting in the dark because I need my subject to be correctly exposed and not the dark surroundings. so to start off I have one user setting that has high iso, spot metering, AE-L/AF-L remapped to AF-ON, and JPG setting to monochrome, because with dark shots it's easier to see your composition in b/w when reviewing it on the screen. the second user setting is more for general use: low iso, grid metering, AF with shutter button, and colour JPG setting.

the JPG settings are only for the image review on camera. I do not save my images on JPG but the embedded preview follows the JPG settings. I solely shoot on RAW, and this is also why bigger file sizes might matter: it takes up more room on your computer and your memory cards. you will also need the fastest and most expensive memory cards or else your buffer will fill up too soon, while trying to write the big files to the card.
it rarely happens that I need to shoot so many pictures so soon after each other, but it has happened at certain live concerts for me.

and talking about live concerts, this is where the M setting might come in handy: your camera can easily be thrown off by the quickly changing lights. if you set your camera to a static setting, your photos will also display the atmosphere of the gig better if some shots are under or over exposed because of it. the best photo is not always a "correctly exposed shot" (according to the histogram).

and these are only a couple of reasons why user-settings are handy and, for me, a must-have on any camera that I own.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

and about the position of the focussing points:
as a test to see if I wasn't over-reacting, today I exported a lot of my recent photos from Lightroom using an overlay of the D600 focus points, and more than 50% of my focus areas fell outside the grid offered by the D600, but would have been covered by those of the D7000 or D800. so I might even have been under-reacting (if that's even a word).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I also went to the shop today to compare the ergonomics of both cameras, I discovered that for my hands and use I prefer the shape of the D800 grip (more rounded, less edgy), but that I prefer the D600's front left corner edge (where the camera rests on the ball of my hand, while I use that same hand for lens adjustments).

and even though the D800 is build more like a pro camera, more solid, I thought that the height and the weight of the camera were just a bit too much for me, and preferred the over-all ergonomics of the D600. all buttons are where I want them to be, and the lack of an AF-ON button is no issue, because in one of my user settings I have remapped the AE-L/AF-L button to do just that.

so my conclusion is that with a slightly more rounded grip (minor problem) and with a wider focus point area (big issue), the D600 would have been thé perfect camera for me. now it isn't.

as I said before: different people, different preferences.
if that wasn't the case, then we wouldn't need any different camera models at all.

eric la href="http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=9074#post-114571">said:
the D800, although with a larger focus point area, is not an option because of the file size and the lack of user settings, I find myself switching between the two user settings and manual mode a lot on my current camera. especially while composing street shots.

If it does the the job, why file size an issue?

Since I "upgraded" from a D700 to a D800 the only time I use M is panos and exposures over 1 sec. The rest of the time I use aperture priority and auto ISO

I do switch the focus setting but once you get used to the controls it is not a problem
I might lose 1 in 100 shots due to forgetting to switch the focus setting

I have lost no shots due to incorrect exposure

I almost jumped on the D600 when it dropped to €1949,- locally, but I wasn't convinced yet that the reduced focus point surface will work for me. especially when it comes to concert photography where there is only very local light and focus, and you only have micro seconds to get that deciding shot, so no time to focus and recompose…

the D800, although with a larger focus point area, is not an option because of the file size and the lack of user settings, I find myself switching between the two user settings and manual mode a lot on my current camera. especially while composing street shots.

why oh why did Nikon have to cripple the D600 on that point?
all the rest of the camera I could live with, easily. even at the almost D800 price point it is at now.

I guess there is no hope for a D750 which has the D700 body, the D600 internals, and the D800 focus system????