The D7500 is Nikon's second-best DX body DSLR packed with professional quality components seen in the flagship DX camera D500. The D7500 is one of the best DX bodies they've ever made and will probably be one of the last DX DSLRs made as everything slowly goes mirrorless. In size and stature, it sits between the smallest entry-level crop sensors bodies like the D3500 and entry-level full-frame bodies like the D780 with the D7500 weighing 1 lb 9.4 oz and measuring 5.4 x 4.1 x 2.9 inches The fact, that it only shoots 20.9-megapixel photos is its only drawback, otherwise supported by excellent 4K UHD 30 fps video recording and also time-lapses in the same resolution. It only has one SD card slot but is compatible with UHS-I compatible SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards.
With a healthy ISO range, this camera is good at a lot of things, especially astrophotography and low-light photography combined with a suitable F-mount lens. It also autofocuses down to -3EV, which is nothing to write home about these days, but was absolutely respectable, when it was launched in 2017. ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 - 51,200 (extended to 50 - 1,640,000). A fast 8 frames per second continuous shooting speed combined with a large, bright touch screen makes this camera ideal for all-around use. Traditional photographers will love the optical viewfinder, which has 0.94x magnification and nearly 100% frame coverage, so photographers can easily see the scene in front of them.
Tested Features of Nikon D7500
- slow-mo
- 4k video
- iso
- grains
- color tone
- W.B
- picture style
- blur
- bokeh
- low light
- picture quality
- touch screen
- auto light optimization
- burst shoot
- autofocus
- Sharpness
Nikon D7500 features a rating in Photography
- iso range: 10\10
- color tone: 9\10
- white balance: 9\10
- background blur: 10\10
- bokeh effect: 10\10
- grains coverage: 10\10
- highlights & shadows detail: 10\10
- autofocus: 10\10
- jpeg quality: 9\10
- continuous shooting speed: 10\10
- depth of field: 10\10
- live view photography: 9\10
- eye tracking: 10\10
- flashlight photography: 10\10
- HDR mode: 10\10
- Touch Screen Focus: 9\10
- sharpness: 10\10
- image stabilization: 9\10
Key features of the Nikon D7500
- 20.9MP DX-format CMOS sensor
- EXPEED 5 image processor
- 3.2" tiltable touch LCD display with a resolution of 922,000 dots
- 4K UHD video recording at 30 fps
- Multi-CAM 3500FX II 51-point AF system
- Native ISO 51200, Extended ISO 1,640,000
- Capture at 8 frames per second for up to 100 frames
- SnapBridge Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
- 180k-pixel RGB sensor and group AF
Not sure if the Nikon D7500 is right for you? Why not check out our roundup of the best Nikon cameras or browse our wide selection of the best cameras for photography and video. If you need a lens to match this lens, check out our guide to the best lenses for astrophotography or choose a camera specifically for Astro with our guide to the best cameras for astrophotography.
All of these cameras sat right at the top of Nikon's consumer DX line and were priced just above $1,000 at entry, then around $1,000 as the generation gets older.
Outdoor Flashlight Photography Test of Nikon D7500
The D70 itself was a great camera when it came out, sitting squarely in the gap between a true consumer product and a true professional product that photography enthusiasts tend to occupy. "Price perfect point" if you will. The D70 started a massive shift from film to digital in the Nikon crowd in its own right, as the N80 and even the F100 retired.
The subsequent D80, on the other hand, was a dud with a sensor that did not live up to expectations. The D90 was another big winner and the first DSLR from anyone with video capabilities.
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The D7000 had focus issues for many, but the D7100 and D7200 have rectified this, adding a significant amount of refinement and performance to the basic concept of a perfect point for the price. Now, thirteen years after the D70 first made the line, we have the latest iteration in the D7500.
Right up front, we need to address the internet elephant in the room: feature removal. Yes, Nikon took a few things out of the D7500 that were in the D7200: (1) a second card slot; (2) AI index tab for old manual focus lenses; and (3) any provision for adding vertical clamping. Some think the downgrade to 20mp from 24mp in the previous model is also a "remove".
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But it's not like the D7500 is going backwards. I'll say it several times in this review: the D7500 is clearly the D5 generation camera. By that I mean we're getting things like an EXPEED5 processor and an image sensor that can shoot 4K video and extend the buffer, a new shutter that delivers 25% faster frame rates (up to 8 frames per second), a flip-out touchscreen LCD ( below), a better and faster metering sensor, a new internal frame design that's more robust (coupled with better weather sealing), an electronic first aperture, and more.
Some subtle things also appear: you can rename the storage folder (part of the D7500 folder name, not just the number). Flash control moves from the user settings back to the first page of the Photo Shooting menu where it belongs. Video capabilities are expanding, as are the bit rates at which high-quality video is recorded. And on the good/bad news front, we get SnapBridge compatibility, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.
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The funny thing is, I tried to compile a full list of differences between the D7200 and D7500 and I was surprised at how many things I found that were different. Too much for a quick table. I think the internet consensus seems to be "not too different from the D7200, so not interesting, especially considering these removals". In this review, I will beg to differ.
Why Nikon's marketing department can't get ahead of this, I have no idea. But I'll say it up front before I even get to the performance part of this review: if you give me a choice between the D7200 or the D7500, I'll choose the D7500 every time. The sum of the parts actually makes for a better camera.
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Inside we find the D500 image sensor. That's 20mp instead of the 24mp that the previous D7100 and D7200 had, but the actual difference in resolution is minimal. Where it differs is that the D500's sensor is faster at downloading data, allows 4K video (sadly with an additional 1.5x crop), and has attributes that keep it at the top of what's available in APS-C size sensor capability.
Natural light Photography Test of Nikon D7500
I actually like that Nikon is reusing the D500 sensor rather than trying to add a D7200 sensor. And the D500/D7500 sensor is really 20.7mp, so you don't lose many resolutions. Are you getting anything? Yes, although it will be difficult to describe because we are talking about very small differences. The dual-gain sensor aspect of the new sensor means that the D7500 starts slightly behind the D7200 at base ISO, but ends up being slightly ahead at very high ISOs, for example.
ISO starts at 100 and goes up to 51200 on the D7500, with 50 and up to 1640000 using the Lo and Hi settings. The sensor can also provide 3-axis electronic VR for 1080P video.
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Ultimately, the most dramatic difference is the speed of the new sensor. The new shutter in the D7500 coupled with the sensor gives us 8 frames per second without the need for battery charging, cropping or any other gimmick. 8 frames per second is the point where the camera starts to become very useful for shooting sports and wildlife in continuous action. Below that, the chance of "missing the moment" is too high. At 8fps, the odds of getting wing or ball position or player position nailed in a continuous sequence start to increase. Coupled with a huge buffer - typically 50 raw, 100 JPEG, but I'll cover that more in the performance section - the D7500 can shoot very long bursts at a high frame rate.
The D7500 also has a 1.3x crop option. One thing I wish we could achieve is something like 10 frames per second at this crop level. Instead, we're still at 8 frames per second. Still, having this crop available sometimes saves me space and time.
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At first glance, the focus system appears to be the same as the D7200, but it's not exactly the same. Yes, it's still 51 points, but now it's a D750-type focus sensor that gives us slightly better low-light performance. However, this is not the real change. The real change is that the EXPEED5, coupled with the new 180,000-pixel metering sensor, actually starts using automatic and 3D tracking like the D500, D850, and D5. We also get an automatic AF fine-tuning feature.
I mentioned the rear LCD. Another thing that people think Nikon has taken away from them is that the D7500 has 922k dots while the D7200 has 1.2m dots, both on a 3.2" LCD.
No way. Most people don't understand what "dots" actually mean, and you need more than an absolute number, you need to know how they are oriented. The D7200 uses four-color banding, the D7500 three-color. Both actually produce the equivalent of a 640 x 480 pixel (VGA equivalent) display. But there's more to it than just that. Nikon is now using different technologies on the display and the D7500's display looks sharper, sharper, and with better contrast than the D7200. It's a small thing, but if I'm examining a zoomed image, I much prefer to do it on the D7500 than the D7200: it's easier to identify what pixels they're actually recording.
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Some things haven't changed between the D7200 and D7500. The viewfinder is the same, for example (100%, 18.5mm eyepoint), although there's now a sensor that turns off the rear LCD when your eye is in the viewfinder (yes, you'll still hear about these subtle differences that Nikon never really he didn't blow his horn).
The connections on the left side are the same (mic, headphones, HDMI, USB, accessories), but now under two less flexible doors instead of the D7200's three-hinged and very floppy doors.That doesn't seem like much, but it makes an already good camera (D7200) better (D7500).
Wedding Photography Test of Nikon D7500
Get used to touching controls. As with the D850, they are quite deeply implemented. Most things in the menus can be done faster with touch than with the Direction control pad. This is especially true when you have the camera low to the ground and want to reset something (the rear LCD flips out).
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There are "removals" not discussed with the D7500. For example, the top LCD is one of the simplest we've seen on a Nikon DSLR in recent memory. A lot of icons and details have been removed to make it lean and easier to read. This, too, turned out to be a wise decision. There is little I miss in the upper LCD information: it sticks to the basics. If you need more, the Info button will display it directly on the rear LCD display.
Others have done a lot on the body reshaping, especially the deeper grip provided by the narrower main body design. I wasn't particularly excited about it. Yes, it's now a little easier to firmly throttle the camera with your right hand, but it's also a little less convenient to get to the Fn1 and Fn2 buttons. Nothing dramatic here, just a small change that some will like, some won't.
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Nikon also ended up simplifying the menu somewhat. Without a second card slot, we don't get the things that come with it (like the role Slot 2 plays) or the complex controls to get to the second card for viewing. Without AI indexing, the Non-CPU Lens menu item disappears.
It might not seem like it, but the half dozen things that have disappeared or been condensed into a single option in the menu system just make menu navigation a little faster. If SnapBridge weren't half a dozen menu items and a few other areas were packed into a simpler structure, we'd have a very narrow menu system indeed.
Other minor tweaks abound and will only be noticed by the D7200 and previous users of this body line. One that is interesting has to do with depth of view. There is no Depth of View button (no function buttons can be assigned to DOF view). But there is a depth of field preview. It is always present in live view. This was a change I hardly noticed at first, but did as I worked my way through writing my book: while the D7500 initially seemed to do what other Nikon consumer DSLRs do in live view, which is not respect aperture, in it actually respects the aperture.
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By default on the camera, the exposure you think you're seeing is overwritten by the fake automatic ISO in live view, but the actual aperture used will change! So in low light, where a manual exposure of 1/250 and f/16 might not be enough to see what's going on normally, the hidden and temporary ISO change causes a bit of a grainy look, but you're looking at f/16. . Change the aperture to f/1.4 where the exposure is correct and the view is less grainy and yes you are looking at full aperture. So yes, DOF changes are easy to see: just use Live View.
Of course, this may not be what you want. Maybe you want to see your exposure as well as DOF. Ok, another small change: press the i button and set Exposure Preview to On. Now you won't get any false ISO boosts and you'll see your shot as it's captured, complete with an exposure bar on the right (and now you can also pull up a useful histogram with the Info button).
indoor Studio Photography Test of Nikon D7500
After thinking about this for a while, I like it a lot better than what the D7200 did. In a very subtle and almost hidden way, the D7500 is much more sophisticated than the D7200, which essentially ignores aperture changes in live view. While this is just one example, there are many others that are similar: someone spent some time thinking deeply about what a more sophisticated user would want the camera to do. I'm not at all surprised that Nikon has no idea how to bring such changes to the market.
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Nikon's absolute gripe with the D7500 revolves around the missing AI index tab and the related fact that the camera can't be set to respect the aperture rings. Why? Because of the video, that's why! Look, I don't miss a non-CPU lens at all when taking pictures. But what if I want to upload a video? Oops. I actually want to use an aperture ring lens when shooting video. This way I can manually control the exposure with the lens clicked off. Instead, Nikon wants me to use the Fn1 and Fn2 buttons with Power Aperture Open and Power Aperture Close (and by the way, why aren't those the default button assignments, Nikon? Much more useful than index markings).
Battery: Don't be put off by the reported CIPA number (950 shots/charge). Remember that CIPA requires every second shot to be taken using the flash, which means the camera has to recharge the flash capacitor with every subsequent shot, which drains the battery considerably. This makes the number look worse than the D500 and D850 (they don't have an internal flash).
In actual shooting without the internal flash, I got double the battery life, even with a lot of touchscreen work and other options turned on. If you're using the D7500 for something like wildlife or sports burst shooting, that number will be even higher.
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More so than many Nikon bodies, the D7500's battery performance will vary a lot depending on how you use it. SnapBridge, internal flash, touch live view and a number of other items can reduce the battery performance which is usually really excellent. Just general photography without these features? Really, really good. The envy of mirrorless cameras, even those using cameras with bigger batteries these days (I'm looking at you Sony).
Night Photography Test of Nikon D7500
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Buffer: I didn't really expect this, but the buffer performance of the D7500 is almost exactly double that of the already quite good D7200 with the same card and setup. To the point where you can actually shoot raw (12-bit compressed) at 8 frames per second and shoot longer than twelve seconds if needed. Just like any JPEG setting.
I was a bit concerned that Nikon didn't make the D7500 UHS-II compatible. As it turns out, UHS-I 95Mbps is fast enough to give you a very deep and useful buffer. I put it mainly to the fast load of the sensor (just like the D500) and basically the EXPEED5 chip. Nikon knew it would gain buffer performance with these changes, so it didn't include any new card technology in this iteration of the D7xxx series.
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I shot birds in flight for two weeks in the Galapagos with the D7500. I don't think I've ever had a buffering hiccup (although I'm not a shutter pusher like some; the longest sequence I see in my files is 38 NEF images).
Focusing: Likewise, the focusing system has improved from the D7200 to the D7500. It's subtle but real. Nikon's claim for the D7500 is "faster in low light" and that seems about right, but side by side with the same lens on each model, my D7500 tracks better than my D7200 and seems to focus a bit more. reliably.
