Also up front are an AF Assist lamp and buttons for Function, depth-of-field preview and lens release. As always, you can spend a small fortune on lenses, but the 5.8x kit lens (18-105mm, 27-157.5mm 35mm equivalent) with built-in Vibration Reduction is a good start. In this case, it’s a Nikon F bayonet-type, and all functions are possible with AF Nikkor glass. Like any DSLR, the key feature on the front of the D7000 is the lens mount. But the real enhancements are internal, as we’ll soon see. Drill down a bit and some of the finer points appear, such as a second LCD readout on the top, and a 3-inch 921K-pixel LCD on the rear. It has the usual Nikon red accent on the grip and a few judiciously-placed logos and icons. Looking closely at the D7000, you get an inkling of its capabilities, but nothing that quite gives away its position as the hottest DSLR on the market. The D7000 measures 5.2 x 4.1 x 3 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 1.5 pounds without a battery, card or lens.
With the 18-105mm kit lens, the Nikon has a no-nonsense vibe that says “I’m a serious camera.” Don’t even think of casually carrying it around. The Nikon D7000 doesn’t look radically different than many other mid-range, all-black DSLRs on the market, such as the 18-megapixel Canon EOS 60D ($999 body only). Amazingly there is a pricey camera, the 16.2-megapixel Nikon D7000, that’s currently defying the laws of CE gravity-if you can even find one. Oh, there are exceptions, like the iPad and iPhone, but you know the drill - buy it today, see a lower price in a month.
It’s one of the key truths of the consumer electronics biz: Prices will drop like a rock soon after you buy your new toy.