First Hands On With The Nikon D7500

Earlier today Nikon announced a new mid range DSLR camera – the D7500 – a smaller sister to the D500 APS-C flagship which takes many of the features of the D500 but uses a smaller, lighter body and much more affordable price tag.

Two years ago Nikon introduced the D7200 and last year it rolled out the D500 which was our camera of the year for 2016. The D7500 brings many of the features of the higher end D500 to the D7XXX with some features that the D7200 had (mostly the AF system and the general body/design).

The new D7500 takes many of the features which made the D500 our 2016 camera of the year including the high sensitivity 20MP APS-C sensor, the advanced Expeed 5 and the same advanced light meter. It also has 4K video shooting (but with the same annoying 2.25x crop as the D500) and probably the same unreliable AF in video. It also lacks 2 SD slots (which is really strange as all D7xxx and above cameras share). On the bright side it is faster at 8fps (the D7200 had 6fps) and a much larger buffer making it an ideal sports/action camera at a much more affordable price than the D500.

The D7500 – smaller/lighter and more affordable D500 (for the most part)

Here are some of the main features of the D7500:

20.9MP DX (APS-C) CMOS sensor (no AA filter) – similar to that of the D500
3.2″ touch and tilt LCD with 1,229k dots.
Processor: Expeed 5 (used in the D500 as well, the D7200 used the older Expeed 4).
AF: 51 focus points with 15 cross types points (similar to the D7200; the D500 has a superior AF system with about 3 times the focusing points).
Viewfinder: 100% coverage with 0.94x magnification.
Shutter speed: 30-1/8000 seconds.
Video: 4K recording (but at 2.25x crop) and 1080p @60p.
Continuous Shooting – 8 fps (with extended buffer of up to 50 images in 14BIT RAW).
Battery: a new EN-EL15a battery (battery life is down to 950 images vs. 1100 images of the D7200).
Storage: a single SD/SDXC card with no UHS-II support (unlike the D500, the D7200 also has 2 SD slots).
Price: $1250 (body only) starting in June 2017.

Official Nikon video about the D7500

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Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.