In most respects, the Nikon D7000 is an excellent enthusiast's DSLR. The camera produces great image quality in most shooting situations, and it shines in low light, providing (just about) useable images right up to its ISO ceiling of 25,600 (equivalent). It feels swift and positive in general use, even in live view mode, thanks to greatly improved contrast-detection AF - not a traditional strength of Nikon's DSLRs. The D7000's buffer is decent, especially considering the large size of its files, but not in the same league as the D300S. However, although potentially irritating to a D300S user considering a second body, this shouldn't stand as a serious criticism of a camera aimed essentially at the upper end of the enthusiasts' market.

Ultimately, the D7000's specification is hard to argue with. A newly developed, 16.3 MP resolution sensor, 6 frames per second continuous shooting, 1080p full HD video and an abundance of customization options place this camera firmly into the upper regions of the mid-range market segment. In the final analysis, the Nikon D7000 is a very good DSLR which only just falls short of greatness. Nevertheless, the Nikon D7000 earns our second highest award and will make a great addition to the kit bags of current D90 users, D300(S) users and ambitious photographers that are new to the Nikon brand alike.

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On the inside Nikon has worked hard to deliver both better image quality and better performance; you get usable images up to ISO 3200, extended image parameter control, improved dynamic range, automatic CA removal (which immediately improves the performance of all your lenses), six frames per second continuous shooting (eight with the grip / battery combo), a new AF sensor, AF tracking by color and scene recognition. There are also an almost infinite range of customization options available, everything from how many AF areas are used to the size of the center-weighted metering circle to what happens when you hold the FUNC button and turn the command dial.

My biggest problem writing this conclusion has been picking out the D300's weak points. The usefulness of Live View would certainly be improved with an articulating LCD monitor (although I'm sure Nikon would argue that this could compromise the integrity of the body), auto white-balance is poor in artificial light (although this isn't anything unique to the D300) and there's still no true mirror lock-up feature. But really, these few niggles are really the only things we could pick out as criticism.

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There's no doubt that the D3100 is one of the best entry-level SLRs available, offering very good image quality coupled with speedy operation and straightforward handling - at least for conventional eye-level use. Where it's less strong is in the implementation of the new features that have been added over the D3000, i.e. live view and movie mode. Neither is done badly, per se, and the improvement in CDAF speed is impressive, but they could still be better.

The D3100's guide mode is clearly aimed at attracting customers who have only used compact cameras, which makes the ability to offer a similarly fast live view focus and shooting experience a key consideration. And, while Nikon has done well to produce one of the better DSLRs in this respect (though the full time AF mode falls a little short of making live view use really immediate and fluid), both live view and video are quite simply done better by other cameras, particularly the D3100's mirrorless rivals.

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