Nikon D7200 Performance

Good overall performance for its class, with improved buffer depths compared to its predecessor.

The Nikon D7200's startup time was good for a DSLR, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was very fast.

The Nikon D7200's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was pretty fast for a prosumer DSLR. The D7200 required 0.173 second for full AF using the center focus point. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag only slightly to 0.190 second, reflecting the added delay caused by the metering preflash. Manual focus shutter lag was very fast at 0.054 second. When prefocused, shutter lag was also 0.054 second which is quite fast for a DSLR.

As expected, autofocus and shutter lag were much slower in Live View mode. The Nikon D7200 only offers contrast-detect AF in Live View, which took about 0.97 second to focus in our tests. That's noticeably slower than using the optical viewfinder, but not too bad for a traditional DSLR. (How fast the lens can adjust focus makes a big difference here.) When prefocused, shutter lag was reasonably fast at 0.22 second.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were so fast that they were difficult to accurately measure as they depend on the tester's dexterity and ability to maintain an optimum rhythm, so your results may vary. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.)

Continuous H mode speed when shooting Optimal Quality JPEGs was good, at about 5.8 frames per second, pretty close to Nikon's 6 fps claim. When shooting 14-bit lossless compressed NEF files (the default RAW mode), the frame rate dropped to just under 4.9 frames per second. According to Nikon, if you switch to 12-bit RAW files the camera will continue to shoot at 6 fps, however we did not test that. Switching to 1.3x crop mode also yields faster frame rates according to Nikon (up to 7 fps for JPEGs and 12-bit RAW, or 6 fps for 14-bit RAW), however we did not verify that. There is also a Continuous L mode with a programmable rate.

Buffer depth in continuous mode was excellent when shooting Optimal Quality JPEGs at 56 L/F JPEG frames. Note that our test target was designed to be difficult to compress, so shooting typical subjects will likely yield a deeper buffer (Nikon claims up to 100 frames when shooting Size Priority JPEGs). When shooting 14-bit lossless compressed RAW files, the buffer depth was pretty good at 18 frames, which is quite an improvement over the D7100's 5 frames. Buffer depth when shooting 14-bit lossless compressed RAW+JPEG files was 11 frames which is fair for its class, but again much better than the D7100's 5 frame limit. According to Nikon, shooting 12-bit RAW files increases buffer depth by about 50% and selecting lossy compression yields about a 35% improvement in buffer depth, but we did not verify those claims. The D7200's 1.3x crop mode is also said to increase buffer depth, to up to 46 lossy-compressed 14-bit files or 67 lossy-compressed 12-bit files.

Buffer clearing was pretty fast with our 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card, ranging from 7 seconds after 56 Optimal Quality JPEGs to 5 seconds after a max-length burst of 14-bit lossless RAW files.

The D7200's built-in flash took an average of 3.9 seconds to recharge after full-power shots, which is fair.

Bottom line, the Nikon D7200's performance is good for its class, and buffer depths are noticeably improved over its predecessor.

Battery Life
Excellent battery life with the optical viewfinder.

The Nikon D7200 uses a custom rechargeable EN-EL15 lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger. Battery life when using the optical viewfinder is excellent, however Nikon does not specify battery life for Live View mode, which will certainly be a lot lower. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings, or when using Live View a lot.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))