Nikon D7200 Walkaround

Nikon D7200 Walkaround

by Mike Tomkins

Take a look at the Nikon D7100 and D7200 side-by-side, and bar the name badge, they appear near-identical. Body size and weight is unchanged from the earlier camera, and so too is the control layout. There are, however, a few subtle differences. Let's take a look at what's the same, and what's been changed.

Examining the front of the Nikon D7200, there's really nothing to distinguish it from its predecessor beyond the name badge. You can see all the same controls, including lens mount release button, depth-of-field preview (Pv) button, function button and front control dial. Also unchanged are features such as the front infrared remote control receiver snugged into the top left shoulder of the D7200 body (as seen from the rear), and the autofocus assist lamp which sits directly across from the IR receiver on the other side of the lens mount.

Just as in the earlier D7100, the dust-and-weather sealed body has magnesium-alloy panels top and rear, but is polycarbonate on other sides, including this front surface. (A magnesium-alloy chassis underlies all of this, incidentally.)

Things are also much the same on the top deck. At left is the locking mode dial, and at right, the power switch, shutter button, movie button, metering mode button and exposure compensation button, all sitting directly in front of the top-deck LCD info display. At center is the popup flash strobe and hot shoe, between which are two eight-hole grilles for both channels of the built-in stereo microphone.

You may be spotting a trend here, as once again, everything looks basically identical from the rear of the Nikon D7200, as well. (We're coming to the changes, such as they are, in just a moment -- stay with us!) Seven buttons line the left side of the camera, while at right of the LCD are the autoexposure / autofocus lock button, rear control dial, a lockable multi-controller, still / movie live view controls and info button. There's also a card access lamp between the multi-controller and live view controls, the rear infrared receiver just a little below and to the right, and a five-hole grille for the speaker next to the info button. Oh, and lest we forget it, the diopter adjustment dial sits snug just to the right side of the viewfinder eyecup.

And finally, your patience pays off: We have the first notable changes. At the top of the Nikon D7200's left shoulder sits a new Wi-Fi logo, hinting at this new model's ability to communicate wirelessly with smartphones and tablets. And beneath, the bottom-most of the protrusion of access panels is no longer marked to indicate that the remote control terminal can be used with an optional GPS receiver to geotag your photos. It's a bit of a curious change, because the capability is still there -- you just have to crack open the manual to see where the GPS receiver is plugged in.

And it's on the right side of the Nikon D7200 that we can see the sole remaining change we spotted. Inset into the side of the handgrip, just forward of the flash card compartment door, is a small logo indicating the presence of a Near-Field Communications antenna. Hold the NFC antenna of your Android smartphone adjacent to this logo, and the Wi-Fi connection will pair automatically, saving you a little time. Sadly, most Apple devices lack NFC antennas, and those few which provide them have locked them down for Apple's sole use, so iOS users will still need to pair manually.