Nikon D7500 Exposure

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Vibrant colors with average hue accuracy.

Saturation. The Nikon D7500 pumps dark blues a lot, dark green, dark orange, and reds moderately, and most other colors slightly, though yellow and aqua are slightly undersaturated. Overall, mean saturation levels are a little higher than average at 13.9% oversaturated at ISO 100 versus a more typical 10%, however colors are quite pleasing and vibrant in real-world images as a result. The D7500's default mean saturation is fairly consistent at low to moderately high ISOs, but starts to fall off at ISO 51,200, to a minimum of 89% at ISO 819,200. Camera JPEGs are quite discolored at extended ISOs above 204,800, though, with a red or magenta tint, so take those numbers with a grain of salt. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Nikon D7500 did fairly well with Caucasian skin tones, rendering them with a bit of a pink tint with both Manual and Auto white balance in our "Sunlit" outdoor lighting, but they were a bit on the warm side. However when using Daylight white balance, they were definitely too yellow, so we preferred Auto or Manual white balance. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Nikon D7500 produces a few color shifts relative to ideal colors, as do most cameras. Reds are shifted slightly toward orange, and cyan toward blue, but there are only slight shifts in yellow, orange, green and purple. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) Mean "delta-C" color error at base ISO was 5.26 after correction for saturation, which is about average, and remains about average up to ISO 204,800, increasing rapidly from there due to the aforementioned tint at very high extended ISOs. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Warm results with Auto and Incandescent white balance, though excellent color balance with Manual. Average exposure accuracy.

Indoors, in common incandescent lighting, color balance is a little too warm and reddish with the default "Normal" Auto white balance setting,. Unlike the D500, the D7500 does not offer the "Keep white" option, with just "Normal" and "Keep warm lighting colors" options. The Incandescent setting is very warm with a strong yellow tint. (Some users may prefer this look, though, as being more representative of the original lighting.) The Manual white balance setting produced accurate results, though perhaps just a touch cool. The Nikon D7500 required +0.3 EV exposure compensation, which is about average among cameras we've tested for this scene. Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Vibrant color and very good exposure outdoors, but somewhat high default contrast.

We found skin tones fairly realistic with both Auto and Manual white balance in our "Sunlit" Portrait shot. Default contrast is on the high side, so a few highlights were clipped in the mannequin's shirt, pendant and some of the flowers while darker shadows are quite deep, though noise in all but the deepest shadows is quite low. Exposure accuracy was about average for this shot, requiring +0.7 EV exposure compensation to keep the face bright. The Far-field image on the right is very well exposed, with very few clipped highlights. Again, detail in the shadows is quite good, and deep shadow noise is low for an APS-C sensor. Color here with Auto white balance is very pleasing, though perhaps a bit cool.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
~2,550 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, about the same from converted RAW files.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns up to about 2,550 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,550 lines per picture height in the vertical direction in JPEGs. (Some might argue for higher, but lines begin to merge at those resolutions.) Complete extinction of the pattern didn't occur until around 3,300 - 3,400 lines. We weren't able to extract any more resolution with RAW files processed through Adobe Camera Raw. Moiré patterns and false colors could be seen from both images at higher frequencies, though interestingly, the ACR conversion contain color moiré with different colors than the in-camera JPEG image. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Very crisp images, though default sharpening is a bit high and generates noticeable sharpening halos. Minor noise suppression artifacts at base ISO.

Sharpness. The Nikon D7500 produced very sharp, detailed images for a 21-megapixel sensor at default settings, though edge enhancement artifacts are somewhat conspicuous around high-contrast edges, such as the sharpening halos around the lines and lettering in the crop above left. Default sharpening is probably optimized for crisp-looking prints which can look overdone on screen at 100%, and you can always turn it down if you prefer. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing color and tonal differences right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some minor detail loss and smudging due to noise suppression, as the darker areas of the mannequin's hair show a lot of detail. Individual strands are still distinguishable even in the lighter shadows, though some begin to merge as shadows deepen, and in places where the tone and color of adjacent strands is very close. The hair is also virtually free from chroma noise, which is often not the case. An excellent performance here for an APS-C camera. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Nikon D7500 does a great job at capturing lots of fine, crisp detail in its JPEGs for its resolution, but more detail can often be obtained from carefully processing RAW files, while at the same time reducing sharpening artifacts. Let's have a look at base ISO:

In the table above, we compare an in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 via DNG Converter 9.6 using default noise reduction with some strong but tight unsharp mask sharpening applied in Photoshop (300%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

As is frequently the case, the demosaicing in Adobe Camera Raw and sharpening in Photoshop deliver finer detail than the camera, with fewer sharpening artifacts. Looking very closely at the images, it's clear that ACR extracts a bit more detail that isn't present in the JPEGs from the camera itself, even in the red-leaf swatch Nikons traditionally do very well with. The ACR conversion manages to resolve more of the thread patterns in the fabrics while the camera treats them as noise and blurs them away. While it doesn't look quite as finely detailed, Nikon's rendering is smoother-looking with higher contrast and more vibrant colors, and noise is less visible in the shadows and flatter areas. Still, we'd personally go the Adobe (or other high-quality third-party RAW converter) route here if we were concerned about making the best images possible from the D7500's sensor. That said, the D7500's in-camera JPEGs are excellent at low ISOs, and you can always try adjusting image processing settings to your tastes.

ISO & Noise Performance
Excellent high ISO performance for an APS-C sensor.

Nikon D7500 images are clean and very detailed up to ISO 800, with just a touch of luminance noise becoming more visible in the shadows as ISO increases, as well as a very slight drop in fine detail due to noise reduction processing. ISO 1600 shows more noticeable luminance noise, but fine detail is still quite good, and chroma noise is very low. ISO 3200 still contains very good detail and relatively low noise. ISO 6400 exhibits a larger drop in image quality, but fine detail is still fair. Image quality drops off more rapidly at ISO 12,800 and above, with increasing noise "grain", blurring from noise reduction and chroma blotches, and ISOs above 51,200 are so noisy and discolored we question why Nikon included them other than for pure specmanship.

All in all, though, excellent high ISO performance for an APS-C camera.

Of course, the impact of noise and detail loss are highly dependent on the size the photos are printed at, and pixel-peeping on-screen has surprisingly little relationship to how the images look when printed: See the Print Quality section below for recommended maximum print sizes at each ISO.

A note about focus for this shot: We used to shoot this image at f/4, however depth of field became so shallow with larger, high-resolution sensors that it was difficult to keep important areas of this shot in focus, so we have since started shooting at f/8, the best compromise between depth of field and sharpness.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Excellent dynamic range despite the high default contrast. Very good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

Sunlight:
The Nikon D7500 performed well in the deliberately harsh lighting in the above test, despite its high default contrast. We felt +0.7 EV exposure compensation was required to keep the mannequin's face bright, but that led to relatively few highlights blown in her shirt and flowers, and shadows contained good detail with low noise for an APS-C camera. Note that these shots were captured with the Nikon D7500's Active D-Lighting control set to its default of "Off." See below for how Active D-Lighting and contrast settings help with hot highlights and deep shadows.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here. In actual shooting conditions, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown here; it's better to shoot in open shade whenever possible.)

Face Detection
Recent higher-end Nikon DSLRs like the D5, D500 and now the D7500 use a 180K-pixel metering sensor that has sufficient resolution that it can detect faces when using the optical viewfinder when using matrix metering. This is something most DSLRs can't do, instead relying on Live View mode to able to detect faces.

Mouse over the links to compare default exposures using the optical viewfinder (OVF) with the feature enabled and disabled, as well as in Live View mode with Face Priority AF enabled and in Full Auto. As you can see, face detection made a dramatic improvement to exposure when using the optical viewfinder at f/8. Face Priority AF in Live View also provides an improvement, and doesn't have the AF point location restrictions that the optical viewfinder has so it can improve focus as well. Full Auto in Live View mode also improved the exposure as it too detected a face, and it selected a larger aperture (f/4), a higher ISO (400) and enabled Active D-Lighting for a better balanced exposure.

Active D-Lighting
Active D-Lighting attempts to preserve detail in both highlights and shadows in high-contrast situations, while maintaining moderate levels of contrast. The series of shots below show the effect of the various Active D-Lighting settings (Off (default), Low, Normal, High, Extra High and Auto) available on the Nikon D7500 on our high-contrast "Sunlit" Portrait scene.

Note that Active D-Lighting is different from the Retouch menu's D-Lighting, as it is performed during image capture instead of after. (It does affect only JPEG images, though, Nikon very properly doesn't apply tonal adjustments like this to RAW file data. NEF files are however tagged so that Nikon software can automatically apply the effect when converted.)

Mouse over the links to see how the various levels of Active D-Lighting affects our "Sunlit" Portrait shot at default exposure, and click on any link to get to the full-res image. (Active D-Lighting's effect can be a little subtle in shots like those above, so we use a mouse-over with matching histograms to better show how each setting compares.)

As you can see from the thumbnail images and histograms above, the default exposure was somewhat dim so almost no highlights were blown to begin with, but we can see that enabling Active D-Lighting boosted shadows and lower midtones for a better overall exposure (still too dim, though), while at the same time preserving highlights even when cranking up the level. Normally, there is a noise penalty to be paid for boosting shadows, but noise levels in the shadows are quite low with this camera, so increased shadow noise is not really a concern here at base ISO. It's also interesting to note that the default ADL setting for the D7500 is Off, while in more consumer-oriented models, the default is Auto.

Here are the results with our Far-field shot. As you can see, Active D-Lighting brought up shadow detail while holding on to highlights. The Auto setting did a pretty good job here.

HDR Mode
Like other recent Nikon DSLRs, the D7500 offers an in-camera high-dynamic-range imaging function. When enabled, the D7500 captures two images with one push of the shutter button -- one underexposed and one overexposed -- and combines them in-camera to produce a high-dynamic-range JPEG. (RAW format is not supported.) There are three exposure differentials available: 1, 2 and 3 EV, as well as an Auto option, and there are three Smoothing options: Low, Normal and High. You can also elect to do a series of HDR shots without having to re-enable the mode each time, or select a Single Photo option.

Mouse over the links to see how the Auto, 1 EV, 2 EV and 3 EV levels of HDR with default Smoothing affects our Far-field shot at default exposure. Click on a link to get to the full-res image.

Overall, we think Nikon D7500's in-camera HDR is one of the better implementations we've seen, though it would be nice if more than two images were captured. Obviously moving subjects should be avoided, as you can see from the ghosting around the leaves in some of HDR shots above.

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)
While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we've switched to using DxO Labs' results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO's approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO's "Print" dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you've decided to make a 13x19 inch print, that's the size you're printing, whether the camera's resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the "Low Quality" threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we compare the Nikon D7500's dynamic range (in orange) to that of its predecessor, the D7200 (yellow), and also to a leading mirrorless APS-C camera, the Sony A6500 (red). Note that the D7500's dynamic range results are essentially identical to its bigger brother's, the D500.

As you can see from the above graph (click for a larger image), the D7500's dynamic range is almost 2/3 EV lower than its predecessor at base ISO (14.0 vs 14.6 EV), thanks in part to the D7200's higher resolution. However the D7500 catches up to the D7200 at ISO 400, and dynamic range is a bit higher or similar up to ISO 12,800. At the highest common ISO setting of 25,600, the D7500 bests the D7200 by over a stop (7.6 vs 6.5 EV).

The Nikon D7500's dynamic range is slightly higher than the Sony A6500's at lower ISOs, though you'd probably be hard-pressed to see a difference in real-world shots. And dynamic range performance is very similar above ISO 1600.

Overall, excellent dynamic range from the Nikon D7500. Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Nikon D7500 for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

Low Light. The Nikon D7500 performed well here, able to capture usable images down to the 1/16 foot-candle light level (about 1/16 as bright as average city street lighting at night) even at base ISO. Noise is of course very low at ISO 100, and still quite low at ISO 3200, but as expected, noise is a little high at maximum native ISO of 51,200, but still usable in a pinch.

Color balance with Auto white balance is pretty neutral here at one foot-candle, just a touch cool, and at 1/16 foot-candle it didn't exhibit much of a shift to cyan or magenta as we've seen from some prior Nikon models. Very good results here.

We didn't notice any significant issues with hot or overly bright pixels, banding (fixed pattern noise), or heat blooming during our low-light tests.

LL AF: The D7500's phase-detection autofocus system was able to focus on our low-contrast AF target down -2.9 EV unassisted with an f/2.8 lens, which is quite good. (Our low-contrast AF target is more difficult to focus on than how manufacturers rate their cameras; when using our high-contrast AF target, the D7500 was able to focus down to -3.9 EV, significantly better than its -3 EV rating.)

The Nikon D7500 has a built-in AF illuminator, and with it active it can autofocus in complete darkness as long as the subject is in range.

In Live View mode, the D7500's contrast-detect autofocus was able to focus on our low-contrast AF target down to -2.3 EV, and down to -3.9 EV again with our high-contrast target.

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Nikon D7500 do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Print Quality
Excellent 30 x 40 inch prints at ISO 50-400; a nice 16 x 20 at ISO 1600; and a good 5 x 7 at ISO 12,800

ISOs 50, 100 and 200 deliver superb prints at 30 x 40 inches, with rich, vibrant colors and crisp fine detail throughout. Larger prints are certainly fine as well for wall display purposes until resolution becomes an issue at your intended viewing distance.

ISO 400 also yields a nice 30 x 40 inch print. There is perhaps the slightest drop in overall crispness as compared to the lower ISOs, but not enough to keep this print size from an overall good rating.

ISO 800 prints are very nice at a robust 24 x 36 inches, which is a terrific output for this ISO from the APS-C world. As with virtually all cameras of APS-C or smaller sensors, there is now a slight softening in the red channel, most noticeable as less contrast detail in our tricky red-leaf swatch, and mild noise is apparent in a few flatter areas of our test target as well. But otherwise a nice overall print.

ISO 1600 produces images that are quite good at 16 x 20 inches. The 20 x 30 inch prints here can also be used for wall display purposes or less critical applications, but there is perhaps a trace too much noise in some areas to pass our good seal for prints.

ISO 3200 delivers a 13 x 19 inch print that is quite nice, with full color reproduction still on display and little in the way of obvious noise or noise reduction artifacts. There is very good fine detail remaining as well. Overall, this is quite a large print for ISO 3200 in the APS-C world.

ISO 6400 shots are good at 11 x 14 inches, although this ISO is where the D7500 begins to show slight signs of ISO strain. As with most cameras in this class, there is now some noticeable softening in the red channel, and mild noise in a few flatter areas of our target, but not enough to keep this print from attaining the good grade. For your most critical printing purposes a reduction to 8 x 10 is certainly wise here.

ISO 12,800 yields a 5 x 7 inch print that is quite good for this ISO and sensor size. Full color is still represented, and it’s sharp enough to make out a decent amount of fine detail for this size.

ISO 25,600 prints are quite good at 4 x 6 inches. That’s not a large size, but this is a lofty ISO, and at least you know there is something worthwhile for printing purposes.

ISO 51,200 does not deliver good prints and is best avoided, although for less critical applications the 4 x 6 inch prints here are not too bad.

Extended high ISOs are too noisy and discolored, and we question why Nikon continues to include such high ISO settings in an APS-C camera.

The Nikon D7500 delivers prints that rival the best of the best from the APS-C world. You can expect large print sizes up to ISO 1600, and yet can still achieve a good 11 x 14 inch print at ISO 6400. For the price this is very much a camera to be reckoned with for sheer image quality as ISO rises, and it delivers terrific value for the money in that regard. Once again, and as with so many of their offerings we have seen and tested over the past few years, a terrific job to Nikon in the print quality department.