Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon D7500 Review

Nikon D7500 Review

By Spencer Cox 119 Comments
Last Updated On January 28, 2024

«»

Summary: Pros and Cons

The D7500 has a lot going for it. As we’ve covered so far, the autofocus, image quality, and ergonomics of this camera are all excellent, and the video quality is enough to satisfy this camera’s core audience (who are interested in photography first, videos second – or not at all). Still, there are a few drawbacks to the D7500 that might matter for your uses. Here’s a quick summary of the main pros and cons:

Pros

  • Excellent image quality
  • Fast, accurate autofocus
  • Dedicated ISO button in a good spot
  • Large, ergonomic grip
  • Well-placed, high-quality buttons
  • Easy to set things quickly even with thick gloves
  • Advanced Auto ISO settings
  • Bright, high-quality viewfinder with essentially 100% coverage
  • U1 and U2 options
  • Highly flexible “My Menu”
  • Adjusting aperture in live view shows changes immediately
  • Wide array of focusing options, akin to Nikon’s highest-end DSLRs
  • Large menu with the ability to change almost anything you need
  • Many modern features: bluetooth, touchscreen, auto AF fine-tune, and more
  • Good battery life, even in cold conditions
  • 4K video looks great, and can be output uncompressed via HDMI
  • Power aperture for videography
  • Zebra stripes for videography
  • Great value when prices dip below $1000

Cons

  • Single card slot
  • Fn1 button cuts into the top of the grip
  • Touch screen isn’t quite as smooth as Canon’s
  • Tilt screen can’t rotate as much as others
  • Doesn’t tell you the gigabytes of space remaining on your card
  • No ability to use a battery grip
  • No old AI-S lens metering compatibility
  • No UHS-II card support
  • 4K video is cropped
  • No focus peaking for video
  • Autofocus acts erratic in video

Neutral

  • 21 megapixels, not 24
  • LCD slightly lower resolution than the D7200’s, but still very sharp
  • No way to increase frame rate at the expense of an added crop, as some cameras allow
  • It’s bigger and heavier than a mirrorless camera, but it has an optical viewfinder and better battery life as a result. Pick your poison.
Dawn Wildlife Photo
NIKON D7500 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm (via 1.4x teleconverter), ISO 400, 1/1000, f/5.6

In short, the D7500 gets a lot of things right, despite a few noticeable drawbacks, and the result is a camera with very impressive performance overall. It was a pleasure to use the D7500, which is not always the case when dealing with cameras at or below this price range. You rarely need to go into a menu to set a particular option; it’s a very quick camera to use, and I would argue that it is one of Nikon’s best-rounded products of all.

The only thing that I know will stop photographers from buying the D7500 is the lack of a second memory card slot. Part of this apprehension is rational, especially if you’re shooting client work and are nervous that your card could fail and you’ll lose important photos. In other cases, though, you may be worrying about something that will never have an actual effect on your photos. Only you know for sure. If this is a major problem for you, but you like everything else about the D7500, get the older D7200 instead (see our review). It doesn’t have the same sports or video performance as the D7500, but it’s still one of the best cameras at this price that you’ll find, and it’s even $250 cheaper than the newer version.

So, that’s how I’d sum things up: If you can deal with the single card slot, and you don’t mind the weight of a DSLR, the D7500 might just be the best camera on the market at this price. It’s certainly one of the most well-rounded. This camera makes it easy to capture the pictures you have in mind, whether that’s landscape or sports photography, and the image quality is on par with the best you can get from a crop sensor camera today. I’ve said it a few times so far in this review, but the Nikon D7500 just works. That’s true whether you’re out in blistering winter conditions waiting for a sunrise that never seems to appear, or you’re taking portrait photos in a warm studio surrounded by food. Hold on – why am I a nature photographer, again?

Boulder Snow Landscape
The Flatirons near Boulder, Colorado. And yes – this is a color image.
NIKON D7500 + 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 24mm, ISO 100, 1/125, f/8.0

Purchase

You can buy the Nikon D7500 from our partner B&H via the link below. Though the MSRP as of 2019 is $1000 (body only), I’ve seen it go as low as $900 when Nikon runs sales, so check below for the current price:

  • Nikon D7500 body only for $1000

For more information on the D7500, check out Nikon’s product page.

If you have questions or thoughts about this camera, please let us know on the next page. I have the D7500 in front of me right now, and I will do my best to address anything that you may be wondering about.

Nikon D7500
  • Features
  • Build Quality
  • Focus Speed and Accuracy
  • Handling
  • Value
  • Image Quality
  • High ISO Performance
  • Size and Weight
  • Movie Recording Features

Photography Life Overall Rating

Photograhy Life Silver Award
4.4

Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Autofocus
  • Image Quality
  • Comparisons
  • Summary
  • Reader Comments
«»
Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 ยท Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment