Nikon D7000

[MaxElmar]

Bright is one thing; contrast is another. Is it possible to focus accurately on the screen, without using the green indicators?

Yes, provided the lens is F2.8 or slower... so I tend to use the green dot more than the screen. The viewfinder system itself is about f2.8 so it always shows that much DOF - even with a f1.4 prime..... fortunately the AF is pretty much state of the art...

Me - I am an RF guy - I've always liked rangefinders better for manual focusing... even more than my F2/F3 which (IMHO) I feel are the best manual focussing SLRs ever. Those guys who say Olympus OM or Pentax LX are better are nutz. Call me when you have a dozen or more specialized focusing screens to choose from... then we can talk.

 

[Armoured]

The d7000 is an excellent, excellent camera at a pretty reasonable price. I find it nice and compact (all relative, of course), reasonably well built (but not a tank), and more than capable of big prints (if you are).

In my view, anyone who has a very specialised need that can't be covered by this camera would already know pretty well what _specific_ shortfalls or issues they are limited by.