The Nikon d7200 keeps on going from strength to strength seeing strong sales with more and more photographers choosing to pickup the d7200 and use it as their DSLR camera body of choice. With the camera body seeing some very strong sales while already having managed to earn itself an absolutely huge existing core customer base of photographers, we are seeing more and more people reaching out with questions on how they are able to get the best image quality possible with the camera.
As you can probably guess, we see questions about pretty much everything that you can ever think of ranging from obscure camera accessories to some of the less common photography niches. Over the last two to three months, we have noticed more and more people specifically reaching out and asking for tips and tricks on how they are able to get battery at Nikon d7200 night photography. As we expect more and more people to be reaching out about this in the future, we have decided to make this our focus of this article to try and help as many of our readers as possible.
Relative to its price point in the market, the Nikon d7200 is actually a very capable little camera and we feel that this is why it has proven to be such a big hit amongst the photography community. The versatility of the d7200 does mean that it can be great for night photography but the main problems that we see from people tend to either come down to user error, having the wrong equipment, or having the correct equipment but using it incorrectly.
Our suggestions below should be able to help anyone get better photographs at night when using the Nikon d7200 but as always, implement as many of them as possible but we know that the majority of our readers will not be able to implement them all. This is fine as our suggestions have a compounding effect so the more of them you do add, the better you image quality will get so you can still see some drastic improvements in the level of image quality that you are able to capture.
Consider A Free Online Night Photography Course
Our readers can enroll on the highest rated online night photography course on Skillshare without having to pay for it due to Photography Paws being able to offer you a two-month premium trial of Skillshare. One of the most common issues that we see photographers making with their night photography is that they treat it like regular day time photography with ideal lighting conditions. As the course is just over an hour-long with plenty of video tips and tricks on improving your night photography, it is well worth doing and works in conjunction without tips below.
On top of this, the course has an outstanding reputation amongst both the skillshare students who have completed it as well as the wider photography community too. As the night photography course is so short, you can use the rest of the two month premium trial of Skillshare to enroll on some of their other photography courses that cover pretty much everything that you could ever think of to help improve your overall photography skillset.
Get Yourself A Lens That Is Ideal For Night Photography
A large number of our readers are relatively new to photography and often use the kit lens that came with their camera or an entry level lens. Although the majority of kit lenses that come with these modern cameras can offer you some excellent image quality relative to their price tags, they usually offer sub-par performance when it comes to night photography due to them not having been designed for the low light conditions.
The majority of these lenses have an aperture that is just not ideal for use at night so one of the main improvements that you are able to get for your night photography image quality when using the Nikon d7200 is to switch over to a suitable lens like the Rokinon 14mm. Our regular readers will know that we feel that the Rokinon 14mm is one of the best wide angle camera lenses ever made, especially when you factor in its budget friendly price tag as the lens offers you some of the best performance and functionality that you will get in a large number of photography niches.
It has a great manual focus ring with an ideal aperture for night photography letting you use it to capture nightscapes, star trails, and a bunch of other common night and astrophotography sub-niches too. That said though, it is a great wide angle lens so you are able to use it as a solid investment in your camera accessories for pretty much any photography niche that you may end up working in where you need a wide angle frame in the future too.
Invest In A Suitable Tripod
We know that a large number of our readers will already have a tripod in their collection of camera accessories but we often see people reaching out for advice on how to improve their night photography while still capturing their photographs handheld. Although this can work and produce some great quality night photographs, if you do have an entry level lens with a sub-par aperture then its going to need all the help it can get and some image stabilization is a great way to improve your image quality.
There’s no need to go out and break the bank on a professional level tripod either, the Zomei z699c is a great little entry level tripod that offers some excellent performance and functionality for its price tag and should be able to meet the majority of our readers needs who are on a tight budget. That said though, if you do have a little extra available in your budget then we would highly recommend the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 as your tripod of choice.
In our opinion, the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 is one of the best tripods ever made and it offers some of the best performance and functionality that you will ever get when it comes to tripod image stabilization. It would seem that both the photography and videography community agree with use too judging by the excellent reputation that the tripod has managed to earn for itself over the years.
Consider Getting Some Steel Wool
If you are wanting to capture photographs of local landmarks in your area at night with your Nikon d7200 then getting your hands on some decent, cheap steel wool can definitely make your photographs pop as shown in the photo above. This can really get your photographs to stand out on social media due to the steel wool adding a more unique perspective to locations that can be photographed often.
On of the best things about using steel wool with your Nikon d7200 is that it can offer you some light at night so a sub-par lens can often produce some great photographs for you without having to folk out for a new lens. One thing that we do want to quickly point out is that some states and countries to restrict the use of steel wool either totally or during the dry season due to it being able to start wildfires so always check the regulations for your local area before using it.
Get Yourself A Remote Trigger
This one is only going to really matter if you are planning on slapping a super zoom telephoto lens on your Nikon d7200 for your night photography with a focal range of over 300mm. If you are moving more towards the astrophotography side of things though, this can be a common focal length to be working with so we wanted to include it in our list. At these zoom ranges, even just the slightest vibration on your Nikon d7200 when activating the shutter can end up having an effect on the image quality that you are able to use.
Picking up a cheap wireless remote that is compatible with your Nikon d7200 is a quick and easy way to do this as it removes the need to touch your camera body once you have everything set up. This removes the potential of any vibrations causing you issues with your image quality and the majority of these remote controls can be picked up for less than twenty dollars and are very easy to use too.
Try Some ND Filters
If you are wanting to use some steel wool as we covered earlier in the article or capture star trails or anything like that then a cheap little ND filter for your lens can be a solid camera accessory to pickup too. Be sure to check the thread size of your lens to order the correct filter size but an ND filter will allow you to keep your Nikon d7200 shutter open for longer by controlling the amount of light that is able to hit the camera sensor. This allows you to blend time and movement in your photographs at night and add that additional element that many other photographers will miss.
Take Advantage Of The Landscape
Another simple thing that you are able to do with your photographs at night with your Nikon d7200 is to take advantage of any natural or man made features in your area. If you are in a rural location then hills, mountains, and trees work a treat as shown in the image above and if you are in an urban location tall buildings, bridges, and statues tend to work well too.
You are able to capture silhouettes of well known landmarks in your area or use the objects as a way to add scale or depth to your photograph too. If you think outside of the box then you are able to come up with some unique photographs with your d7200 that can really stand out against what the competition are producing.
Experiment With Manual Focus
We have lost count of the number of times that we have had to recommend that people wanting to get better at night photography try improve the use of their manual focus on their lens. This is not specific to Nikon d7200 night photography either but seems to be a common problem with people who use a wide range of popular camera bodies. Although the auto focus on modern lenses is excellent when lighting conditions are ideal, the systems usually just end up tracking constantly at night so manual focus is almost always going to be the better option.
Our recommended night photography lens for the Nikon d7200, the Rokinon 14mm offers some excellent manual focus capabilities and with its smooth and responsive manual focus ring, you can quickly and easily get to grips with using manual focus rather than the auto focus. Even outside of the night photography niche, we would still highly recommend that our readers developed their skillset when it comes to using the manual focus on their lenses.
Play Around With Your Camera Settings
Although this one is common sense, we see so many people who use the Nikon d7200 just Google night photography settings for the camera and use them without testing. This is a bad way to go about it as different locations have different lighting and features so even if you do get a benchmark for your camera settings online, you should still be tweaking it to see what works best for you and your location.
Although this can be a pain at first, once you get used to it and develop a feel for what you want from your photography session, you should easily be able to quickly and easily tweak your Nikon d7200 settings for optimal night photography. This works in multiple night photography sub-niches too with each of them usually needing slightly different camera settings but again, you can quickly get a feel for what you will need setting wise on your d7200 after a little practise.
Optimize Your Aperture
This one is going to depend on your lens of choice that you use with your Nikon d7200 and if you are using the kit lens then you are going to be limited in what you can do. Any lens with a faster aperture though usually has a range that you are able to use, so many people just go for the fastest aperture setting and leave it at that but again, testing is key. Play around with a few different aperture settings if at the faster range of what your lens offers and you will see that it can actually make a huge difference in your photograph.
Capture Your Photographs In RAW Format
Using the JPEG format will compress your photographs and lower their image quality so we always recommend that our readers go with RAW format for their photography, even outside of the night photography niches. This also offers you better photographs for any post production editing that needs doing too and due to a number of popular YouTubers constantly preaching that people should be using RAW format, we are seeing more and more people make the switch.
Test Different Levels Of Exposure
Testing different types and levels of exposure is common for all photography niches but due to the lack of light available in many night photography situations, you can really get some solid photographs with your Nikon d7200 by doing some testing. There are tons of excellent guides and tutorial videos on YouTube covering how you are able to best do this that you can check out to help quickly get some solid tips and tricks.
Plan Your Night Photography Session
The final point that we want to make to help you improve your Nikon d7200 night photography is to actually plan your session rather than just turn up and hope for the best. This means check the cloud cover, the phase of the moon, the weather, and the general temperature so you know how to dress for your session. We have lost count of the number of people who go out for some night photography only to realise that their is low cloud cover and that visibility is bad.
