DxO Mark Declares the Nikon D7200 the Best APS-C Camera Ever Tested

Nikon’s newly released flagship DX format DSLR has just been tested by the French measurements and ratings company, and it went straight to the top.

Other than being the overall top crop-sensor camera, the D7200’s incredible 14.6 stops of dynamic range place it 2^nd among all cameras tested, just slightly behind the D810’s 14.8 stops.

Nikon continues to dominate the APS-C category with its DX DSLRs in the top 5 spots, with Samsung, Pentax (2) and Sony (2) making up the rest of the top-10 list.

Canon’s flagship APS-C camera, the 7D Mark II, is far behind in the 59^th spot.

The top 5 APS-C cameras. Nikon’s domination continues.

“With an overall DxOMark Sensor Score of 87 points, the Nikon D7200’s 24.2Mp sensor ranks in 20th place for all sensors in the database and in first place for APS-C sensors”, says DxO Mark. “Despite using a 24.2Mp sensor similar to those in the D5500 and D3300 models, there’s clear daylight between the D7200 with 87 points, and the D5500 in second place for APS-C sensors with 84 points”.

The D7200 also leads when it comes to color depth, with a score of 24.5 bits, but the Sony Alpha 77 II (24.4 bits), D7100, D5200 and Samsung’s NX1 (all with 24.2 bits) are not too far behind.

To give you a better idea of how well this sensor tested, its color depth results are less than half a stop lower than those of a bunch of full-frame cameras as well as the $15,000 Hasselblad H3DII 50 and the Leaf Aptus75S.

A comparison with Canon’s top crop sensor camera will almost be too painful to watch for Canon fans. The Nikon blows the $500 more expensive 7D Mark II out of the water in every single parameter, and by a significant margin. Luckily for Canon there’s more to a camera than just the sensor.

The only disappointing result of the parameters tested is the camera’s ISO where it ranks only 7^th amongst its APS-C counterparts with a score of 1333 ISO. Beating it are the D5500, D3300, NX1, Sony A6000 and A5100, and the D5300. The D7200 is not significantly behind, however, with a gap of 105 point from 1^st place and just 52 from the 2^nd.

The D7200 was announced just over a month ago and can already be ordered at Amazon and B&H for $1,197.