Chipworks

The Nikon D7000 is a 16.2 million effective pixel DSLR camera, considered to be at the enthusiast-level, and an upgrade to the D90 and D5000 models by Nikon (dpreview.com). That being said, early reviews of the D7000 have it challenging the much respected, semi-pro grade Nikon D300S. This new Nikon DSLR features full HD video (1920 x 1080 at 24 fps), a 3” LCD screen with 921,000 pixels, and 6 fps continuous shooting.

From a circuit board perspective, a DSLR is not nearly as complicated as a smartphone or tablet; however, from a systems perspective, these things have a lot going on with main boards, secondary boards, flex cable, multiple memory slots, microphones, etc.

The Nikon D7000 comes equipped with a DX format (APS-C) sensor fabricated by Sony, the IMX071. With a 16.2 Mp resolution, this is the second highest resolution of any Nikon DSLR, behind the 24 Mp D3X (dpreview.com). This image sensor features a pixel size of 4.8 µm x 4.8 µm (as seen in the Bayer patterned RGB color filters). The sensor displays improvements in pixel layout and process features, as compared to previous generations of Sony DSLR sensors.

Other devices identified in the Nikon D7000 include:

• The EXPEED 2, Nikon’s latest image processor, with package markings  Nikon logo/Expeed logo/JAPAN/EI-154 1028 Z43. According to Nikon, this new image processing engine enables faster image processing and reduced power consumption for the D7000. It’s certainly impressive if it processes 16+ Mpixels at six frames/second!
• 4 x Nanya NT5TU64M16GG 1-Gb DDR2 SDRAM
• A Toshiba microcontroller with package markings TOSHIBA/TMP19A44FEXBG/JAPAN 1022HAL/836273
• Flash EEPROM by Spansion with package markings Spansion logo/03/GL128P90FFIR2/034BB318 B/THAILAND/©05 Spansion
• A Rohm motor driver with package markings BD6736/0R65
• A MEMSIC inertial sensor (package markings C623550/103310) for image orientation in landscape or portrait