Nikon D200 SLR Update
Well, I bit the bullet and bought the Nikon D200 at Best Buy last week. I'm headed out to Santa Fe and one of my colleagues was going to be using my Nikon D2H. This would have left me with my D100 which isn't really much of an option after using the D2H for so long.
I figured what better way to get a sense of this mysterious Nikon D200 then to use it with some real world testing right off the bat. I hadn't been keeping up with the latest news about the D200, but was aware of some of the banding issues. What I hadn't heard about was how low supply the D200 was in; so I guess naively I was off to BB to go buy one. But what do you know 12 of them in stock! Initial impression: 10MP is a LOT more than 4MP haha. The camera feels just like my D2H, albeit a little shorter. Same build quality though, I feel like this camera will have no problems keeping up with a life of auto show abuse.
After a few months with the camera, I've really started to appreciate the extra megapixels; they really do help you out quite a bit when you don't exactly line up your shot correctly. Being able to zoom in on parts of an image and still have enough detail for bigger prints is a huge plus. Of course, with more megapixels comes more megabytes.
With each photo taking up around 22MB on average (RAW+JPG is what I shoot in) having multiple memory cards is a must. I have various compact flash cards ranging form 1GB to 4GB, but find that the 4GB lives in the camera most days. With it, I can take ~180 photos, so for one day of shooting cars, I can usualy get away with just 2x4GB cards and maybe a couple of 2GB cards if it's a big show. If you're going to be shooting multiple shots per second, a fast card is a must have as you'll be waiting for the buffer to clear quite often.
Overall, I'm very happy with the camera, and I haven't touched the D2h since I've bought the D200. The biggest negative difference I've found is auto focus speed and locking. On the D2h, the camera has instant focus and locks on, even in dark situations, whereas the D200 hunts more and in dark situations or situations with less contrast can run into trouble snapping to focus. It's no where near as bad as the D100 was, but it still catches me by surprise every now and again.
What have been your experiences?
Comments on the Nikon D200:
stan on 8/24/2007 12:16:17 PM wrote:
Well, with the Nikon D300 just announced, I would have to imagine the price is going to drop some on the D200...fingers crossed. I love my D200, I want to buy one for my wife, even though it will be overkill while she is learning the techniques, it's just such an easy camera to grow with that it should last her a while.
Or her arms will fall off from the weight of this compared to her old Canon SD200...But that's why they make neckstraps, right?
Markus on 8/24/2007 1:28:15 AM wrote:
I've been using the D200 since it came out and agree with the review. It is my first DSLR, but I've used Nikons for over a decade now. The biggest advantage I see, other than the obvious faster processing time of film, is Nikon's flash system. It is by far one of the most advanced systems to be brought to market in the consumer and prosumer space, and rarely do you see much written about it. It's ability to sync with multiple flashes with a few quick clicks of buttons is simply amazing. And the results it produces speaks for itself.
Not too bad for a camera that costs $1200.00.