Digital Camera Information

The D200 is a much faster camera with a more logical ergonomic design. With the Nikon, users can turn the camera on and snap off a shot in a single motion - an action that would require two hands and far more time with the 5D. The D200 can also shoot 5 frames a second, while the 5D can only muster 3. This combined with the D200’s more robust body (not to mention its more affordable price tag), makes it a much more formidable alternative for photojournalists or casual shooters.

At lower sensitivity settings (ISO 100-400), the two cameras produce images of comparable quality in terms of noise, color, dynamic range and sharpness. While the 5D still retains a slight edge, the difference is negligible for the quality both cameras produce. However, once the sensitivity is pushed to ISO 400 and beyond, Canon earns the extra $1,300 tacked on the 5D’s price tag. At sensitivity settings beyond ISO 500, the 5D continues to create images of exception quality, while the D200 falters and produces results more consistent with consumer-level designs.

Most photographers will admit that timeless images and their relationship to the equipment that produced them has had more to do with the design of the camera than the quality of images it produced. However, image quality is where the EOS 5D justifies its price tag and pulls away from the D200, and depending on the demands of the shoot or profession, the additional quality may be necessary.

The D200 is a fairly large and very well built digital SLR. It has a magnesium alloy body with plastic and rubber on top, and it feels very solid in your hands. The camera does suffer a bit from “button clutter”, and I’m not a big fan of the lack of a mode dial, either. The D200 has a large and beautiful 2.5″ LCD display, which strangely enough was the first thing that caught my eye when I unboxed the camera. Being a digital SLR, every accessory imaginable can be had — for a price. That includes lenses, flashes (via the hot shoe or flash sync port), viewfinder attachments, and a battery grip (which doubles the already great battery life).

The D200 is not aimed toward beginners, as the lack of automatic or scene modes attests. The D200 may be a little intimidating to new users, as well. Enthusiasts, however, will be thrilled with the manual controls and custom functions, of which there are too many to list here. I like how you can store four sets of camera settings, and the recent menu is a handy feature that no one has done before. The only thing that I really missed were the nice advanced white balance controls that Canon offers on their D-SLRs.

As you might expect, camera performance is first rate. The D200 starts up instantly, focuses quickly, and there’s no shutter lag or delay between shots. The continuous shooting mode was amazing, especially with a high speed memory card. Low light focusing was excellent thanks to the built-in AF-assist lamp. The battery life on the camera was very good, as well — I never had to charge it in three months of use.

Photo quality was excellent as well. Photos were properly exposed, with vivid colors and low purple fringing and noise levels. As is typical with D-SLRs, images are very smooth, and some folks may want to sharpen things up a bit. My only real photo quality complaint is that noise levels are higher than I would’ve liked at ISO sensitivities above 640. They’re not horrible by any means, but after just reviewing the Canon EOS-5D, I’m a bit spoiled. Then again, the 5D costs $3299 and the D200 is $1699.

There are a few negatives to mention, though. First up is the price — yes, the D200 is cheaper than the EOS-5D, but it’s also $300 more than the EOS-30D, itself a very capable camera. Next is the software bundle: I’ll be frank here — it sucks. PictureProject is fine for your $350 Coolpix, but D200 users deserve better. If you plan on using the RAW image format you’ll need to either pony up for Nikon Capture or Adobe Photoshop CS2, since PictureProject cannot actually edit the properties which make RAW worth using in the first place. For the price of the D200 they should just include Nikon Capture for free.

And those are really the only negatives that I can come up with. The most annoying of those is the noise issue, though with something like NeatImage you can clean up the yuck fairly well. If you’re using a D200, it’s probably safe to say that you own Photoshop CS2, so the crummy software bundle isn’t as a big of a deal.

All things considered, though, the Nikon D200 is a heck of a camera. I really enjoyed using it, and I would recommend it to anyone, whether you’re just starting out with a D-SLR, or if you’re upgrading from an older Nikon D-SLR.

What I liked:

* Excellent photo quality, redeye not a problem (though see issue below)
* Built like a tank
* Large, bright, and sharp 2.5″ LCD
* Full manual controls, and then some
* Super fast performance, amazing continuous shooting mode
* Tons of custom settings; camera can store four sets worth
* Handy “recent menu”
* In-camera help system
* AF-assist lamp
* Superb battery life
* USB 2.0 High Speed supported
* All the expandability you’d expect from a D-SLR

What I didn’t care for:

* Images a bit noisy at higher ISO settings
* Expensive
* Included software doesn’t allow for RAW image manipulation; Nikon Capture should be included, and not $100
* Suffers a bit from button clutter; can be difficult to use
* Zoom and scroll feature harder to use than it should be

Some other digital SLRs worth looking at include the Canon EOS-5D and EOS-30D, Fuji FinePix S3 Pro, Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D, Nikon D70s, Olympus EVOLT E-500, and the Pentax *ist DS2.

D200 shares with D2X the honour of being a quite unforgiving image recording instrument. If there is any optical flaw or aberration of the image projected by your lens, the D200 will show the defect almost with the merciless clarity observed on D2X. Chromatic aberration (CA) rears its ugly head almost everywhere. Lenses you believed were just about perfect will suddenly appear devoid of their former splendour, whilst the real optical gems will take on a magical shine on their own.

The price puts the D200 firmly in reach of a huge customer base, much more so than the case is for the professional-targeted D2X. I’m certain many of the potential customers will be more than a little intimidated by the sheer complexity of all the menu settings and subtle nuances of these options. Set to default values however the D200 churns out very respectable image quality, and as you gain experience with it, the diversity of the options take on a more understandable meaning.

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The D200 in addition offers all a series of very innovating aspects: its excellent so versatile and formable system of autofocus, with definition of wide or narrow areas of approach (although the approach points are little); the magnificent viewfinder; the presence of the small flash incorporated in a machine of this range… and we cannot forget that the matrix measurement of Nikon behaves extraordinarily, being the best ones of its class. The balance of targets, that yes, fails a little in certain situations it jeopardize, nothing burdens, if we threw in RAW.

In strict terms of quality of image the answer is intachable until ISO400. The dynamic range is very ample and no longer the old problems of moiré exist. To ISO800 the noise is quite appreciable, although it is not exaggerated, and in our NEFs the correction via software has been simple and effective. Nevertheless, from this level of sensitivity the apparatus no longer offers good results and it moves away of some of his competitors. On the other hand, the new camera is able to obtain a very good level of detail, still without focusing the RAWs via software. The color reproduction we have found it also very correct and, like with other Nikon, we have observed that the photographies leave already enough finished, although without excess of saturation, which is good to be able to later make the adjustment to our pleasure. We have not been able to make long exhibitions of more than 30 seconds when lacking cable trigger, but within this time interval the results have been totally satisfactory at least.

Of all photography magazines I’ve read in English, German, French and Dutch, Chasseur d’Images is coming out as the most accurate and independent information source for photography and photography equipment.”