Nikon D200

Nikon D200

The Nikon D200 is the digital camera I have been waiting for since the advent of digital. I have often seen it said that this is the digital version of the excellent Nikon F100 35mm slr camera. It is certainly a compliment as the F100 was and still is an incredible camera, but as one would expec the D200 has so many advancements and is such a workhorse that I always feel it is a little unfair to compare it that way. As expected with a 10 megapixel dSLR, the detail it is able to capture is incredible with accurate colours and skin tones. For all of you who maybe thinking, big deal, my digital compact has 10 or even 12 megapixels, you must understand it is a totally different beast. The sensor in a dSLR is much, much larger than a compact which has lots of benefits, not to mention the processing power a dSLR has. In fact, that compact would probably do a lot better with less megapixels as we reached a point a few years ago of diminishing returns when it came to megapixels and indeed, adding more megapixels now is beginning to detract from the image as you simply cannot keep squeezing in more megapixels without introducing a whole host of other problems, like noise for one.

The Nikon D200 is built to a standard sorely missing in many competitors products. You could hammer nails with this camera and still go straight ahead and shoot an important event as it most likely wouldn’t effect it in the slightest. Slight exaggerations aside, also of note is the incredible design Nikon are known for. Every function is within easy reach, and every major function that is often changed during the course of work is able to be changed with a dedicated button or dial, and when you are working the last thing you want or can do is start searching through menu’s.

All of the above is very nice of course, but technology marches on and sure enough in the not too distant future we will have another camera with 14+ megapixels, but the last few years the megapixal count has meant nothing as we already have more than enough unless you are doing billboards on the side of buildings - and even then, some of those are made with 4 megapixel dSLR’s. (9/2007 update - sure enough, we now have the D3 and D300 coming out in November of this year, both with a whole host of improvements. I have already ordered one and will write about using them after I have had a chance to put them to work). What makes Nikon dSLR’s so special to me, is that their models not only feel well put together, they are arranged so thoughtfully which means you never have to think when changing a setting in the middle of a shoot. I have included a picture of the back of the camera because to me, with the exception of the grip that is the most important part once you know the photo quality is there. Notice how all the controls are laid out with dedicated buttons. With the advent of digital this is even more important as there are so many settings available, ones that simply did not exist in the past - some useful, some just gimmicks that can live in the menu structure hidden away so they don’t get in my way when working. The less a photographer has to dig through a menu driven interface the better, and the D200 has the layout down better than any in its bracket.

As a wedding & portrait photographer, a camera having good control of noise at high ISO is very important as we shoot in dimly lit churches often without a flash, but the detail needs to be kept as noise reduction technology can often make a high ISO shot look more like a watercolour painting. The Nikon D200 is excellent up to ISO 800 and more than acceptable at ISO 1600 so long as you make sure you have set the shot up well to begin with - digital technology does not mean all the rules we learnt in photography can be forgotten, technique is still vitally important. I prefer working with RAW files, so that I can get every last bit of quality out of the shot. It also enables a photographer to set the white balance in the digital darkroom as churches can be very difficult for any camera to get right - although the D200 does an admirable job here. The flash system introduced with the Nikon D2H and D70 and enhanced with the D200 is just excellent and better than any competitor by a mile. This is an area where Nikon is head and shoulders above the rest. Being able to control three groups of multiple wireless speed-lights is just brilliant, in fact I find it hard to imagine doing without now. You do not need to buy anything else, the D200 can do this out of the box and the Creative Lighting System (CLS) as Nikon calls it is very reliable. I use it constantly for portraits in particular and it works extremely well and is quick and easy to set up and take back down.

After writing such a glowing wedding & portrait photographers review of the D200, you may think I don’t have any issue’s with the camera. Well, I wish but there is always something that could be improved and with the D200 I wish ISO 1600 and above was a little better whilst still retaining the detail. I should add here though, that back in the film days when we shot with an ASA 1600 film we expected grain its just as time moves on and technology gets better we expect more and more. To be fair, the D200 at 1600 has a lot less noise than film did grain, so all things are relative. I wish the viewfinder had more than a 95% display which is something you get with the D2Xs (amongst other things, and a much larger body with all the good and bad that entails). The auto-focus is also faster in a D2Xs, but for what I do to earn money, the D200 AF system is more than fast enough and 5 frames per second is something I never use. My last comment would be about the battery life. The D200 has an excellent battery system in that it gives an accurate display of its remaining charge and life-span, but they just don’t last very long which necessitates me carrying 4 batteries to a wedding to make sure there is absolutely no chance of running out of juice - although the grip helps here with holding two batteries at once in addition to adding a vertical shutter button. If you are really interested in photography and need a camera that will just respond without you having to think about it, the D200 is about the best there is for $1600/£1000.