Nikon D200: Still My Favorite Camera

It’s been over a year, and I still get all warm and fuzzy over my Nikon D200. it’s one of those products that exceeds expectations (rare these days). Sure the D300 is out now, but the D200 is still shipping, and available at really, really good prices. Here’s the text that I’d written some time ago:

The Nikon D200:

Want to read in-depth reviews that describe every knob, dial, switch and lever on the Nikon D200 Camera? Then read any of the billions of reviews that show up on your search engine’s results page. Read the specs; study the graphs; digest the too-detailed material that describes the performance of a genuinely exceptional camera.

Satisfied that the camera produces gorgeous 10-plus mega pixel images, you’ll probably either want to own one, or decide that it’s just too pricey, and opt for a less expensive alternative. If you end up with one of these cameras, you should note the following observations, written largely from the perspective of a D200 owner (me), who has had one for over one month.

Ridiculously Cool Things worth noting:

1. The Bracketing System: This doesn’t get much mention in the reviews that you’ll read, but it should (even though other models have similar traits and capabilities). The D200 offers a Bracket button on the back of the camera, which, when enabled, allows the photographer to use a bracketing program to intentionally under-expose or over-expose (or both). To say that this bracketing stuff is flexible is an understatement. The user has the ability to determine the number of images, the order in which they appear, and the extent of the exposure bias in either or both directions (plus or minus or both). Again, this isn’t revolutionary; lots of expensive cameras have fabulous Bracketing features. But the D200 has a button that, when combined with a command dial (also on the back of the camera) allows for really, really quick-change operations. Bottom line: for me, bracketing has become a practice that gets used way more often, resulting in way more interesting images. Because this stuff is so fast and flexible and easy, my bases tend to be better covered when shooting images that may otherwise be either underexposed or overexposed. And just because you shoot RAW images (I do, 100% of the time) doesn’t mean bracketing isn’t useful. Trust me: This is a swell feature, and the implementation is first-rate.

2. Commander Mode for External Flash Units: Yes, lots of other Nikon cameras offer this function—even the D70. But it’s still noteworthy and useful. The simple version is that, by getting an external flash (SB-600 or SB-800), you may configure your D200’s flash to actually trigger a flash that’s mounted or set up elsewhere (within limits). For example: I occasionally take portrait-type images in which I’ve placed the external flash unit some six feet from the camera. Pop up the D200’s flash, press the shutter button, and the remote flash simply fires (along with the primary flash). This feature is cooler than it sounds; in fact, it’s become a very easy and powerful way of getting creative with lighting on the cheap. My portraits—even those that are close to simple snapshots—become much more interesting when light sources are moved off-camera. Again, this isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a very nice feature, and in typical Nikon style, it simply works.

3. The Grip: The MB-D200 is an optional vertical grip thingy. It allows the user to hold the camera (better) for vertically-oriented shots. It has a focus/shutter button, enabling image capture even when holding the camera in the vertical layout (obviously). Again, this feature is common to lots of cameras. But this is one option that the D70 doesn’t have. And the real bonus here is that the MB-200 holds an additional battery, which is a good thing, since the battery performance on the D200 is less than stellar. In fact, merely having that extra battery inserted has saved my bacon, and allowed for usage that went much longer than originally anticipated. And, like that’s not enough, the MB-200 also comes with an adapter allowing you to use, NiMH batteries, should your main battery run low on gas. Note: Users should refer to the users’ guide to ensure that the proper battery type is selected in the control panel; the camera does care which type of battery you use as an alternative.

4. Focus: The D200 has a sophisticated auto focus system, and it works very well. That is, it works great once you’ve read a stack of books on the subject, experimented with the neighbors pets, tried tracking other moving objects, and brushed up on your entry-level physics. Yes, I’m being facetious. But not by much. In truth, the focus system is good: better than most of the systems that I’ve seen. But it requires some careful study to really appreciate how, when and where to use which focus mode, as well as the criteria that may affect auto focus performance in either mode. The good news is that the D200 has a whole bunch of sensors for tracking or picking up the focus on objects—moving or otherwise. And in general, those sensors do a good job, given adequate light and contrast. No, the sensors are not as, uh, sensitive as some of the other cameras on the market, and there may be fewer of them, too. On the other hand, this camera runs about half of what some other models cost. But I’m getting off-track. The high-altitude overview is simple: the D200 has an exceptional auto focus system that works reliably and well, but requires—no, demands—that the user do some homework and trial-and-error experimentation in order to leverage and really appreciate how best to use this stuff. Otherwise, chaos and frustration are soon to follow.

5. Fast, Fast, Fast: this camera is fast. Everything is fast. It starts up fast, it takes pictures fast, it focuses fast. You get the idea: it’s fast. I hope I’m being clear on this point. It’s not slow; it’s not, you know, like, medium-speed. It’s fast.

6. The Function button thingy: Directly from the department of unusually good ideas, comes this killer bit. On the front of the camera there is a button (actually, there are a zillion of them), but this one allows you to actually map nearly any function you want to it. At first, you won’t appreciate how much this will improve your life, until you’ve actually figured out how to apply this in practice. And then the light bulb will go on, and you will be a changed person. Sorry—being dramatic. The truth is that this function button allows for the user to essentially teach the camera to employ any of several operations upon a single, highly-accessible button being pressed. The key here is that the location/proximity of that button is right where it needs to be. So, for example, you might set your function button to turn on SPOT METERING, for those cases in which you don’t want to pull your eyeball off of the camera, but do want to meter based on a very small or irregular or different object, place, subject (which is actually a good idea once in a while). There is a quite a bit more to discuss with regard to the function button, but that’s beyond the scope of this discussion. Instead, I’ll simply say that this is a nice touch, and has become a useful tool.

Summary:

One of the things that I like most about the Nikon D200 is that there are so many things that I like about this camera. Many of the features and functions and bells & whistles are great; combine that with exceptional image quality, first-rate performance, robust build-quality and you end up with a camera that exceeds expectations.

I’ve always thought of my Nikon D70 as a product that I remain glad to have purchased, even after a year or more. The D200 falls into the same zip code. It’s more complex, requires more homework, it’s heavier and pickier about hand-holding technique (with long lenses). But it’s a product that, even after the “glee” period of ownership (the first month or two), I have no remorse about buying.