There isn't much not to love about this camera, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. On paper the d80 is 95% of the d200 but in use the gap is much wider. Some say its heavy, its a pro body made from metal I find the weight adds to its stability when shooting I can hand hold slower than any other camera I have owned which is quite a lot.
If you have the extra cash and no lenses the eos 5d is a better performer but if you have nikon glass or your budget is around £860 there is nothing to touch it at the moment IMO.
A slight critisism would be noise at fast ISO but its no worse than others in it range with the exception of fujis s5 (which shares the same body) but I found that less sharp than the d200 in my pre purchase tests.
This is a serious piece of equipment for a very experienced photographer, I have been a photographer for over 20 years so from film to digital the change is important to keep quality high - I still need digital camera's to be able to closely mimic the quality that was film. It will never be able to match the film quality but as we all now know the digital system is able to offer other advantages that film couldn't within the software and in size and convenience and speed. The Nikon D200 is one of those digital assets to add to the family for professionals only, or very keen amateurs, a great price and extremely complicated to use but once you get the hang of it, you have a camera that can provide an image that any professional would be proud to show off and more importantly can provide for any size company a considered professional quality photograph. I will be looking forward to getting to grips with the camera even more as I have only had it for about 10 days now, I am sure I have made a good choice for the future advancement of my business requirements, until Nikon brings its next generation out at the right price! Regards, Brighty67
Excellent camera. All you need if you are an amateur photographer! Should keep me busy for a while, especially with all the functions that the camera has to offer, but i have only had it 24hrs and it is really intuitive, and the pictures arecoming out a real treat.
Having been frustrated with my digital compact (especially the shutter lag) I decided to invest in an SLR. After months of research and comparisons between Canon 40D and Nikon D300, I decided to be sensible and spend less money on a second hand D200. I was very pleased with the price I paid for my camera - half the price of a new D300. When I collected the camera I instantly realised I had made the right choice. I ordered a nikon 18-200mm lens and a spare battery and I haven't stopped clicking since. There is so much to learn with this camera, but you can just set it to Program mode and you don't have to think about anything. Buttons very well positioned to make focus area selection quick and easy, and exposure compensation. The amount of information you can select for each shot is incredible & I look forward to learning what it all means! With the money I saved from buying this instead of a D300 I have been able to buy an excellent all purpose lens which although quite heavy gives very good results, although a little slow. I shall now be buying a 50mm 1.8f lens for portrait which is my favorite subject. I really hope to improve and develop my photography and am assisting at a wedding later this month. Who knows, it may result in a whole new life for me.
I have read many glowing reviews regarding this camera. I decided to buy a good second hand one on Ebay with a battery grip. On first use the camera showed a distinct mark in the images. The seller said that the camera was 100% fine but obviously was not. This is perhaps not the fault of the camera but shows the problem that is starting to occur with older models of digital cameras. The sensor has spots of dust on it which the seller did not want to contribute to the cost of cleaning off. Most digital sensors are best left alone unless there is no other option but to clean. This I am having to get done at my expense. I must admit that this has not been a problem with my last cameras but may be something to consider when purchasing second hand. Most current SLR's have some kind of cleaning system or dust prevention built in so perhaps we should consider the cost of cleaning as a matter of course when purchasing second hand or consider paying a bit more for a camera that takes dust into account.
Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great
Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great
Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great price Great
Its my first step into SLR digital cameras. I wanted one that is fully compatible with all my Nikon lenses. I wanted one that, even though second hand, will still last me several years before I will want to upgrade. I find with any technology that new models quickly supercede recent versions. The D300 has replaced the D200 but the D200's on sale haven't had any wear yet. Fortunately people in the UK are so well off that they can dump a decent camera to get the next model. I am happy to be one step behind the latest and greatest. That way I get good technology at an affordable price. There's nothing yet that I dislike about it or the fact that I bought a second hand model. I find most people care for expensive cameras and most are in almost mint condition still in the original packaging.
I had been considering buying the latest Nikon D300 body as a replacement for my Nikon D70 which has served me so well as my first digital SLR camera body.
Now that the D300 has come out, the price of used D200 camera bodies has become really affordable and there are some great bargains here on EBay. The D200 reminds me of the professional feel that the Nikon F5 film camera has: solid build quality; rapid continuous shooting; fast auto-focus, the legendary RGB matrix metering that is so hard to fool. It has a built-in flash (unlike the F5). There is an optional bolt-on battery pack for really heavy use and fire power.
This is definitely not a camera for those relying on the preset modes eg. Portrait, Landscape, Night scene as these are not to be found, although there is an Auto program mode which will not let you down.
Ideal for wedding photography, wildlife, sports action and producing top quality digital images in RAW format and various .JPG sizes. You will need large Compact Flash cards to store your images as in camera RAW format, a 1Gb card will only store approximately 60 images.
There are lots of customisations that you can make through the Menus. As with so many digital cameras, the higher the specification, the more buttons there are on the body to reduce the need to access functions on the menus.
One feature that I have not tried yet but which looks very appealing is the ability to combine two images (image overlay) into a new single image and may achieve the same as HD by adjusting gain by up to +/- two stops.
This is a fantastic camera. Having gone from a D50 which I thought was good to a more professional camera the difference is massive, but well worth investing in. The speed, megapixels and the ease of changing the settings such as the ISO and the exposure is impressive. There are other options on the D200 similar to my partners D2Xs, but I much prefer the D200 for ease of use, weight and overall performance. After a shoot when we load the pictures up, it's not easy to tell which camera took which shot. For anyone wanting a professional DSLR without wanting to pay thousands, I can't recommend thd D200 highly enough.
I bought The D200 Camera for my business as a Wedding photographer and unfortunately the camera was new unused but was faulty.What I can say is that the dealer was unaware of the fault as he was not a photographer and had come by the camera as a winner in a competition nevertheless he did not hesitate to give me a full refund
These are going for around £500 on eBay now. That's around £700 cheaper than the D300. The only thing's the D300 has are a larger screen, LiveView, which is frankly a waste of time and a different processing engine. This last feature offers nothing that can't be achieved in Photoshop.
Save your money, get a D200 and a decent lens. I have used Nikons for the last 15 years and this model is back to the standards of the last film cameras.
The Nikon D200 is an excellent semi-pro digital SLR, which has only recently been superceded by the D300. This means that the D200 is now available at what can be seen as a bargain price, for what is a superb quality camera. The D200 offers full manula, Aperture/Shutter-priority and Program exposure modes, with matrix, partial and spot metering modes. An all-around excellent camera which allows fro point & shoot simplicity or full manual creative control.
I adore everything about this camera. From the solid feel of its' magnesium body, to the amazing detail I can see on a digi' negative when I come to edit RAW files.
My D70 was excellent, but this takes a step further. I almost fail to see that I will ever buy another camera.
The frames per second speed is lightning, the shutter extremely quiet and vibration free- I just want to take photos all day with this machine. Buy one today...
i like the shape of the camera and the weight is good to allowing for a stable and accurate grip.i decided to buy it as the nikon d40 hasnt got the professional edge as the d200 has.
This is waaay better than the D50 I had before, a much more serious bit of kit. Plus I can use all my old lenses on it, even a cheap unbranded set of set of extension tubes, with perfect results.
As other reviews have stated the d200 is a simply fantastic camera, a little on the heavy side (which i like), but the gips are so comfortable that that does not matter, blisteringly fast and the detail that can be picked out in a photo wow.
The 24- 120 lens is not the new VR one but the older model, however i was lucky enough to get a japan made one which has much better build and optical quality. The have been some questions as to the sharpnes of this lens but the one i got is amazing, very sharp even out to the corners. focus on the d200 is very fast but slightly on the noisey side. the lens has a 72 filter thread so the primary lens looks huge and very pro. However this does make the lens quite heavy. but is you wanted a light camera and lens you would not be looking at the pro models anyway.
very happy with the kit, would not hesitate to recomend op4664
I bought this camera on an impulse - I own a D40 which is a great piece of equipment and I'd read the rave reviews about the D300 - I started looking for a D200 bargain. The camera is chunky, solid, well-engineered, stable to hold; it is easy to use the menus and the sound of the shutter is most satisfying. You will be amazed at the quality of pictures taken using "auto-iso", especially when it uses 1600 at night allowing sharp pictures to be obtained with the camera hand-held. Colours are always subjective but these are the most realistic I've used since the days of Kodachrome II. Using the focus zones is an absolute dream ... I could go on and on.
The only problem is that the D300 is meant to be so much better .. I cant believe it's possible to beat this!
Brilliant camera always used nikons & this model keeps the nikon quality going. Nikon’s new prestigious D200 is ideal for those looking for a camera to bridge the gap between the professional and the entry level Digital SLRs. The D200 delivers the incomparable quality of professional pictures whilst offering exceptional versatility, creative responsiveness, accuracy and full manual control. The D200 is the perfect camera for the semi-professional and freelancer who want an affordable SLR that integrates the right portion of diversity, quality and reliability of Nikon’s professional high-end model.
I bought this camera as a present for my wife ( I got fed up with her pinching mine) I have had Nikon for a number of years and moving to the D200 was a natural progression. It is perfectly balanced and very user friendly. There are a multitude of functions but the ability to just point and shoot makes it easy for someone new to photography to get great results. Couple this with the digital bonus of Photoshop and it is outstanding.If my wife ever gets fed up, then I now have two D200's.All Nikon lenses can be used so I did not have to fork out for more.This is a Nikon worthy of the name, a Great Professional camera.
This is a great camera for someone who wants their digital SLR to do everything apart from have pre-set point-and-shoot settings. It's a big and heavy beast if you're used to a normal consumer camera, but don't let that put you off as it feels great in the hand, is well balanced with the equally excellent 18-200 image stabiliser lens and is amazingly well built and robust.
Leave it set it on Programmed / Auto ISO / Auto White Balance and you'll get great pictures, but the controls are so easy to use and are positioned where your fingers expect to find them that you can quickly and easily adjust to any lighting and shooting situation. Picture quality is fabulous.
A slight critisism would be loud click of the shutter/mirror, but it's only noticable in very quiet surroundings.