D200 Review By -Angelo Merlin-

Nikon D200 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera

I recently purchased this jewel, and I am very happy with their purchase. As soon as I saw on the magazines and Sato love at first sight! The machine is built in an extraordinary way, cured in every detail and manufactured with quality materials (magnesium alloy coated non-slip rubber).

Ergonomics is really amazing, before purchasing I have at my favorite store, make a comparison with the Canon 30D, but the D200 is definitely better in holding that the body is slightly larger than the Canon. For me a good grip is essential in choosing a car, because I like to hear her firmly in his hands.

Given the size, I would say that the D200 does not require, in my opinion, the battery grip, because the ergonomics are already excellent as it is.

The resolution is very high since we are talking about a car by up to 10 megapixels! A resolution striking and however well managed as the noise is almost imperceptible to 800 ISO to 1600 is bearable, while 3200 is not exactly the best. Excellent also the ability to select ISO sensitivity intermediate: 160, 220 etc..

The controls are well distributed throughout the body and are quite simple in their management. At the rear is a beautiful 2.5-inch LCD, easily legible and protected with a special plastic screen as supplied with the machine. In addition to the rear display, this is an amazing liquid crystal display (illuminated) on the top-right of the body, where they are easily read all the settings of the machine. The latter also has two dials for adjusting aperture time, very comfortable.

The menus are vast and allow personalized adjustment of the machine for any shooting condition. Navigating through menus with a comfortable back pad. despite their complete menus are fairly simple and intuitive even if they require a certain adjustment period.

The viewfinder is very bright thanks to pentaprism and grinding laser. Covers 95% of the image and contains all information relating to data recovery. A gem of this viewfinder, you can activate (via the menu) a grid greatly facilitates image composition.

The machine adopts CF memory cards and Microdrives, and packaging is already inserted a Lexar 80X 1GB CF. The connection is USB 2.0, and then fast enough to transmit data to a PC. In the package is a software to convert and processing files (Picture Project) but in my opinion is pretty poor and slow. Surely it is much better Nikon Capture 4.4.

Now is the time of sore this gem: independence! In fact the machine is powered by a lithium ion battery specification 1500mAh, which is able to provide approximately 400 shots if you use quite often the monitor for viewing images or to navigate the menus. So it is well worth a spare battery or the battery grip, which contains two batteries and brings autonomy around 1000 shots.

Well, the final assessment is certainly very positive, even though the Nikon had already supplied to the Nikon Capture software included in the bundle instead of that crap, and also the batteries could make them a little more powerful, but they are “defects” minor and which do not affect too much the Last Judgement.

It’s a machine suitable for advanced amateur photographer who wants a high performance, and I dare say that a machine can be suitable for a professional, perhaps as a second body. Certainly do not recommend to the neophyte, for reasons of price, not only is it a medium that requires some experience or professional photographer.

Technical Details

  • 10.2-megapixel SLR captures enough detail for photo-quality enlargements or creative cropping
  • 2.5-inch LCD display; power-up time of approximately 0.15 seconds
  • Five frame-per-second continuous shooting with a time lag of approximately 50 milliseconds
  • Stores images on CF cards or Microdrive; powered by EN-EL3a or EN-EL3 rechargeable lithium-ion battery (includes EN-EL3a battery and charger)

Price : $1,200 – $1,500

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………