Nikon D200 DSLR Review
| Design |
| At first glance the D200 looks very similar to the Nikon D100, but with dials and buttons galore, a closer inspection shows that not only have the functions been changed but the design has been updated too. The sturdy rugged moisture and dust-sealed magnesium-alloy body has a reassuring weight when holding it. Experienced DSLR users will feel right at home with the 5.8 x 4.4 x 2.9 inch Nikon D200. Like we said there’s buttons everywhere but once you’ve got the hang of your DSLR you’ll realise they’re all logically placed and you’ll even be able to change settings in total darkness, particularly as the majority of them can be reached by either your right or left finger. To the right you’ll find the depth-of-field and user-definable Function buttons, the on/off button, shutter release, shooting modes and EV settings. To the left is a lockable mode dial similar to the one found on the Nikon D2X which allows you to rotate through single-shot, low-speed and high-speed continuous shooting, self-timer, and mirror lockup settings. At the back you’ll find the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD again surrounded by buttons that activate picture review, the menu system, review layout options, and image protection. There’s also another large LCD on top that is really handy to see the different functions of the camera. |
| Setup/Installation |
| If you’ve used a Nikon SLR before you’ll feel right at home with this camera and find it very easy to navigate around. However if you are a Nikon virgin we suggest spending some time to learn what the different buttons do, it isn’t complicated but does take a bit of time to get used to the functions. |
| Features |
| There’s an abundance of features in the Nikon D200. The newly developed 10.2 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor has the power to capture exceptional sharpness images and colour at 3,872 x 2,592 pixels size. A large 2.5-inch LCD monitor has a 170 degree viewing angle and a 400% magnification. And the large top LCD panel on the top makes reading like shooting mode, battery condition, card information, gridline display, shutter speed, F stop and number of remaining shots, really easy. It incorporates high-speed 4-channel data output that helps provide 5fps continuous shooting performance and comes with Optical Low Pass Filter that helps prevent colour fringing and shifting while improving resolving power. The Nikon DSLR comes with an 11-area AF system and the ability to select individual focus areas from 11-area wide and 7 wide-area AF for Single Area AF, Dynamic AF that delivers precise Continuous servo AF mode operation for moving subjects, Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF and also Group Dynamic AF. It comes with 3D Colour Matrix Metering II (AE) to optimise exposure through the use of new technology developed for the Nikon 1,005-pixel RGB exposure/Colour Matrix Metering Sensor. The image optimisation modes allow you to produce results more closely matching the intended results, with a range of choice for optimisation of sharpening, tone (contrast), colour, saturation, and hue, with choices from Normal, Softer, Vivid, More vivid, Portrait, Custom and Black-and-white optimization. It’s fast this Nikon D200, powering up takes a fast 0.15 seconds and there’s a mere 50-millisecond shutter time lag for fast handling and 105-millisecond viewfinder blackout for continuous shooting at 5 frames per second. The high-energy EN-EL3e rechargeable lithium-ion battery delivers enough power to the D200 to support the shooting of up to 1,800 images on a single charge. Additional accessories that you might want to buy are the GPS connection which logs data on where you took the picture and there’s also a Wireless Transmitter WT-3 which gives you the convenience of IEEE802.11b/g capability. |
| Performance |
| The Nikon D200 is a powerful machine that delivers good images. The start up was really quick, no sooner had you switched the camera on the D200 was ready for action and was able to take pictures as fast as you could press the shutter release, knocking off around 30 JPEG shots in just over seven seconds, roughly 4fps. The attached flash slowed things down a bit but really not enough to complain about. The actual image quality is fantastic. Images had good exposure, and the colours were really accurate and neutral. There was little noise in any of the pictures and even when we used the high ISO in lowlight-high contrast conditions there were few problems. The D200 performed well at ISOs ranging from 100 to 800 and quite acceptable images at the high end. |
| What's In The Box? |
| Camera body. |
| Overall Opinion |
| The D200 DSLR camera is set at a fraction of the price of the Nikon D2X and more powerful than the Nikon D100. This good machine comes packed with buttons, dials and features. If you’re looking for a quick starting camera that takes professional shots, then you’ll be very pleased with the Nikon D200 Digital SLR camera. |
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Pros + Good selection of controls + Strong performance + Excellent image quality + Lots of funky accessories |
Cons - No Tiff function |
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Battery Life 8/10
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Picture Quality 9/10
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Setup Simplicity 8/10
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Build Quality 9/10
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Ease of Use 9/10
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Overall Rating 
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By Babita Wakelin
1/11/2006 at 3:19:59pm
1/11/2006 at 3:19:59pm
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