Nikon D200 reviewed by pro shooter
The Nikon D200 establishes itself firmly as the much longed-for "digital" F100. Alternatively, it can be seen as a wolf in lamb's clothing. You get an image quality within a hair's width of the D2X, Nikon's current digital flagship. In some aspects the D200 performs even better, for example, ISO noise is slightly lower over much of the range and the risk of blown highlights is subtly reduced when the camera is run on automatic metering modes. On the other hand, D2X excels in terms of sheer ruggedness, better auto white balance, faster shooting speeds, HSC (High-Speed Crop) feature, and handling, although consideration of the latter surely is up to the end user. You get a very decent viewfinder, excellent AF performance, GPS support just like the professional big brothers (D1H, D1X, D2Hs, D2X), and a metering system that you can rely on. Plus the opportunity to switch from having a small, neat camera for long hikes to a bigger unit with the bolt-on MB-D200 power grip.
D200 shares with D2X the honour of being a quite unforgiving image recording instrument. If there is any optical flaw or aberration of the image projected by your lens, the D200 will show the defect almost with the merciless clarity observed on D2X. Chromatic aberration (CA) rears its ugly head almost everywhere. Lenses you believed were just about perfect will suddenly appear devoid of their former splendour, whilst the real optical gems will take on a magical shine on their own.
D200 shares with D2X the honour of being a quite unforgiving image recording instrument. If there is any optical flaw or aberration of the image projected by your lens, the D200 will show the defect almost with the merciless clarity observed on D2X. Chromatic aberration (CA) rears its ugly head almost everywhere. Lenses you believed were just about perfect will suddenly appear devoid of their former splendour, whilst the real optical gems will take on a magical shine on their own.
