Nikon D200 SLR Review

Click to take a QuickTime tour of the D200

The Nikon D200 is a high performance digital SLR camera designed to satisfy the requirements of demanding photographers. It combines brand new technologies with advanced features inherited from the D2X professional digital SLR camera. The D200 employs a newly developed 10.2-megapixel DX Format CCD image sensor, a sophisticated 1005-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering II system and an advanced Nikon image processing engine to render images with superb clarity and smooth color gradations. With an all new 11-area Autofocus system, robust control of Nikon's i-TTL Creative Lighting System and advanced Wi-Fi image transmission options it's a natural choice for wedding, event and action photographers.

Strong and Powerful: The camera's mechanisms are housed in a rugged, lightweight magnesium alloy chassis and body with additional sealing for dust and moisture. The D200 powers-up in a mere 0.15 seconds and allows you to capture any shot with a very brief 50 millisecond shutter release lag time. High-speed continuous shooting captures five frames per second (up to 37 JPEG or 22 NEF images) with a viewfinder blackout time of just 105 milliseconds between shots. Its large, bright viewfinder offers 0.94x magnification for comfortable and precise composition and the new 2.5 inch LCD screen provides ultra-wide 170 degrees viewing angle from all directions.

Photographers can take advantage of the D200’s advanced image optimizing functionality that allows them to fine tune image characteristics such as sharpness, tone, color, saturation, and hue. Photographers can also select from preset options like Normal, Softer, Vivid, More Vivid, Portrait and Black-and-White.

Running out of power on the D200 is harder than ever, since in addition to its remarkable capacity of up to 1800 shots per charge, the D200 also features an intelligent power management Fuel Gauge feature that constantly monitors the battery’s precise remaining power in 1% increments. It also displays the total number of shots taken on each charge as well as overall life of the battery, so photographers can easily tell when to replace a battery.

The D200 is a wireless whiz, and features Nikon’s advanced i-TTL wireless Speedlight control built right into the camera, as well as wireless image transfer over a 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network built into the optional WT-3 Wireless Transmitter (available Spring 2006). The camera’s powerful built-in Speedlight, capable of coverage for lenses as wide as 18mm, features a Commander Mode that can wirelessly control up to two separate groups of an unlimited number of i-TTL speedlights such as the SB-800, SB-600 or SB-R200. The Commander Mode in the D200 can adjust flash compensation settings for each of the two groups on the fly, making light output control from speedlights placed in hard to reach locations simple and effortless.

D200 Major Features:

• 10.2-Megapixel effective DX format CCD imager
• High performance: 0.15 sec. power up and 50ms shutter release time
• Continuous capture @ 5fps up to 37 JPEG/22 NEF
• Accepts Nikon F-mount lenses (with 1.5x/2x FOV multiplier)
• Compressed RAW, JPEG and TIFF file formats
• Program AE, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority and Manual exposure modes
• Creative in-camera effects, Image Overlay and Multiple Exposure
• Advanced 3D-Color Matrix Metering II prevents highlight blowouts and loss of detail in shadow areas
• Shutter speeds from 1/8,000 to 30 seconds, flash sync up to 1/250
• 11 area AF with 7 area Wide AF with dynamic tracking, single or continuous servo modes
• Adobe sRGB and 2 sRGB color spaces with support for sYCC color range
• 2.5-inch color LCD with 170-degree viewing angle
• Onscreen menu for Playback, Shooting, Custom functions and Setup
• ISO sensitivity from 100 to 1600 in 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV steps
• Noise Reduction for long exposures, High ISO Noise Reduction for ISO 400 and above
• i-TTL with the SB-800 and SB-600 Speedlights for Nikon’s Creative Lighting System compatibility
• CompactFlash Type I or II storage, Microdrive and FAT-32 compatible
• Faster CF read/write speeds than any previous Nikon dSLR
• Secure interface with memory card via Lexar LockTight CF cards
• Selectable video output with NTSC or PAL format
• USB 2.0 hi-speed data and control interface
• High-capacity Li-ion battery for up to 1800 shots per charge
• Support for the new Wireless Transmitter WT-3

The D200 is bundled with Nikon’s PictureProject software, an intuitive software application that provides image transfer, image organization, simple image editing (NEF plug-in included), and print layout functions. The D200 is also compatible with Nikon Capture 4.4 software (optional), that features improved functions as well as Nikon Capture Camera Control.

The Nikon D200 is available now, see our buy box below for current pricing and online vendors.

DSLR: Nikon D200, a 632 page, two volume interactive eBook with 18 chapters and over 2,000 images including 624 original custom iNovaFX Photoshop actions for users of Nikon's latest and most advanced 10MP prosumer digital SLR. Unlike prior eBooks, the Nikon D200 title is in a new screen-filling horizontal format with a great number of interactive images that emphasize, animate, compare and illustrate the science, technology and art of digital photography. Embedded in the pages of the PDF eBook are movies that illustrate sequential operations, complex menu choices and time-lapse scenes shot with the camera.