Nikon D200

 A dear friend recently gave me his Nikon D200. It had been sitting on a shelf, gathering dust and he thought, "I bet Grav would use that." We had a chat and he arranged for it to be delivered to me. It took a bit of a convoluted journey from 'Muricah to Wigan, but it arrived safely and I set about learning how to get the best from it.

Announced to the world on November 1st 2005, the Nikon D200 was aimed at the semi pro, high end enthusiast market and has a couple of features you can find in the the pro grade Nikon D2X. However it needed a unique selling point and Nikon provided it with the colour profile for its 10.2 mega pixie CCD sensor.

The difference between CMOS and CCD sensors are in the way the processor reads the sensor. CMOS sensors are particularly good for video applications but a CCD sensor is read differently and wasn't able to capture video with any meaningful definition that we all take for granted with our modern cameras and smart phones.

Think back to your 2 mega pixie phone camera that often took pixelated videos that were, frankly, unusable. That was down to the CCD sensor and lack of processing power in your phone. However, the photos you took were often quite decent and could be printed with very little difficulty. When used in DSLR's it is sometimes called the "Photographers" sensor. Anyway, enough about the technickery of digital witchcraft, how did it perform?

I have to say I am very happy with my D200 (no Mr Bob, you can't have it back). I fitted my 18-55mm DX lens on it and went into Wigan. The D200 has a magnesium alloy chassis with full weather sealing throughout. It was a tad moist on the day and I soon discovered the weather sealing is top notch. 

I also found the colour rendition from the sensor is the best I have seen since I got my D700. I would be willing to theorise that the colour profile written for the D700 was based on the one used by the D200. The colours are spot on and my only regret was the sun didn't make an appearance.

I was shooting at 1/60th of a second at f/8 and 800 iso and I managed to get some decent shots despite the horrid weather. I knew I needed to have better weather and light to see what this camera was truly capable of, but the forecast was a bit grim for the next few days.

That changed on November 11th and I headed back into town to make the most of the sunshine we had that day. It didn't take me long to get my base settings dialed in and a floated betwwen 1/125th second at f/11 to 1/250th using the same aperture. I also used a wider aperture at f/5.6 for close up shots when I needed to. I could see on the led screen on the back of the camera that I had some decent exposures, but I needed to see them on my PC monitor.

I uploaded the files to my computer later that day and I was instantly smitten. The colours were bright and vibrant, in part thanks to the sunshine I enjoyed that day, but mainly down to the colour profile written for the sensor. I had been photographing many of the same things I had in foul weather to have a good comparison between them and the phrase "night and day" came to mind. I also now know why my friend Joe loves the D200 and uses one to photograph weddings.

When manufacturers talk about Dynamic Range they are talking about the ability of the camera to capture a decent photo in a wide range of lighting conditions. I think I had both of the extremes for this first impression of my D200 and I couldn't be happier with my photos from both days. I also didn't have to do much editing to my raw files. A few dust spots needed removing and some needed straightening, but that was about it.

If anyone is thinking about buying a digital camera, but hasn't got the money for a new one, there are plenty of Nikon D200's on the market for not a lot of cash. They tend to start at around £100 for a good condition body with less than 20,000 shots on the shutter. The lens I used sells for around £60 and together they will give any aspiring photographer a decent all weather camera to learn the art of digital photography with. 

Here's a few of my favourite photos from both days and you can make a direct comparison between the dull day and sunny day shots. I have placed them all and more in albums on my Flickr account that you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Nikon D200 - Dull Day
A Sunny Day In Wigan