d200 low light auto focus

I seem to remember seeing some info that the D200 had good low light

auto-focus capability. I do some shooting in bars and have had trouble

with focus. It's not a fast lense issue it's finding the correct focus

when it's dark.

 

thanks for any insight.

 

Sam

I own a Nikon D200 and I can confirm that it has good low light auto-focus capability. Better then D70 and maybe even better then F100 I owned. It was a pleasant surprise when I aimed the camera at my son watching cartoons on computer LCD. He was lit only by the faint glow of the LCD. I had slow kit lens 17-70 and nevertheless the camera got the focus quickly and firmly. The illuminator on my D200 was switched off. The photography taken with flash revealed that the focus was precise.

 

Regards, Marko

Samuel, In my limited experience, the D200 will focus very quickly in low light. The problem I've found in these situations is it latches on to the brightest object, which is often in the background. I have to move the focus point around the matrix in order to select what I want in focus. So the answer is sort of yes and no. By comparison, my D50 just sort of says, "huh?" in these situations.

VERY good autofocus. Even in a room lit only by a computer screen or by the light under a

partially closed door, it will focus on anything quickly if there is ANY contrast. The only time I

could get the center point to hunt was to sit in a room at night with the lights off (lit by a

computer screen across the room) and point to something that was uniformly grey. Unless

you shoot in that condition a lot, you'll be fine.

Love your beer :-). Keep up the good work.

As a concert-hall photographer, I'm following this D200 thread with considerable interest due to D70 issues I've had with focus quality. Locking onto focus quickly and definitively is one thing; getting it exactly on focus is another. I've had real problems with the "classic" 180 AF ED IF f/2.8 trying to focus at approx. 30 feet in light good for about 1/60th sec. f/2.8 and ISO 250 (so about EV 9). Is the D200 lots better than the D70 in this regard?

I've put it through the paces shooting in a few bars and dark gyms the past couple weeks. I'd say the performance is decent. Very good if there is significant subject contrast, poor if contrast is lacking. This is without using the illuminator and using 2.8 lenses.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

I have decided to give the D200 a try - and if I don't like it I am sure someone out there will give me a good deal on it.

 

thanks again.