Nikon D-200: battery-chamber cover and memory cards

[jack_a]

Good Day All,

 

After much great advise from the ladies and gentlemen on the photo.net forums

I just purchased a Nikon D-200, MB-D200 grip and battery holder, the 17-55mm f-

2.8 DX lens, B&W uv filter, HOODMAN 2GB 150X-133X memory cards, etc. THANKS

for all the help!

 

I do have a couple more questions that hopefully someone might be able to

answer:

 

1) Are the Hoodman memory cards I purchased as good as the Sandisk

Extreme III memory cards that were suggested? Samy's was out of 2GB Sandisk

Extreme III memory cards and said that the Hoodman were better but more

expensive; although they did charge me the same amount as for the Sandisks.

 

2) How do I REMOVE the battery-chamber cover on the D-200 so that I

can connect my MB-200 Grip?

 

3) How do I REMOVE the flash sinc terminal cover? Just pull it

off, or does it unscrew?

 

I feel like a complete idiot not being able to figure these little things out

for myself...Better to ask than to break a brand new camera.

 

Thanks again for everyones helpful suggestions and advice.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jack

[Jerry_]

...next purchase, check on-line places like B&H Video-Photo or www.keh.com __ if you wanted SanDisk III media, you should have stuck to your guns.

 

 

 

 

Hoodman memory cards are a new one to my knowledge. Don't know what you paid, but recent SD card prices have been getting much better: last purchase was three 'standard' one GB SanDisk SD cards for $94.60, tax included, from a local store.

[kfoster70]

1) no experience with Hoodman cards. Not sure if they are even approved by Nikon to use in the D200. Its funny how at every camera store whatever they have is stock is always better and more expensive.

 

2) The door comes off by just pushing it a little farther the wrong way and then giving it a little twist. What I mean by the wrong way is opening it up more rather then closing it. It might feel like its gonna break, but it will just snap out real easy. This should be somewhere in the instructions to the MD200 or the D200 itself.

 

3) They unscrew, turn it counter clockwise. Sometimes you need to use your finger nails in the little grooves to get it started.

 

Congratulations on your new purchase. Youll love it.

 

Kevin

[joseph_smith3]

I agree with kevin's answer about removal of the battery door. Just have faith, twist it and take it off. Place it where the manual tells you to place it so you will know where to find it if you ever take off the battery holder. Make sure you order some extra batteries. I use three, two in the holder and one spare. I am still trying to figure out if power is taken equally from each of the two batteries in the mb-200 grip or if one is drained completely before the other kicks in. I bought a second charger to speed up the time of charging multiple batteries. Two chargers was a lot cheaper than buying the dual charger. I use the extreme III 2 gb flash cards. Joe Smith

[jautey]

Joseph,

The answer to your question on whether the batteries are drained equally or separately is that they are drained separately, at least on my D200. You can use the battery window (in the menu, can't think of which one off the top of my head) to verify this. It seems first the right battery is drained than the left. This isn't absolute, it seems that as the right becomes less charged (<25%) the left begins contributing. Again this is just my observation, and for all I know on battery powers certain function while the other powers other functions. Maybe Shun (pnet Nikon guru) knows for certain.

[ShunCheung]

Well, I don't even own a D200, so I cannot help on such details. Moreover, I bought my first Nikon in 1977 right after they introduced AI, therefore my knowledge on pre-AI stuffs, including the F and F2, is very limited.

 

As far as memory cards go, I would stick with Sandisk and Lexar; although I also own other brands from the earlier days of the digital era and have never had any problems with any card, I feel more comfortable with the name brands. The Extreme III is quite fast and is hard to beat; it is certainly faster than the 80x Lexar but I haven't tried the new 133x Lexars yet.

[jack_a]

Hi Everyone,

 

Thanks for all the info; I got the D-200 up and running :-). I called Samy's in Los Angeles regarding the Hoodman Professional 150X-133X memory cards; and the digital camera (D-200) specialist there assured me that the Nikon rep told them the Hoodman memory cards were compatible with the D-200 and that they were actually superior to the Sandisk Extreme III memory cards. Since this is my first Digital camera I don't know one memory card from another; and what makes one card better than another. Can anyone explain to me the differences, and what makes one superior to another, and what I should be looking for? I used the D-200 today in Auto mode, Apt Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual with and without an external flash, great exposures, everything seems to be working fine. I even took a couple of picts using the built in flash; PROBLEM the hood on the 17mm-55mm 2.8 lens must be in the way, it caused a strange shadow in every exposure. I hope nothing is wrong with the pop up flash. Anyone else have this problem?

 

Later,

 

Jack

[twmeyer]

<a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007">Compact flash database</a>... t (and a very specific explanation of how and why)

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

Forget using the hood on the 17-55 with the built in flash: it blocks the flash. I'm not even sure that it won't block the flash with out the hood. (I haven't tried that combination.)

 

The Hoodman cards are probably fine. The only time the speed of the card comes into play is if you are shooting long sequences with the motor drive, and then probably only when shooting RAW. I doubt that Hoodman actually even makes the cards.

[twmeyer]

I am surprised that you have invested all this cash in camera and lens, yet balk at getting a decent flash. $320 will get you an SB800 which will complete your outfit nicely. The popup flash works well a a commander for the SB800 allowing very sophisticated lighting in a pocket sized flash, but that same popup flash yeilds pretty ugly lighting on it's own, not to mention that it won't even clear your lens hood (which is essential equipment)... t

[jack_a]

Tom,

 

Thanks for the suggestion; I have used metz 60 CT-4 strobe units for over twenty years and find they work much better for my application than camera/hot shoe mounted flash units. The majority of my photographic experience is with medium and 35mm format MANUAL equipment. I have never used automatic settings; apt. priority, shutter priority, or full automatic. As a matter of fact I have never used an auto focus or TTL camera. So by purchasing the Nikon D-200 I am taking a leap of faith in technology...My guess is that for 98% of the pictures I take, I will probably use the D-200 with the Metz 60 CT-4 in full manual mode and meter all of my photographs accordingly until I learn and master this technological marvel. I do agree that the "pop up" flash on the D-200 (using it in commander mode) is a great alternative to mounting a flash unit on the hot shoe and using a network of "slaves" to activate multiple lighting set ups. As far as the "shadowing" problem I mentioned with the pop up flash had to do with me just testing to see if it would fire. I really didn't expect to use it as a fill or main light.

 

Regards,

 

Jack