nikon D200 or D80

[hh253]

I am still using 2 Nikon F2 and 900 with AI lenses.

I want to change to digital, at least for colour and was thinking to buy the

D200, because it gives you a similare feeling to the F2 and you can use the

old lenses.

Now the D80 came out, but it is smaller and I would like to know, if you can

use the old lenses on it.

Many thanks for your suggestions.

Heinz

[chris_vincent2]

Hello Heinz. You will certainly be able to use your existing lenses but there are certain factors which may influence your decision. The first is the 1.5 multiplication factor. The digital sensor is smaller than a 35mm frame which has the effect of multiplying focal length by 1.5. and this will affect any non-DX nikon lens.

 

The second is the metering and autofocus which are optimised for more recent lenses. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm has further info (with strong opinions on the subject)

 

I have both the D200 and the D70s. I much prefer the D200 in terms of usability, in particular I dislike the program mode dial on the D70s which is easy to move accidentaly and seems pretty pointless if you know what you are doing. This is also present on the D80. The D200 top left controls are infinitely more useful.

 

I wear spectacles and find I need to remove them for the D200. Although the viewfinder image is larger than in the D70s, this means it is difficult to see the whole image plus the digital readout with glasses. It has a dioptre adjustment dial which solves this for me and this is now present on the D80.

 

The D200 is heavier and larger due to its construction.

 

Personally I would still go for the D200 but this would be for my own usability preferences - the results would, I am sure, be identical.

 

Chris

[benoit_deshaies]

<i>The digital sensor is smaller than a 35mm frame which has the effect of multiplying focal length by 1.5. and this will affect <b>any non-DX nikon lens</b>.</i>

 

<p>The focal length multiplier affects every lens, DX or not. For example, the DX 18-70mm gives a field of view roughly equivalent to what a 28mm-105mm would on a film camera.</p>

[hiro]

The d80 will mount AI/AIS lenses but will not meter like the d200.

[roto]

Sorry for not being very constructive, but whatever your choice will be, just make sure you don't base it on what Ken Rockwell writes.

 

The guy is quite well known for writing about things he hasn't even seen , let alone tried (he often "reviews" cameras based only the published specs) and he's very strongly opinionated on every possible photographic matter although not equally strongly informed.

 

Check out his site if you fancy but do yourself a favour: don't spend your hard-earned money based on the "information" you find there.

[walterh]

Heinz if you got valuable AI(S) lenses the D200 is the way to go.

 

Several used AIS lenses plus the (better) D200 are probably cheaper than the D80 and similar AF lenses.

[hh253]

Many thanks for all comments.

 

Hiro Matsu writes .... the D80 will mount AI and AIS lenses, but will not meter like the D200.

What does that mean?

 

I have the 35/2, 55 macro, 24 and 105 mm lenses all AI.

am aware of the 1,5 muliplier effect of digital.

 

Heinz

[aaron l]

Heinz,

 

When you half-depress the shutter, the D80 will not show a meter reading. It requires lenses with chips. The D200 has the ability to meter with Ai lenses. However, you can use the histogram on the back to meter your scenes, thus you can still use your lenses. It's quite easy to do and if you have a good guess what the exposure should be, you can dial it in quickly. I've done that with a D70 and a Nikon 500/8 lens. It's a slower operation but it works.

 

The D80 will be much nicer to carry around. I had to buy a neoprene neck strap for my D200 - the strap it came with got to be a bit uncomfortable.

[walterh]

meter = meter light :-)

[peter_hovmand]

A mayor problem of a D80 with old lenses is that it will be difficult to focus manually! That

is why you need a D200 -apart from that you would probably also like to have the

metering :)

[harry_zet]

heinz

i have a d200 with dk-21m: my pictures with my ai-s 1:2/135 mm are spot-on, even when

using the lens on full aperture. go for the 200, you wont regret it

[photo5]

Heinz,

 

The D200 is only $650 more than the D80. newegg.com has the body only for $1649. Not meaning to repeat all the other replies, but the D200 offers a lot more than the D80 and is considered a pro body by most here. Get the D200. I've used it and I know you won't regret it.

 

It's the same as the old question, do I get an F100 or an F80(N80)? I've owned both bodies, and the F100 was simply lightyears above the F80(N80) in terms of, well, everything.

 

Dave

[ShunCheung]

I can tell you what my take on this is, but clearly your mileage may vary. Personally, I stopped using AI/AI-S lenses like a decade ago although I still have a couple of them around. Therefore, whether camera can meter with those lenses is a complete non-issue, to me.

 

What is important to me is that the D200 gives me 5 frames/sec and the D80 3. For shooting action, that makes a pretty big difference. Moreover, the D200 is better built and therefore gives me mroe confidence. Once in a while I travel to some remote corners in the world where there are no camera stores and no repair shops. So whatever I bring had better work, at least as much as possible.

 

The viewfinders on both are about equal and at least IMO, it will be hard to focus manually with either one unless you get a KetzEye type split image focusing screen. There is one for the D200 and I would imagine that they will have one for the D80.

 

The D80 is clearly much lighter and smaller. That is a plus if you prefer a small camera. That may be a minus if you prefer a durable camera like me, as I think it is quite clear that the D80 uses a lot more plastic parts than the D200.

 

Finally, I prefer SD memory cards over CF. In that sense the D80 is better.

 

Again, your mileage may seriously vary. I don't own either one of them because they don't quite meet what I need at this point. But I think it will mostly come down to price: are you willing to spend the extra $650 or so?

[mawz]

Peter Hovemand: The D80 has the same viewfinder as the D200, and offers AF assist with MF lenses of f5.6 and faster. Focusing is the same between the D200 and D80. The D80 only lacks metering with non-CPU lenses (there are a few MF lenses with CPU's, designated AI-P).

[robert_potts1]

I am in a similar position to Heinz. Smaller and lighter are important to me because I want to carry the camera into the field in addition to a Mamiya 7. I have a number of old manual focus lenses. I know how to take pictures and don't need a lot that the D200 offers. The additional $700.00 would buy a nice light meter which would be very useful, or extra SD cards, or an external hard drive, or a kit lens with metering and af when I needed that. I am also under the impression that the D80 does better on batteries than the D200. Please inform me if I am wrong. The one issue that could swing this one way or the other for me is whether there is any difference between the two cameras in image quality at ISO 100. I don't think this has been addressed and input would be appreciated. I hope this helps Heinz too. Thanks.

[william_john_smith]

<I>.... Check out his site if you fancy but do yourself a favour: don't spend your hard-earned

money based on the "information" you find there. </I><P>Should read: Check out

<B>PhotoNet</B> if you fancy but do yourself a favour: don't spend your hard-earned

money based on the "information" you find there.

[joseph_smith3]

I wear trifocals and have no trouble using the viewfinder on my d 200. I have a bunch of AIS lenses I use on it too w/o problems focusing. If you want to use AIS lenses, get the D 200. If you get the D 80 sell the AIS lenses and get AF or G or DX lenses. Joe Smith

[bueh]

Simple as that, Heinz: Nikon crippled their bodies so that won't meter with manual focus lenses. Exceptions are the D200 and the D1 + D2. Consult <b><a href="http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/other/compatibility.html" target="_NEW">this chart</a></b> for details. So you can mount your old lenses, but you are back to manual exposure setting and guestimating the light. Disregard comments how easy it is, a dSLR is about convenience, not fiddling with apterture/shutter speed controls for EVERY shot you take.

<p>

An alternative is using an Nikon-EOS adapter with Canon dSLRs. Sure, you must stop-down meter, but a nice 20D is much more affordable than a similiar-equipped Nikon camera.

[robert_m3]

Shun said:

 

"Moreover, the D200 is better built and therefore gives me mroe confidence. Once in a while I

travel to some remote corners in the world where there are no camera stores and no repair

shops. So whatever I bring had better work, at least as much as possible."

 

The D200 is undoubtedly better built. However, you can buy two D80's for the price of one

D200. The chance of two D80's failing in a remote corner of the world is probably less than

the possiblity of one D200 failing.

[richard hooker]

But why would you want to take two D80s in the field when you can have one superior D200? Two D80s will take up much more room and has less features.

[ShunCheung]

First of all, you can't buy two D80's for the price of one D200, and you sure don't want to carry two DSLR at all times. When I travel by air, there are all sorts of space and weight issues with my carry on luggage. At least in my case, the camera body is merely a small part of the problem. For those of us who shoot wildlife, the main problem are the super teles.

 

Obviously I still have backup body/bodies, but those may go into the checked luggage and may stay behind in the motel or car when I go hiking with a 500mm/f4 and tripod. The additional weight of another body isn't exactly what I need.

[g._armour_van_horn]

I haven't actually played with a D80, but I'm sure it feels a lot like the D70. I am very used to the F3 (with MD-4) and the F4s, and the D70 just felt like a piece of junk by comparison. It takes great pictures, but I think the feel is worth a lot. If I could afford a D200 at the moment I'd probably buy one, but I'm really happy with my DCS-760, which (at 4.1 pounds) is even heftier than the D200 and feels as good and smooth as the F5 it's based on. If you've gotten to like the way the F2 acts in your hands, go with the D200.

 

Van

[photo5]

I think the D70s has a great feel. I've taken excellent photos with it, and usually shoot with it and my F3HP on most trips. I don't always feel the need to hold a really big and heavy camera. I find the D70s a great travel camera for sure. My old N70 did a great job in Japan when I was there for 3 weeks in Nov 2000.

 

Dave

[hash]

>> That may be a minus if you prefer a durable camera like me, as I think it is quite clear that the D80 uses a lot more plastic parts than the D200

 

I wonder about durability in the digital age, when the technology may be thoroughly obsolete in 5 years time. It's no longer the same world where good cameras used to last for decades. The camera may remain in perfect physical condition but technology could move on making its use impractical...

[ShunCheung]

To me, durability is not whether a camera can last 5 years. It is whether it can take a certain amount of abuse out in some remote areas in unfriendly weather for a few days.