marcofrancardi

I had a D70 which I lost. Thank god I did! It forced me to buy a new camera just when the D200 was announced.

ISO Noise, build, speed, viewfinder, focussing, battery life, vertical grip, weather proofing. Everything so much better on the d200. Go for it! (unless you can afford a Canon 5D, wich is the closest thing I found).

cheers.

Gosh William... if you'd shoot frequently by the seaside, when wind is hauling, salt mist is spraying an sand blowing, you would get maaaad!

 

Trust the folks here: a little residual mark on your lens will be unnoticed by your camera. and each cleaning will make more damage then benefit.

 

Oh, by the way: after a day like that, I always use a low alcohol solution: "Budweiser guts cleaner".

lose data when edit file or push the compression ratio further.

just to update: I got myself two EN-ELe AND 6 Duracell NiMh 2300mAh rechargeble. the two sets last more or less the same amount of time. The only thing is the recharge time for the AAs is almost 7 hours and the D200 charge level is not reliable for NiMh batteries (the dischare time is not progressive).

Thanks gentlemen. I appreciate your cooperation. I think I'll settle for the 14E. Added to the digital magnification factor, it should serve well my needs.

Cheers.

It actually is a AF-S Nikkor 300/f4 ED.

hello everyone.

I just got a new nikon ED 300/f4 for my D200 (my only other lens is

a 18-200 VR). I'm thinking of coupling it with a TC for a better

reach.

 

Nerver used one before though.

 

In your valuable experience, which one gives you better results in a

way that reach/definition/compatibility don't punish too much one

another?

I got my D200 + MB-D200 + 18-200 all at once three weeks ago. And I got what I expected: wonderful camera, excellent vertical grip, mediocre but versatile lens. No regrets up to now.

Yes Mike, I recently shot from an old Cessna with window open wide and the problem was wind shake and engine/propeller vibrations (very cold as well). I went into manual focus locked on to infinite, VR on and max aperture. I was shooting snow trails, so I was able to shoot 1/1000. Decent result with D200/VR18-200.

SuperIlkka! ;-)

Hi all.

I've just got my D200 along with its vertical grip. All very fine but

the back up batteries.

 

I found the possibility to run on standard batteries to be a clever

emergency solution (just like the D70's CR2 battery holder), but I

was disappointed.

 

On fresh Alkaline batteries, it went dead pretty soon (60-90 min).

Had to switch off, let it rest a while and shoot again for 5-10 min

more. That was it.

 

The battery cherge indicator wasn't much of a help, ranging from full

charge to empty in a short while (I had set the proper battery

settings in place, of course). it's not much worth to carry around

extra weight for just that lousy performance.

 

Any other experience, maybe on NiMh bats?

So, after having all the above said, it seems that the most useful investment you can make is to spend a bit of time reading and understanding very well your manual ONCE, before shooting. That will save you much time MANY TIMES after shooting.

In any case, D70 suffers much of noise problem, and the small viewfinder does not facilitate precise focussing. I even had problems to keep the horizon's line straight. I'm expecting better out-of-the-camera performance from the D200, ONCE I'll master the custom settings.

enjoy your shooting, anyhow you do it.

Hi Luca,

first thing is to take care of you battery(ies). they don't last long in cold weather. keep them warm, close to your body (only the batteries) and take them out just at the right time to shoot. after shooting, take them back in a warm pocket.

The plastic bag is a good idea to keep warm moisture from sticking onto your cold camera when you step inside (from very cold and dry to very warm and humid enviroments). Let the camera warm up in the bag to the new enviroment and then take it out to shoot safely.

Enjoy it.

you lucky guys! here in lebanon those babies are still very expensive..

I wish I could change some settings... I'm still waiting for my D200 to arrive. Nikon Asia is on back order :-(

Hi Vivek. You want to stir the soup, right?

You know such a generic comment is only provocative...

well, after wasting my D70 in late september, I was going for the 20D, but than The D200 was announced. the next thing to it Canon has, is the 5D, but that's quite a jump moneywise. And you can get good Nikon lenses with the saving you get. I disagree with the "wait and see" approach: it would be an endless wait.

Well, all that makes me proud to be a humble part of this community.

Welcome back Todd.

I think Capture is much more intuitive than PS. It sports much more "down to basics" "stripped to the bone" features. In PS you can find many, many options of which you, if skilled, will use only 50% for your photographic needs.

My main concern would rather be to master RAW (and maybe JPEG for compression needs) concepts. When you understand the way it works, Capture will be pretty intuitive to operate. Just a suggestion and good luck.

This gives me the chance to bring to your attention what Ken Rockwell says about the costly 17-55/2.8 and the 18-200.

According to him, not much of a difference, apart the obvious:

"Distortion is more than I'd expect for such an expensive, limited range zoom. At 17mm it's not much less than the 18 - 200 VR"... and more.

I'd like to know your point of view.

I think it's a plastic salesman...

If the camera were a heavily used one, I would have told you to check the body's contacts springs. One of them might be a bit loose.

But a new body? I would send it right away, as if it is a mechanical problem, it might just get worse in a short time.

For what I'm seeing the answer is easy: YOU were focussed on her legs, not her face nor her clothes! ;-)

Since it was a significally smaller picture I saw, I used to rotate my D70 instead. Fast, easy and more "intelligible".

I went through the same troubles (I actually lost my d70-firmware upgraded). I was almost going for Canon 20D only for noise/wiewfinder problems. luckly enough, the D200 came out.

 

If you shoot professionally, and get another d70, you'll be stuck with the same problems: eyes tireness/wear and unnecessary extended workflow. I went D200. I'll put my hands on it on the 25th of january. time will tell.