This is a bit of a delayed contribution to this discussion but here it is anyway. I am considering a D200 and I have Photoshop CS. I was concerned that I would not be able to acess D200 NEF file from Photoshop CS just as you have found. What I discovered but have not tested is that Nikon View software comes with a Photoshop plugin for accessing NEF format files. Further, Nikon View update 6.2.7 claims to have support for D200 NEF files. This information may be of no use to you. I have Nikon View software because of my purchase of a Nikon D100 camera a few years ago.
When installing Nikon View, an Adobe Photoshop plugin is added under the Photoshop installation directory for processing camera RAW files. This plugin takes precedence over the camera RAW plugin put in place when Photoshop CS was installed. This often annoys Photoshop users because it provides less sophisticated processing of the RAW NEF image. To that end the Adobe web site has a support entry explaining how to rename the Nikon View plugin so that the Photoshop plugin will again be used.
While I read that the Nikon View 6.2.7 update supports D200 NEF files that doesn't necessarily mean that the Photoshop plugin that comes with it also supports D200 NEF files.
Another question I can't answer, your D200 comes with some Nikon software, but not Nikon View. Will that software also install a Photoshop plugin for processing RAW NEF format files? If it does then you may simply need to install the Nikon software after installing Photoshop CS. (In theory!)
If any of this does work it would provide you a way to edit your D200 NEF files without the need to perform the NEF to DNG conversion step. I have been looking around on the net to see if I could find a D200 NEF file to test this theory for my situation. So far I haven't found such a NEF file.
Nikon D200 RAW Processing
in The Digital Darkroom: Process, Technique & Printing
Posted
This is a bit of a delayed contribution to this discussion but here it is anyway. I am considering a D200 and I have Photoshop CS. I was concerned that I would not be able to acess D200 NEF file from Photoshop CS just as you have found. What I discovered but have not tested is that Nikon View software comes with a Photoshop plugin for accessing NEF format files. Further, Nikon View update 6.2.7 claims to have support for D200 NEF files. This information may be of no use to you. I have Nikon View software because of my purchase of a Nikon D100 camera a few years ago.
When installing Nikon View, an Adobe Photoshop plugin is added under the Photoshop installation directory for processing camera RAW files. This plugin takes precedence over the camera RAW plugin put in place when Photoshop CS was installed. This often annoys Photoshop users because it provides less sophisticated processing of the RAW NEF image. To that end the Adobe web site has a support entry explaining how to rename the Nikon View plugin so that the Photoshop plugin will again be used.
While I read that the Nikon View 6.2.7 update supports D200 NEF files that doesn't necessarily mean that the Photoshop plugin that comes with it also supports D200 NEF files.
Another question I can't answer, your D200 comes with some Nikon software, but not Nikon View. Will that software also install a Photoshop plugin for processing RAW NEF format files? If it does then you may simply need to install the Nikon software after installing Photoshop CS. (In theory!)
If any of this does work it would provide you a way to edit your D200 NEF files without the need to perform the NEF to DNG conversion step. I have been looking around on the net to see if I could find a D200 NEF file to test this theory for my situation. So far I haven't found such a NEF file.