Nikon D200 is on it’s way!

Published by Nick Ladd | Filed under Nikon D200

Well, after years of debating I finally took the plunge and ordered my Nikon D200. For years I’ve been using my trusty Nikon Coolpix 4500 (with pretty good results) but found that it was time to take the plunge as the old Coolpix (as good as it is) has started to limit my creativity.

The biggest things I’m looking forward too: (I’m sure this list will grow once I start using the camera)

1. Flexibility of Lenses
Enough said. The range on the old camera was very limiting. The D200 kit I bought comes with an 18-200mm lens which should be flexible enough to cover a broad range of shooting situations. Of course, I already have a little lens envy when I start to look at the extensive catalog of lenses available for the D200.

2. Near Instant on and 5 FPS shooting rate
The old camera was slow. The D200 should almost turn on instantly, and be able to shoot very quickly. I hope to start photographing some sporting events (particularly minor league baseball), and this should come in very handy.

3. Depth of Field Preview
Should be pretty neat.

4. Shooting in RAW
True digital negatives should allow for better post processing. Even if the differences are small, I like to know that I can archive and manipulate exactly what the camera’s sensor sees.

5. Higher Resolution
The jump from 4.0 MP to 10+ will be huge.

6. No More ‘Scene’ Modes
I never use them, and consider them wasted space.

7. TTL
Actually looking through the lens at what the sensor will see (or at least very close) will be awesome.

The biggest things I’ll miss from the Coolpix 4500:

1. Traveling Light
Gone are the days of my tiny camera bag slung over my shoulder, and that’s it. I’ll have to figure out good ways to travel light with a DSLR.

2. Pivotable Body
Definitely will miss the ease at which taking pictures from lower points of view was with the 4500.

3. Best Shot Selector
This option was great for shooting static subjects in low light conditions (longer exposures) without using a tripod. Came in particularly useful in cavern-like spaces where flash was either not allowed (museums) or not suitable (gothic cathedrals were made for this feature). Higher ISO’s on the 4500 have lots of noise…I think the D200 should preform better in this area, so I should be able to use quicker exposures with higher ISOs.

3. Macro
The Coolpix 4500 did a great job at macro focal lengths with the built in lens. It’ll be interesting to see how the 18-200mm lens that I’ve purchased preforms in this regard…I’ll probably need to buy an additional macro lens (and possible lighting kit).

Here is the nuts and bolts of what I ordered (from Amazon.com via Cameta Cameras):

1. Nikon D200 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-200mm Nikkor Lens
$2,249.95

2. Nikon EN-EL3e Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery (X2)
$38.75

3. SanDisk 8 GB Extreme IV CompactFlash Card ( SDCFX4-8192-901 )
$188.23

4. Tiffen 72mm UV Protection Filter
$18.40

Pretty much just the bare bones for now. I’m already formulating in my head a list of other things I’d like to buy…of course that’ll have to wait for another post