Nikon D200

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By David D. Busch, CNET.com
Feb 24, 2006

The Nikon D200, a long-awaited successor to the company's D100, offers serious amateur photographers and value-minded professionals a compact, sub-US$2,000 digital SLR with many of the specifications, features, and build characteristics of Nikon's high-end pro cameras. Although not quite the junior version of the top-of-the-line D2X that some had hoped for, the D200 offers a significant step up from Nikon's low-end D70s and D50 models, with 10.2-megapixel resolution, a rugged moisture- and dust-sealed magnesium-alloy body, a large viewfinder, a 5fps drive mode, and bountiful fine-tuning and customization options.

Accessories including Nikon iTTL external flash units, a Wi-Fi transmitter, a burgeoning line of digital optics, and third-party GPS units give the D200 enough versatility to compete effectively with its pricier midrange competitor, the full-frame Canon EOS 5D.

Overall, the Nikon D200 raises the bar a notch in the midrange digital SLR class, providing extra features and a more robust body than those of the Canon EOS 20D for only a few hundred dollars more, and most of the good stuff found in the 12.8-megapixel Canon EOS 5D--with the obvious exception of the full-frame sensor--for a lot less money.

Design
Experienced SLR users will feel right at home with the midsize 147 x 113 x 74mm Nikon D200 in their hands. Its 830g body has a more solid, professional heft than the low-end D70s but is a lot less bulky and easier to wield than the top-of-the-line D2X. That model has a built-in vertical grip, while the D200's MB-D200 grip/battery pack is optional. Pros who want to use the D200 as a backup camera to their D2X will find just enough difference in control layout to slow them down.

Most surfaces are dotted with controls, and the control placement is logical and easy to master. Once we learned the layout, we were able to change many settings in near-total darkness at a blues concert we attended during testing, including ISO, focus and exposure modes, and playback with zoom.

Under your right thumb, you'll find the main command dial and a knob that switches between matrix, center-weighted, and spot metering with a central autoexposure/autofocus lock button. There's also a button that activates metering--basically the same function as depressing the shutter release half way.

Many controls fall within reach of your left or right fingers when you hold the camera in a comfortable shooting position. For example, with your right hand curled around the grip, it's easy to press the depth-of-field and user-definable Function buttons located on the front next to the lens. With your right index finger, you can turn the camera on or off, release the shutter, and change shooting modes or EV settings by pressing dedicated top-mounted buttons while operating the rear-panel main command dial with your thumb.

To the left of the hotshoe on the top panel is a lockable mode dial similar to the one found on the Nikon D2X.

To the left of the hotshoe on the top panel is a lockable mode dial similar to the one found on the Nikon D2X. It rotates through single-shot, low-speed and high-speed continuous shooting, self-timer, and mirror lockup settings. On top of the mode dial are buttons that you use in conjunction with the main and subcommand dials to set resolution, white balance, and ISO. (Although the D2X uses a similar layout, the quality button is in a different location, while flash mode and bracket buttons replace the white-balance and ISO buttons on the D200.)

Your left hand will find a lever next to the D200's lens mount for switching between continuous and single autofocus, or manual focus, along with buttons to flip up the built-in speedlight and set flash exposure compensation.

In addition to the shutter release with its concentric power/LCD-lamp switch and shooting mode and EV buttons, the top panel hosts a monochrome LCD with readouts showing the current settings. It's a crowded view because Nikon had to squeeze in ISO, white-balance, and resolution/quality information, which are shown on a secondary status LCD on the D2X.

The status LCD shows a lot of settings in a little space.

To the left of the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD is a stack of buttons that activate picture review, the menu system, review layout options, and image protection. The image-protection button also serves as a Help key when a menu is displayed, and there's an Enter button that activates scrollable and resizable zooming during playback.

Most of the other adjustments are clustered on the back of the camera, and if you like dedicated physical controls for your functions, you'll be delighted with the clutter.

On the right flank of the LCD is a knob that prevents you from accidentally changing the autofocus zone. There is also a switch with autofocus area mode options that include single-area autofocus (the user chooses between 11 or 7 focus zones), dynamic area (the camera can override the selected focus zone), group dynamic autofocus (a cluster of zones is used), and dynamic AF with priority given to the closest subject. We found the Nikon D200's autofocus options excessively complex to master, but the system was extremely accurate once we deciphered the correct settings for a given situation.

The camera's main connectors are located near the left side and include a standard PC/X socket, Nikon's proprietary 10-pin jack for flash and other accessories, plus USB 2.0, DC power, and A/V connectors hidden under rubber covers. A hotshoe for dedicated and third-party external speedlights sits on top of the pentaprism.

The big, bright viewfinder offers 0.94x magnification with a 50mm lens focused at infinity, and shows 95 percent of the image in the frame. There's a full array of status information available in the finder, which includes optional grid lines and highlighted indicators that show which of the 11 focus-area zones (or 7 wide-area zones) are active. We missed the D2X's built-in internal eye-piece curtain, which improves metering accuracy for tripod-mounted shots, and this model doesn't accommodate interchangeable focusing screens. Nikon also cut a corner by eliminating the D2X's antireflective LCD coating, which makes the D200's screen subject to glare.

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