after months of speculation Nikon has announced the D200 camera.
nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25235
on monday I ordered and paid for one.   expected delivery is  mid to late december.  
I expect the D70 to soon become my backup camera.  
Today I saw this review of the D200 by Ken Rockwell.   He echos many of the reasons I bought  the D200.
www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200.htm
I needed a second body for my owrk and went to buy a D70s  2 weels ago.  our local store was out of them.  I think I now am glad they were.    I hope to be able to give a more conplete evaluation of the D200 by Christmas

Man, I would love a D200.  I have a D100, and it's been great, but  the D200 looks pretty awesome.  Guess it will have to wait a while, though, $1700 is a bit out of my price range right now.

I am jealous of your D200 even though you don't have it yet!  Be sure to report back when you get it!

I just got a SB-800 flash today and would love to try it out wirelessly with a D70 or D200.

Quoted: Man, I would love a D200.  I have a D100, and it's been great, but  the D200 looks pretty awesome.  Guess it will have to wait a while, though, $1700 is a bit out of my price range right now. I am jealous of your D200 even though you don't have it yet!  Be sure to report back when you get it! I just got a SB-800 flash today and would love to try it out wirelessly with a D70 or D200.

the SB-200 is great.   I've had one since july 2004.  once you learn to use it I think you will really like it.  

Why is the 5D better?

Quoted: Why is the 5D better?

cause it costs twice as much.  
but it isn't better than 2 D200's


try comparing it to the 20D that is in the same price class.  

Quoted: Quoted: Why is the 5D better? cause it costs twice as much.   but it isn't better than 2 D200's try comparing it to the 20D that is in the same price class.

No, try comparing it to the 20D replacement that will be out by this coming spring, cost less and do more than the D200...
And the 5D IS worth two D200s IMHO...

Well, there will always be a next best thing, even within one brands own line.  And usually, if you are paying a fair bit more money, I would expect higher performance, independant of brand.  

I think Canon is better at beating Nikon to the market and having more/better features for the price.

I think Nikon feels better (to me) and is more natural to use.  

Canon seems to be designed by sales people with input from users and Nikon seems to be designed by camera geeks who will not be rushed in developing their product, even at their own detriment and potential buisness loss.

It's an ever-changing camera world, and it will not be the same in 6 months, much less 2 years...

But I could be wrong

I have ordered one also.  Looks like a winner to me.  It will be my first DSLR to go with my Nikon glass and F5.

Aaron

was in the store for some supplies this morning.   they told me my D200 should be available tomorrow.


hope to be able to give a preliminary review of it by the first part of next week.  

Looks to be a very fine piece of equipment.

One little bit of trivia for your guys.  When Canon came out with their autofocus system, they started out new, scrapping their old lens mount.  That ment that they orphaned all their old lenses and cameras.  Nikon made their autofocus system compatible with their old systems.  I don't like companies that screw you when you have thousands invested in their photo equipment.

that is one of the things I liked about the D200    unlike the  D70 It will be able to use all of my old AI lenses.  There are times that it will be real nice to have the speed that the old f1.4 and f1.8 primes have available.   does this mean I will have to retire my Nikon F photomic TN  I bought in 1967?

Quoted: was in the store for some supplies this morning.   they told me my D200 should be available tomorrow. hope to be able to give a preliminary review of it by the first part of next week.

Give us a full report!

Quoted: after months of speculation Nikon has announced the D200 camera. nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25235 on monday I ordered and paid for one.   expected delivery is  mid to late december.   I expect the D70 to soon become my backup camera.   Today I saw this review of the D200 by Ken Rockwell.   He echos many of the reasons I bought  the D200. www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200.htm I needed a second body for my owrk and went to buy a D70s  2 weels ago.  our local store was out of them.  I think I now am glad they were.    I hope to be able to give a more conplete evaluation of the D200 by Christmas

Ken Rockwell is the man.  Be sure to send him a contribution, even a small one.  That guy is amazing and he does it all out of his own pocket.

well,  It's here.  
haven't  had time to do much testing yet,  got the battery charged.  a friend and I did do a little testing for digital noise at ISO 1600.  We compared it to the D70 and D100.   we took about 20 shots with each of them... same lens and conditions for each comparison shot.   the D200 did look much better than either of the older cameras.  If you are only shooting for internet or 4x6  prints about any camera will do a good job.   from the little testing we have done today I would say you will see a difference in  large prints.  Also the bigger files allow more cropping.  The camera feels and handles real nice.  slightly larger than the D70 but well balanced.  Controls are laid out nice,  settings I will use much are on the wheels and not hiden in menues.  LCD screen is bigger and much better than either the D70 or D100.  for my wedding shooting I think it will be a good addition.  I needed another body and from what I have seen so far I like what Nikon has done.  

I don't know much about it yet,  but if anyone has questions I will be glad to try to answer them.  plan on having some sample pictures I can post in the next few weeks.  

Quoted: Why is the 5D better?

because it takes a very large bra.  

Quoted: Quoted: after months of speculation Nikon has announced the D200 camera. nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25235 on monday I ordered and paid for one.   expected delivery is  mid to late december.   I expect the D70 to soon become my backup camera.   Today I saw this review of the D200 by Ken Rockwell.   He echos many of the reasons I bought  the D200. www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200.htm I needed a second body for my owrk and went to buy a D70s  2 weels ago.  our local store was out of them.  I think I now am glad they were.    I hope to be able to give a more conplete evaluation of the D200 by Christmas Ken Rockwell is the man.  Be sure to send him a contribution, even a small one.  That guy is amazing and he does it all out of his own pocket.

Actually, you would do well to take everything Rockwell says with a few large grains of salt.  He has a very poor reputation as a reviewer and editorialist.  He tends to let his personal biases sway his reviews to a great degree and has made some very fundamental errors.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: after months of speculation Nikon has announced the D200 camera. nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25235 on monday I ordered and paid for one.   expected delivery is  mid to late december.   I expect the D70 to soon become my backup camera.   Today I saw this review of the D200 by Ken Rockwell.   He echos many of the reasons I bought  the D200. www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200.htm I needed a second body for my owrk and went to buy a D70s  2 weels ago.  our local store was out of them.  I think I now am glad they were.    I hope to be able to give a more conplete evaluation of the D200 by Christmas Ken Rockwell is the man.  Be sure to send him a contribution, even a small one.  That guy is amazing and he does it all out of his own pocket. Actually, you would do well to take everything Rockwell says with a few large grains of salt.  He has a very poor reputation as a reviewer and editorialist.  He tends to let his personal biases sway his reviews to a great degree and has made some very fundamental errors.

I have heard that as well...

I picked up the D200 on monday Dec 19 late in the afternoon, so I guess it is about time to give the promised review of it.  my  digital SLR experience is with the Nikon D70, D100,  canon 10D and 20D so those will be the cameras I will be comparing it to.
Although  the Canon 20D is an impressive camera that gives great results most of my work has been with Nikon since that is what I have lenses for.  

To start off I will say that if you own glass for either Nikon or Canon you should probably stick with that brand since there isn't enough diffenece in the results you will get to justify the expense of changing all your lenses.

Since the Canon 5D and the Nikon D200 are in a different price class and also a different sensor size I'm not going to try to compare them.

IN freatures the D200 is a large step up from the D70 and D100.  I like the controls much better,   more features are accessable with the dials and you don't need to hunt through menues as much.  Autofocus is much more accurate and faster.   Metering has been improved greatly.

One of the main features I wanted from the camera and am happy to report that it is by far the best in the class is the low high ISO noise.  The D200 beats all of the cameras mentioned above by a large margin in this area.   The D200 operates from ISO 100-1600 with settings that can push it to 3200.  
I was at a Christmas eve service last night where they had 3 baptisms in the river, (yes,  it was cold in Northern Indiana for that)  the weather was overcast and foggy with light rain.  the only lights were a few lanterns and on large 1 million candlepower spotlight we turned toward the river  since the pastor didn't want any flash used.   I was shooting at ISO 3200  F2.8 1/20 sec with the camera rested on a tree stump to steady it.   a news photographer was there with her 20D and was not able to get autofocus lock or an acceptable picture.  the pictures show grain but unlike the D70 and D100 it does not contain the offcolor pixels.  the grain is more of a slight variation in color,  looks like a good quality film picture.   I do enough low light photography that this feature is very important to me,  it may not be to you.

I'm running out of tiem for now... will continue this later.  If you have questions about the D200 I will be glad to try to answer them.   The comparison last night between the D200 and 20D does not mean the 20D is a bad camera.  If it would have used nikon glass I would probably have owned it.  

I'll add one picture and the data so you can see a sample of the night shoot

Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Model - NIKON D200
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 300
YResolution - 300
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Ver.1.00
DateTime - 2005:12:24 21:09:18
WhitePoint - 0.31
PrimaryChromaticities - 0.64
YCbCrCoefficients - 0.30
YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited
ExifOffset - 352
ExposureTime - 1/10 seconds
FNumber – 2.80
ExposureProgram - Aperture priority
ExifVersion - 0221
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:12:24 21:09:18
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:12:24 21:09:18
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 4 (bits/pixel)
ExposureBiasValue - 1.00
MaxApertureValue - F 2.83
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Not fired
FocalLength - 28.00 mm
ISO - 3200

dark with rain and fog didn't make this an easy job

Looks pretty good Mr. KM.  Here is one I shot in Yellowstone last week.  JPG from the camera and brightened and cropped in PS.  EXIF should still be in it.  I can't figure out how to link to a bigger version so you'll have to trust me that it looks pretty good.

Aaron

Quoted: Looks pretty good Mr. KM.  Here is one I shot in Yellowstone last week.  JPG from the camera and brightened and cropped in PS.  EXIF should still be in it.  I can't figure out how to link to a bigger version so you'll have to trust me that it looks pretty good. Aaron

You need to adjust your black levels in PS a bit:

I am going to pick mine up today from the store.  It just came in.  

I think you will like it.  mine has already taken over 6000 pictures.

I got it.  This is a sweet camera.  It is well worth the money for someone who takes photography seriously.  For the average user it scares the crap out of them.

Quoted: I got it.  This is a sweet camera.  It is well worth the money for someone who takes photography seriously.  For the average user it scares the crap out of them.

someone who doesn't need or want to learn to use the features of the D200 would be better off with the D50 or D70.  I really like the 4 custom setting banks.  have one set for weddings,  one for sports using flash, one for available light sports and one for general carry around shots.  the autofocus is better and faster than the D70.  my D70 spends most of the time now as a backup.  occasionally use it when I want 2 bodies with different lenses available.  

did you get the vertical grip/battery pack for it?   I like that for portrait use.  I use it for sports because I don't have to worry about changing batteries when I'm shooting fast.  

Quoted: Quoted: Ken Rockwell is the man.  Be sure to send him a contribution, even a small one.  That guy is amazing and he does it all out of his own pocket. Actually, you would do well to take everything Rockwell says with a few large grains of salt.  He has a very poor reputation as a reviewer and editorialist.  He tends to let his personal biases sway his reviews to a great degree and has made some very fundamental errors.

I take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, including my own, as well as yours.  I'm curious to hear why you say that he has a poor reputation.  With whom?  And what is documented on personal biases and errors?  I am also curious to hear if you can point us all to anyone else who has reviewed as much Nikon equipment as he has and then made it available online for free.  Can you?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Ken Rockwell is the man.  Be sure to send him a contribution, even a small one.  That guy is amazing and he does it all out of his own pocket. Actually, you would do well to take everything Rockwell says with a few large grains of salt.  He has a very poor reputation as a reviewer and editorialist.  He tends to let his personal biases sway his reviews to a great degree and has made some very fundamental errors. I take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, including my own, as well as yours.  I'm curious to hear why you say that he has a poor reputation.  With whom?  And what is documented on personal biases and errors?  I am also curious to hear if you can point us all to anyone else who has reviewed as much Nikon equipment as he has and then made it available online for free.  Can you?

People post free reviews of stuff on the internet all the time, it doesn't mean they know what the hell they're talking about.  Do a search of Rockwell and you'll find he has a LOT of detractors.  He's basically a shill for Nikon and has made outlandish statements about competitor's gear that shows he never even turned the power on of any of it.  He's a joke.

I have the vertical grip and an extra battery on the way from B&H.  I also ordered the SB-800.  They should be here by the middle of the week.  

I also love the 4 banks of custom settings.  I set up one for B&W and I am using one for on the fly shooting.  I am going to set the other 2 up as soon as the need arises.  

Right now I am working on getting a MC-35 GPS cable but they are harder to find than the camera itself.

Well, if any of you guys don't know what to do with an extra D-200, you can just send it my way!

I am just waiting for the camera man to tell me he has it and then its all mine

In a short short time my D70s will be looking for a new home

The MB-200 Battery Vertical Grip, Extra Battery, and SB-800 Flash arrived today.

The MC-35 GPS cable arrives tomorrow.  

I am going to get into so much trouble now.  The battery setup gives you hours of shooting time and the flash has a super fast recovery time.  The fiance is working this weekend so I am going to go out and shoot.  

Using the reduced flash modes and repeating flashes, you can shoot multiple pictures in a row with no wait for the flash to recover.  You can also shoot one picture and have the flash strobe to catch the motion.  

And, the best part is when the batteries in the camera run dead and no power supply is near to recharge, you can throw AA's in a holder to keep shooting.

Sleep, I don't need no stinking sleep.  

Now if I can only get the fiance to hold still for me to take pictures of her.  She hate having her photo taken.

my D70 won't be looking for a new home,  it is my backup camera now.   I would never do professional work without a backup.   Till now my back up has been film cameras.  
I have loaned it to another member her on arfcom to use for a while, but won't be selling it... unless someone sends me enough money to buy another D200  
So if you have $1700 that you don't have a use for...

Quoted: Using the reduced flash modes and repeating flashes, you can shoot multiple pictures in a row with no wait for the flash to recover.  You can also shoot one picture and have the flash strobe to catch the motion.   And, the best part is when the batteries in the camera run dead and no power supply is near to recharge, you can throw AA's in a holder to keep shooting. Sleep, I don't need no stinking sleep.   Now if I can only get the fiance to hold still for me to take pictures of her.  She hate having her photo taken.

The SB-800 is a great flash,  and the 5th battery really helps the recycle time.  it hasn't been off of mine since it was new over 2 years ago.

Quoted: Quoted: Why is the 5D better? More expensive by about double, slightly less resolution than the Nikon, no pop-up flash (snap shots or fill only) and shorter battery life would be my guess.

And you'd be wrong about almost everything.
The price on the 5D is now about half again the D200, thanks to the latest rebates, not twice.
The resolution is MORE than the Nikon and the battery life is freaking INCREDIBLE...better than the 20D.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Why is the 5D better? More expensive by about double, slightly less resolution than the Nikon, no pop-up flash (snap shots or fill only) and shorter battery life would be my guess. And you'd be wrong about almost everything. The price on the 5D is now about half again the D200, thanks to the latest rebates, not twice. The resolution is MORE than the Nikon and the battery life is freaking INCREDIBLE...better than the 20D.

How many shots per charge?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Why is the 5D better? More expensive by about double, slightly less resolution than the Nikon, no pop-up flash (snap shots or fill only) and shorter battery life would be my guess. And you'd be wrong about almost everything. The price on the 5D is now about half again the D200, thanks to the latest rebates, not twice. The resolution is MORE than the Nikon and the battery life is freaking INCREDIBLE...better than the 20D. How many shots per charge?

I can't say for sure, because I've yet to run a battery out in one session of shooting, but it's got to be somewhere over 300, because that's the most I've taken.