Fills a niche and does it well, very well

The D200 fits into the Nikon range between the professional D2 and the consumer models (D50, D70 etc.). It provides good value for money and a solid, reliable basis for digital photography. The ergonomics are excellent and attention to detail is very obvious. It will be a cornerstone of Nikon's reputation for some time to come.

Background - I traded in my F5 on eBay to help buy this camera. I have owned Nikons since 1970 and this is my second Nikon digital. I have a few 35mm auto focus lenses which are compatible. It was largely because of backwards compatibility that I opted for the D200 though I was also influenced by friends in the profession who had already bought one.

First Impression - the camera handles extremely well and can be carried with one hand on the finger grip - just like other Nikon bodies such as the F5. Controls are generally in the same positions but there are subtle improvements that show up on the D200 that are missing on earlier models. The viewfinder is very good and the focus correction is sufficient for my poor eyesight! The review screen on the camera back is larger than most and has good lighting (though not good enough for direct sunlight).

Most important, the response time both when switching on and when taking photos is virtually instantaneous. I would say that I get more keepers with the D200 than I did with the F5 and this is a major improvement over just about all other digital cameras. I do a lot of HDR photography and this has been a real test of the speed of the camera. Typically I take 5 bracketed shots for processing with Photomatix software. I almost always take the five shots hand held!!! And almost always the results are damned good. This speaks volumes for the camera's ergonomics. I set the shutter to high speed continuous and the bracketed exposure setting to 5, take a deep breath, relax and fire (squeeze) off the five in about one second. http://www.flickr.com/photos/focalplane/203679601/ is an example to prove my point!

I have used the D200 with all my lenses, namely 20mm, 50mm, 60mm, 24-120mm zoom and 300m. The multiplier effect of the DX format means these equate to 30mm, 75mm, 90mm, 36-180mm and 450mm in "pseudo 35mm format". The problem with the DX sensor size is that lenses designed for 35mm become "long" and an ultra wide lens like the the 20mm f2.8 is no longer a desirable lens to own. That being said, the 60mm Micro-Nikkor is more useful and the 300mm becomes an excellent telephoto lens for, among other things, bird photography.

I recently bought the 17-70mm DX format zoom lens for travel and to get a reasonable wide angle image. 17mm is not ultra-wide, however, so even wider options need to be looked into. My 24-120mm zoom will go to eBay.

Changing lenses a lot while traveling opens up a can of worms - well, a body full of dust anyway - and this is a risk every serious travel photographer will take with any DSLR. The good news is that what dust I have had inside the camera has blown out with a large hand-pump blower - just be careful not to touch the inside of the camera with the nozzle of the pump. Another piece of good advice is to turn off the camera when changing lenses as this reduces any static electricity charge that makes the camera act like a dust magnet.

I carry my D200 in a padded Zing bag when traveling and this, coupled with the rugged build quality of the D200, gives a sense of security that bodes well for the future.

I think that Nikon has made a serious mistake not including the $100 Nikon Capture software with the camera. I have started to use Lightroom Beta and would expect that sooner or later this software will be fully compatible with Nikon Raw images. Lightroom is the way of the future and I hope Nikon recognizes this!

I will not address the menu system or the ease with which custom settings can be stored and retrieved. Safe to say that this camera packs a bundle of variability into itself without ever daunting the photographer who simply wants to take good photos!

My only gripes about the D200 are small and rather insignificant. The focus switch (M, S, C) can be moved too easily and I managed to take an entire shoot on manual without realizing it! Blame my poor eyesight for that oversight but even so the switch can be knocked into a different setting far too easily. The other complaint is standard Nikon - those flash contact and remote control dust caps on the electrical connections fall off at the slightest provocation and cost $5 each to replace.