[Toad]

Playing around with the D200 and I have to say that so far I am impressed. None of these shots are particularly good - they are quick grab snapshots that I used to test various performance characteristics of the D200 and the 18-200 VR zoom.

All photos are directly from the camera with no post processing except for resizing. All are taken at ISO 400.

Keep in mind - I don't know how to do technical camera tests properly so take everything I say with a grain of salt. On the other hand, these are probably pretty representative "real-world" shots.

Test 1 - exposure latitude



I'm impressed - the detail in the the light and dark areas is quite good - even in the darkened shop door, there is some detail present. The grey-white mask in the middle left has retained all of its detail in the bright areas. Edge to edge sharpness is good and very nice color depth and saturation. No unpleasant grain or nasty color noise in the dark areas.

1/60 sec at F5.6

Test 2 - exposure, resolution and slow shutter speed



Once again, I am taken with the exposure - which is perfect and the resolution of detail. The focus is a bit soft - but not very soft at all when you consider this was taken hand-held at 1/10 sec @ F16. The VR on this lens really works.

Test 3 - Add Unsharp Mask

Same photo with just a breath of sharpening in Photoshop - opinions are welcome - but this indicates to me that photos taken at 1/10 sec can be made quite acceptable with very minimal work.



Test 4 - Handheld at really slow speed with a large depth of field



Again pretty soft - but this was taken hand-held and unsupported at an extraordinary 1/4 sec.

Bottom line: need more testing - but I am very impressed with the VR on the lens and the exposure latitude and resolution of the D200.

I am not really a pixel-peeping kind of guy - I have always believed it is the photographer and not the camera that does the work - Given this first few shots, I am convinced that the D200 will be more than sufficient for my needs.

best
Toad

[noisynoodle]

Toad,
Thanks for posting these. Must say it's looking good so far. I confess, though, that my interest is partly because of the possibility that the replacemnet for my *istD (which is expected to be announced at PMA in February), may have the same sensor.Though I'm also considering a switch of manufacturers if Pentax don't produce a successor to the D soon, so if that happens then the D200 will be on my list to consider. What you've posted so far certainly shows it to be very interesting option. whats it like size-wise? One of the reasons I went for Pentax was the small body size (I only have small hands!) and at the time the other camera I was considering was the 10D which to my mind still seems huge!

Jan

[Toad]

NN: It is larger and heavier than the D70 - very close in size and feel to my F100. If you decide to go that route, I suggest you try one out in a camera store first.

[byrt_001]

would loove to hear more...

im still waiting i do not want to buy it without the grip.

it is selling very quick in australia,

regards

christian

[Irma]

Thanks Toad for your test pictures and thoughts about the camera and lens... I have placed my order for the lens but they don't have it yet... I can't wait to try it... Btw, the perspective in your last picture is awesome... I like it a lot...

[Toad]

Thanks Irma - nice to see you back. The lens is awesome - a true "does it all" walkaround lens - and while maybe it is not "quite" as tack-sharp as my 80-200, it still does great work, and the VR2 is absolutely unbelievable as you can see from the 1/4 sec unsupported shot above. That shot would have been a throwaway with my 80-200.

I really love this camera and lens combination. I expect that this lens will live on my D200 - and come off it primarily for "specialty" shots with my Tamron macro or low light fast action shots with the 80-200.

[Toad]

A word on the out-of-camera sharpness of the D200 as there has been a bit of online chatter about this at dpreview - and I also mention softness in my first post above.

The directly out-of-camera photos do seem slightly soft compared with some cameras. I can say though after looking at the photos in extreme blowup mode that they maintain all of their detail and resolution - and sharpen wonderfully with USM. This is the behavior that I would expect with the new Nikon anti-aliasing filter in the loop. When I worked in video games, the addition of an AA filter always greatly enhanced the appearance of the graphics but did tradeoff against apparent sharpness somewhat - as AA is a deliberate bluring effect by definition.

I'm OK with this philosophy personally, as I always have in-camera sharpening turned to its lowest possible level for jpegs (or OFF when I use RAW) - as I prefer to control this crucial aspect of the photo in PS. However, for those that prefer not to post process, be warned that you will need to set the default shapening up to a higher level with the D200.

I am really liking what I see with the D200 image quality, and the combination of the AA filter and a breath of USM produces tremendous results IMO.

It's a complex bit of machinery, and has a fairly stiff learning curve, but I am pretty excited about the results so far.