Why I Want a Nikon D200 – Part 4

I’m posting a series of articles explaining my thinking in deciding that I want one of the new Nikon D200 cameras. I don’t know if anybody out there is interested, but photography is a new hobby for me, and I enjoy writing about new things I’ve learned.

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series I explained the major technical advantages of a camera like the Nikon D200 over my point-and-shoot camera. In Part 3, I explained why I thought choosing a lens system—and therefore a brand of Camera—wasn’t as important as choosing a particular camera. Now it’s time to discuss why the particular camera I chose was the Nikon D200.

Here’s a table of every current Canon and Nikon Digital SLR camera body (without lens), sorted by price. (“Current” cameras are those listed on the manufacturer’s web site, except the D70 which is omitted because the D70s replaces it. Prices are from Adorama.)

The first thing to notice is that there’s a price break right in the middle, after the D200. All the cameras on the bottom half of the list are clearly professional quality and professional cost. The recently announced Canon EOS 5D is Canon’s low-cost professional camera, and it’s still more than I can afford. Also, I don’t need a lot of the high-end professional features. They mostly don’t result in better pictures, but help professional photographers with their workflow.

So, let’s consider only the under-$2000 cameras. Here are some of the interesting features of those cameras: (Specifications are from Digital Photography Review)

MP=MegaPixels, the number of millions of pixels in the image
Constr.=Construction materials
FPS=frames per second burst rate (it will slow down when the buffer fills)
PC means it has an external sync connection for studio flash systems
MLU=Mirror Lock-Up, which reduces vibration for certain exposures

The D200 is the newest, fastest, highest resolution camera on the list. It’s made of solid materials, and it has a PC connection and Mirror Lock-Up, which are important features to me. It’s the best camera I can afford. That said, this chart still gave me pause for thought. I could get a D50 for about one-third the cost of a D200. That’s a lot of money.

But there are a lot of things that chart doesn’t show. I’ve been following DSLR technology for about a year, so I have a feeling for these cameras that’s hard to capture in a chart (especially since it would be a lot of work to look up the specs for all the other cameras). The D200 is a better camera than the others in a lot of little ways, such as its large, bright viewfinder which will be helpful in low-light shots. Also, like every other new camera, its autofocus should be better and faster than all that came before.

In the forums at Digital Photography Review a lot of professional photographers are criticizing amateurs like me for buying an expensive camera we don’t need. I responded with this list, which sums it up nicely:

I am intentionally buying a camera that is way over my head. The potential to waste a lot of my money scares me a bit. I think my reasons for this purchase are fairly sound, but since my camera hasn’t been delivered yet, I’m willing to listen to reason :-)

Here’s why I’m thinking D200:

(1) It’s cool to have the hot new toy. I never bought anything for that reason before that I recall, and it’s a little exciting. I know this the wrong reason to buy a D200 but I’d be lying if I denied it, so I wanted to admit it up front. Besides, I just turned 41 so it was either this or a sports car, and this is a lot cheaper.

(2) I have more than a few casual portraits with poorly-focused subjects in front of a very crisp background. I blame this on the camera’s autofocus and the electronic viewfinder that keeps me from seeing the problem until it’s too late. It’s not that I expect the D200 to fix this—although I do—it’s that next time this happens I won’t be able to blame the camera. All technical difficulties will be user error.

(3) I’m not afraid of the switchology. I’m a computer programmer by training and vocation, and I have a science and engineering background. Learning my way around complex systems is one of my skills. The operational complexity of the user interface doesn’t bother me, and having read through the manual, I think I understand what almost everything does, but I’m pretty fuzzy on why I’d want to do some of those things. I may not know how to take great pictures, but I can sure push the buttons. Speaking of which…

(4) I like all the buttons. Maybe I’m overcompensating for all the menu navigation I have to do on my P&S—4 or 5 steps just to get to saturation and contrast, three to change white balance, and a whopping seven steps to switch from autofocus to manual (and then it’s still motor-drive!)—but I really like the idea of having all these controls out there where I can change them so easily.

(5) I want high-ISO for indoor shots of people in available light. I’d rather have noise than blur.

(6) I want the camera to be quick to use. I’m fascinated by street photography (e.g. Frank, Winogrand, Bresson) and anything that shaves off my reaction time would be good. (With my P&S I sometimes preset the manual focus to save time, and I have to use an external battery pack clipped to my belt because the camera runs out of juice too fast when I keep it from going into standby.)

(7) Again, because of the street photography, I need to have the camera with me and ready to go. It’s going to get banged around a bit, fall off the seat of the car if I stop suddenly, and so on. There’s also going to be some snow and rain that will get on the camera despite my attempts to protect it. I want something rugged.

(8) Photography is quite possibly the only serious artistic interest I’ve ever had, and I only discovered it as I entered my 40’s. I want to push this as far as it can go. If I were starting 20 years ago, my goal would be an invitation to join Magnum. For now, maybe iStockPhoto…or a photoblog.

(9) I have two power screwdrivers, two circular saws, two wireless telephone systems, two wrench sets, and two of a lot of other things around the house: The cheap one which I thought would be good enough, and the good one I bought to replace it. I have a cheap pan-tilt tripod, and I already know I’m going to have to buy a stronger one with a ball head to replace it for night shots. I want to avoid that mistake here, especially when the cheap one is $600-$900. I prefer the risk of overbuying rather than the risk of buying twice.

(10) I expect to grow into this camera. My day job is as a software consultant, so I offen have a lot of free time between projects, and this is how I want to fill that time. Also, I have a few ideas how to make a little money at this. Presumably, some of the pro features will come in hand eventually.

So, I’m pretty sure this is the camera for me. In any case, I’ve got one on order. I had been hoping to have it by Christmas, but the D200 is a very popular camera and it’s backordered. They tell me I should have it in my hands by mid-January, possibly sooner.

If it’s too much camera, then it’s always going to be enough camera.