Hehe... NO actually.

 

I'd be worried about buying one of the first ones off the line. I bought my d70 when they first came out and I had to send it into the shop for 3 months while they repaired some sensor. DiD, didn't you have something similar w/ your D70? I'll wait a bit for the cost to go down and the bugs to be worked out. Finally, Nikon comes out with something competitive with a higher MP than the D70.

Let's keep the photo's rolling anyways guys!

 

Yes, it did. It was out of my hands for quite a while, but I chalk a good portion of that up to the way Ritz Camera handled the claim. Lesson learned on my part, take the camera direct to Nikon if there are any problems. Also, Nikon gets big points in my book for the latest firmware update on the D70. I'm confident that any improvements will be available.

The only "real" problem I have seen discussed regarding the D200 (besides limited availability) is banding and the circumstances that are necessary to provoke it don't seem to be close to anything that would be considered normal shooting (heavily underexposing high iso).

 

Dave,

You are going to love that D200. I'm most happy with mine. So far none of the shots I've taken exhibit any banding or corduroy affect. I never had a problem with my D70, but my D2h has been to Nikon 3 times before it worked right. Now it's a great speed demon. If you have any problems send it directly to Nikon service, but Ritz already taught you that lesson. Enjoy your new camera.

Chuck

 

Seeing as how you've owned a D70 and D2Hs, it's nice to hear you're happy with teh D200. (MINI has got me conditioned to looking to current owner's positive experiences as a way to pass the wait time. )

Nikon's west coast facility is about 15 minutes (if that) from where I work. Next time, I'm just going to take over there in person and drop it off at the service counter.

 

Initial thoughts on the D200 after a couple evenings with the camera (coming from a D70 user)

Positives

• larger view finder
• larger / clearer lcd screen
• histogram in RGB and R, G, B channels separated
• grip
• 5 fps
• Commander mode with the pop-up flash that allows for configuring two flash groups.
• Compressed or uncompressed RAW

Negatives

• Where the D70 used the $17 ML-L3 IR remote, the D200's IR remote is $140 ML-3. Granted it has a couple more shooting options controlable from the remote, but the IR receiver is suppose to sit in the hot shoe and then blocks the pop-up flash from working (or from installing an SB-800 in the hotshoe). Not to make too big of a deal of of this, but it really does annoy me that Nikon had a nicely integrated and cheep (!) IR remote for the D70 and decided not to carry that forward to the D200, which dispite the extra cost, is still IR based. I may start looking into pocket wizards at least with those I could have a system that wouldn't be IR based (i.e. not requiring line of site) and also a system that would be capable of expanding to support other off camera functionality.
• In aperture or shutter priority I find it annoying to need to hold down the +/- button in order to adjust with the command dial the amount of over or under exposure. On the D70, if you were in aperture priority the over/under exposure could be adjusted with the shutter dial. That seemed to work just fine without needing to hold down another button at the same time.

 

I absolutely love my D200. Coming from a Canon Digital Rebel was somewhat of a shock, though. It took me a while to get used to everything.

I'm still on the waiting list for their Nikkor 18-200 VR! I'm also counting pennies for the Nikkor 12-24

 

Well, I got the iMac but still waiting for the D200. Should be this week. (I hope!)
Jim

 

Came in yesterday!!!
Jim

 

Look forward to seeing some nice shots from you with your brand new toy.

 

Thanks! A bunch of us are going Motoring on Sunday.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=60474

Planning on taking lots of photos. Hmm.. Maybe I'll take the 300 2.8,too.
Jim

 

Very nice.

 

Thanks!! And on a D200 with a TC-14e that comes out to......
Jim

 

I don't doubt it. The closest I come to matching that is the 70-200 2.8 VR with the TC-17EII. Not bad, but I'd still like to someday get the 300mm 2.8

 

The 300 2.8 is great. But it gets to be a bit heavy while trudging around a race track. Really good for headshots,too.
How do you like the TC-17? Been thinking about getting one.
Jim

 

I don't have any complaints about the TC-17. The autofocus is slowed down slightly on the 70-200 with it, but not nearly as much as it was with a TC-20 when I tried that out in the store. The TC-17 is more toward the TC-14 end of the scale in terms of sharpness and autofocus function than the TC-20 end. I haven't encountered a situation yet where I found it coming up short and wishing I had the TC-14.

 

Finally got a chance to test out this baby.......Very nice. I like the bigger
viewfinder and the response time of the shutter is phenomenal....

Now to the *****.......

My first Nikon was an Nikon, I moved on to an Nikon F2 maybee two or three
of them, then I went thru the F3-F5. As you can see I have been a loyal
Nikon owner since 1975 and with all of those cameras I can't remeber ever having a quality problem, as a matter of fact I can't even remember having a single problem....ever. Enter the Digital realm and 2 out of three cameras has
broken down. The D1X never had a single problem, but the D100 broke almost immediately, the mirror broke in the middle of a photo shoot, thank God for the trusty D1X. Nikon fixed it but there was always a bunch of niggling problems (electrical) and I finally fixed it last week as one of my employees
wanted to buy it (cost $375.00 to fix it).

Back to the D200, a marvel of magnesium and composites, and as we prepared the photoshoot for the Ad in MC2, I clicked of a couple of frames
and suddenly......nothing, what the hell is going on Battery low
that's impossible I'm thinking, turn of and on the camera, shoot four more frames same thing dangit....sigh.

The camera is now at Nikon for service, and I'm thinking D2X.

Ps. I would never ever by a Canon, long live Nikon

peter
Team M7
and

 

Good to hear! I have a TC-20 also and it's almost useless for shooting at the track. Got some nice bird shots with it,though. (The FLYING kind of birds,that is )
Jim

 

I keep hearing about this "Canon."

Sorry to hear about your camera Peter.

 

Got my first one in 1972. A black FtN Apollo with the F36 Motor Drive. Still have it and still use it on occasion. Had it re-built twice. I also have two more F's, an FE-2 with the MD12, an N90s and two F5's. Had two F3's also, wish I had never sold them!
I dropped one of my F's into Lake Tahoe during a shoot for a models portfolio. Kept it in a cooler full of water until I could get it to the repair shop. He was able to dry it all out and I still have it.
Jim

 

I'm looking forward to seeing some D200 shots from you guys. I just read the Dpreview D200 review and it sounds like there's very little difference between D200 and D2x picture quality. I'm still glad I've got the D2x but, dang, there is a big price difference.

Keep the faith, Peter. Nikon service has been good to me. They fixed my bent aperture lever on my D100 free of charge, after it was out of warranty, and a friend of mine had a 17-55 f/2.8 that he thought was a bit sub-par and they replaced it with a brand new one for him. I'm sure you'll be enjoying the D200 very soon.

Mark

 

Holy banding batman!

This is the first instance of banding I have seen from my D200. :(

http://www.quadband.net/images/banding.JPG

 

Bummer, you of course have seen the banding discussions up on Nikonians?

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCF...202/16951.html

 

Just a heads up. I've had my D200 for close to a month & as of yet banding hasn't raised its ugly head. My camera is not one of the ones from the first batch. Not all D200's seem to have banding.

 

I know; in fact, I've owned my camera about a month as well. This is the first time and it's horrible! I've never had an issue with any type of banding until now. Mine is also a late production model, either. :(