Nikon's D200

I've got Canon's Digital Rebel. It's a great little camera at a great price. Beautiful images at low cost, made by the market leader in SLR cameras. I'm married with two kids, and I just got really interested in photography a year ago. So my lens "collection" is really a pair of $100 lenses and my pride-and-joy, the $450 Sigma 30/1.4. (The Sigma is a non-zooming lens that offers a natural field-of-view and is great for low-light situational stuff.)

Mike (a friend at work) shoots with Nikon gear. He's single (never been married), older than I am, and has been collecting Nikon lenses since he majored in photography in college. So his lens collection is really a "collection". He just bought Nikon's newest pro digital - the $4500 D2x - to replace the other DSLRs he's worn out.

Mike and I regularly give each other grief about which brand is better. As a routine part of this verbal sparring, Mike has repeatedly stated that Canon is a marketing-driven company, while decisions at Nikon are made by engineers. I always dismissed this as a colored perspective that wasn't really harmful or offensive.

Until Nikon released the D200.

The Overpriced, Underfeatured Canon 5D

Really, it started with Canon's recent release of the 5D. It's way overpriced, in my opinion. At $3300, it's just a $1300 20D with a sensor the size of a 35mm negative. That makes it the first full-frame DSLR available for under $4000. But at that price, I was really expecting the feature set to closely resemble the sports shooters' workhorse - the $4500 1DMkIIN. Weather sealing, 45-point pro-speed AF, and other pro features should be in a $3300 camera. Nope. Just a bigger screen...and a print button.

That print button irritated me more the more I thought about it. Who among the target audience for this EXPENSIVE camera would want a button just for printing? It's a waste of money, a waste of real-estate, and - worst of all - a waste of a perfectly accessible button during shooting. Reviewers everywhere commented on it. And I realized that maybe Mike was right - maybe some Executive Vice President of Marketing decided that "all Canon digital cameras will have a Print button." Starting with the $3300 5D.

The Underpriced, Overfeatured Nikon D200

Meanwhile, Mike had told me what to expect of the D200 - basically a pro camera in a smaller package, priced around $2500 (as was its predecessor, the D100). Sounded like a nice camera (even if it was four years late), but it was WAY too rich for my blood. Besides - I had Canon lenses. Even my humble $650 of glass counts (for me, anyway) as an investment.

So when the D200 was officially announced, the specs were surprisingly up-to-date for a camera four years in the making. (That's a long time in digital land.)

But I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw the price: $1700, just $200 more than I was already planning to spend on an upgrade in the spring.

My initial elation stemmed from the effect this new camera would SURELY have on the new 20D's feature list. I realized Canon probably hadn't been caught by surprise, but we ordinary folk were just waking up to the pressure Canon had been living under for a few years. A pro camera, with pro AF and weather sealing and cast-iron build and controls for every photographic setting I knew of (plus some I didn't) priced for ordnary people like me. "Who knows what Canon will come up with?" I thought.

But the more I looked at the D200, and the more I looked at my investment in lenses, the more I realized that the D200 was an option for ME. (My increasing skills at selling electronics on eBay was also a factor.) I was already planning on selling the kit lens with my camera. I could sell the Sigma for a little loss and probably make up the difference between Canon and Nikon cameras.

And the features were calling to me: Pro-grade AF that could track my child around the frame. Selectable frame rates, up to 5FPS. A buffer large enough to hold 22 RAW files. Weather-sealing and build that would give me peace of mind should life happen while the camera was out. All are features I would use. All are features Canon has so far reserved for their pro cameras (even the $3300 5D has none of these features). Add to that Nikon's less-confusing control layout with a pro-level degree of control. And by all indications, the D200 yields ISO3200 images with almost as little noise as the excellent Canon 20D.

So my mind is made up...for now. My budget is preventing me from buying anything until after Canon has shown their cards. The 20D's successor is expected to be announced in late February at the PMA conference, with cameras shipping in March. I guess it's a good thing I can't upgrade until then.

But I can drool over the D200 in the meantime :-)