MY D200

New class of camera, new class of photos.

I must say, I'm amazed. If you'll remember, I spent a week at my Dad's house playing with his D200 over Christmas vacation. I was impressed then.

I'm AMAZED now.

The D200 is SUCH a wonderful camera! It begs you to carry it in your hands all the time, despite the weight. Enough features to make you feel like you've got a pro camera, enough options to convince you it was tailor-made to your specifications. Yes, it's got banding, so it might go back to have the A/D converters replaced and calibrated at some point. But I've run into banding in perhaps 5 shots out of around 1000 I've taken in the month or so that I've had it.

And that lens! The 17-55/2.8 DX is worth every cent you pay for it. Like the D200, it makes your hand more comfortable to be holding it. Truly a luxurious lens, it's obviously designed for professional photojournalists who would have to live with it day-in and day-out. It can out-resolve my D200's 10MP sensor, even wide-open at f/2.8. And the contrast is like nothing I've seen (and I've played with some of Canon's L lenses from time-to-time). Truly an optical marvel.

The combination of D200 + 17-55/2.8 just can't seem to go wrong. Focusing is ALWAYS fast and ALWAYS accurate. Any focusing errors can always be attributed to user mistakes. And with the SB600 - on OR OFF the camera - the pictures almost make you cry. They're just that good.

Anyway, enough talk. Here's the pictures!


ISO 1600, WB set to Incandescent+3, lit by the chandelier over our kitchen table

Lit by SB600 on-camera, bounced off the ceiling. Yes, the ball hit the lens hood just a split second later. My daughter's face is in PERFECT focus.

Her Papa was throwing her onto the couch cushions when I decided to try for the mid-air shot. It took me four tries, and he had already been throwing her a while. But the camera did its job, and I love the results. SB600 bounced off the ceiling, after pre-focusing on my father-in-law.

I was playing with the SB600 on its stand bouncing through Carrie's sewing machine to get a good shot of her. While I still haven't gotten exactly the shot I want (will probably require multiple lights), this shot turned out great.

I really like this one. AS you can tell, it was almost bedtime, Carrie was holding Emily (our youngest). Then Mara got jealous and crawled up into her lap, too. SB600 on-camera bounced off the ceiling.