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Nikon D200
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Any other D200 users out there? Interested to hear your opinions on this camera in comparison to the D70.
Particularly with image sharpness in Raw mode.DaveC
Dave,
Welcome by the way :)
D200 for the past 2 months myself (must sell the D70 yet) .
Using primarily the 18-70mm I find it sharper than the D70.
Certainly no worse. That being said, I’ve seen threads where some think its not as sharp and
that the default sharpness setting on the camera might be set to too soft (I’ve not messed with that,
if you do let me know the results :) )Did have a problem the first time I used my 50mm 1.8 on it, the resultant photos
has colour cast, but its now fine. Putting that down to dirty connectors on the lens.How are you finding it ?
Mark
About 50% of images I take require some level of sharpening post production.
Only minor though, still a great camera.
White balance can be a little off sometimes but that doesn’t worry me either since I shoot raw.DaveC
I think the D70 is a great camera but I LOVE my D200 :D
Can’t say i’ve noticed any negative difference in sharpness at all – I always shoot RAW aswell so I’m happy to do my tinkering later …
I was at a lecture by one of the Nikon Technical Directors and he demonstrated White balance showing that if set on Auto is almost always around 90-95% accurate and better than the modes available …. although i’ve only started to test that it seems to be true enough … but again as you said…. shooting RAW it makes little difference.
DaveC wrote:
About 50% of images I take require some level of sharpening post production.
Only minor though, still a great camera.DaveCIn general digital camera images are meant to be sharpened. If the camera isn’t doing so then you have to do it yourself later, where you have more control over the process. This is not a defect. As I understand it the D200 images might require more sharpening than from some other cameras. I have had a fair number of photos where I am not happy with the sharpness, but I think that has to do more with lenses and technique than the D200 itself.
Thanks folks,
Mark, can’t imagine ever selling my D70, it has served me so well in my early wedding portfolio.
Actually looking to get another as a third backup. Wouldn’t be able to lug 3 D200s around. My neck would probably break.I sent my d200 back to nikon because of unsharp images twice, and after a 4 month battle with them over the camera i got a replacement which is working prefect, nikon told me that the d200 wont be as sharp as the d70 because the d70 isnt a pro camera.
Just a note here…
RAW images are meant to be soft. RAW images are where data is read directly from the sensor.. it’s captured and stored directly from the bayer filter, so it’s not even in pixel format. Your RAW converter interpolates this sensor data to create RGB pixels, but unless you are applying some sharpening during RAW conversion, the shots will be and are meant to be sharp. If you are shooting JPG your camera applies sharpening to the RAW data during the conversion.
ciaran wrote:
Just a note here…
RAW images are meant to be soft. RAW images are where data is read directly from the sensor.. it’s captured and stored directly from the bayer filter, so it’s not even in pixel format. Your RAW converter interpolates this sensor data to create RGB pixels, but unless you are applying some sharpening during RAW conversion, the shots will be and are meant to be sharp. If you are shooting JPG your camera applies sharpening to the RAW data during the conversion.
Just as an fyi the latest version of DPP (Digital Photo Professional) canon raw workflow software has ‘sharpen’ as one of the built in tools (along with the lighting mode changes etc) – this is applied pre conversion to jpg and carries with the saved .cr2 file.
I know its not a nikon ,but i asked a canon guy about the 5D being soft and he said it was set soft because it’s suppose to be a portrature camera. All you do is set it to sharp in a menu.
Maybe the same applies_brian_ wrote:
I know its not a nikon ,but i asked a canon guy about the 5D being soft and he said it was set soft because it’s suppose to be a portrature camera. All you do is set it to sharp in a menu.
Maybe the same appliesI think its a bit of a sweeping statement to say that the 5d is a soft camera. There is a custom function menu on canon dslr’s as well as a pre-set parameter menu – the preset parameters menu has setting 1 & 2 (cant remember offhand which is which) 1 of them boosts sharpness on the camera itself. I remember messing with them ages ago and there seemed to be a slight difference depending on which preset you had selected to load.
Hi all, I am new to this forum so you will have to forgive me if I don’t follow all the discussions which have been going on.
I have been using a D70 for several years and only recently upgraded to the D200. I initial thought is that the images from the D200 in RAW format are at least as sharp as those from the D70. That being said, I always shoot in RAW and can’t ever recall a RAW image which did not need some sharping, thats just the nature of the beast.
I use Adobe Bridge to manage my files and then open them using the RAW converter in CS2. I always leave the sharpening to the last, and then only apply the minimum necessary dependant upon the subject. I really dislike overcooked pictures. I am still using the sort of values that I would use with the D70, that’s why I say that the D200 RAW images are at least as sharp.
IMHO some of the sharpness and focus issues are related more to the lens than to the camera. The standard kit lens on the D70 is an excellant piece of glass and I always found it produced crisp, clear images. Like wise the 105mm f2.8 macro lens is also very sharp. The 80-200 however is a much softer animal. Even on a sturdy tripod the images are softer, at least thats my opinion. I don’t know if some of those who are dissapointed with the D200’s sharpness have opted to use one of the new ‘super-zooms’ which are available. I don’t own one myself so I am only guessing, but there must be some downside to a zoom range of 10+
Les
Another new person here :)
I used my D70 almost into the ground before getting the D200 in February, I loved the D70 and after a few years use it was just like writing with a pencil, didn’t have to think what buttons to press. Its meter, which is very good in its own right, was above all pretty consistent, so I knew exactly what compensation was required for my own tastes (which tends more towards dark & moody than bright and breezy). I was juggling finances to get the D2x but the D200 suits much better as I need to travel light at times, the D200 allows me to remove the battery grip and with the 12-24 F4 nikkor being so light I have the perfect kit for the job (though quite a bit heavier than D70 and 18-70).
Now that I have the D200 for a few months, I love it even more! Having ISO100 is great, but it took me a while to get it into my head that what I used to hand-hold without a second thought would have to be weighed up more carefully with the D200 ISO100 and I have a slight hunch this leads to people upgrading from a D70 mistaking the camera for being unsharp. You need good lenses and excellent hand holding technique in less than perfect light to get the same results as the D70 with its ISO200 base and slightly lower resolution. For a month or two I had a slight twinge of regret for selling the D70 because it was possible to get what I wanted almost without thinking and oddly enough I had worked out exactly what angle to tilt the LCD on the back to show almost perfectly the brightness and contrast of my calibrated monitor. The D200 looks the same from almost every angle and is always off by the same amount so I have just learned to factor that in or else try to ignore it and go straight to the histograms.
The D200 meter has about the same consistency with a few tweaks and quirks and at ISO100 the images are superbly detailed and noise free, the body is nice and rugged and you really can trust the weather sealing, I took pics at a seal release on the beach in a downpour and holwling gales with no cover and the camera took it in its stride. The rubber coming loose under the front dial thing happened mine in the humid forests in Borneo which is a bit of a pain, must get round to fixing that.
Auto white balance is great everywhere except indoors where its only ok, but I very rarely use jpg’s so this is a non-issue for me, likewise sharpening in post is almost always necessary but I leave it on full blast on the camera and switch it off in conversion so I can check my raw files are sharp after each shot.
I hesitate using the camera above ISO400, but below that I don’t give it a second thought. As mentioned previously the LCD on the back is far too bright so I also have a hunch people are being naughty and using it to judge if things are underexposed, turning it down to -2 is a must for a start and even then its too bright. Underexpose above ISO640 and your going to seriously struggle to keep things noise free. If you expose correctly, noise is not as bad as people make out, though slightly worse than D70. If you use Adobe Camera Raw to import RAW files into photoshop, check it doesn’t adjust exposure automatically by default or it will boost your noise without you realising you’ve underexposed and you will end up a non-happy camper.
Battery life was a big concern when I got the camera, it downright sucked for the first few weeks but improved dramatically after that. I bought the MB-D200 and an extra battery though just in case. Its still not near as good as the D70 if your using uncompressed RAW, moving all that data does carry a penalty, likewise the big LCD screen. Factor in another battery or two if you plan to take trips to the wild or do weddings.
Anyway, hope all that is useful to someone, enjoy yer D200!
Ken
..a couple of thoughts…
The D200 resolution is greater and will show up “hand-shake” more than the D70. I certainly noticed this on the D2x from a D100.
Higher contrast gives the illusion of greater sharpness. The D200 (I believe) has a different shape gamma curve and will open the shadows over the D70.
With these higher end cameras, the lenses need to be good, you need to hold them steady and the focus nededs to be spot on. The better focussing module in the D200 will focus on the edge of someone’s head, rather than their eyes if you’re not careful, the shot looks soft, but it’s just out of focus! (I had to change my method of focussing with the D2x).
Si
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