I prefer to choice D2hs over D2h.

gavin wrote:
The most important factor for me is build quality and in this respect the D200 is a disaster waiting to happen.



How exactly is the D200 a disaster waiting to happen?? I'm not sure how you treat your gear but the D200 body & build is not exactly dog meat.

Steve

I have both the D2H and D200. I can't tell you which one to get, but I would sum it up this way in short, since others have already posted some great pros/cons and thoughts.

If you want the best AF system, amazing speed, fantastic battery life and a near-faultless control layout... go for the D2H. If you NEED humungous prints (you said you don't), and shoot for more detail than action/sports... get the D200.

I love my D200, I really do. The high ISO performance is very good, the images are honestly phenominal in detail and color, and the camera handles extremely well. What's more... the thing is "convertible" between a pro-size body with vertical grip and a smaller more compact travel cam.

But there's something about shooting with a D2H. It is the king at action/sports, my main photography focus. The keeper rate is near-perfect when I get home and sort through images, and the file size is a dream to work with. Shoot this baby RAW and you will be laughing. That CAM2000 AF system is something you won't believe until you experience it. It's that good.

Either way, you won't go wrong, but you need to determine if it's about large image detail or capturing action like no other that is your main focus to get the right body.

SSISteve wrote:
gavin wrote:
The most important factor for me is build quality and in this respect the D200 is a disaster waiting to happen.



How exactly is the D200 a disaster waiting to happen?? I'm not sure how you treat your gear but the D200 body & build is not exactly dog meat.

Steve


Steve, we absolutely abuse our tools!
Nikon Canada have told me if I ever buy a 'prosummer' camera again they will kill me.
I thought the D200 was worth a try but we killed both in about 10 weeks.
I will say the image quality is great, but the battery life (even with the vertical grip) is a disgrace, also not a very good focuser, so for sports which is my gig it's crap, but for portraits/ wedding ect it's the bomb.
Nikon did not warranty either camera because they have exceeded the aloweable shutter releases (one had 160,000 the other slightly more) for the 10 weeks I owend them.
For your interest I only count on 2 or 3 ski seasons out of a body and only 1 untill the shutter dies. We average half a million pics per body ( I employ 14 photogs and own 14 bodies) in a 5 month ski season.
Gav

I miss my D1x ... it got stolen I might pickup another in the future, but would rather get a used D2x first.

gavin wrote:
SSISteve wrote:
gavin wrote:
The most important factor for me is build quality and in this respect the D200 is a disaster waiting to happen.



How exactly is the D200 a disaster waiting to happen?? I'm not sure how you treat your gear but the D200 body & build is not exactly dog meat.

Steve


Steve, we absolutely abuse our tools!
Nikon Canada have told me if I ever buy a 'prosummer' camera again they will kill me.
I thought the D200 was worth a try but we killed both in about 10 weeks.
I will say the image quality is great, but the battery life (even with the vertical grip) is a disgrace, also not a very good focuser, so for sports which is my gig it's crap, but for portraits/ wedding ect it's the bomb.
Nikon did not warranty either camera because they have exceeded the aloweable shutter releases (one had 160,000 the other slightly more) for the 10 weeks I owend them.
For your interest I only count on 2 or 3 ski seasons out of a body and only 1 untill the shutter dies. We average half a million pics per body ( I employ 14 photogs and own 14 bodies) in a 5 month ski season.
Gav

Your salesman must feel like he has won the lottery when you walk in the door

I have never owned a D2H, so I can't really comment on it.

I currently have two D1X's and a D200. They work in different ways. I find that the D1X produces very clean RAW files and are manageable due to their relatively small size compared to the D200 RAW files.

The D1X is a very well built camera, very similar to an F5. I use my D1X's as my main cameras at weddings and my D200 as backup. This is mostly because of the file sizes and the fact that I think that the D1X is much easier to use. It is very straightforward, virtually idiot-proof. Very difficult to scew up a shot, (maybe w/b but that can be adjusted in PS). I think that the controls on the D1X are instinctive compared to the D200. Bigger learning curve with the D200. The only reason I would not buy another D1X is because the ones available are now getting older and have much more wear/shutter actuations on them. It is difficult to find a near mint example on the market today.

I would go for a D200 only because it is newer and much better than the D70 or D70s (I just got rid of my last D70s of the 5 that I owned). I have the battery grip on my D200, so it feels more comfortable in my hands. My biggest gripe with the D200 is the pop up flash. I never use it and I believe that this is the weak point on the camera body. I think Nikon should have left this "feature" out as they did with their F100.

Well here is my 2 cents. I have owned the D1x, D2h, D70,and currently have a D200 and a Fuji S3.... I liked the D1x but dont miss it...I sold the D2h and the D70 to get the D200 and the S3..(Sniff, Sniff) the biggest mistake was selling the D2h....The easiest to shoot, excellent images, small files with big impact.

here are a few samples:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/2159244#P-1-15

I am currently look for a D2h or a D2hs, havent decided what to
do with the Fuji S3 (Probably sell it)

Just my $.02. I was lucky and got an near mint with very low shutter snap D1x for less than $700. I think the battery thing has been a bit over blown. True, the Nikon batteries at 2000mAh are not as long lasting as the more modern ones but a new one from BatteryBarn at 2400mAh and $36.00 is very good and lasts. I've shot 2 concerts now on one battery each 2 2gig cards full without a bit of a problem. All day shooting in Alaska. SB600 flash works great on is as does a Nissen 4000GW.

The IQ is great across the board with any lens I've put on it. eg.= Tokina 16-50 2.8, Nikon 28-105D, 85 1.4 and 70-200 2.8. I don't shoot JPG but RAW takes very little almost no PPing if you get the shot right. I've found the meter is spot on.

11X14 and 13X18 prints are great and can go much bigger. Thom Hogan reported 30"ers at better than 35 mm quality.

Shoots off road GP scrambles very well and theater too.

If you find a good D1x I sure wouldn't count it out.

Don

D1X

The battery problem with the D1X was more due to operator abuse than anything. If you got used to TURNING OFF THE CAMERA when the camera is just dangling about your neck, and STOP CHIMPING 15 MINUTES FOR EVERY 5 MINUTES OF SHOOTING you could shoot for a long time on one battery. I used to get one and half batteries used during a 6 hour wedding shoot (which is a about 1000 actuations, chimping, etc. per battery)

The D1X was nearly perfect for everything but high-iso noise. I would dread being forced to put things to ISO 800 or above. Fortunately, Nikon noise has a very "film-like" quality to it and no one but other photographers really complained about it.

The serious problem with the D1X, and if they had fixed this, I would probably be shooting one-- was the back screen. The historgrams were ridimentary, the monitor could not be trusted, and in the end-- it seemed like chimping was just habit rather than helpful. But if you didn't second guess the camera, you were 95% positive to get a perfect picture that needed very little processing.

D2H

The D2H has some serious followers, but I am not one. Its exposure can be spot on perfect with great white balance. Unfortunately, it has VERY little exposure latitude. You can't make mistakes with this camera.

It is also a fair weather camera. Any wedding photographer who shows you great D2H images, always shows you photos taken outside. If you underexpose at all, or shoot in very dark areas, you will get HORRIBLE post-production noise when editing. People try to negate this fact with noise reduction software..but that is a fix to a problem--- not a negation of the problem.

D200

What can I say? The camera is near perfect. It has all the features you want. Great ISO noise, good solid and responsive focusing for sports and low light. Great feedback information in the monitor.

Unfortunately, it shoots everything with a red hue, and that means a lot of processing time. The camera also takes awhile getting used to in order to feel confident you won't get soft photos (some of the problem is in the factory settings, which are easily changed once you get your associates degree in D200 buttonology)

Again, poor battery performance comes from poor battery discipline. People who concerve with the simple habit of using the OFF button when they aren't working get a good 1000 photos out of a battery.


D2X

Another nearly perfect camera design. The color is much better than the D200 adn the CAM2000 engine is one of the most powerful in any camera line, offering the fastest focus with the most accuracy.

But the creation of a 12MP chip by doubling the pixels was not a perfect solution of more being better, IMO. The added resolution just meant that there was a reduction in light sensitivity. The ISO settings shifted to reflect this--- and so did the ISO noise. Now the ISO noise on a D70 at ISO1600 looks nearly the same on a D2X at ISO800 (not an exact comparision, but you get the picture).

Fuji S5

Great high iso noise, perfect out of camera color. Accurate to a "T". Too bad the camera is so slow, the menus are so alien to the Nikon menus, and (worst of all) Fuji feels it can rape everyone's wallets.

Side note on D1X battery life: when I shoot weddings I usually go through 3 bateries in 7 hours. Yes, I shut the camera off after every shot and my chimping is limited to see if the flash went off or if I blew out some highlight (honest )

Lately I have been using my D1X for fun stuff, like my latest project/obsession of photographing all the lighthouses in the State of Florida. I find that the battery (the original Nikon battery) lasts for several days. Of course I shoot less pictures at the lighthouses than at a wedding, but what I discovered was that the battery doesn't seem to discharge as much on its own as I thought it would.

I have the original Nikon Batteries and the ones from Battery Barn as well. Under heavy use (like wedding work) the battery barn battery does last longer. My only gripe with that battery is the design of the lock/release lever. It is a little round button that breaks off easily if you bump it (easily done even when you set the camera inside your bag). I ended up replacing the little button with the one that comes with the original Nikon battery. I have been looking for places to buy old Nikon batteries so I can use the lock switches on the Battery Barn Batteries.

Batteries on the D200 seem to run out on their own for some reason. I have two batteries inside the battery grip and I noticed that the battery in use (it goes through one battery before starting on the other) seems to discharge on its own when the camera is not in use at a rate much faster than the D1X's old batteries!

I own both a Nikon D70 and a Nikon D200. Since the day I got them, I have never turned off the camera. After the camera goes to sleep, I have seen no deterioration of battery life. I can't vouch for D2x or D1x etc, but I don't think the lcd draws much either in the on or off position.

SSISteve wrote
Your salesman must feel like he has won the lottery when you walk in the door

You betta believe it! In fact they ring ME when a cool new toy arrives, and just simply put it on 'hold' knowing I'll buy it.
Gav

My D1H never turns off...I turn it off, but it's broken someway or another. Battery life does not change when it works. It usually lasts decently long, at least for me...I have 3 of those batteries, so I don't complain. You people forget about how often batteries died with film!! haha

Can I monkey wrench this and ask where the 1d fits into this?

Can I monkey wrench this and ask where the 1d fits into this?


Sure...it is called The Canon Forum.

Zachs wrote:
My D1H never turns off...I turn it off, but it's broken someway or another. Battery life does not change when it works. It usually lasts decently long, at least for me...I have 3 of those batteries, so I don't complain. You people forget about how often batteries died with film!! haha


I loved my D1h, I made alot of money with it.
It did die however after the second shutter replacement (over 2 million shots) when the mirror fell out.
Gav

Comparison to the 1D

It compares with the D2H. IMO, the D1H has better noise control and colors, better focusing, but not tracking. The D2H has better colors, better focusing/tracking, but worse noise control, and similar resolution.

The D1X does not compare to this camera, nor does the d200..both are in a different league/purpose. You would go to the 1Ds, 1D MKII, and 1Ds MKII for comparison against those cameras.

May I suggest that this thread be a sticky? Great information.

I’m taking a first look at Nikon as an option since I got a $300 estimate back from Canon repair. I think I’d be better served by putting that money toward a new body rather than fixing what I have. Since I don’t have a lot tied up in lenses, I could make the jump if I felt Nikon could serve me well.

After doing a couple of quick searches, I was shocked to see the prices on the D2H. Especially with the camera being as old as it is. I guess that goes back to some of the other threads in this forum about Nikon not coming out with newer cameras to push the price of the older ones down.

Hopefully everyone here won’t have a problem with me asking a bunch of noob questions about Nikons.

Timothy, go nuts. Just make a new thread about it.