D80 or D200???

Aidy

Aidy

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As the title suggests!!! I've tried them both, and like them both. Is there an advantage to buying the D200? The picture quality looks the same on both, so I'm wondering if there is any major differences I should look out for?

Or if there is a Canon equivalent that will take equally good photos? (I'm a bit dubious about CMOS sensors)

Thanks
Aidy
 
The main difference is the weather sealing and aluminum body of the d200. They both use the same sensor, so IQ should be identical. The d200 also has a slightly faster max shutter speed and faster FPS burst. (D80 3fps/23JPG - D200 5fps/35JPG/22RAW i think)

The down sides of the d200 over the d80 are the cost, although this should come down after the d300 is launched. The metal body also makes the camera a lot heavier than the d80, and when you stick a heavy lens, battery grip and flashgun on top, that 300g extra will really show.

The D200 is a far better camera than the D80, but at the time i bought my D80 i couldn't justify the extra cost for my needs. Im very, very happy with the D80 though.

EDIT: If your looking for canon equivalents, IMO..

The Nikon D80 should be compared to the Canon 30D, and the Nikon D200 should be compared to the new Canon 40D.
 
Agree with alex' comments above - I have D80, better half has D200 (go figure!). I stick with the D80 for 2 reasons only - I don't go out in the rain (much), and I like the comfort of retaining the creative modes for when I just can't decide the correct settings, However, 90% of the time I shoot aperture, and am relying less on the pre-set modes. I just like having them there, just in case! My advice - if you really need bullet proof build quality or 5fps, go with the 200; if not, save the money & get the 80.
Hope this helps...
 
Agreed. I have a D70s and D200. If you want the flexibilty of knowing there are preset modes you can fall back on in a hurry, then the D80 is the way to go. If like me you are daft enough to spend a lot of time out in the rain, and want to feel like you had more input into every image, then I can't recommend the D200 enough [the 70/80s are tougher than you expect, carrying a chamois leather around for regular drying is a good idea]. There is a significant weight difference between them, which can make a difference if you plan on spending full days with a camera slung round neck/shoulders/in a bag, so thats also worth bearing in mind. The D200 does lock onto focus noticeably quicker, particularly noticable with cheaper lenses than more expensive ones.

Either way, whichever you choose, have fun with it ;)
 
I have the D80 and I'm very happy with it. I think that if I had the money I would have gone for the D200 as it is the better camera. Not only is it faster, it has the abilities to meter on manual focus lenses which the D80 doesn't and it is better built.

TBH I think you would also be happy if you went for Canon, the 40D and the 30D are both very nice cameras. I don't believe that many people (if any) could actually tell which camera a photo was taken on just by looking be that the D80, D200, 30D or 40D.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I think I better go and speak to the bank manager nicely:naughty::naughty::naughty:

Aidy
 
FWIW I ummed and ahhed about upgrading my D50 to a D80 or a D200. In the end I decided that the jump to D80 didn't offer a huge amount of features so went for the D200 :clap:
 
I had a d80 for 11 months and loved it. However I bought a D200 from eBay for what I thought was a good price and I have to say, it's much more advanced (some might say intimidating) than the D80.

I love the D200!
 
I too am contemplating the jump to a D200 (can't afford the D300) from a D50.

Couple of things i'll mention in case you didn't know:
- D200 uses CF (D80 + D300 use SD), so you're going to have to buy a load of new CF cards which adds more to the overall price;

- Battery life of a D200 is 450-500 shots, whereas D80 is 1000-2000 shots. So you're going to need to buy some more batteries, adding more to the overall price;

- Wireless remote (ML-L3) doesn't work on the D200, so you're going to need a new one.

And here are some observations that aren't going to effect price, but outine why the D200 is better than the D80:

- D200 Allows you to stop off ISO at increments (you could use ISO 140 for example);
- D200 has 2-9 frames bracketing (compared to 2-3);
- D200 supports GPS and WiFi (with accessories) which is pretty neat;
- D200 has a much larger buffer (19 NEF compared to 6 NEF)

It's a really hard decision and i'm totally stumped. The D200 is a better camera, but having to buy new memory and a new remote shutter release all adds up. I'm going to wait till the D300 comes out and then just pick up someones almost-new D200 :)
 
I have been having this debate with myself as well. Currently on a D50 and really want a D200. I came to the conclusion that If I went for the D80, the D200 would always be in the back of my mind, and I'd be constantly thinking, What if??? D200 FTW!
 
DaveHope said:
D300 use SD
Click to expand...

Are you sure? I thought the D300 used CF and could utilise the UDMA aspects of the latest CF cards.

I'll check and report back

EDIT - I'm right according to DPreview the D300 takes CF.

Also the battery life on the D80 when shooting RAW is much lower than the 1000-2000 you suggest - I only get about 400-600 out of mine

But I agree the D200 is better than the D80 :D
 
SimonTALM said:
Are you sure? I thought the D300 used CF and could utilise the UDMA aspects of the latest CF cards.]
Click to expand...

Sorry, you're right. D300 uses Type I / II (with UDMA support). D200 uses Type I/II CF.

Still, in a comparison with the D80 it's still going to mean buying new memory :)
 
DaveHope said:
Couple of things i'll mention in case you didn't know:
- D200 uses CF (D80 + D300 use SD), so you're going to have to buy a load of new CF cards which adds more to the overall price;
Click to expand...

Tell me about it - bought my D200 from Jessops as they were the same price as pretty much every other UK web based seller (799) and got a new 2GB Sandisk card to go with it. I almost wept at the price. I could of course have just used the old 64MB cards I have for my previous cameras but wanted to take more than 4 shots before downloading :)

- Battery life of a D200 is 450-500 shots, whereas D80 is 1000-2000 shots. So you're going to need to buy some more batteries, adding more to the overall price;
Click to expand...

I already had a 2nd Nikon EL3e (?) for the D50 that works in the D200. As for shots - from what you read on the web the battery life of the D200 is terrible but I've just been on holiday for a week taking about 550 shots on one and a bit batteries. That includes getting to know the camera better and forcing the wife to look at every picture...

- Wireless remote (ML-L3) doesn't work on the D200, so you're going to need a new one.
Click to expand...

RRP for the D200 compatible wireless remote is £190 :eek: Think it'll be something from ebay instead.

- D200 Allows you to stop off ISO at increments (you could use ISO 140 for example);
- D200 has 2-9 frames bracketing (compared to 2-3);
Click to expand...

I made a lot of use of both those features - the ISO increments are handy when you know you can't quite hand-hold at, say, 1/30 sec but don't want to jump from ISO200 to ISO400. ISO250 and ISO320 are options. Likewise having more bracketing flexibility and not having to muck about with the menus to switch bracketing on (and then forgetting to turn it off!) was great.

I'd also like to add that as a general point the D200 is button-tastic so no more menus for bracketing or metering selection. I found the extra 'function' button handy for a quick switch to spot metering useful too.

Oh, and white balance can be 'tweaked' so you can have, for instance, slightly-colder-than-cloudy, cloudy and slightly-warmer-than-cloudy. Not essential by any means but quite useful on occasion.
 
Yes, but memory, even CF, isnt hugely expensive, and whilst it may be frowned upon by some, I have been using third party batteries in both nikons for quite some time [about 1/3 the cost of genuine] with no loss of performance over the nikon equivalents.
 
LadyLens said:
Yes, but memory, even CF, isnt hugely expensive, and whilst it may be frowned upon by some, I have been using third party batteries in both nikons for quite some time [about 1/3 the cost of genuine] with no loss of performance over the nikon equivalents.
Click to expand...

You're quite right :). It's still something to bear in mind though.

SanDisk 2GB Extreme III CF cards are about £33 (ebuyer.com) personally I'd want two, which adds on £66 to your new camera :)

As for batteries, I don't think the cheap ones I've been getting from eBay work on the D200 so I'm going to have to buy new ones :/ I've no idea how much D200 compatible batteries are.

I'm dying to buy a D200, but need to decide between a new body, a new SB-800 flash and a new surround system :)
 
Try 7day shop and sandisk ultra II - cheaper, and seems to have no problems with read/write speeds even when using fast CS mode ;)

I think I paid £14 for a D200 compatible from ebay, [and even less for the D70s battery] and its excellent. I dont necessary say that they will all be as good, I got lucky ;)
 
I only paid around £32 delivered for the proper D200 spare battery, so not an astronomical cost, but they do add up.

Depends on how patient you want to be, I'm certain the price will come down significantly in January as D300 will be out by then and also will no doubt be a few second hand D200's too.

They will both be great cameras, so neither choice is wrong!
 
I changed my d80 for a d200. I've kept my SD cards and use an adaptor that converts the SD to CF. It comes from maplin, cost about £20 and works fine.
 
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