Nikon has clearly taken the time needed to do its job well with the D200! Still within the reach of demanding amateurs, it’s also a model that will satisfy many professionals. As proof of that, the demand for the camera has quickly outstripped the supply. For anybody who needs a digital SLR that can handle the widest variety of tasks while putting out high quality shots, the D200 is definitely the best choice on today’s market if you want to stay within a reasonable budget.

The Nikon D200 rates 5 stars because it does perfectly all that it promises. For any serious photographer with Nikkor lenses the choice of the D200 is easy—if you can afford it. Imaging has taken over 1000 photographs with this camera and it has produced consistently excellent results. Very highly recommended.

If we had to pick a single American Photo camera of the year, the Nikon D200 would take that honor. Its combination of high-quality image capture, durability, speed, technology, and handling makes it best of class, and it can be had for way less than a “professional” model. This digital SLR defines its category: Advanced.

My D200 is the best digital camera I’ve ever owned. I’ve made over 28,000 shots on it as of January 2007. Boring lab tests can’t tell you that my D200 gives me more great images with less work. My D70 and D40 can give similar results (resolution isn’t related to image quality), but I have to twiddle the adjustments like white balance and exposure compensation more.

Indeed, perhaps reading more into the naming than Nikon may have intended, the D200 is a D2-type pro camera aimed, and priced, at the higher end of the avid amateur market. Being between the amateur and pro offerings, the D200 shares many features and functions with its pro siblings, including image quality that’s hard to beat.

The Nikon D200 is hard to compare on an equal footing with the rest of the current dSLR field, as it really establishes its own category of affordable (well, relatively so) professional dSLR. Priced closer to semi-pro cameras like the Canon EOS-30D, the D200 nonetheless competes in many ways with much higher-priced models like the EOS-5D or Nikon’s D2Xs.

Nikon’s D200 offers 10.2Mp resolution and professional build quality for £1,299. This may be twice the price of budget digital SLRs, but it’s far cheaper than Nikon’s Pro model. If you’re serious about photography, it’s the most affordable professional-quality digital SLR yet.

The Nikon D200 is a very good camera and anybody making the switch from a (high-end) film camera to digital should consider it. Take a look at the image quality, decide if it makes sense financially (don’t forget extra lenses, memory etc.) and take into account that the low operating cost of digital encourages to capture more, experiment more.

The D200 combines advances and refinements that Nikon fans had every reason to expect: higher resolution, lower noise, faster autofocus, and a more polished interface. If there is anything shocking about the D200, it’s the fact that nothing is shocking about it. With the D200, Nikon delivers a solid performer. Canon, in contrast, keeps on delivering surprising cameras.

The D200 could be looked at as a D2x-lite, it’s smaller and lighter than the D2x but boasts an equivalent level of specification. Add in its excellent price (around £1149 body only) and it makes even more sense; it is great value for money. The camera’s build and the level of protection from the elements means it can go almost anywhere and withstand the bumps and bashes meted out by a jobbing photographer, making it a package that is a superb piece of kit and very hard to ignore.

No matter where your camera loyalties may lie, the D200 will probably affect you thanks to Nikon’s merging of high-end features in a mid-range price. Hopefully, this means that such features as expanded auto-bracketing and intervalometers will become expected features in more cameras in this market.

Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that Nikon has caused an earthquake in the current d-SLR market with the arrival of the Nikon D200. A camera of this excellence with such a staggering amount of functions and outstanding image quality, in combination with its price-tag, is truly unheard of. The consumer is the one that will benefit most from this, a fact that we can only applaud. It was a bit of a wait, yet worth every single ounce of our patience! The Nikon D200 is a true shining star, a camera of which we are guaranteed to hear more in the near future. Credit to Nikon!

The D200 plugs a wide gap in Nikon’s DSLR range, and provides a bridge between the consumer-oriented D50, D70 and venerable D100, and the giddy heights of the D2x and D2h. It is big, heavy and expensive, but it provides the kind of build quality and performance that the serious amateur or semi-professional will be looking for. The lack of in-camera processing control is surprising, but with the right RAW conversion software it can produce truly stunning results.

An exceptional camera with a long list of excellent features and impressive image quality.