Nikon D200 - Multi-Cam 1000

Now I will make the step and go with a better Nikon.

(UW Housing manufacturers make me sweet deals :-))

I was thinking that maybe the new D200 has everything that i need but I am really skeptical about the new Multi-Cam 1000

Is it really a improvement? How will the Nikon D200 be under situations as low light, low contrast & fast moving subjects?

Both D200 & D2X can focuss from -1EV to +19EV levels.

But then the Nikon D200 still has a AF focus light. Why does it need this help??

Then I am not sure, I think that D200 use just one sensor to read the exposue? Am I right?

Anyway. What are does everyone think. I know, when the camera is out we will know but we can begin to speculate?

Lambis

P.S. D2X prices are now falling in Sweden. You can find a 4 monts old camera with warrenty for 2800 euro

Hi Lambis,

I have resisted the chances I have had too look at the D200, so I don't get tempted to buy one.

Everyone I know says that the D200 AF is good in low light. But I know that nobody has tried it UW yet!

I am surprised that you struggle with the D70 AF for the type of photography that you do. Big subjects and wide lenses should work well with AF.

I think that the key to getting the best out of AF is to understand how it works and to help it. It is not just an on/off switch that your press and suddenly everything is in focus. I used a D100 for 2-3 years (which has the same AF as the D70) and found the AF was not a problem. But you have to help it.

Good news about cheaper D2Xs! I would like to get a second body at some point. Maybe after the D200 has been out for a few months I can get a second D2X for a decent price.

Alex

Good news about cheaper D2Xs! I would like to get a second body at some point. Maybe after the D200 has been out for a few months I can get a second D2X for a decent price.

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The D2x is selling for US$4,500 in the States now. I am expecting it to drop more when the D200 hits the stores.

Alex the problem with Nikon D70s AF system is in low contrast subjects.

I dont use strobes and I have try to hepl the AF system as good as I can but remember freediving photography si not the same as scuba diving photography. Everything is going faster chainges in the light are contant etc...

For me AF sytem like this of D2X is more worth it that for some off you guys.

Off cource I love to have a D200 and dont need to spend my money on a D2X but with 3 Assigments next year and some other projects that are on the way I have not the luxus to play around.

Uw Photography is not longer a hobby off me i have evolve to a small buisness and there I must deliver what the client is asking for.

Off cource the reason that I need a new camera is not only autofocus. Is a resolution and a lower noise issue to.

D200 will have along way to go untill the first proffessional housings are out.

Strobes don't make any difference to AF performance. The only way they help sharpness is to help disguise movement blur.

I think that the D200 will be a great camera for your photography, Lambis. The D2X is too big and bulky in a housing for free diving.

Alex

I know Alex.

Its a dream if the d200 will can do the thinks that I need. Like everybody else I whant the best for me. andd that is a small camera with a great af system low noice and plenty off megapixels. A camera that stay will me the next 1-2 years

Like I told Jean. Is better to save the money to drink bier with Alex :-)

I just spend the afternoon with a D200, it was a prototype (#5000002) so I couldn't shoot with a card in it (Nikon's rules), My feelling toward this camera in short WOW this camera will make a lot of diver very, very happy and yes I did try the AF in low light with a Mustard Classic (the 17-55mm f:2,8) it goes like schnell (not a very scientific word, but apropriate) the response in low light was very impressive and the finder Ouh la, la ! it felt as good as the 5D Canon (full frame !) and my D2h, it's a wee bit chunkier tha the D100 so don't expect recycled housing from the industry .

Lambis, this will be available in black also, camo ??? never I lost a green Nikonos once for a week before i traced it back to through the weed patch...

On another note I wasn't impress with the 18-200, but i'm not surprised I never was a long range zoom afficionado, trying the D200 with this lens will disapoint anybody, it slow focusing.

They are slow on their pace but when they deliver, they do it for a winner, I have a feeling this camera will be around for a while (a la D100)

Cheers

Thanks Jean for the info. Now I can sleep and dream...

Time for Housings. Lest aquatica make a housing that will be equal to this camera.

Lambis,

You already have a Nexus. Buy a Nexus!

Alex

Off cource Alex is Nexus first priority.

My housing is a killer ! But still I like to see what Nexus will do with the new D200 housing. Not like last time that they have forget to put a AE-AF button :-)

Lambis

Jean,

Do you mean that the housing for the D200 will not be based on the D100 housing, that they will have to design from scratch ? Am I understanding correctly?

Sylvie

I did try the AF in low light with a Mustard Classic (the 17-55mm f:2,8) it goes like schnell (not a very scientific word, but apropriate) the response in low light was very impressive and the finder Ouh la, la!

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This lens is very fast in *any* camera, the nicest (and most expensive) piece of glass I've ever owned and not a fair test. AF-S lenses are not a good measure for AF capabilities, I would wait to see the tests with non-AFS lenses. The 17-55 behaves very similarly in the F100 and the D2x, but the non-AFS 105 and 60 are *a lot* faster in the D2x when compared to the F100.

Lambis, I bet you won't find any noticeable difference in focus capability with the lenses that you use the most (10.5 and 16). Long lenses (105, 150) are the ones that are going to behave differently in cameras with better AF.

Is it really a improvement? How will the Nikon D200 be under situations as low light, low contrast & fast moving subjects?

Both D200 & D2X can focuss from -1EV to +19EV levels.

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The D70's AF detection range is also from EV -1 to +19.

Luiz

Jean,

 

Do you mean that the housing for the D200 will not be based on the D100 housing, that they will have to design from scratch ? Am I understanding correctly?

 

Sylvie

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Yes, controls are in completely different places and camera shape is different too.

If anything the controls layout is more akin to the D2 series of camera. so if anything, me not being an rocket science engineer, but smart anyway I would scale down a D2x housing more than upgrade a D100 one. but I leave those concept to the design bureau. As far as the 60mm on D200 my impression was that is was a very viable affair, but to be honest I didn't have my D2h, nor D100's with me for comparaison, but it is clearly superior (to quote a well respected competitor ) to the D100, that one I could notice right away.

We should be getting our's around the 12 to 15 of December, the I will put it trough non scientific down to earth practical testing, the kind u/w photographer want to hear about

BTW my only negative point so far is I disliked the CF compartment location on the side. this has to do with changing the card with the camera in housing situation more than anything else. don't know / will see maybe it's not gonna affect card swapping that much.

I will be a little bit of a heretic here, but I shoot a lot in dark, cold water. I find the D2x autofocus to be little, if any bettter than the D70 in under dim illumination. There are many excellent reasons to get the D2x, and I love mine, but I would not do it for autofocus. An inexpensive focus light would add much more to your macro focus than a $5000 cmaera that requires a $5000 housing.

Hal

But a focus light is not working for WA and if you take hotos with available light not eather or??

Many times i think that a strobe will help me to focus on subject between 1-3 meters but then again I dont know if I would like to have to utch colors on my Photos. The front is in color and the back just blue.

For me thats not the way that I see thinks underwater.

Magic filter on the other side is another story. there you have colors alower the place.

Anyway I was thinking that D2X's AF sytem is mutch more advanced that Nikons D70s. Thast is what users told me.

Lambis

But a focus light is not working for WA and if you take hotos with available light not eather or??

 

Many times i think that a strobe will help me to focus on subject between 1-3 meters but then again I dont know if I would like to have to utch colors on my Photos. The front is in color and the back just blue.

For me thats not the way that I see thinks underwater.

Magic filter on the other side is another story. there you have colors alower the place.

 

Anyway I was thinking that D2X's AF sytem is mutch more advanced that  Nikons D70s. Thast is what users told me.

 

Lambis

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Lambis, I agree that a focus light will not help you.

But I also think that a D2x won't help much either (it may, as I never tried photographing free divers). If you were shooting macro with a slow lens (like the 105) the D2x would lock in focus many times faster than the D70, I know this as I shot with both. The problem is that your particular shooting situation (low contrast subjects) is a challenge for all AF systems, from the D50 to the D2x. Even a 1Ds wouldn't help you much in that. On top of that, you are working with short fast lenses that should focus fast in any camera.

I have been in situations where I couldn't get the D2x to focus, and they all were with dark fish against the blue background (low contrast). Try putting an edge of the subject (like an arm of the diver) in the middle of the focus sensor, as this may help to "create" contrast and speeds up the autofocus. If you point the center focus sensor to the middle of a free diver's dark wetsuit, all cameras will have a hard time focusing.

Luiz

Luiz!!

Thats the best info that i have get !!! I was thinking the same many times. When you look att my gallerys att www.tripledepth.com you see that most off the freedivers have camo wetsuit. Whay becauce siomple the camera could focus on then.

You will not see many Photos av divers with back suit.

I was thinking that the D2X or the new D200 will do better but thanks for the info now I know

Lambis

I think that the key to getting the best out of AF is to understand how it works and to help it. It is not just an on/off switch that your press and suddenly everything is in focus. I used a D100 for 2-3 years (which has the same AF as the D70) and found the AF was not a problem. But you have to help it.

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This is what I was alluding to in the beginning. If you point AF at a large block of colour (like a wetsuit) it is not going to focus. You have to help it by including areas on contrast in the AF sensors.

I have only photographed freedivers once, Lambis, so I don't have as much experience as you, but I didn't have any out of focus shots. I am surprised that this is your major concern. I found getting exposures right much more tricky.

Alex

Alex getting the exposue right was and is a problem for me to but most of the cases it is me that cant take photos :-)

I mean I am still very new in UW Photography and still try to learn.

Tell me more about you experince with Exposue and shooting freedivers

To be honnest I folow a simple formula.

Keep the iso Low

F 5,6 and try that i go not lower that 1/80

undexposue .33 for better blue

Now Imaging this: you are on the surface without scuba gear and I tell you Alex something will happen in the next 20-30 seconds between 0- 20 meters go down in and take some photos.

The timeframe is so short that you have not the time that you need to play for long time with settings...

Thats the reason that I ask so mutch about the AF system becauce i dont wnat to waiste my time to focus the camera ....

Lambis