Professional photographers often feel that they must use only the top pro model of any equipment available -- or they won't be viewed as pros. I perfer to judge equipment by what it offers me in capability. That said, I have now had the opportunity to test and use Nikon's D200 DSLR camera for several weeks, and I must say that I am very impressed. Although some try to label this as a "pro-sumer" camera, there is no reason for pros to shy away from it. The quality, build, and results are certainly pro class. The only part that is "consumer" class is the price! I am amazed at how Nikon has managed to put so much into a camera at such a reasonable cost.

I have no intention of reviewing the D200. There are many excellent reviews out there, particularly on the dpreview site and also Ken Rockwell's site. But if you're looking for a pro photographer's endorsement of the nikon D200, you've got it! My only somewhat negative observations are: 1) In a bright environment the rear LCD display is very hard to see (this is true of most DSLRs), 2) The battery life is not quite what is advertised (I think Nikon based the figures on small, low-quality images). I get about 300 images per battery - I use the extended grip which holds two batteries, so I get about 600 shots. Note that I keep the display off most of the time.

On the topic of that display... there are certainly times that one would want to check an image. For example, if the lighting has changed it may be important. But I personally find it amusing to see pos shooting an event and looking at the camera back after every shot. Can't tell you how many good shots they've missed getting because they were busy looking at the last shot, but I'm sure they missed plenty! When I'm shooting, I want as few distractions as possible. I want to get into a flow of the event and the people. I can't do that if I stop after every shot! When we shot film we didn't have the luxury of checking our results. So what did we do? We made sure that our exposure was dead on before we started shooting! In my opinion, we shouldn't revert to sloppy methods just because our equipment lets us. I configure the camera to keep that display off. Sure there are times I pull it up to check a histogram, or to check the last few shots -- but that's when I'm ready to do so; when there's a lull in the activity or when I feel that I've already captured what I needed to in the current setting.

Back to the D200. For the most part I'm very happy with the available options and especially with the placement of controls. Very intuitive. Much better than burying popular settings in command menus. The camera "feels" right in my hands; I feel very comfortable shooting with it.

More later...