Nikon D200

The past year has seen another mighty assault by Canon on Nikon’s traditional leading status in the professional SLR market. However, the world’s best-known camera brand isn’t about to take things lying down.

Nikon has vowed to take back the market share its rival has won – Canon currently has a 60/40 advantage – and the camera that Nikon hopes will trigger the turnaround is the D200, a digital SLR that’s squarely aimed at the freelancer or the keen enthusiast.

With a whopping 10.2-megapixel sensor, the D200 is taking on Canon’s ageing EOS 20D with a build quality and performance that sets new standards in the prosumer SLR arena. Pick up the D200 and you know that you have a professional camera in your hands. The sensor is the same DX-sized chip used across Nikon’s entire SLR range, but it offers an extra two megapixels over the Canon 20D – an impressive resolution of 3,872x2,592 pixels. It also provides an incredible level of detail and refinement that really does belie its £1,299 price tag. For all its good points, critics may be tempted to point out that the D200 uses a CCD (charge coupled device) sensor, rather than the quieter and smoother CMOS variety favoured by Canon. In practice, though, the D200 delivers smooth results, even at ISO 1,600 sensitivity, producing shots that are easily on a par with its more expensive D2X stablemate, and certainly more than adequate for professional use.

The standout feature of the D200 is its new 2.5-inch LCD screen, which has LED backlighting for more accurate colour rendition. This makes it ideal when checking white balance during a studio shoot, and is a feature you won’t find in the Canon.

Other major features include five-frames-per-second continuous shooting and a top shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second. The flash synchronisation speed of 1/250th of a second also brings advantages for studio work or when using fill-in flash outside, and the advanced four-channel RGB processor and choice of colour spaces makes it ideal for the graphics pro, especially because the new technology is better at rendering textures and limiting the moiré effect that some digital cameras can produce.

To power the D200, Nikon has developed a brand new lithium-ion battery that’s good for 1,800 shots between charges. That’s power enough to enable any photographer to really stretch their creative legs.