I`ve had a couple of questions about what I thought the difference was between the D80 and the D200, or perhaps I should say why I chose the D200 over the D80.

First, I should say that I started out with a Nikon D70s before I looked at any other camera in the Nikon lineup. Then when the D200 was released back in December 2005, I was one of the first wave of people to get a D200 by Christmas last year. At that time, it was pretty much a no brainer that the next logical step was to buy a Nikon D200.

Since then things have changed somewhat. Nikon has released the popular D50, D80, and now the upcoming D40. Many people are deciding whether to pick up a D80 or a D200 since both are very similar, but with a large price difference. Again, I had already purchased the D200 long before the D80 was released or even known about, so if I had to give an answer to the question of why the D200 over the D80, it would be because the D80 never existed at that time.

About ten months later I was in a position to buy a backup camera for my D200 and so investigated my options which were the Nikon D2X, another D200, the D80, or simply use my D70s. The Nikon D2X was a bit more than what I wanted to pay and I wanted some features that my D200 had that the D70s didn`t. This resulted in making a decision between the D80 and the D200. Ultimately I decided on the Nikon D200 for the following list of reasons.

1. Accesories – I already had all the batteries, memory cards, remote devices, acessories, etc for the D200. So by going with the D200 I wouldn`t have to buy much accessories.

2. Memory Cards – The D80 used SD cards and I have heavily invested in CF cards. I thus didn`t want to have to buy new memory cards all over again.

3. Speed – I LOVE the 5 fps on the D200. One of the things that drove me crazy about my D70s was the slow 3 fps. For my style, I thoroughly enjoy the FAST 5 fps and will probably not buy another camera without something very similar. Again, for my personal style, this is a huge drawback for the D80 and definitely worth paying extra money for the D200.

4. Weatherproof – I am always going out in all types of weather. I am a person who pretty much carries the camera everywhere I go. So it is very important to have a tough weatherproof camera. The D200 does well in this category, a little better than the D80 in my opinion.

5. Ergonomics – I have big hands with long fingers. The feel and grip of the camera is very important to me. The D200 fits my hands perfectly and the added MB200 makes the fit even better. The D80 like the D50 is just too small for me. Again this is a personal call, so for me the D200 won in this category.

6. Price Drop – I should also mention that here in Japan when the D80 was initially released, there was a huge temporary price drop with the Nikon D200. This also caused me to go with the D200 because the price gap became smaller. Since then the prices have gone back up a bit.

7. Same Camera – Finally, I felt that having the SAME camera as a backup seemed to make the most sense to me. I had slight problems at times bouncing back and forth between my D70s and the D200. The buttons, menus, settings, and other were all a bit different. Having two of the same camera has been very good for me and I now can arm one camera with the 70-200VR and another with a wide lense such as the 17-55mm or 28-70mm lenses. Plus, all of the accessories are interchangeable which again is very nice.

Furthermore, it is nice that my wife and I can sit down and talk about the same camera which tends to help us focus on taking pictures rather than comparing different cameras. When she shot the D70s and I with the D200 we were always comparing cameras. Now that we have two D200s out in the field, we can talk more about technique and settings for the same camera.

These are the reasons why I chose the D200 over the D80. There may be some technical differences or even quality differences between the two cameras, but for me they didn`t matter. I think both cameras are excellent and will provide lots of great pictures. So if you`re in this situation, good luck on your decision and enjoy your new camera.

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I forgot to mention I ordered the Nikon AFS 300mm f/4 lense back in August that has been wonderful to shoot with. I was a little worried about this lense because I wanted something I could hand hold and not have to use a tripod. Packing around and using a tripod in some parts of Japan is a little difficult, so I prefer to shoot hand held as much as possible. Thus with the 300mm, I was wondering if I could get away without the VR and keep my hands steady. After using this lense several times on the Street, I can definitely put to rest any doubts. The 300mm f/4 performs beautifully hand held in my opinion. Although the keeper rate is slightly lower than my other lenses, this is not an issue when shooting 2-3 frames per second. I always get at least one frame in perfect quality and in focus to suit my taste just fine. It’s also amazing just how many places around you are available to rest the lense on if necessary so you can shoot in a more steady fashion if desired. The lense I also find is a little lighter and smaller than the 70-200 VR zoom with the built-in hood twisted back of course, but when fully extended, it could be about the same. Still though, I find myself able to conceal the lense a little easier than the legendary 70-200 VR.

In addition to the lense, I also bought the RSS ( Really Right Stuff ) lense collar along the the RSS lense foot that also fits the 70-200 VR lense. The build and quality is awesome with the RSS foot and collar combo. It fits as it should nicely on my tripod very sturdy as advertised. I have no idea if the stock collar is any good or not though, I just bought the RSS version because it was on back order for a long time and felt I might as well get it while I had the chance. I’m glad I did though because I now don’t have to worry at all about any play. The Nikon 300mm f/4 is a lense to have if you can’t or don’t want to fork over the large sum of cash for the Nikon 300mm VR f/2.8 lense. I’ve heard that one is a little bigger and heavier as well, so perhaps the 300mm f/4 is all I will ever really need. With that said, if I find a used f/2.8 version I may pick one up, but we’ll see. For now the 300mm f/4 with the TCs offer all the range I really need right now on the street, or at any sort of event I attend. Like the recently acquired Nikon AF 180mm f/2.8D the Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4 is a real quality and very fun lense to shoot with.

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