D200-What am I doing WRONG? (or should I say RIGHT?) ;-)

doing some test shots w/ my brand new D200 (high serial #) earlier today and did everything "WRONG" but still got GREAT images ;-)

i was using default sharpness setting, and was expecting very soft images, since it is mentioned in all the reviews, including dpreview (some even set their D200's at + in-camera Sharpening)

with all of the above i was VERY surprised at how sharp my jpegs images were (portraits) straight out of the camera - i do not even feel the need to add USM in photoshop.

even more remarkable:

• i used a kit lens (18--70) not my supersharp 60/2.8 or 105/2.5

• i used JPEG L BASIC (gives a 800K file instead of 3.3MB for FINE) and i don't see jpeg artifacts - even in fine hair detail

anyway, with all of the above i should be getting soft images (plus artifacts), but i'm not.

very impressed.

NOTE: since i have one of the newest batch D200's, maybe nikon changed the firmware to produce sharper jpegs based on all the complaints (along w/ eliminating banding)?

in case you wondered - the reason i was using JPEG L BASIC: - i use that setting w/ my studio strobes when i shoot exposure test shots to fine tune the exposure setting w/out using up too much memory.

but then i forgot to set it back to FINE for my 'real' photos. oops. but now that i see how nice the files turned out, i'm tempted to use less than FINE setting for more exposures per CF card if/when needed. (may be subject matter dependent)

NT

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Francisco Morán M.
http://www.moran.cl
Santiago - Chile

The D200 is a milestone camera. A product that performs like a Pro camera, with Pro features, build and performance at a bargain price.

If someone read these forums they would think the D200 is a P.O.C.!

The out of camera JPegs are great. I never thought they were soft. Nikon got a lot of complaints from D100 owners because the camera produced soft images. So in the D70 they put in a weak AA filter and the images out of camera were very sharp. However, the D70 suffered from Moire. So in the D200 they have a combination of moderately shape images with little or no Moire. A very nice balance for a very nice camera.

Enjoy your new camera!
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Regards,

Jeff Morris / Homecinemaman

Adams, Gutmann, Steichen, Snoopy, Stigletz, Weston. they lead by example.

in all fairness, i guess it would make sense to post some images to "prove" my point. i'll see what i can do.

i belive what you say in the original post i'm just curious to see it.

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Francisco Morán M.
http://www.moran.cl
Santiago - Chile

raka said:

NOTE: since i have one of the newest batch D200's, maybe nikon
changed the firmware to produce sharper jpegs based on all the
complaints (along w/ eliminating banding)?

Click to expand...

Yeah... I just got a D200 a couple of days a go and I love the camera. The firmware version # is A 1.01/B1.00. I don't know if this version is any different than the earlier D200's but I haven't seen any banding with my camera.

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Danny B
pbase supporter