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Canon 30D or NIkon D200

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oscarc

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I'm still to knew to DSLR so I would like your unbiased opinion. Camera price aside, which would you buy and why? D30 or D200?

I will be using to take photos of my kids, indoors, outdoors, cycling. I know there is a few hundred $$ differance but I don't care about that. I will own the camera for many, many, years.
Thank you.
 
bit I had the same choice last December and got the 30D. I borrowed a friends D200 and another's 20D.

The D200 is very nice and either are more camera than 99% of people will evre be able to fully exploit.

For me it came down to the lenses.

I wanted a good all purpose lens with IS/VR. The 18-200 is way overpriced and slower than I wanted and it's a DX lens.

The 24-105IS is one of the main reasons for me getting the 30D. Also Nikon does not offer a non IS/VR 70-200 with their USM equivalent Af-S focussing as I didn't feel the need to spend the extra on IS/VR for what I use the lens for.

And the last factor for me is the friend with the 20D has a boat load of lenses I can borrow if I want :-)))))

Gene
 
oscarc said:
I'm still to knew to DSLR so I would like your unbiased opinion.
Camera price aside, which would you buy and why? D30 or D200?
Click to expand...
This is the wrong approach. They are both great camera's for sure. You are asking in the Canon forum and most will tell you the d30. If you ask in the nikokn forum most will tell you d200. Is anyone wrong? Not at all. It is all personal preference. Go to a store and handle both. Take a flashcard with you.
 
An unbiased, but maybe uneducated opinion. I am in the same boat as you. Upgrading from film to digital SLR (finally).

I think I've decided to go with the 30D. The images I've looked at online that compare 30D and D200 just show either too much noise in the D200 at high ISO, or the image lacks detail due to noise reduction.

That and the fact that I like the Canon lenses better for my style of shooting than the Nikon (They also seem a little less expensive too).

Other than that I think the D200 is a really nice camera and has some really nice features that I wish the 30D had, but high ISO performance and the lens selection trumps all those for me.

If I were you I'd look at both in the store and then evaluate your shooting style and see which company has the better lens selection for the shooting you want to do and then go from there.

Good luck.
 
Ken. said:
Is anyone wrong? Not at all. It is all personal preference.
Click to expand...
Well that's simply not true, as you know - you're in this thread: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=22352423

It's pretty clear that in a very real sense the D200 can certainly be the wrong camera for anyone who values low light performance, image quality and fine detail capture.
Ken. said:
Go to a store and handle both. Take a flashcard with you.
Click to expand...
Taking a card is a pointless thing to do in many parts of the world. In the UK for example I've yet to find a shop that will allow you to try a DSLR by actually taking a picture, because the shutter actuation count goes up and the camera is "shop soiled" straight away.
 
Keith Reeder said:
Ken. said:
Is anyone wrong? Not at all. It is all personal preference.
Click to expand...
Well that's simply not true, as you know - you're in this thread:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=22352423
Click to expand...
It is up to the poster to determine if low light shots are important. Also, I have seen some very nice low light shots from shots posted with the d200. Guess it all depends on the final exposure of the shot.
Keith Reeder said:
It's pretty clear that in a very real sense the D200 can
certainly be the wrong camera for anyone who values low light
performance, image quality and fine detail capture.
Keith Reeder said:
Go to a store and handle both. Take a flashcard with you.
Click to expand...
Taking a card is a pointless thing to do in many parts of the
world. In the UK for example I've yet to find a shop that will
allow you to try a DSLR by actually taking a picture, because the
shutter actuation count goes up and the camera is "shop soiled"
straight away.
Click to expand...
Perhaps so. Not a problem here. The big chains have the camera's right on a display and the camera's shutter gets used even without a card in it. LOL Even the smaller stores that keep their stuff behind the counter are very willing to let you try the camera. So, guess it depends on where you are.

One just needs to be careful with settings on the camera's as people do change everything!
 
I’m so called Canonite but I respect Nikon as well.

Have not been trying D200 for a longer time, so don’t rely on my subjective opinion very much.

I liked the D200 body and ergonomics, it suits my hands well. Actually I’ve been considering D200 some time ago but finally I’ve went for 30D because of IQ and lenses.

Don’t say that D200 is bad in terms of IQ, but Canon is better on high ISO and the pics are sharper straight from the cam. In other words it was much easier to get good results from 30D comparing to D200.

Now I own 30D with 17-55/2.8 IS and 70-200/4 IS and I’m absolutely happy with my gear.
 
Summarizing my experiences,

1. AF
D200 > > 30D

2. Noise
D200

3. I.Q. (at reasonable ISO, say less than 800)
D200 ?? 30D

4. Pricewise (D200 is somewhat more expensive)
D200

At high ISO 30D may give you better result but may not be a satisfactory one.

I bet the picture quality is not so different. If you buy D200 it could be a good investment for better AF. I currently own 30D and I used D200 for a while before 30D. AF is apparently different however it's up to you.
 
I tried both D200 and 30D and both are exellent camera, no doubt about.

However, overall if both are differenent in terms of the price, and if with couple hundred dollars more, I would prefer to go with D200 unless canon comes out a better 30D.
 
Notice that Phil had custom parameters set for the Nikon to have sharpening set to high. The canon was set to default. Phil's review stated that default setting for the Nikon was soft.
 
Ken. said:
Notice that Phil had custom parameters set for the Nikon to have
sharpening set to high. The canon was set to default. Phil's review
stated that default setting for the Nikon was soft.
Click to expand...
So??? He said, "are sharper straight from the cam" ...??? :^) ...

--
Best Regards,
Jukka

 
Ken. said:
Notice that Phil had custom parameters set for the Nikon to have
sharpening set to high. The canon was set to default. Phil's review
stated that default setting for the Nikon was soft.
Click to expand...
Can´t you use the dials? Or buttons? ...More relevant question: do you really shoot jpgs?

--
Best Regards,
Jukka

 
oscarc said:
I'm still to knew to DSLR so I would like your unbiased opinion.
Camera price aside, which would you buy and why? D30 or D200?
I will be using to take photos of my kids, indoors, outdoors,
cycling. I know there is a few hundred $$ differance but I don't
care about that. I will own the camera for many, many, years.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
I prefer the D200 but stayed with Canon for the lenses. I love my 35mm 1.4 and plan on eventually getting the 24mm 1.4--nothing comparable on the Nikon end. Also, it's good to know I can build a lens collection and not have to worry about getting rid of them if I choose to move to full frame somewhere down the line.
--
  • Eric
http://web.mac.com/panosian
 
jankanpaa said:
Can´t you use the dials? Or buttons? ...More relevant question: do
you really shoot jpgs?
Click to expand...
Yes, but I thought that Phil usually left things in default for these tests. I was surprised to see him boost the sharpness actually.
 
ePan said:
I prefer the D200 but stayed with Canon for the lenses. I love my
35mm 1.4 and plan on eventually getting the 24mm 1.4--nothing
comparable on the Nikon end. Also, it's good to know I can build a
lens collection and not have to worry about getting rid of them if
I choose to move to full frame somewhere down the line.
Click to expand...
Good points, Eric!

But what that last sentence actually mean? For example, I have a Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF-S which I really love and it´s my most used lens. If Nikon introdused a FF cam (it might, actually pretty soon, the big boys say so)

why I should get rid off that lens... Or my Tamron 90... Or my sigma 150... or my Nikkor 50...or my Nikkor 35 ... Do you have any idea what you are talking about??? ...
--
Best Regards,
Jukka

 
jankanpaa said:
Well, why do you think he boosted the sharpness?
Click to expand...
He did specifically say that he thought that the default settings were too soft and that most people would be happier with a higher setting.

As I have said in many posts. I really like what I see coming from the d200. I have no issues with its sharpness, contrast, colors, etc. and have no problems with using camera settings to make it look good. I was just surprised to see him change the setting. But I do not really know if he does this often or not.
 
Ken. said:
jankanpaa said:
Well, why do you think he boosted the sharpness?
Click to expand...
He did specifically say that he thought that the default settings
were too soft and that most people would be happier with a higher
setting.

As I have said in many posts. I really like what I see coming from
the d200. I have no issues with its sharpness, contrast, colors,
etc. and have no problems with using camera settings to make it
look good. I was just surprised to see him change the setting. But
I do not really know if he does this often or not.
Click to expand...
I think he do, quite often, just to show what you can get out of the cam.
Defaults are defaults and you can always change them...
--
Best Regards,
Jukka

 
And still, I´d like to point out I was only questioning this:
Fructus.biz wrote:
Canon...sharper straight from the cam

You can push the dials and buttons if you like, and how you like... in cam or later...

--
Best Regards,
Jukka

 
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