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Originally Posted by Keith Reeder
The "overloading" of the DX-sized sensor with more mps than it can realistically handle means that each individual photosite on the sensor is less able to capture light because it's so much smaller than say, the photosites on a 6mp sensor of the same physical proportions.
Nikon's "management" of the physics of this approach results in the native signal from the sensor having to be excessively amplified to make up for the lack of signal at the natice sensitivity of the sensor.
This guarantees noise.
To deal with the noise, Nikon have implemented a "blunt instrument" in-camera NR process which knocks the crap out of detail.
This throws away any notional resolution advantage from the extra megapixels on the D200 sensor.
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Maybe I'm misreading the post but something tells me that Keith might not be 100% pleased with his D200.
Anyway, I cannot comment on the AF since as I have already said I do not use it. I'll leave it to someone else to agree or disagree.
I routinely use the D200 at ISO 100 and there is no noise. I've used the D200 at ISO 400 and the results were fine with insignificant noise. I find ISO 1600 a bit noisy, but I would be happy to use ISO 1600 for things such as concert shots were that my interest. The noise resembles film grain and is mostly luninance noise rather than chroma noise. Noise processing software can largely remove the noise at the cost of some detail.
By all accounts the D200 has less noise than the D2x, which is not surprising given the lower pixel count and slightly more recent technology. And from what I have seen it has similar noise to the Canon 20D (despite what some Canon users say). I have noticed that although from a technical perspective comparable Canon cameras generally have less noise than Nikon ones, in practice the nature of the noise in Canon cameras means that it is more noticeable than the measurements would suggest i.e. more chroma noise.
In terms of sharpness, well I have similar pictures of Windsor castle (I used to live down the road) taken with Fuji Provia 100F (35mm), a D70 and a D200. The D200 clearly shows more detail than the D70. And I did not use mirror lock up with the D200 - having no remote release - which might have caused some image softening.
The D200 is not perfect. If lower noise is critical to you, then buy a Canon 5D. That camera is also more suited to wide angle lenses than the D200, or any APS sensor camera. I did not buy one as it cost over £2000. At the current price of £1600 it is very tempting and by all accounts it is a marvelous toy, err, I mean a marvelous tool for the serious pastime of photography.
BTW I'm no Nikon fan boy. If you want a tirade critical of Nikon, I can give you one. Don't start me on the availability of accessories, or I'll fill the server hard disk with rant.
Leif