D200 upgrade

I was very happy with my D70 , it was fast and lighter than my film Nikons. However, for over 30 years I have been upgrading Nikons - basically for the lenses compatibility they continue to offer.During the 80's I grumbled about having to have my old lenses modified for AI, but the change was worth it when the Auto exposure cameras came out! The D70 made using my old manual focus lenses a chore. The D200 allows me to use ANY AI compatible Nikon mount lens, even say a Vivitar. Just be very careful that there is a proper AI notch on the aperture ring and you are good to go with FULL auto and metering and TTL Flash even!!! I programmed the CUSTOM BUTTON to set up my manual lens settings, and it works great. Incidentally - while the D70 does not offer any metering with non- cpu lenses it does offer the most lens compatibility since it has no AI coupling ring to get damaged.

Only problem is - the newer AF lenses really do work well and make life really painless with the AMAZING FOCUS TRACKING of the D200.D70 not as good here, but still OK.

On the D200 I used my "new" 180 f2.8 IF AFD, which is now about ten years old too, at the 2007 INDY 500 and got great car /accident shots at 5fps in situations where I would not have reacted fast enough with a film camera. Sudden accidents at 250MPH hurtling toward you , all in sharp focus . Wish it had Image Stabilization so I could lose the monopod, but still AMAZING!!!

Only down side for me in D200 is weight, while not as heavy as an F3 or F4 it still weighs almost a pound more than the D70, so if you are planning a hiking trip the smaller D70/ 40/50 may be a better choice if you do not need all the high speed power of the D200. The D200 does offer a larger 10Mp versus the 6Mp of the older D70, but I see no real difference in Image quality yet. I have gotten good 16x20 with both cameras and believe you have to really big to see any difference.