THE
AF-S DX VR NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
Announced
with the Nikon D200, and most often pictured with it, I included
information on this new lens, since many people may want to
buy it at the same time they buy the D200. An 11.1X zoom,
it promises to be a most convenient travel lens, with many
focal lengths covered.
-
SOFTWARE
The
D200 comes with free PictureProject software for basic image
sizing, rotating, and manipulation. One could also download
the old dependable standby Nikon View 6.2+ from the Nikon
USA website. Or, for about $100 USD one could purchase a copy
of the excellent and powerful Nikon Capture 4.4,
a new version released in conjunction with the D200, and designed
to take maximum advantage of its new features. And, finally,
the new Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Elements programs will be
compatible with the D200's RAW NEF formatting.
MENUS
& LCDS
Nikon
has settled on a nice color scheme in its menus recently.
The D200 has a pleasant menu color, with easy to read, larger
fonts. The top “Control Panel LCD” provides a
similar look to the D2x. At a glance the top LCD shows such
shooting information as battery condition, card information,
gridline display, shooting mode, shutter speed, f/stop, and
the number of shots remaining. It's a nice large LCD with
a backlight on the ON/OFF switch, just like the D2x has.
I
especially like the large 2.5 inch image viewing LCD on the
back of the D200. It takes up a good portion of the back of
the camera, and allows plenty of room to view images. In fact,
one can zoom-in on the images all the way up to 400% size.
This will allow one to check an image for sharpness and proper
focus before while there is still an opportunity to correct
mistakes. The fact that we have available a four histogram
image preview is excellent, in my way of thinking. In many
cases, histogram preview is as important as light metering
with a digital camera.
The
camera provides a single "luminance" histogram with
all three channels of the RGB combined. It also provides a
view of the luminance histogram along with a histogram for
each channel of the RGB.
ON-DEMAND
GRIDLINES DISPLAY
This
in itself is one of my favorite camera features. The gridline
display can be turned on or off at will. If you are shooting
a landscape, these grid lines help to accurately level the
camera to the horizon. But, if you are shooting a portrait,
maybe they'll be in the way. Since they are "on-demand"
you can leave them on all the time, only as needed, or turn
them off. Since the Nikon N80/F80 film camera, these gridlines
have been available, and have become a much loved feature
by many.
