Nikon D200 DSLR with 50mm 1.8D lens
This is
going to be a long read, so save this on your phone or laptop and get to home.
I don’t suggest you read this at your office or on your phone. Go home, make yourself a nice cappuccino or a mocktail,
before you sit down to read it. Nothing like sipping some nice hot or cold
drink to read a photography article about the camera you like. Right ?
Before I
begin let me tell you I am the kind of photographer who does not believe
expensive gear equals good photography. I mean, its great to have expensive gear, but if you don't its fine too. I have shot some amazing pictures with
kit lenses and the cheapy 50 1.8 lenses. If you don’t know how to use a camera
even an expensive camera can’t save your day. Also theres a danger of thefts,
wear and tear etc that will hurt you both financially and emotionally.
I have
seen awesome commercial photography done with entry level cameras and I firmly
believe there is no point in buying expensive cameras or lenses until and
unless you absolutely need them or your photography business is running good
enough to buy them. A camera shouldn’t cost
as much as a car or a house, its ridiculous.
I have done some awesome pictures in my commercial photography
assignments with a Nikon D200 and a Sony alpha 200, yeah Sony alpha 200. I am
not ashamed to shoot with entry level cameras for my commercial assignments.
Yes the SONY A200 is my backup to the D200, yeah I don’t have a Nikon body as a
backup. Sue me. haha...
Clients pay
you for the images you deliver. NOT for the cameras you have.
Now lets get
into the story at hand.
So, I
recently finished shooting for a local custom motorcycle company and used the
Nikon D200 extensively for this shoot. (no, not canon mark III or even a 7D) I
had to use the D200 as I had no other choice.
Earlier in the day, I shot their promo video on a mark III with a carl
zeiss lens (85mm 1.4 to be exact). Its all great and everything but had to send
it off as the rental agreement was only for certain hours.
Right from
the first image I shot the clients who were present at the shoot in the
workshop, literally were like 'fuck' 'fuck' 'fuck'. Yeah I know. They gasped. The lighting scheme was perfect, not to mention the amazing camera and lens combination. Absolutely
clean RAW files. They might have done the same if I had shot with a Nikon D800 or a 1Dx or
a Mark III, as the lighting scheme I planned proved to be very effective, but
none the less, its impossible to write off D200’s contribution to the whole
exercise.
Before this
whole episode, I looked some of my pics on my home pc and was appalled, but
realized this is not how these pictures meant to be seen. I was right the mac
showed the true color and rendition of these images.
People
shooting commercially have to know each camera has its own flavor, no camera is
alike, even from the same manufacturer. The quality of a Nikon D3 is different
than a Nikon D700, even though both share the same sensor. The image
processing, rendering is all different in these cameras. The sensor in the
Nikon D80, D200, and D60 are the same, they may superficially look the same but
when you pixel peep, you will notice the differences.
My contention
is that if you can extract the same quality images from a D200 as a Mark III, I
will say there is no point in getting a Mark III. I am not trying to downplay
the Mark III, it is an excellent camera by any means. I am just saying, the
Mark III does not fit everyone’s budget. Sure you can rent them for shoots.
What is the D200 good at ??
Given its
accurate color rendition D200 can be used to shoot clothes and anything related
to clothes/clothing catalogues. It can also be used to shoot portraits as the
skin tones from the camera are absolutely amazing, this is something lacking in
modern DSLRs from Nikon sadly. The skin tones in the D7000 are a mix of some
strange orangy pinkish hue. Even the D300/300s fails to deliver skin tones
properly. I have seen a lot of photographers complain about this issue online about
the D300.
Coming back
to the D200, when I was looking at the pictures, I realized apart from the few
minor things the image quality between the D200 and a Mark III is very marginal.
Good lighting is the key. Any camera will perform well in good lighting
conditions. NO, I am not talking rubbish.
I have compared both images from the D200 and Mark III on a mac screen with
retina display. So I know. If at all you feel, the D200’s images are not up ‘there’,
you can always tweak them in photoshop.
That beats having a $3000 camera, doesn’t it ?
Here is some more motorcycle porn with the D200 and Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 -
http://subliminalwhispers.blogspot.in/2015/07/motorcycle-porn-shooting-jawayezdi.html
http://subliminalwhispers.blogspot.in/2015/07/motorcycle-porn-shooting-jawayezdi.html
If you plan
your lighting properly, optimize the settings and shoot with a proper technique
I bet my bottom dollar, you will get images that are on par with the expensive
cameras.
The whole
point of this article is: Hold on to your D200 a little longer, and shoot with
it more to bring out its best. I might
extend this article indefinitely, so keep checking for updates.
Happy
clicking…
--Viisshnu--
P.S: Hey would you like to read the story of how I lost and found my beloved Sony a200 DSLR?? yeah there's a review too ;)
Here you go: http://subliminalwhispers.blogspot.in/2015/10/sony-a200-review-2015-or-how-i-got-my.html
P.S: Hey would you like to read the story of how I lost and found my beloved Sony a200 DSLR?? yeah there's a review too ;)
Here you go: http://subliminalwhispers.blogspot.in/2015/10/sony-a200-review-2015-or-how-i-got-my.html