Nikon D700 - Retro Review
Whether you slice this camera as a full frame D200, or a mini D3, the idea would have filled most photographers with a warm glow. Yes, you could see it as a 3-year overdue response to the Canon 5D, but that sensor was not pleasant to shoot in dark conditions. With the D700 being 17 years old this year, you might expect that sensor technology has come on leaps and bounds since, but you'd be wrong. In fact, the colours from this old CMOS sensor produce results you simply cannot get today.
Key Specifiations
Sensor:
Resolution:
Burst:
DR Stops:
E-Shutter:
SS:
AF points:
IS:
Video:
Live View:
ISO:
OVF:
LCD:
Memory:
Weight:
Battery:
Full Frame CMOS
12mp
5fps / ?? shots
9.13 (14bit)
1/250th
30s - 1/8,000th
51 (10%)
No
No
No
100 - 6,400
0.72x / 95%
3.0" / 922k / Fixed
CF
1074g
~1000 (EN-EL3e)
Ergonomics & Build
Nikon have never been great at making small and light cameras, and this is no exception. A non-pro DSLR at over 1KG seems tough to swallow, but it doesn't feel bad in the hand due to a stunning grip. Other than its weight, I had nothing bad to say about the D200's design, and this is mostly a full frame version of that greatness. For the heft of this thing, I wish it could have squeezed in dual memory cards, but that's only because I'm comparing it to the Sony A900 and it would have been rather nitpicky for 2008.
Red Squirrel (2025) | Nikkor 85mm, f/1.4, iso 200
Viewfinder
Just like the build quality, the viewfinder and screen get a nice upgrade here. The D100's viewfinder was a rather disappointing 0.8x magnification, and thankfully the D200 bumps that up to 0.94x, but it also feels brighter.
Screen
The rear screen goes from a woeful 1.8", to a decent 2.5". You also get a small resolution increase (180k to 230k), but more impressive is perhaps the processing improvements, coming from the D2X, which makes reviewing images and going through the menus a nicer experience.
Amsterdam (2006) | Nikkor 17-55mm | f/5.6 | iso 100
Battery
The previous small EN-EL3 and EN-EL3a batteries are not officially supported on the D200. Instead, you need the confusingly named EN-EL3e here. Something to do with the diagnostics measurements that it provides and the D200 can read. The health of the battery that came with my D200 reads as "0 / New" in the camera's menu, so it's either a newer battery, or these official batteries last really well. For me this one has been lasting for around 1000 shots, but I need to do more testing.
Yetminster (2006) | Nikkor 17-55mm | f/7.1 | iso 100
Speed
Burst speed is a very reasonable 5fps for a higher resolution sensor (for the time), matching the D2X due to using the same processor. The slightly lower resolution enabled the buffer to fit 21 raw shots at max burst, compared to just 15 on the D2X. Both the D2X and D200 were the first Nikon DSLRs to use 100 as a base iso sensitivity instead of 200 (they would return to 200 for the first full frame models before dropping again). Maximum shutter speeds are a decent 1/8000th here, instead of the disappointing 1/4000th from the D100, thankfully. That was also the case with the D70/s, but that was likely due to the CCD sensor more than the shutter itself.
Road Trip (2006) | Nikkor 17-55mm | f/8 | iso 100
Image Quality
The camera's 10mp CCD sensor was a nice bump up from Nikon's earlier 6mp DSLRs, for me the bump was a bit more noticeable coming from the D2H's unique 4mp JFET sensor. More than double the cost and a larger body would have got you an extra two megapixels, although the CMOS sensor has better noise performance, I think most people would be more interested in the D200's CCD sensor today.
The colours from these sensors are noticeably different to modern cameras with CMOS technology. Although they are not as accurate they're more punchy in the saturation, especially in the reds and in my case this gives a noticeable improvement when shooting in heavy green cast foliage scenes, rendering red squirrel's fur in a more stand-out way that I cannot replicate on CMOS cameras with any amount of processing. To see what I mean, check out this comparison I made. I will be trying this on the D200 as soon as the spring colours come in.
Several of the sample images in this article have been processed through the DxO pureRAW 3 de-noising software (if I still had the RAW files). This manages to squeeze out noticeably more detail from the images, even if they're shot at base ISO (100).
Amsterdam (2007) | Nikkor 17-55mm | f/8 | iso 100 | HDR
Lenses
The Nikon mount was largely unchanged from most of their film SLRs and remained mostly unchanged right the way up to the end of the DSLR's reign. Early pre-AI lenses were not safe to use here (which is common). Many of the lenses I used with the D200 were early AF-D type screw driven autofocus lenses, a technology that was being phased out during the D200's launch, but was still fully supported on Nikon camera bodies for another year or two. The hypersonic AF-S type lenses saw some improvements in image quality, the 17-55mm lens used for several of these samples was fantastic, but they were mostly appreciated for their quiet operation.
Multi Shot
The D200 supports 9 exposure brackets, which is great for HDR (High Dynamic Range), and time-lapse. I started to experiment with HDR on the D200 in 2006. This was a great option considering 20-year-old digital sensor's biggest weakness was low dynamic range. This meant shooting on a tripod with static subjects and spending some extra time with processing, but it can be a lot o fun. I can't remember the software that I used now, it certainly wasn't Adobe, but despite modern sensors being much improved in this regard, it's something I should do some more experimentation with.
Amsterdam (2007) | Nikkor 17-55mm | f/8 | iso 100 | HDR
My obsession with bokeh panoramas didn't start until 2009 (long after owning the Nikon D200), so I didn't get any from it back in the day, but I will try to get some with it soon, and will update this section with new samples from that technique.
Infrared
I will update this section once I get time to test the infrared capability of the D200 by simply placing a filter over the lens (non-converted). It should have been reasonably possible, as I remember doing it on the Nikon D3 (2007).
Red Squirrel (2025) | Nikkor 85mm, f/1.4, iso 200
Conclusion
The Nikon D200 was a great camera, especially given its price in 2005. What made its body great back then is still true for many photographers now. I would much rather have this camera over the much more expensive D2X, and that's without considering the D200's awesome CCD sensor. For the price you can pick it up for today, it's still a very interesting camera. The CCD sensor produces some beautiful images with fun colours that may not be considered accurate by today's standards, but in several situations they do look better.