Express Action Sports

Yikes. Hell of a choice.

For equine/sports photography.
I’ve got the choice of one or the other.

Vintage dinosaur or modern creature?
Thank-you to the first replier. Much appreciated. I’ve heard the d200 has a much slower AF, and isn’t appropriate for fast moving sports – like rodeo. Assuming I pair it with an average glass how will it go?

I wouldn’t think twice before buying the D200. The D2H was great in its day, but that was a long time ago. You can look side-by-side here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=nikon_d2h%2Cnikon_d200&show=all but I’ll pick out a couple of things to consider. "Pixels aren’t everything," but comparing 4 MP to 10 MP is quite a difference. The D2H weighs 10 ounces more, which might bother you by the end of the day.

The D2H has a slightly higher framing rate, but you can cover 5 seconds of action with the maximum rate. The lower fps rate of the D200 still allows you to cover about 7½ seconds of action. Maybe that matters.

Another thing to consider is that the D2H was probably used by a pro and probably has reached the expected shutter life. You can anticipate replacing the shutter very soon for $250-300 or more. The D200 is slightly more likely to have been owned by an amateur or to have been used as a backup body for a pro. It is less likely to be near the expected life of 150,000 shutter actuations. Check that out on both cameras.

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ADD’L
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I’ve never had a complaint about the D200 AF speed. I’ve captured birds in flight, which is a real challenge for AF.



Or how about a dragonfly in mid-flight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/550805973/