Complete Guide to the Nikon D200- P11 doc

Lenses and Focusing The D200 features the traditional Nikon F mount, and thus can use most lenses made for Nikon 35mm film cameras see “Lens Compatibility” on page for exceptions.. Note

Color Mode III: Note the

zonked orange, and to a lesser degree, the shifts in green intensity Yellows are looking a bit green

Note: If you have your camera set to a Color Space of

AdobeRGB and the Color Mode set to II and then switch

the Color Space to sRGB, the Color Mode will reset to I,

as sRGB does not allow a setting of II The camera does

“remember” that AdobeRGB was set to II, so if you switch the Color Space back, you’ll get the Color Mode back Setting Tone, Hue, Saturation, and Color Mode

õ To set any of these image optimizations:

1 Press the MENU key to show the menu system

2 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SHOOTING MENU (the camera icon tab)

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Optimize Image

and press the > key on the Direction pad to select it

4 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the Custom

option and press the > key on the Direction pad to

select it

5 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the Tone

Compensation, Hue Adjustment, Saturation or Color Mode option and press the > key on the

Direction pad to select it

6 Use the Direction pad to navigate to your choice (or

to increment or decrement the hue value) and press the > key on the Direction pad to select it

Lenses and Focusing

The D200 features the traditional Nikon F mount, and thus can use most lenses made for Nikon 35mm film cameras (see

“Lens Compatibility” on page <H312> for exceptions)

The white marker on the lens (right facing arrow in the photo) needs to be aligned with the white dot on the camera body (left facing arrow in illustration)

õ One of the first things you need to do is mount a lens on your D200:

1 Turn the D200’s power switch to the OFF position

2 Twist the included BF-1A body cap 45 degrees

clockwise, and remove it from the camera

3 Align the mounting mark on the lensF

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with the mounting mark on the D200 (see figure, above) and then twist the lens counter-clockwise (when facing the front of the body) until it locks in place

4 If you’re using an autofocus lens, set the aperture ring

on the lens to the smallest aperture (usually f/22, but sometimes f/16 or f/32 or even f/45 on Nikkor lenses)

and lock it at that aperture Failure to set the aperture ring to the smallest aperture will result in FEE being shown on the top LCD (see “Error Messages” on page

information) Use the black screw as your alignment point!

If you’re using an AI or AI-S lens, you’ll need to set some dataF

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:

a Turn the camera ON

b Press the MENU button to see the menu

system

c Navigate to the SHOOTING MENU (camera icon tab)

d Navigate to Non-CPU lens data and press the

> key on the Direction pad to select it

e Navigate to Focal length and press the > key

on the Direction pad to select it

f Use the controls that follow to set the exact focal length (hint: you first select the range it falls in first, press the > key on the Direction pad, then navigate to the exact focal length, and finally press the > key on the Direction

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If you switch between autofocus and a specific AI or AI-S lens a lot, you might want

to check out Custom Setting #F4 (see page <471>), which allows you to assign the

FUNC button as a shortcut method of entering the lens data

pad one last time to select it.)

g Navigate to Maximum aperture and press the

> key on the Direction pad to select it

h Navigate to the setting that represents the largest aperture on the lens in question and press the > key on the Direction pad to select

it

Changing lenses follows the same steps, except that you’re removing the mounted lens in Step 2 instead of a body cap (and you have to hold down the lens release button during that step)

Note: When no lens is mounted, you should always protect the

sensor from dust by using the BF-1A body cap (see

“Keeping the Sensor Clean” on page <H575>)

Note: The body cap for the D200 (BF-1A) is different than the one

for earlier, manual focus 35mm film cameras (BF-1) and much different than the cheap plastic cap that comes with the N80 and some other Nikon bodies Nikon states that the

older BF-1 body caps should not be used on the D200 The older body caps (and some generic, third party body caps) don’t accommodate the electrical contacts built into the autofocus lens mounts

Focal Length Limitations

Because Nikon chose to retain its F mount on the D200, virtually every lens Nikon has made in the past 30 years can

be mounted on a D200 But the field of view you see in the viewfinder is different on a D200 than on a 35mm film body The D200 crops the field of view by about 1.5x This means that a 14mm lens mounted on a D200 has about the

equivalent field of view of a 21mm lens mounted on a 35mm film Nikon body (see the table later in this section)

Field of view changes when a Nikon lens is mounted on a D200 because the camera’s sensor is physically smaller than the 35mm frame for which it was originally intended Note that I keep using the term “field of view.” The focal length of a lens is absolutely unchanged when you mount a lens on a D200 Indeed, the resulting image on a D200 is no different than if you took a picture with a 35mm body and then

cropped it down to the smaller sensor area of the D200

Note: I’ve read reports from professionals and editors who should

know better that go something like this: “The D200’s 1.5x magnification is like getting a 1.4x extender for free, with no aperture penalty.” Sorry, but that’s not really true If you mount a 400mm f/2.8 lens on your 35mm body and then crop the resulting image to a ~28mm diagonal section in the middle, you’d get exactly the same image as you get from the D200

The outer circle is the normal image circle of a 35mm lens The purple frame is the boundaries of 35mm, the light green is the boundaries of the D200’s sensor The D200 is seeing only a portion

of the area the lens covers With DX lenses, the image circle is smaller (note the inner circle no longer covers the 35mm frame):

It is important to understand that, because of the small sensor

size, the D200 only uses the innermost portion of the image resolved by most lenses When you read lens tests in

magazines or on the Internet, some criticisms of lenses may not apply when that lens is used on a D200F

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For example, most wide angle lenses have light falloff in the corners when used wide open (at their widest aperture) Because the D200’s sensor never sees those corners, light falloff may not be an issue for such lenses mounted on a D200 A good case in point is the Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-

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Chromatic aberration and light falloff, for example, increase with distance from the center, and the D200 doesn’t use the far edges of the image circle of regular 35mm lenses However, note that DX lenses have an image circle smaller than the 35mm frame and may exhibit edge characteristics

4.5D ED lens On a 35mm body with the lens zoomed to 18mm and the aperture set to f/3.5, very visible falloff can be seen in the corners of the image, perhaps as much as a half stop at the extremes When that same lens is mounted on a D200, the falloff mostly disappears because the D200 doesn’t see that image area! Still, there’s perhaps a fifth of a stop falloff at the settings just cited—lower than you’d see on a 35mm body, but still present

The 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX lens included with the D70 “kit” uses a smaller image circle than earlier 35mm lenses (it barely covers the smaller digital sensor size), so at 18mm and the

aperture set to f/3.5, it does show visible falloff when you use

it on the D200 Ditto the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G DX lens introduced with the D200

The 12-24mm f/4G DX and 17-55mm f/2.8G DX are

somewhere between a 35mm lens and the 70mm and

18-200 DX lenses: they have an image circle that covers the 35mm frame at some (but not all) focal lengths In general, these latter two lenses show slightly fewer edge problems than the 17-35mm f/2.8D shows on a full frame 35mm body Likewise, uncorrected chromatic aberration or lack of flat field focus capability may cause a lens to slightly soften the corners of images when mounted on a 35mm camera But these issues are likely not as visible when using the D200 To

my eye, there is no discernable difference in optical quality between the expensive Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D AF-S and the inexpensive Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D, at least when mounted on a D200 But there is when used on a 35mm body (though mostly in the corners)

Note: If you use your lenses on both a 35mm body and the D200,

you still must pay close attention to corner issues While the Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D ED is all a D200 user needs in the way of quality, I find the Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D AF-S far better when used on my F5 When I shoot 35mm film— especially with wide angle lenses—I usually choose the more expensive lens

Overall, here are the key differences between using a lens on

a 35mm film body and the D200:

Lens Differences When Used for 35mm film and D200

Light Falloff Significant in

corners

Generally insignificant

Edge matches center, little if any chromatic

Reduced

*E.g barrel distortion (typical of wide angle lenses) or pincushion distortion (typical of telephoto lenses)

Items such as overall contrast, susceptibility to flare, center

sharpness, and overall coloration are virtually identical for

both 35mm and D200 use of a lens

The following table illustrates the angle of view difference for each of the common Nikon focal lengths

Note: The Lens Angle of View table (below) is slightly different

than the one in Nikon’s manuals, as it is derived from

precise calculations involving image size and not the

generic and rounded 1.5x factor Nikon uses (it should be

1.52) The D200’s aspect ratio is close to that for 35mm in final pixel size (1.49:1 versus 1.5:1), but the exact “angle of view” depends upon whether you use the horizontal or

diagonal axis figures

Lens Angle of View

35mm Diag Angle

D200 Horz Angle

D200 Vert Angle

D200 Diag Angle

D200 equiv focal length

14mm 104 81 114 94 61 101 21mm 15mm 100 77 110 90 58 98 23mm 17mm 93 70 104 83 52 91 26mm

All angles of view are expressed in degrees Values for lenses shorter than

300 have been rounded to the nearest digit Focal length equivalents

have been rounded to the nearest digit

35mm Frame Size: width = 24mm, length = 36mm, diagonal =

43.2666mm

D200 Frame Size: width = 15.8mm, length = 23.6mm, diagonal =

28.40mm

This “field of view magnification” poses both positive and

negative issues for the D200 user:

• Lack of Wide Angle Ability—physical constraints make it

difficult to build 35mm film lenses wider than 14mm

without introducing significant barrel distortion and other problems Indeed, to do so even at 14mm is difficult, and involves costly aspherical lens elements to correct

chromatic aberration (where colors focus at different

points, a problem especially evident in corners of

uncorrected wide angle lenses) Thus, using a lens

originally intended for 35mm on a D200 limits you to an angle of view of only about 92°, while 35mm film users can easily obtain lenses that go as wide as 110°

Fortunately, Nikon started building DX lenses, restoring our wide angle abilities (at the cost of buying new lenses)

• Longer reach—Wildlife photographers in particular are

well known for sticking one or more teleconverters on already long lenses to “pull in” the animal (I’ve watched several mount both a 1.4x and 2.0x converter on a

500mm lens, resulting in an unwieldy and slow [f/11] 1400mm lens) Using a teleconverter not only makes the effective aperture of a lens one or two stops smaller than normal, but it also tends to decrease overall image

contrast and quality, especially in the corners While the smaller imaging area isn’t the same as having a

teleconverter, from a functional standpoint it’s a built-in cropping that many 35mm photographers had to do any way

Let’s look at one of Nikon’s published MTFF

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tables to see why the 1.5x change of view is important First things first: the vertical axis is an indication of contrast on a high frequency test chart (red being a frequency of 10 lines per millimeter and blue being 30 lines per mm) The solid and dotted lines indicate differences in the orientation of the line pairs being measured (sagittal and meridional orientations, thus the S and M in the legend) The higher a point is on the vertical axis, the better the

Modulation Transfer Function That’s the name for a fancy test that measures the

ability to resolve small alternations of black and white high-contrast lines (i.e a test chart)

in millimeters The charts show the full distance to the edges of a 35mm film camera—for the D200 we need only go to about 12 or 13 on the horizontal axis, as the smaller sensor means we don’t get as far from the center

Note that the lens being tested holds 30 lpm MTF values to about 0.5 up through 10mm from center A value of 0.5 would

be considered “acceptable.” But look what happens on the full 35mm frame at 20mm from the center (the 35mm frame edge): we’re at 0.2, which would be considered a poor showing In other words, the corners

of the image using this lens on a D200 would look better than the corners using this lens on a film body

Lens Compatibility

All D-type and G-type, AF-I, and AF-S lenses are fully

compatible with the D200 and have unlimited use of any of the camera’s features

Other lens types, and a few specific lenses, either limit the features that can be used on the camera or should not be used

at all:

Non-D and Non-G type AF lenses

• 3D matrix metering is not performed (i.e distance

information isn’t used in the meter’s decision)

• Dust reference photos can’t be taken

AI-P lenses

• Autofocus is unavailable and the focus confirmation in the viewfinder only works with lenses with maximum

apertures of f/5.6 or larger

• 3D matrix metering is not performed (i.e distance

information isn’t used in the meter’s decision)

AI and AI-S Nikkors, lenses converted to AI

• Autofocus is unavailable and the focus confirmation in the viewfinder only works with lenses with maximum

Auto-focus

Unavailable Exposure Modes

Metering Limitations

Other Limitations

D-type Yes None None None

G-type Yes None None Apertures

can’t be set

on lens Autofocus

Non-D,

Non-G

Yes None Matrix

metering isn’t 3D

None

metering isn’t 3D

Some slow lenses may not show focus confirmation

Must set lens parameters

on the SHOOTING MENU

Flash focal length may

None

*See “Questions and Answers” on page <H729>

In addition, several broad caveats apply when using certain types of lenses or accessories:

• PC Nikkor—exposure reading must be taken and set

(locked) with the lens in a non-shifted position

• Teleconverters—the effective aperture must be f/5.6 or

faster for autofocus and viewfinder focus confirmation to work AF-I type converters otherwise have the same compatibility as AF-I type lenses (i.e full), while older AI type converters have the same compatibility as AI type lenses (i.e limited)

• Bellows and extension tubes—have the same

compatibility as AI type lenses, and the effective aperture must be f/5.6 or faster for viewfinder focus confirmation to work

Finally, some individual lenses have additional limitations:

• TC-16S AF Teleconverter is incompatible and shouldn’t be

used

• Non-AI lenses are incompatible, may cause damage to the

camera, and shouldn’t be used (note that most non-AI lenses can be converted to AI)

• Lenses that require the AU-1 focusing unit (e.g the Nikkor

400mm f/4.5, Nikkor 600mm f/5.6, Nikkor 800mm f/8, and the Nikkor1200mm f/11) are incompatible and

• Nikkor 21mm f/4 lenses are incompatible and shouldn’t

be used (Nikon’s note in the manual implies that a later version of this lens might be compatible, but this lens has

a rear element that sticks into the mirror box.)

• The K2 rings are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• Nikkor ED 180–600mm f/8 with serial numbers 174041 to

174180 are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• Nikkor ED 360–1200mm f/8 with serial numbers 174031

to 174127 are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• Nikkor 200–600mm f/9.5 with serial numbers 280001 to

300490 are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• Lenses for the F3AF (e.g the Nikkor 80mm f/2.8, Nikkor

200mm f/3.5, and TC-16 Teleconverter) are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• PC Nikkor 28mm f/4 with serial numbers of 180900 or

earlier are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• PC Nikkor 35mm film f/2.8 with serial numbers 851001 to

906200 are incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• PC Nikkor 35mm film f/3.5 is incompatible and shouldn’t

be used (Note: Nikon’s manual implies that a newer version of this lens can be used, but Nikon only made one version of this lens! Perhaps they were referring to the later f/2.8 version.)

• Old style Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3 Reflex is incompatible

and shouldn’t be used (This apparently refers to the version that was intended for rangefinder cameras, which have a different lens mount.)

• Nikkor 1000mm f/11 Reflex with serial numbers 142361

to 143000 is incompatible and shouldn’t be used

• Nikkor 2000mm f/11 Reflex with serial numbers 200111

to 200310 is incompatible and shouldn’t be used

Finally, note that if you use the MB-D200, you may need to use a short extension tube to use bellows or other accessories that stick far down below where lenses normally do

The Autofocus System

The D200 uses a unique (as of this writing) autofocus system While arguably state-of-the-art, Nikon’s documentation of the autofocus system is not up to the same standard

Autofocus is achieved using seven small contrast sensors, which can be further segmented into eleven actual autofocus sensors (the approximate locations and sizes are marked by brackets in the viewfinder)