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Review based on a production Nikon D200

The Nikon D200 was announced on 1st November 2005, some three and a half years since Nikon revealed their first prosumer digital SLR, the D100. It's fair to say however that the D200 is a completely different beast altogether, it shares far more with its 'bigger brother' the the D2X than its earlier namesake. The D200 has the robust build quality of the D2X, a 10.2 million pixel CCD sensor and a compact design more like the D100. Just as the D100 the D200 has a CCD sensor, unlike the D2X which utilized a CMOS sensor. It's clear that this camera is aimed at the same kind of market as the recently announced Canon EOS 5D. From a features, control and performance point of view the D200 is closer to the D2X than any other model.

Compared to the Nikon D100, major feature and specification differences

Three years is a long time in the digital photography industry, a lot has changed since the D100, so treat the table below as a summary of the major changes. The most immediately noticeable however is the build quality, the D200 feels like a professional tool.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1 Review

In August 2003 Sony revealed the latest in a long line of split body swivel design prosumer digital cameras, the eight megapixel DSC-F828. Two long years have passed and it's time for the new Sony prosumer digital camera; the unique and radical Cyber-shot DSC-R1. The R1 drops the split body design of its predecessors in favor of an SLR-like fixed body which is remarkably similar to that of the then ground-breaking and some consider legendary DSC-D700.

However it's not the body design which makes this camera unique (many have copied the DSC-D700), it is the camera's sensor and lens. This is the first all-in-one digital camera to utilize a large (APS size) sensor, to be precise a 10.3 megapixel CMOS unit measuring 21.5 x 14.4 mm which is essentially a slightly smaller version of the sensor used in the Nikon D2X. It's also the first APS size sensor to provide full time live preview to the camera's LCD monitor or EVF (electronic viewfinder). This means that there's no mirror box or prism making the camera more compact and allowing the lens to be positioned much closer to the sensor. Equally as important and interesting is the lens which provides a 24 - 120 mm (equivalent) five times zoom with a maximum aperture of F2.8 - F4.8.