Why I haven't upgraded from D200 to D300s or D700 but will upgrade to Nikon D800

If anybody reads www.nikonrumours.com then they will have also heard that Nikon is probably going to launch the D800 anytime soon.  It is expected to have some amazing features a lot of which I have been wanting in my D200 for the last 6 years.  But the D200 is an amazing camera and I have produced some great photos – many of which are on this site or can be found on my gallery on 500px and flickr There have been so many rumours about the Nikon D800 and many sites have reported that it will be a 38MP monster.  I don"t know if any of this is true but there are some things that are certain if Nikon are to keep up with Canon.  It will definitely have a high Megapixel count, it will be fast, it will have good low light performance and it will have a HD movie mode.

So why do I think that the D800 will be the camera that will move me away from my trusty D200? The photography that I mainly undertake is Landscape Photography and this needs

• Megapixel count
• Good dynamic range
• Excellent colour range
• Robust camera – as often work in difficult conditions
• Wide angle!

However – I also want more flexibility in my next camera and also want to start to take high quality video diaries of my landscape photography trips in the UK. Things that my next camera must do is

• Be able to take movies
• Have better low light performance
• Better autofocus

The D200 has been a trusty camera since I bought it in December 2005 and I have created many amazing photos.

There are quite a few things I don"t like about the D200 though.

• Dust on the sensor - I have to get it cleaned every 4 months
• Screen - it is poor quality and makes it difficult to review images
• Focus problems - I have had a few focus problems on fast moving subjects and in low light
• Battery life - it is poor and only good for 250 photos

The key area though is the sensor.  I have been looking to move to a full frame sensor as this has many added advantages to a landscape photographer.  I have never consider this a must though and have looked at other camera over the last few years including

The D300s – Not a great improvement for my type of photography

• ASP sensor
• Poor movie mode
• Not a significant increase in megapixel count - only 12.3 MP

The  D700 – Great low noise but one main problem

• Doesn’t offer Movie mode – so that was ruled out
• Not a significant increase in megapixel count - only 12.1 MP

The D7000 – Amazing camera, good 16.2 MP

• ASP sensor
• Didn't feel robust when I tried it

The D7000 is an amazing camera.  It has great low noise and is priced very competitively.

This is a great site - http://snapsort.com/compare - where you can compare 2 cameras – take a look for yourself – it has all the important specifications for each camera.

The big issue from going to ASP to full frame is the lens issue. I have a lot of lenses and bought these to match the 1.5x magnification factor.  The lenses that I have are

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 DX (A problem as designed for 1.5x sensor)

Sigma EX 50mm f.4 DG (OK for Full frame)

Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 G DX ((A problem as designed for 1.5x sensor)

Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR (OK for Full frame)

So I will have to invest in 2 new lenses with the D800 for landscape photography.  They will need to be excellent quality lenses too if the megapixel count the D800 is to have is to be believed!

In addition to all this I just like new tech! I have had my D200 now for 6 years and can’t wait to try something new.

So I keep searching google for Nikon D800 in the hope that sometime very soon they will release this much anticipated camera.