D7000 upgrade for D200?

By Feb 2011, I hope to decide on a possible upgrade from my D200. It's great for normal shooting but at high ISO's it stinks. I'm curious if the D7000 may be a possibility?

I am new to Nikons so I'm not really sure about the capabilities of the D200 but I can give you some first hand, albeit limited, experience about the D7000. So far the reports on the D7000 high ISO performance has been very positive. At first I was skeptical... few people had (or yet have) the camera and I was anticipating that a bunch of "wishful thinking" was going on. After shooting a bit with the D7K I can confirm that it's handling of noise at higher ISO, especially with the built-in NR Filters, is respectable. Pixel-peeping (over scrutinization) at ISO 1250 starts to show a hint of noise in dark corners. By 6400 lite grainy noise is obvious across the frame but only at full resolution. Resampling down to 25% (approximately 1000x660) makes even that amount of noise acceptable if not undetectable in properly exposed short exposures.

I came from a camera that was frankly terrible at handling noise (noticable grain at ISO 400??) so I might be biased here. But, I love shooting at higher ISO so, to me, the D7K is an evolutionary leap ahead from my old camera.

wow, I can't imagine a camera with noise at ISO 400! I'm glad I have a little time to read reviews, ask questions, and hopefully see some photo examples before I have to buy. With 2 more kids to go in marching band and maybe even football, I'm gonna be busy for a few more years!

Yeah, you had to be really mindful of your shots at anything above 400 ... To be honest 400 wasn't as bad as I made it sound but you could see noise creeping in the dark areas, especially if you had a longer shutter time and still ended up under exposed; which was easy to do at 400 ISO.
The D7K is lightyears ahead of that.

Well, I've been shooting with the D200 since 2007 and still have my D50. Both cameras are great for MX, wildlife, and that kind of photography, but when it comes to high school stadiums at night, yuck on the D200. The D50 is better, but I really need 2 bodies - changing lenses can be a royal pain at times. So, for now, I put the 24-70 on one body and the 80-200 on the other. Both lenses are 2.8.

I shoot at ISO 400 as my normal setting and go above when needed. The D200 is a 2005 camera, high ISO is certainly not one of it's strong points when comparing it to 2010 technology. With 2.8 glass you should be able to produce usuable images and I don't understand a 6 mp D50 out performing the D200. I also am looking to move up a little in bodies and add a D300s but I am keeping my D200.

Well, at high ISO's the D50 is better than the D200. I do use very fast glass 2.8 or faster. BUT, because I do both wide angle and zoom, the D200 shows considerable noise and I hate spending hours in photo shop!

Another option to consider is a gently used D300. With the D300s out and some folks moving to full frame, especially if a D700 replacement is released as rumored, you might be able to find a great deal. Which lens or lenses do you use?

I won't buy used if I can help it - my main lenses I'm using for high school band are the 80-200mm 2.8 and my 24-70mm 2.8. Both are nikkor lenses.

Eduard said:

Another option to consider is a gently used D300. With the D300s out and some folks moving to full frame, especially if a D700 replacement is released as rumored, you might be able to find a great deal. Which lens or lenses do you use?

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I have been looking for a lightly used D300, have been for a while. The prices are holding still and I can wait. I do like the double card slots of the 300S and some reviews do say a very slight improvement in high iso. I'm not real interested in video but one never knows.

I have to admit I like the idea of dual cards. Luckily, we have both SD and whatever the other is called - so whatever I end up with, at least I'll have the memory for it.

I have been using a D50 and a D200 for The last 5 years, and have just bought a D7000.
And what a difference, i dont have to worry about those high iso pictures.
The build quality is quite good, but not as good as my old D200.

Forgot about the battery life, the D7000 just keep the juice forever, comparing with the D200.
D200 use battery like there is no day tomorrow.

I own a D200 & a D80, I find the info on this thread very interesting. I have thought about the D7000 for maybe my next camera body. So thanx a lot for the info . Like computers, it seem like a better model comes out every few months...lol.
So to wait or jump in is the question??? I will follow some of these D7000 threads and go from there.