Viewfinder (Advantage: Canon EOS 5D)
The Canon EOS 5D and the Nikon D200 both have bright, usable viewfinders, but both are inferior to the top-end cameras in their lines. The viewfinders on the 5D and D200 are smaller than the ones on the Canon EOS 1D series and the Nikon D2 series. Both top-end series models have 100 percent viewfinder accuracy, while the 5D and the D200 fall short of that. The 5D's accuracy is superior, not so much because 96 percent is better than 95, but because its view is centered on the actual image. The D200 unfortunately adds more on the top than on the bottom, and a little more on the left than on the right.
We demonstrated the viewfinder accuracy of the 5D and the D200 by shooting a target so that it just barely filled the viewfinder of each camera. The target we used is a picture of a leaping dog. The white area around the image is the area that is included in the image, but cropped out of the viewfinder. The black area was added for clarity.
In most cases, it would be easy to ignore the extra bit of image on the left and top of the D200 image, but with certain kinds of work – architectural photography, document or art copying and slide duplication, to name a few – having the subject off-center would be a problem. Regularly needing to crop images to neaten up the borders is a real pain in copy stand work, so we imagine that the D200 won't be a top candidate for that kind of project.
In use, the size of the image the user sees while framing shots with the 5D and the D200 is about the same, because the cameras’ viewfinders have very different magnification factors. The 5D's 36 x 24mm focusing screen at 0.71 magnification looks about the same size as the D200's 24 x 16mm screen at 0.94x. The math says the 5D’s view should look about 10 percent bigger, which is a subtle difference when comparing the cameras side-by-side.
Canon EOS 5D
Nikon D200
In terms of illumination, credit has to be given to Nikon for making the D200’s viewfinder of comparable brightness to the 5D’s fixed pentaprism. The 5D’s full-frame sensor certainly provides a larger, brighter viewfinder frame than the D200's, but not by much.
The relatively big compositional views of the image leave little room for the shooting information below. With glasses, it's a little tough to see the corners of the frame in the 5D, and only slightly easier to see them in the D200. While both cameras show exposure information and other data below the image, there are a few important distinctions between the informational aspects of the displays: the D200 shows the exposure mode, the metering pattern, low battery and black-and-white mode, while the 5D does not. The D200 also shows the ISO all the time, while the 5D shows it only when it's being adjusted. The 5D display text is smaller and dimmer as well, although the framing window of the composition remains brighter on the 5D.
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Canon EOS 5D
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Nikon D200
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Coverage (cropping)
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96.00%
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95.00%
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Accuracy
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Centered vertically and horizontally.
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Not centered horizontally or vertically. The viewfinder crops the top more than the bottom, and the left more than the right.
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Diopter
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-3 to +1
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-2 to +1
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Magnification
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0.71x
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0.94x
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Optical System
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Pentamirror
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Pentaprism
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Viewfinder screen
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Interchangeable
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Fixed
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LCD Screen (Advantage: Nikon D200)
Both the 5D and the D200 have 2.5-inch 230,000 pixel TFT color LCD displays that rival the screens applied to the top of the line cameras from Canon and Nikon. For users who evaluate images during shoots, the improved displays are a significant upgrade from earlier mid-range cameras, such as the Canon EOS 20D and the Nikon D100 and D70.
In our individual reviews of each camera, we praised both LCDs for color, sharpness and angle of view. As we look at the cameras side-by-side, the 5D display looks better off-axis than the D200 – we notice solarizing sooner and more severely on the D200. On the other hand, the 5D's display is not bright enough to use outdoors in bright daylight, and this is the screen’s major flaw. The Nikon display is far more effective outdoors. Users will need to get out of the sun to judge color on either camera, however. The Canon display can magnify images up to 10x, while the Nikon goes up to 25x – more than its images can take.
Canon EOS 5D
Nikon D200
In general though, the Nikon LCD looks more contrasty, and its colors are more saturated than the 5D's. Overall we found the Nikon LCD color more pleasing than the Canon’s.
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Type
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TFT
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TFT
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Size
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2.5-inch
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2.5-inch
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Resolution
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230K
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230K
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Bright/low light performance
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5-level brightness
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5-level brightness
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Sharpness
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Excellent
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Excellent
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Good enough to check images?
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Yes
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Yes
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Flash (Advantage: Nikon D200)
The D200 has a flash built in, a feature that incites two opposite reactions – some users are delighted to have a small flash always available for fills, while others contend that built-in flashes are too small, use up a camera's battery and are too close to the lens for serious photographers. Canon's 5D designers apparently have the second reaction, because their camera lacks a built-in flash. (Or perhaps they couldn't fit one, given the size of the viewfinder optics.)
The 5D allows the user to set the shutter speed to 1/200 for flash shots in aperture priority mode, or to let the shutter speed fluctuate according to ambient light. Most other features are controlled by dedicated flashes. The 5D accepts all of Canon's EX Speedlites in dedicated mode. The early ones don't offer as many features as the newer ones, but Canon says that the 5D is backward compatible with them. The EX flashes can be set up for wireless control, including setting up three groups of flashes with lighting ratios. An EX flash must be mounted on the camera to control the other flashes.
The D200 can be set to red-eye reduction mode, which may be necessary when using its pop-up flash. The D200 syncs at up to 1/250 sec., providing more fill opportunity than the 1/200 sync speed of the 5D. The D200’s more sophisticated flash settings include a control for the longest available shutter speed in aperture priority mode with flash, so the user can set the camera to automatically drag the shutter when appropriate, without worrying about ending up with two-second exposures. The D200 also can be setup for wireless control of up to three flash groups, with ratios. The camera has the advantage of being able to “command” wireless flash units in-camera without the need to have an external command unit mounted on the shoe; however, it only accepts Nikon's latest generation of dedicated flashes, the SB-800, 600 and R200.
In sum, while the 5D deserves high marks for backward-compatibility, the D200 scores better with its built-in flash and built-in wireless control.
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Shape
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Canon EOS 5D
None built-in
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Nikon D200
Pop-up
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Placement
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Above lens
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Above lens
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Range wide-angle
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~
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GN 39 in feet, ISO 100
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Flash sync settings
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On, Off, front/rear curtain
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On, off, slow, slow with red-eye, front/rear curtain, red-eye
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Flash exposure compensation
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-2 to +2 in 1/3 EV steps
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-3 to +1 in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps
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PC connection?
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Y
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Y
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Sync speeds
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1/200
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1/250
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Battery (Advantage: Draw)
Both the Nikon D200 and Canon EOS 5D come equipped with small consumer-grade lithium-ion batteries. Canon packs a Battery Pack BP-511A into the 5D, rated at 800 shots per charge (68°F/20°C), adhering to CIPA standards, while Nikon has added a new, EN-EL3e rechargeable to the D200. The EN-EL3e in the D200 is rated by Nikon at “approximately 1,800 shots per charge.” The plus side of the EN-EL3e is that there is more communication between the battery and the camera than the EN-EL3a that came with the D70s; however, the unfortunate down side is that the camera doesn’t get anywhere near 1,800 shots on a single charge.
Both the 5D and D200 are disappointing in terms of power consumption and overall endurance. Compared to each manufacturer’s top of the line models, the stamina of the 5D and D200 is much closer to (or below) their entry level offerings. Unfortunately, a professional-grade battery like the respective D2 or 1D series’ alternatives offer would have increased the overall weight and bulk of both bodies too drastically for either manufacturer to include; however, to attain anywhere near the D200’s purported 1,800 shots with either camera, users will have to pack at least one or two extra Li-ion packs.
We found that neither the 5D’s BP-511A nor D200’s EN-EL3e batteries lasted through a long day of shooting, although both made it close. In all, the two performed quite similarly; however, the Canon battery was much closer to their reported claims, while the D200 pack fell far short.
