I don't know what kind of game Nikon is playing, but here in Miami, Florida, I cannot seem to find a D200 anywhere. They did the same thing with the D70's when they first came on the scene, only now, with the D200, it's much worse. The D70(s)s are everywhere now, deeply discounted from their original prices, so I guess the initial feverish demand died out on that model.
I'm getting really tired of playing this catch-up game with Nikon: they build up the marketing hype for months (in this case nearly a year) then leave potential customers hanging while they sort out whatever technical or production issues they have, and, from what I've read, they seem to have had a number of issues with the D200.
Or perhaps it's part of a diabolical plan on their part: keep everyone constantly salivating for the next big leap in digital quality, that conveniently arrives every couple of years or so, ready to whip out their credit cards and drop a few thousand when they are fortunate enough to finally get the latest digital gizmo, only to repeat the same process again a few months after investing in the most recent "big thing". I'm fed up with feeling like a lab rat.
I've been wanting to handle the D200 before buying...is the viewfinder the same POS as the D70?...is the build quality the typical Nikon mass of cheap, textured plastic? It's not that things like "build quality" matter anymore with digital gear, what with the need to replace the stuff every couple of years, we all just buy the things anyway. Nikon just builds it well enough to last till the next must-have digital thing comes out.
I've tried all the local stores in the area, at least the ones that are still in business. Pitman Photo has a waiting list a mile long, and it's always the proverbial "you should have been here yesterday" excuse when you call or stop in. They claim they get a couple of kits (no body only deliveries, only D200 Kits, and I don't need/want another crappy zoom) every so often, but they go right back out the door to those lucky buyers on their list. They don't even have a demo or showroom sample available for inspection, and I'll be damned if I'll pay $1600+ without being able to handle the camera.
In the meantime I'm still using the D70 I so lusted after for many months. Only now, every time I take a shot, I wonder if my measly 6MP DSLR is really enough to achieve the level of quality I really need, and thinking that I just have to have 10MP so I can feel like a real photographer. And I'm sure that in a few months, after everyone has dropped their hard-earned cash on their spiffy new D200s, and when the much-heralded 13MP D-Whatever is being touted in all the digital photo rags and all the websites, I'll start to feel that way all over again...much to the delight of the Nikon marketing geniuses.
At least with film cameras you didn't have to feel that all the images you made last year, or ten years ago, were now totally inadequate and useless. Think about it...in ten years are we all going to be qualifying the images we made back in the day with our never-ending succession of ever-improving digital wonder cameras with apologetic phrases like "please pardon the quality...this shot was taken during my 4MP period (or 6MP, 10MP, 12MP or ?)"?
Sorry about the long rant...
