Monte,

I suspect the D200 has similar setting options to my D70 in terms of sharpness, contrast, etc. The beauty of most dSLR's is that you have the option of shooting RAW, which gives you the ultimate in controlling what happens when and other modes with more or less in-camera processing. Of course you can let the camera do some in-camera processing like sharpening, but I prefer to set all those to zero and shoot in RAW.
In terms of getting the right exposure with a dSLR, many of the same considerations apply as for film; what metering do you use, what contrasts are there in you subject, etc. But one of the more important advantages of most dSLR's over film is that you immediately can judge exposure after you take the shot, assuming the dSLR shows the histogram on the LCD. You should familiarize yourself with the principle of "exposing to the right" meaning that you increase the exposure to the point where your highlights are all the way to the right on the histogram without blowing them out. This way you maximize dynamic range and minimize noise (grain in film terms). www.luminous-landscape.com has an excellent tutorial on this principle.
The D200 had some banding problems early on, caused by an imbalance in the parallel processing circuitry but those have been corrected successfully, judging by what people report nowadays.

Frans Waterlander
pixographer/printer

Thanks Frans. several people have given me a starting point. From there I will draw my own conclusions. The banding issue does not seem to be a problem with the new cameras now. At least I hope not. One thing about it expermenting cost nothing. i seem to find a lot of subjects to photograph that have difficult lighting condition so I will get practice. Every camera I have owned I seem to find its weak points and also the strong points on how they work. I will figure this one out also. I have figured out one thing in my experience. That is correct exposure means nothing because condition and other factors exsist. Monte.

Monte,

I'm not sure I understand your statement that correct exposure means nothing, because...? Correct exposure is a BIG one in my book.

Frans Waterlander
pixographer/printer

Frans let me go back and explain. Wrong way to put it. Correct exposure for the situation is everything. Correct exposure by the camera is not always best for the picture you are taking. Going back to film most of the time I exposed for the shadow areas. using the camera meter as a base point I then would evaluate from there if I needed to add a stop or whatever. I never shot slide film by the cameras meter. I almost always shot about 2/3 stop over. The Rolleiflex depending on the film mostly BW would shoot up to 2 Stops over the cameras meter reading. I really meant to say correct exposure is everything depending on the light and dark areas of any particular scene. It just that I found most of my best exposures were by making changes from what the camera's meter was reading. When I meter a scene with my camera I hardly ever shoot what the camera meter says. When I use aperture priority I use the exposure composition to adjust where I want to shoot. Might not work for everyone but does for me pretty well. Sorry if I confused you with muy statement. Monte

Monte,

Thanks for your detailed explanation. I agree 100% with you.

Frans Waterlander
pixographer/printer

Frans one of the things that first attracted me to the D200 was the fact everything I was used to using on acamera is easily to get to. I want to have some choices of control before I get to photoshop. One thing I have learned is if I did not make so many mistakes by making adjustments to exposure and so on I would not have learned near as much. Going to digital at this point for me I feel is just another place to learn. Beauty is it is without the cost of so much film. Monte.