I just spend two weeks of intense on-line DSLR shopping expedition and got Canon XTI 10.0 mp for my wife.

Whatever you do, just do not buy it off those guy in NYC or those package deals on ebay. You are better off building yourself a kit than getting those on-line kits. Most of the one they sell in NYC are after market, gray market, refurb and in may case , do not come with battery, or charger etc.

Unfortunately I can't really afford to buy 2 bodies..
I'm not afraid of a big body, I shoot an F2, F3 (with motor drive) and F4 now.. The things are bricks, but sooooo nice.

How much of a difference is there between the D300 and 200, or 200 and 80?

i upgrading my camera not to long ago. I debated between the D80 and the D200 for a few months. In all honesty, the two are not so different. The body is heavier and weather sealed on one and the frames per second is quicker on the D200. The rest of the two cameras are very similar.

I chose the D80 over the D200 because I wanted something versatile. I shoot climbing, travel, a couple of wedding here and there and I have no complaints. It's light when I fly and climb, fast when i need it to be, and I was able to use all my Nikon lenses without any problems.

Like you, I could not afford to buy one camera for Wedding, one for sports, one for climbing.

10,000+ frames shot so far and I Love it. No regrets.
E

EDIT TO ADD:
And I think really old (pre f3) non-Ai lenses may break the ai lever on the 200 but i don't own any to check...

Weather is abig consideration everywhere. I am living in Indonesia, hea and humidity alone can be rough on a camera, but we also have a rainny season here. I still don't see the need for the weather sealig of the D200. I don't stand in the rain when I photograph persoanlly.

Shooting weddings in the rain. How does that happen? Why not move the wedding indoors or under cover.

With that said, while hiking in Ew Zealand in December, it rain most of the day. I used my D80 with no problems.

Regrdless of what you buy, enjoy it
E

I'd be surprised if it broke the AI lever, the old pre F3 lenses work fine in my F4 that's AI capable, it just doesn't use that functionality.
Def something to investigate first tho. Nice call, I wouldn't have even thought of that.

I think I'm going to do the D200. weather is a big consideration in upstate NY, especially for weddings and such. Shooting in the rain or snow sucks, but welcome to Buffalo.

http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/slr-lens.html
has a good lens compatibility chart.

f4 probably has a fold up ai tab like my f3? The one on the d200 is fixed. A good camera repair place should be able to mill an ai groove in pre-ai lenses...

[image]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2071/2210414122_592ca7b24f.jpg?v=0[/image]

d200, 180 2.8 ED.

The 180 is an awesome lens, and found for 1/3rd the price of a used 80-200 2.8. It's sharper (which is hard to believe because the 80-200 nikkor is about as sharp as an 80-200 can get) and suffers from less vignetting wide open. If 200mm is what you need, and you care more about optics than zoomy, the 180 is still impossible to beat.

The only lens I like more than my old 180 is an even older Vivitar Series 1 90mm. IF you can find one, grab it. You won't be disappointed. Don't buy the new remake of it, the glass isn't even close.

I've used the 180mm but don't have one yet. I'm looking for a deal from someone unloading it for cheap.

As a tip, the older (non AF-S) 300mm f/4 is an incredible lens. And what funny, and I laugh my ass off about this, it actually focuses faster than the AF-S version.

Even Tom Hogan notes that the AF-S isn't that fast, but the key is the non AF-S f/4 has a dynamic focus limiter.

So if you know your subjest is going to be 50-100ft away you limit focus to 50-infinity. Works even better at 75-infinity (most sports).

The lens focuses like a dream, but the AF-S only has a switch for limiting focus. Full, and macro. Works like crap.

Goes to show you the old stuff sometimes is better despite marketing rhetoric.