1st, with the gear you have, none will be useful with a digital body. Sorry, but that's how it works..

The 5D has a "full frame" sensor, so a 50mm on that body will give you what you are used to seeing with a 50mm lens. That makes the transition much easier!.

The D200 is a fine camera as well, but you have to do a little math. With a 1.5x crop sensor, you have to find a 30-35mm lens to get that same 50mm point of view..

I personally prefer the Nikon system, for other reasons than the crop. The crop factor doesn't really bother me, other than having to convert millimeters every now and then. I only think about it when comparing lenses, not at all while shooting..

Crime Scene PhotographyA small gallery of personal work: http://picasaweb.google.com/PID885..

Hmm... both are very capable..

For me full frame is just not that interesting, it may be for you but IMO it's not necessary for 97% of all DSLR users. Yes, there's that crop factor which is why we now have lenses like the 17-50 or the 10-20 and 12-24..

Documentary says to me all sorts of places, weather sealing will come in handy then..

Canon is very visible in the sports world but outside of that there's plenty of pros shooting Nikon..

One additional thing to consider. The nikon will mount and meter just about any manual focus lens made since 1977 (ai mount) and will work with every AF lens made for Nikon..

Why not look at what Canon and Nikon offer lensewise and which third party lenses are highly regarded for both. http://www.photozone.de may help.Don't wait for the Nikon D-whatever, have fun now!http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_wijnands/..

Quite a lot of pro's don't shot with either Nikon or Canon: just thought I'd point that out. (Look at the Olympus "FourThirds" system for a set up designed for pro's and keen amateurs with a wide range of lenses designed around digital rather than leftover from film... ).

As for the transition, with film you have to get it right first time with slides but can adjust negative film. With film a good camera will last years and years and the lenses can be carried forward to the next camera. With digital they try to get you to change every five minutes and things like cable releases etc have to be changed with the camera... (that means more expense)..

With digital you can either opt for raw and do all the processing yourself, setting things like WB afterwards or you can opt for a sensible JPEG file but not all cameras do them to the same standards. So one make will crunch a 10 megapixel photo down to 4 MB files and another (Olympus) will give you 8 megapixel photo's as 6 MB files, which are far more usable. Most people find Olympus files can be printed straight from the camera with raw reserved for the tricky cases - your film experience suggests to me that this will be how you behave..

BTW - this may be important to you - but the "FourThirds" system contains some excellent primes (not all made by Olympus as it's an open standard - Leica, Panasonic and Sigma also make them). The 8mm fisheye comes to mind (16 mm in 35 mm terms) and the f/2 50 mm and so on..

Just my 2d worth..

Regards, David..

You mention the 5D and D200. I have experience of Nikon cameras generally but not the D200 particularly and none of the 5D but I read a lot..

The general opinion is that the 5D produces quality images but the ergonomics are wrong making it difficult to get the best out of it. The D200 is a well designed camera with a very good quality (not outstanding) CCD and excellent processing engine..

There are respected reviews that say the D40x has better IQ than the D80 which has better IQ than the D200 (all at the margins but noticeable). It might be worth waiting for a D200s which will no doubt best the D40x or getting a used D200..

If going for the D200 it is worth learning to use Capture NX. It is the only way to go to get the best out of your photos..

P.S. Just had to try out the new edit facility!!Chris Elliott.

*Nikon* D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile.

Http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/..

Probably you know the smaller the sensor, the more DOF you'll have. But I think the crop factor will become second nature soon.With Canon you could use your lenses, but:.

A lens that is producing sharp images with film may not work so good with a digital sensor. Often you need to stop down to have good image quality..

Maybe you can find a place to rent a 5D - so you could try out your own lenses on that body..

Cai..

Cai,.

The 2nd post says he will not be able to use his lenses. I am not at all knowledgeable about Canon SLR. But I do know that they changed to in -ens motors years ago. There were howls of protest then as there have been with Nikon beginning a shift to AF-S now. Whether thay means the OP cannot use his existing lenses I really would not know. I have a feeling they changed the mount at the same time..

Someone more knowledgeable will have to answer this. I can only flag up the potentail problem.Chris Elliott.

*Nikon* D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile.

Http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/..

He will not be able to use his lenses natively. If memory serves, he will not be able to use them even with a hypothetical adapter without doing some nasty alterations to the lenses as well...

Thanks for the info..

In that case I actually think the 5D is too expensive, I'd choose the D200 and rather invest in good primes..

Btw Pentax has nice primesand Olympus the advantage that all 4/3 lenses are calculated for digital cameras.

But I guess you want to go with one of the two big companies..

Cai..

Consider the Pentax K10D for primes..

Select your new lenses first...then the body..

Modern zooms have as good IQ as old primes..

You WILL have to learn PP with a digital camera (it's fun)..

Charlie DavisNikon 5700 & Sony R1CATS #25PAS Scribe @ http://www.here-ugo.com/PAS_List.htmHomePage: http://www.1derful.info'I brake for pixels...'..