The user guide doesn't instruct you on how to get good results. It just states flatly what every button does. No opinions ; no suggestions. Luckily, they're all here.

You've noticed all your images are soft with your new D200 : Yes, they probably are, but you can get very sharp pictures every time by saving Raw NEF files, opening them in Nikon Capture NX software, and using the USM filter, or adjusting the setting Raw Camera sharpening to Medium high or high (post processing) in Nikon Capture. NEF files do not have any in Camera sharpening applied to them. Best advice is to leave your sharpening until the last step in your workflow and do all other adjustments to the image first. This is because sharpening artefacts will spoil the image less if they are applied at the last stage.

To get sharper Jpegs, set in Camera sharpness to Medium high or high. The Jpegs from the D200 are softer than other Nikon DSLRs because there is less default sharpening. This is because an image with too much sharpening cannot revert to a softer state... ie. You cannot take away the sharpening. The D70/D50 have more in Camera sharpening applied, so the images "pop out" right out the box... With the D200, you set the sharpening according to your taste ; it's more of a fine art machine, where you don't always want a sharp impact picture. The D200 needs JPG sharpening set to +1 to match the D70 default setting of +0.

Here's my favourite post in DPReview forum on the softness aspect of the D200 : "One of the main differences between consumer and pro cameras is the in-camera sharpening. All digital images require in-camera sharpening. The only question is where it is done. The Pro cameras are biased to produce less-sharp pictures, and you expected to sharpen them in post-processing. That is the nature of the beast. And why? Because you can't UNDO sharpening. That might be OK for snapshots, but for fine-art or high-quality pros, over-sharpening (typical of consumer cameras) is a definite no-no. RAW has no sharpening in it. If you plan to shoot RAW, you need to do your own sharpening. Then, if it doesn't look sharp enough, it's your fault, not the camera's!! Remember that detail and sharpness are not the same thing. Detail is the number of potential edges in your picture. Detail is very, very important. You can't add it after-the-fact. Sharpness is the amount of contrast on those edges. You can indeed add that contrast at any point. You can't remove it from a .jpg. But, you can remove it from RAW, so don't be afraid to dig in. It's up to YOU to determine how much sharpness your images will have.~ AAK - http://www.aakatz.com"

To get vibrant colours, do not view Colour mode II pictures in Windows. View them in Photoshop or Bridge, or else use Colour Mode I or III, which have a more brilliant palette. Viewing Colour II mode photos without proper software results in dull pictures.

To get good pictures with sharpness and contrast make sure you have loads of light. If necessary make more light ... don't turn ISO up to 1600, struggle with 1/30th sec at f2.8 and then wonder what went wrong !

To get sharp pictures, don't use slow shutter speeds. i.e. don't take portraits of moving people at 1/30th or 1/50th sec. Your pictures will suffer from Camera shake, and subject movement. If their hair is blowing in the wind, not even 1/125th sec shutter speed will freeze it. Bottom line.. use 1/250th for handheld shots.

Use a tripod. Turn VR (Vibration reduction auto to off) off if you have a lens with it on the tripod. Use a tripod that deploys quickly, and take it with you. Even a monopod can steady and sharpen a picture considerably.

Match your shutter speed to your focal length. Use 1/50th sec on a 50mm.. 1/100th sec on a 100mm lens, and 1/200th sec on a 200mm lens.

Buy fast lenses. F2.8 constant aperture is a fast zoom lens. Buy a 50mm or 85mm f 1.4 for lowlight situations.

For the best quality pictures, use the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO) you can get away with, but remember a bit of noise (grain) is better than a blurred image. Amplifying the sensitivity of the sensor in your camera creates more interference, and hence more digital noise, or grain in the image. Canon has less noise than Nikon because they use larger sensors.

Learn how to use White balance (WB), and how to PRE set the white balance using a grey card. Practise with the built in settings. Get the white balance right.. because you can with digital.. but you couldn't with Film (if you had daylight film in the camera you're stuck with it even at night!).

Aperture and sharpness : Use the sweet spot of your lens... which is f5.6 or f8. This gives more depth of field and more margin of error... and also your lens performs at its sharpest here. If you shoot at f2, don't be alarmed if your images are a little soft, and you have not caught your subject detail in focus, mainly because of your shallow depth of field.

Update your Camera firmware to v2.00 or the latest. Some undocumented feature will work better, such as better focus with 3rd party lenses. Better battery consumption... a few things will improve that are not mentioned in the official notes .

Sensor dust. Turn your Camera off when changing lenses. An electro-charged sensor will attract more dust if you leave it on. Store the camera lens down for dust not to settle on the sensor, when it is put away. Don't change lenses on the filed if it is windy or dusty ; do it at home, in advance. Otherwise buy a second body, in order to have 2 different lenses in operation on the field. This is what sports photographers do. Use a blow, to dust off the sensor. Try not to touch it, of course.

Practice your Camera controls in the dark : Learn to operate the controls by feel... without looking. When you are really familiar with it by touch alone, you can set things very quickly... without wasting precious time. Always work quickly with your equipment doing portraits.. this will leave you more time between you and your subject.

Learn to fine tune the CL shooting mode : You're trying to figure out why have a CL and a CH shooting mode, and what's the CL (Continuous Low rate shooting) mode really for, anyway ? The main idea is not to clog your write buffer up with too high a rate. This will depend on the speed of CF card you use. If you clog the buffer (easily done with RAW quality) on 4 frames per second, lower the CL rate to 3 or 2, via the menu. Once the buffer fills you may only get 1 shot every 1.5 seconds... (and therefore miss important shots).

Setup a studio. Two types of lighting ; continuous & flash. Use studio flash to start with ... beginner / intermediate / advanced studio flash lighting startup kits. Portable battery pack for use on the field. Look up Bowens. I got the Esprit Gemini 500 s head kit. Modelling lamps are Philips 275W Photofloods ; get some spares, or better still get the more expensive (but durable) Halostar 250W. Get some spare fuses too. Get the SB800 Speedlight from Nikon... it's very sophisticated and portable. There's a whole book on it by Simon Stafford published by Magic Lantern.

Want a D200 contoured case ? Try the Lowepro Toploader 2. This is good / ample for the D200+ 17-55 or 28-70 but won't get the 70-200VR in.