I picked up a used D200

I've been without my D70 ever since it failed last year I own both Canon and Nikon but most of my lenses are on the Nikon.. I really wanted to go for the D300 but it's not in the budget right now but what can I expect as far as the D200 vs the D70? I know from what I have seen is I'm going to need to get the grip for it.

The D200 is a fine camera. Compared to the D70, you'll find it's just better built. The extra 4mp of resolution won't hurt either. Keep in mind that the D200 is several years old and the body may have been used hard. You can check the shutter count at http://www.camerashutt​ercount.com/ but also keep in mind that shutter count is only one indicator of how much use a camera has seen.

I'm not sure why you feel the need for the grip. The D200 has very good battery life. The grip adds no new features, really, other than more batteries.

Well, ISO 800 and higher is nosy. The image quality is good as long as you don't use high ISO.

I currently own/use a pair of D200's. Great camera, very well built and the images under ISO 400 are stunning. What I found works for me when shooting at ISO 800 is to shoot RAW and process with Noiseware in Photoshop.

As far as the grip is concerned, my grip failed on my after a few years of continuous use. It sends some error message to the camera (I cleaned the contacts, but the problem is intermittent making the grip unreliable for use). The grip is great to have for proper balance when you use larger lenses like the 17-55mm 2.8 or the 80-200mm 2.8. I have been thinking of getting a replacement grip, but I hardly use my Nikon equipment anymore (mostly use my light weight Canon T3i with kit lenses for travel).

Interesting thing regarding durability of the D200; years ago when I purchased the D200 I also purchased a second new D200 body as a spare back up in case that first one failed. That first body has been going strong all these years and I have never had to use the back up body. I take it out twice per year to activate the shutter, so it has less than 100 shutter actuations.

Prior to my D200 I had several D70s's. I was never quite happy with the soft images I got due to the low pass filter or whatever other sensor issues they had. The D70s was not sealed as well as the D200. During high humidity situations I would get error messages with the D70s. I also had issues with BGLOD (blinking green light of death) with a brand new, one day old D70.