Digicams and CCD sensors // The Temporary Film Fix? 

CCD technology was always better than CMOS but CMOS was significantly cheaper. Makes me wonder what CCD sensors would be like today if the technology had continued.

After shooting film since the 1970's, on 2015 I started looking for a DSLR. The one I found that was closer to film was the D700, which has a unique sensor - the one with the largest pixels ever put on a digital camera. I use no presets, do very low post, shoot with my D700 at standard color settings, the more I enlarge its images, the more it looks like film grain. From what I've been shooting for decades - Fuji, Kodak, Ilford, both negative and chrome (color) - , that's what got my money. Just my two cents for those looking for a digital camera that has a natural film look. My best!

I'm literally in a dilemma. My 3 megapixel CCD 2001 point and shoot has literally replaced my 3k setup! It goes with me everywhere for three reasons. 1 convenience 2. Color. 3. Nostalgia. This made me realize how stupidly I was focused on GEAR GEAR GEAR and now with my $5 flea market camera, I feel more immersed into photography 🫠

An over used phrase I know but the D200 really is a classic camera, it’s like an old friend, solid and trustworthy and just does the job, I’ve got much newer cameras but always find myself picking up the D200.

and the D80 and D200 (came out same year) both have the screw style focus motor for the older lenses that were used with the film cameras - nice!

Nice review! A couple of notes on the D200 - the quick card reader to USB cable can be gotten off amazon or elsewhere for less than 10 dollars, so it's not that difficult to get the images off Also, I put 32 gb cards in most of my d200's and I shoot in raw and jpg fine (usually use the Vivid mode) and get around 1200 snaps, I think? They are much cheaper than they were back when the D200 was first for sale, so something that's easily updated when you buy one! Another nice bonus - any AI era f-mount works with them (excepting AF-P as the only Nikon lens exception and the mirrorless stuff) so there are 1000's of lenses from the past 50 years that work and even some pre-ai lenses can be converted to AI will be converted to work on them, outside of some of the classic AI/AI-S lenses, I love the fact that it can use the AF and AF-D lenses from the early days of auto focus I love my D200 for simple walk-around the city photography

I just bought a Nikon D200 recently so was really happy to see this video! It was very inexpensive and I was curious to see how the CCD photos would come out. I definitely agree with you about the film-esque look. Thanks for the video! Keep up the good work!

Foveon is the most large film like sensor out there : slow, high résolution and beautiful tonalities and textures. CCD is faster to shoot and easier to PP but look more like 35mm slides

love the shooting b-cam setup, really novel look i haven't seen from another channel which looks great

That was a great review. Thank you. My sister-in-law and brother gifted me a Canon G10 in 2009. and I must say, it gives me the same Kodachrome colours that your D200 gives you. A friend of mine who is quite discerning has a Nikon D300.

Nice video,if you want to try something a little more quirky but based on the D200 try finding a cheap Fuji S5 pro (same body but a very unique super CCD sensor) ,I have 1 and love it,I still use it over my Fuji XTs for high ISO shots,then convert to B&W..keep up the good work 🙂

love my D200, such a gem, cheers for a nice video

glad i have a Leica M9 with a replaced sensor which is awesome. Gotta love the CCD

I saw this video, checked my local marketplace, and found a steal of a deal for a Nikon D80 (same sensor as yours) and a 50mm 1.4 lens! Will be a fun option when I want to shoot things not worth shooting on film and I can use the lens on my film bodies as well.

Back in the day I shot some concerts with a D200, often using an 85mm 1.4D, wide open, ISO 800. I recall that when I tried them I generally didn't like the higher ISOs, sticking at 800 or below was great. But the colors during the daytime using lower ISOs were fantastic.

Coops! My first pro camera I ever owned was the D200, bought it for £500 (that was a lot for me back then!) but it truly took me into the world of becoming a professional shooter. I still have so many of there images of that camera in archives and portfolio and love the look of them! I think I need to pick myself up a minty one of these to have back in the collection to go along with my F6, I mean the Z9 is epic and I love it, but sometimes you need those retro vibes! Awesome stuff dude.

I have a D200, just bought it last year (2022) just to explore the CCD. Yes, it's dirt cheap. And i must say I only use it at the lowest iso😂. Cannot stand the bad quality of the higher (than base) iso.😅 It can produce good images at lowest iso AND good light. The tonal character is unique👍

Thank you for sharing , the CCD sensor does contain silver oxide properties , hence the older digital cameras when first launched onto the market was designed to compete with film cameras , therefore the images needed to virtually look the same as film , as technology moved on digital produced super sharp images almost without any grain , the cmos sensor was produced & the rest is history . In today's times for various reasons these retro digital ccd cameras are making a huge come back for their film type reproduction silver oxide ccd sensor , hence it is with all intense & purposes more or less shooting straight on to an electronic silver oxide film sensor . It's only going to be a matter of time before all of these vintage cameras will rocket in price , especially the ones with low shutter count's boxed in mint condition , the cameras that have been hammered will start to rise too as the pool becomes thinner on the ground as these older cameras become faulty .

The color interpolation of the CCD era hits different. The earlier Olympus DSLRs used very similar, if not the same, sensors as the Leica M8 and M9 did, just a bit smaller. I love using the Olympus E-1, which seems to be closest to the Leica M8 in terms of sensor hardware and output.

I saw a video with the CEO of Arri Alexa and he said dynamic range talked about from all the other camera companies as a way to sell cameras like 20 stops. He said to get the film look its really about getting the gamma right. Also I saw another video from some dude in L.A. working in Hollywood and he bought the Sigma L-Mount camera and said some company in Australia that does sensor testing said the Sigma L-Mount camera is on pare with a Arri Alexa. I do have a idea to get the film look with CMOS sensors. The two best noise reduction software are DXO and Lightroom now. If you remove the noise from a raw file but add it back in in post might be the way to go. One other video I did see from a dude that did a side by side digital vs film he said you can get the colors right and if they are small jpegs you really can't tell sometimes its very hard. But he said on large prints film have a grain look that Lightroom can't do. So if you can remove the noise with DXO but then find a program maybe DXO PhotoLab can put back in a grain pattern that looks like film.

Cool video Coops, definitely a way forward, especially vintage lenses on DSLR. Can't beat the price.

I find the CCD trend funny, back when we all had CCD cameras, the problem was that they didn't look enough like film, and when the CMOS cameras came out with more dynamic range and less noise and higher resolution, the pictures got more competitive with film. Even the noise was said to be more "film like." I suppose its subjective, but I found the pictures a lot more "digital" looking back when I was using cameras like Niko D40x and D60 and then when I got the D90 with the CMOS there was a dramatic improvement in every kind of picture quality, including how "film like" it looked, and that trend has continued over the years as I keep getting newer cameras. Its definitely subjective though, which grain or colour a person likes, either way its a great idea to buy old digital cameras, new ones are so expensive and old ones are so cheap, the value's amazing considering they can both do mostly the same thing. I would just look for the newest best one for the lowest price though personally, rather than try to find one so old that it had a CCD sensor.

The colors are really beautiful, now I need one! :)

Thanks for the video, going the same path, leaving film photography on the shelf for now... I bought a Nikon D80 and are playing film photography with it. Regards from Sweden 🇸🇪 Alex

I spent $40 USD for a Nikon D40x with only 1600 clicks. The specs are very similar to the D200 and the images it will produce have a great Kodachrome look. It may not be film, but it's as close as I can get while spending almost nothing.

Very nice!

i use a phase one p25 digital back on my hasselblad that blow away the fujifilm gfx out the water ! in daylight and with flash !

I have three CCD cameras in my collection and enjoy their unique character. - Pentax K-2000, 10MP CCD - Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd, 10MP CCD - Panasonic Lumix FZ5, 5MP CCD

Recently, I feel that color film prices are rising too much and too fast. So, I bought the Nikon D3000, Sony A290 and Leica M9 for the CCD sensors. I feel that there is a clear distinction between the output of CCD sensors and CMOS sensors. My Nikon D810 with its CMOS sensor produces rather clinically clean and sharp photos, too clear and sharp for my taste. The cameras with the CCD sensors produces almost life-like photos, especially with the Leica M9 with Leica lenses. Perhaps the output from CCD sensor cameras could replace the film photos and cut costs, but will probably not replace the experience and process of shooting film, the development, scanning, enlargement, and what not.

I somehow missed this till now! Nice work man, those old Nikons are good fun.

How does it compare to editing photos in post to give a flim equivalent look?

I traded a $10 point and shoot film camera I bought at a swap meet for a Nikon D200. It was body only but I already had a few lenses for it. Heavy but fun camera.

in regard to the Canon comment - only the EOS-1D Mk I had a CCD sensor all the following EOS-1D's , their Prosumer, and consumer DSLRs were CMOS the EOS-1D Mk I was (still is) a HUGE heffer lump of a camera - pro weather sealed body, built in grip, 1.25KG weight (between a Nikon F4 and F4s weight wise) and currently sell for ~ $500 to $800 AUD body only for a reasonable unit (you'll probably want to buy a new battery ~$70AUD) you could go back to the 1990's Kodak made (using Canon bodies) DSC and D6000 units with CCD sensors but working ones are rare birds and literally belong in a museum

welcome to the digicam club ; )

I've been considering to add a D200 to my kit for a while now. I use my D50 weekly, but for the cost of ~100euro i think a D200 would increase the experience significantly still...

Looks good! Getting a strap for sure! hope it helps :)

Nice video, man. You've got me searching ebay for a D200 now. I'd like to try with with my 21mm voightlander and 28mm voightlander lenses. The grain of your 1600 ISO shots looked really tight. I was surprised. Makes me wonder how that High ISO Push setting would look now too. Maybe it wouldn't be such crap after all. Did you ever try it? Thank you.

The d200 wasn't nikon's last ccd camera but it was their last pro level ccd camera, they continued using ccd in lower end models for a few years after The d3000 was their last ccd dslr and who knows what point and shoot was their last ccd model

My Sony a200 had a CCD in it , and uses Minolta A mount glass. I believe the Sony Alpha A line from the a100's - 300's all had CCD's in them. I still have my Minolta 50mm @f/1.7, just waiting to find a decent Alpha body for it.

Loving the videos man but you need to make your sound higher!

Don't forget that live view was becoming popular and this was only possible with CMOS. My first digital camera was a Konica Revio KD-420Z with CCD sensor, because it was the only camera at the time getting only positive reviews. And rightly so. Unfortunately I dropped it a few years later and it died. But if I look at the colours and those of the Kodak C533 I'm always touched. I grew up in the film age and never quit shooting BW on film. Now trying to get my hands on an Oly E-400 with Kodak CCD and Nikon D200 with Sony CCD.

Classic timing coops. I'm literally scouring for a cheap d200 at this exact moment. #filmsazombie

So I have this exact set up with the Voight lander 58 mm but for some reason my shutter won’t fire.

Suba el nivel del audio, y baje el nivel de la música. No tenemos oídos de fierro.

D200 price seems higher these days. People are catching on.

I dont get the Digicams craze. I get the love for CCD sensors, but digicams are not the panacea, horrible bloody little things, its why people use phones these days and not digicams. I really think they are nothing more than a fad and some people are making a killing on them (good on them for driving the market). To save on film costs people have a variety of options, Home Dev all but your pro work. Bulk Roll. Shoot more BW and less colour, but if you want colour film for everyday use then maybe buy 400ft rolls of Vision 3 and split it into 100ft rolls for you bulk loader (that's what I do) or shoot less film for everyday save it for special and shoot old lenses on your modern CMOS sensor digital and use Lr etc to tweak it (I just use a film presets for my Nikon Raws) into your fav film look, its very doable. horrible little things haha. Bring back grumpy Coop!

You have a lot of knowledge but I can’t tolerate the background music

it's the picture. it's free film.

You can apply grain and light\shadow rendering of particular b\w film in post >__< Just use proper software for that, instead of hunting old cameras. Despite that, D200 is a great camera with a unique color rendering of course. That's why you should pick one, not for it's grain on ISO1600.

Is that selfie stick diy?

The Nikon D3000 had a CCD sensor. The D200 is pretty good but not great in low light. It’s successor D300 was far superior in lowlight and other aspects

That sounds like believe in the Sasquatch

Thank you for destroying the video with the yellow frame

Cost killed CCD...yes sorta. The ISO processor is separate from the sensor, so technically a modern CCD if made today would have the same capabilities as CMOS in NR. Resolution, Battery, Frame Rate, etc. were not the issue aside from timing. Production costs were just too high during a bad time for all camera brands trying to save money. So what killed the CCD? Smartphones becoming popular as cameras? Just bad business practices among all the camera brands is what really did it. Hasselblad still has the best CCD sensor ever made. I'd personally put the Nikon D200 as #2 and the Leica M9 at #3. No one in their right mind is going to use an old Hasselblad outside of studio work. If I could get a Leica M9 I would just for the smaller size. Using the D200 really requires you to use Ai to keep up today and Jpeg over RAW. You'll get better images out of the D200 without needing to edit. Use NikonPC if you need other film stocks.

You make me want to dust off my ole D200. The D200 was my workhorse camera from 2005 to 2012 in the studio, on location and for photojournalism and sports photography, before that it was the D100 and before that Nikon SLRs. Going CCD digital at the time was seamless and I agree, the CCD at high ISO was like I was back loading Tri-X. I always felt the Nikon CCD sensors were special that CMOS cameras now days are struggling to match. I just wished that Nikon would have made an FX CCD camera, I would be all over that. I am glad I kept all my Nikons since my first one in 1980... I might just have to spend the weekend with that old friend that has yet to meet all the new F mount glass I got since putting the D200 away.

I recently picked up a Pentax *ist DS (6MP CCD) for $70 US. Shooting my Pentax film lenses on it and having some fun with a 256MB card. I bought it as a backup "nice" camera in case film + processing keeps rising. I'd say my limit is $1 per image (film + processing). If I have to pay more than that, I may just retire from film, sadly.

I think Nikon D3000 was last ccd sensor camera. Was it 2009 or smthng.

Nikon started using cmos in 2008 with the start of the d700. I’m still using the d60 and it’s a nose performance at anything over 800 is not worth it, but using nose reduction software helps significantly.

I am so tired of hearing "good enough for social media". That says so little because anything is good enough for social media. We are drifting so far from what photography has been for 100 years. It's all about composition. A Kodak Brownie could produce a photo more pleasing because it's not so sharp. Sharp is not necessarily your friend. Go watch a feature film or look at an Ansel Adams print. They won't give you a headache from being overly sharp.

an universal digiback for old slrs would be cool

"Temporary fix for film" seems to imply you think there will/might be a fix for the current shortages/prices for film, is that the case? Personally I've stopped shooting film over Covid but I'm hanging on onto my old equipment just in case but I can't say I'm hopeful!

Yes. The best film alternative in 2023, love my d80 (same sensor as d200). For even better dynamic range from a super CCD, checkout Fujifilm finepix S5Pro, the preferred wedding shooter for portraits when released. Some lovely Fujifilm color processing on a nikon body. Was 1200 usd new, got one last year for 75 bucks.

Is it possible to use classic Nikon lenses (Ai-Ai is) with this camera, or any other Nikon camera? How can I understand Nikon lenses and their compatibility with Nikon cameras?

Haha very appropriate vid. I just bought a Lumix LX3 2 days ago

The photoguy with the biceps 😉

Oh wow, you're from Perth. Don't see much content from here. I'm also interested in the nostalgia of ccd. Will go check out some more of your videos

Picked up my D200 for $35 a few years ago from a non-photographer. Recently started shooting with it. Love the jpegs using the various settings of Normal, Vivid and More Vivid, at all ISOs. RAW washes out, doesn't have the colors, but consistently renders 15mb images, (not 10 mb). No doubt with processing they'll get better, but the jpegs are better right away & who's got time to process every image?

Love the D200! I bought one used a couple of years ago specifically for that sweet CCD sensor. Hardly used at all, cost me $50 :-) Totally agree on the noise pattern. The randomised readout does give you a much more grain-like feel. I use the D200 and Leica M9 up to 1600 or even 3200 for black and white. Looks a lot like pushed film!

D1x had great colour, terrible dynamic range, but the high iso noise was not at all unpleasant. I preferred it to many of the early cmos cameras that had ‘better’ hi iso, but more patterned noise. Gritty grain compared to colour noise and banding. D100 had bad colour but the dr was better and it had a nice gritty look at 1600 iso. I still have 20x30” prints from the d1x. D200 has that great colour and better dr. The detailed reds are lovely.

Early CCD Nikon dslrs with auto focus motors that use SD cards are the sweet spot for me. Having an absolute blast with a D50. Coming from film (F80) everything feels very familiar.

Just bought my first camera, Sony a6400, and have just learned about ccd. Very excited to give it a shot! Also, saved your website as I was looking for a nice wrist strap! You have the best looking ones I've seen!

I got an Cybershot W530 with Super Had CCD and I LOVE IT. I gave my girlfriend the same camera an it`s her favorite!

What made these pocket cameras amazing is some had ibis, like my Canon 310 HS, an optical zoom of 8x, and if you can keep pocket dust and fibers off the lens, your sensor, (mine is 12 megs, I think) don't get worms in the sky, especially visible on the zoom shots. But I never finished my sentence. The macro. It kills. You could never get macro right on your 35mm film cameras especially shooting Chrome. My macro work on my Elph is book worthy, and I only think about 40 pics I have from anything since 1972 are, in spite of all the fancy Fuji gear I have now from primes to vintage glass.

what lens are you using in this Camara?

love ya Coops, but it's Aitch, not Haytch.

That’s a nice little selfie setup you got there. I haven’t seen this before. It’s so obvious as it looks like it’s attached to the tripod mount, yet no one uses it. 👍

Very good watch , and I agree with the premise. I've always thought that ccd has its own distinct place and use. I have a D200. And a Pentax K10D. Even an old Minnie 5D. And I went a stage further, finding an Olympus E-300 with the Kodak-made 8mp sensor as i can't afford the Kodak Leica's, lol. For me , it's not just the colours, it's that the colours also seem accompanied by "texture". Sometimes it all looks awful , muddy and underwhelming. It needs good light, like film, and you can't push it too far. But sometimes , it all leaps off the screen or print at you and it's a beautiful mix of clarity and vibrant tones. Everyone should have one ccd DSLR or RF.

I ordered a Nikon D80 and am curious if it will replace colour film for me! The prices have become very high for colour film but I will always remain a film shooter 💪

hey man, idk if you still read comments on old videos but I was wondering if you turned off High ISO Noise Reduction on the D200 or if you are using it on the standard Normal setting? Cheers!

Did you just say you have an f6?

I bought a Ricoh GR Digital, the first gen 8 megapixel version. I am torn with how I feel about it. It’s kinda like film, especially in BW at iso 800-1600, but as far as color goes it definitely doesn’t look like film. It’s honestly a bit weird and scary for me messing around with old CCD sensors, because they look SO DIFFERENT!

Those who know, know young grasshopper….😇

My reason to use film is not because I think is better, rather is both a somehow affordable way to shoot with a bigger format of film, and that I don't have to worry much about editing. Old digicams, some are good as my Sigma DP2 but it requires too much time in software, or are quite fun as my Sony WX80 but the files lack quality in a big screen. My old HP R607 had a good balance, nice image quality without much effort. I am not a believer in CCD, but if grain is what people is looking for maybe an Olympus Pen-F or some of the moder Fujifilm with grain could help. But every shooter is different.

Why would anyone want to shoot film in this day and age?

Boy, looks like RU-vid influencers are just bandwagon people. Seems like everyone is talking digicams all of a sudden. I work at a lab. If you are never going to print your digicam images than have fun. If you plan on printing, don't use a digicam. They all suck. I subscribe to this channel for film content. If it is changing I will be unsubscribing.

I just saw other video D200 vs D500 and the colors are very close and I would not say one is a lot better then another. Maybe crop sensor cameras have more of the film look over DSLR being more grainy? Here is that video. How to get started in photography with only $200 USD? Nikon D200 and Nikkor 50mm f1.4 vs D500 m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7HnW05KxIVc.html&pp=ygUMRDIwMCB2cyBENTAw

I just don't get 90% of the images your video. It's like you left the house and just started clicking randomly with little regard for composition. I couldn't imagine wasting money on film and developing for what you captured.