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It's a large, heavy and obtrusive piece of equipment (I repeat: L A R G E)
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Also, it has more noise then Canon at high ISOs. If you decide to get it, make sure you get a VR lens, it will give you 2-3 stops more exposure.
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get a smaller camera, point and shoot.


That is not a particularly big or heavy setup. He'll get used to it quickly. I often use a Canon 1D 70-200mm combo that is twice as big and heavy as that.

He'll be using flash and high ISO is not a factor. Use a shoe flash and low ISO indoors.

Likewise a stabilized lens is not an advantage in terms of ISO, probably not at all for him (it's better to use faster exposures to freeze camera motion since VR can only handle some kinds of motion).

An SLR has the huge advantage of being fast. P&S should be called point & wait, wait, wait & shoot. Especially in the poor lighting he will almost always have a P&S is likely to autofocus so slowly the shot will be gone by the time it shoots, if it can autofocus at all.

(does the D-200 have a focus assist lamp? If not a shoe flash is probably mandatory)

Yes this thread is probably in the wrong forum, but getting Luke set up to produce more Cage material is important!
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