Any D300 users?

[Tobyh]

Hey all,

I'm seriously considering upgrading from my D50 to a D300 and am wondering if anyone else can give me some opinions.

In particular things that have caught my eye - better noise handling, faster FPS and I would like a mirror lock-up ability also. The higher res is a bonus of course.

Anyone had any experiences? is the D-Light utility on it any good?

Thanks

TobyH

[ron1863]

Hi Toby, I don't have one but that's an excellent camera you have and if I didn't have so many Minolta fit lenses it's the one I would go for.

[mh68]

Originally Posted by Tobyh

Hey all,

I'm seriously considering upgrading from my D50 to a D300 and am wondering if anyone else can give me some opinions.

In particular things that have caught my eye - better noise handling, faster FPS and I would like a mirror lock-up ability also. The higher res is a bonus of course.

Anyone had any experiences? is the D-Light utility on it any good?

Thanks

TobyH

I know Dave (pressld2) is using the D300, so if he doesnt see this thread it may be worth dropping him a pm

Mark H

[pressld2]

I always spot threads with D300 in the title!

I upgraded from a D70 and have no regrets whatsoever. I haven't found the noise handling to be much better than the D70 was - I think you need the D3 for a significant impovement there. I will still only reluctantly go as high as 800 ISO unless I want the noise for creative effects.

But the extra resolution is great, the fps rate is outstanding, the big 3 inch screen is very clear and sharp and the 51 point focusing system is amazing. I also use the mirror lock-up facility (which the D70 didn't have either) but I confess I have not yet played with the D Lighting. I really must do that soon!

There are several other D300 users around too, the ones that immediately spring to mind are WhiskeyBottle, seajay and peterjclarke.

You might also be interested in this thread: My D300... which includes a much more detailed discussion of the noise performance.

All pictures in my gallery posted since February this year were taken with the D300.

Let us know what you decide...

Dave P.

[Tobyh]

Excellent, i'll go check that out..

Thanks!

[delros1]

i started with the d70,soon followed by the d2oo,which i thought would last me along time,but after all the great write ups on the d300,ifell for it hook line and sinker,and i am so glad that i did,the live screen on the back is awsome,the in camera sharping is far better than the d200.
the d light is a truly remarkable tool,not just for brighting shadow,but it also add a little some think to a river or seascape

ps i always shoot in nef raw,and at the top settings,the blue crane digital dvd on the d300,is also a great help in getting to know the camera,amazon,did have it for sale a few mounths back.best of luck and happy shootting.

[Seajay]

Hi TobyH,
Sorry I missed your thread but have been very, very busy lately.
I have the Nikon D70s, D80 and a few months ago purchased the D300 and I am so glad I did! This camera is awesome and I haven't even used live view or the noise reduction as yet! Like Dave I stay below 800 normally but eventually I shall experiment. There is so much to learn. What I love about it is the way all the controls are placed so well to hand - brilliant design. Just a matter of practice to learn them. Like driving a car or touch typing I suppose.
I have dabbled into the D lighting and it does preserve highlights on bright contrasty days but you must remember to turn it off when your done though I suppose it's useful for people who print photos straight from camera as you can get a perfect image for printing in most cases without editing software.
Most definately recommended!
The proof of the pudding is in the eating and boy, am I putting on weight

p.s. Don't forget the camera metering system, the sensor self- cleaning and the very solid build of camera and lenses. Go to a dealer and ask to look at one - see for yourself.

Colin

[DOXHOPE]

There was a really big jump from the D80 to the D200, but, not so big a jump from the D200 to the D300, so if you have anything below the D200, go for a D300, they are really good. Ive been shooting a lot at 800iso lately and the results are very, very good..as good at 800 as a lot of its competition is at 400

[DrNickBurton]

The D300 is a really great camera - best DX format camera in the world. I can heartily recommend it! It's particularly good for wildlife photography because -

- while Nikon are starting to bring out full frame cameras, the DX format D300 still gives you the x1.5 crop factor that you get with the D50 (no need to buy longer telephotos to achieve the zooom you are used to)
- 12 Mp (speaks for itself)
- it's fast in terms of wake-up time, and gives 6 fps
- it's low light performance is great. Even at ISO 800 there is very little sign of noise, and can still give good results up to 1600. This means you can keep keep shooting, even in twilight.

You wont regret it!

[Tobyh]

Ok I'm pretty much sold on it. Had a hands on at a local shop and really liked it. The Liveview screen looked fantastic.

Just one noob question wqhich I want to make sure of - I assume my current lenses that are fine for a D50 will be fine on this. I can't see why not but the nit in me needs to ask

Ta!

TobyH

[DrNickBurton]

Yup no worries there - that's the beauty of Nikon ;-)

[Matt Hunt]

You will love it, it is fairly intuitive to use, the AF is very good and the build quality v good.

I'll second or third the ISO comments, you can get to ISO 1000 odd before the image is obviously grainy, and in higher in B/W where the grain does not look as out of place IMHO.

Unless you need the higher fps, I'd stay away from the temptation of the battery pack since the D300 plus a solid lens gets quite heavy during a day!

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by DrNickBurton

Yup no worries there - that's the beauty of Nikon ;-)

Yes indeed. The D50 and D300 are both DX size sensors so all your lenses will be fully compatible - no worries at all.

If you were thinking of splashing out on the D3 or the new D700 then you would be moving to a full size sensor and you would have an issue with any DX lenses that you own. These lenses are designed specifically for the smaller sensor and have a smaller image circle - too small to cover the larger sensor in the D3/D700. You can still use DX lenses with these cameras but they automatically switch themselves to only use a DX sized area in the centre of their sensor, thereby cutting their resolution from 12Mp down to around 8Mp.

Dave P.

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Matt Hunt

higher in B/W where the grain does not look as out of place IMHO.

I agree. That's what I was thinking of when I mentioned using the noise for creative effect like this shot of Farnborough church...



I set the ISO to 3200 for this one with the intention of converting it to a grainy black and white image. Here's a 100% crop where the noise is much more apparent...



Just my opinion but I don't think deliberate noise ever works as well in colour images.

Dave P.

[Tobyh]

Thanks very much for the help everyone, I have now joined the D300 owners club! nipped out today and grabbed one.

Just charging the battery now and I found my first weirdness - the batteries from my D50, although named exactly the same, will not fit into the D300 and they have one less contact point (3 for the 300 - 2 on these batteries). Also the D50 had a slightly spring loaded battery compartment whereas the 300 doesn't.

I see that a full charge gives 1000 shots so I'll have to see how I go before I consider getting spares - I've never come close to shooting that in a day

TobyH

[pressld2]

Nice one Toby! Be sure to post plenty of shots here for us to admire!

Sounds like your D50 battery is an EN-EL3 which has two connectors. The D300 uses an EN-EL3e which has the third connector on it. That last little 'e' makes all the difference.

Dave P.

[Tobyh]

Could have sworn they were the same - just checked D50 battery EN-EL3a, new ones EN-EL3e.

Doh!

Ta!

TobyH

[DOXHOPE]

The battery life on the D300 is absolutely fantastic, they seem to last forever..like nothing Ive had before on any camera.

[Matt Hunt]

Originally Posted by Tobyh

I see that a full charge gives 1000 shots so I'll have to see how I go before I consider getting spares - I've never come close to shooting that in a day

TobyH

So far I've used mine at 2 airshows, 2 fashion shows and a corporate shoot and not used more than 1/2 the battery charge for around 440 raw files which was the corporate shoot and busiest day. You'll not be displeased

[welsh.lensman]

Got my D300 the other day with the Sigma 150-500, today was the first chance I've had to try it out, here are a couple of examples of what I took.





I must say I was most impressed with with them.

[Tobyh]

Thanks for all the examples and help, some good stuff there.

Heres my first try - I don't do "flower shots" but the wife has been asking me for ages so I thought would be a good idea to test the mirror up shooting mode. As I don't have a remote release yet I just let it time out -it then takes a piccy after 30 seconds.

I'm quite happy with this, the background came out looking ...er..arty?



Comments welcome

TobyH

[pressld2]

Very nice Toby. Whatever the background is it's lovely and soft considering you were using f20.

Dave P.

[leemo]

Hi Toby.. Congrats on getting the D300, Its a fantastic camera I really love using mine, its a steep learning curve but very much worth the effort...
I always shoot in raw and leave most of the settings for picture control to default or off, because you can change most of these in your raw workflow.
As for the effect of D-lighting, go into one of your images in playback(image is full screen) and press the OK button twice. This will bring you to the D-lighting options for that image, using the multi selector pad click up or down to change from : Low, Normal and High.
You will see the effect on the image, this should give you a good idea what D-lighting can do.

Hope this helps Toby

Regards Lee

[leemo]

Sorry Toby, A nice Shot, great control of your aperture to blur the background, unless you used a blurred layer mask in Photoshop...LOL

Cheers Lee

[WhiskyBottle]

Congrats on the camera Toby.
I had a bad day at the office! so stopped to pick one up on the way home. That was one of the first batch last November, I've not used the D70 since.

I'd second what the others have said.

I don't use D-lighting in the camera, but do use it with CaptureNX in the computer later.

Not used Mirror lock-up - flowers don't stay still outside. What I have found is a 1 second delayed release which flips the mirror, then releases the shutter after 1 second. Easier to predict wind for 1 sec than 30 sec.

Battery lasts forever. Got a whole days shooting out of mine when it started out almost flat.

Watch out for false battery low warnings.
There was a problem with a small number of these cameras that would report a false low battery then stop shooting. Battery meeter on back would show battery OK but top panel would show battery flat. Mine did this first time I used it, but then recovered and carried on for the rest of the day without problem (or recharge), and it has done it once since but not recently.
Check US web sites for this problem, UK dealers don't seem to be aware of it so I guess it's quite rare. Nikon was swapping out effected bodies.

Off topic! but I was in my local Nikon Pro dealer recently, had a play with the D700. He told me there was a full-frame 24M body due out by Christmas (A 1Ds3 with working AF)