Nikon D300 review

Nikon D300 Review

Reviewed by: Ellis Benton

Reviewed on: 28 January 2008

Photos are predictably first rate. If you want to really feel like a pro, rattle off a handful of images and marvel at the razor sharp edges and rich, textured detail. Colours leap off the screen and smart exposure (plus that D-Lighting technology) reliably finds every scrap of visual information lurking in the shade.

The D300 ships body only, but you can use DX-mount optics

Battery life is simply the best on the market: you'll get up to 1,000 shots from a single charge of the hefty lithium ion battery. Once more, that's about four times the performance of most cameras (although Canon's EOS 40D gets close).

Image quality
We would probably edge up the sharpening and saturation a touch on the default settings but there's really nothing here to complain about. What's particularly impressive is the D300's performance in low light, indoors. The automatic white balance neatly sidesteps the painful orange colour casts you can see with some cameras in artificial light, and the high sensitivity options are breath-taking. There isn't a hint of grainy digital noise until ISO 800, and even ISO 3,200 images are perfectly usable, albeit at smaller sizes.

The built-in flash, although unlikely to be used by pros for anything more than filling in shadows, has the grunt to illuminate a good-size room, and can be dialled down for more subtle shots.

Conclusion
The D300 is an excellent all-round camera, but the SLR market is full of great cameras. The similarly priced 10-megapixel Olympus E-3 is lighter, smaller and boasts built-in image stabilisation. Or you could save yourself £250 with the Canon EOS 40D, sacrificing only a couple of megapixels, the 3D autofocusing and HDMI. In fact, Canon's spanking new EOS 450D has 12-megapixel, a 76mm (3-inch) screen with Live View and 14-bit processing for around £650.

Nikon has built the D300 up to a quality level, instead of down to a price -- and it shows in its rock solid weather-proof build, flawless ease of use and immaculate results. It may be expensive, but it's worth every penny.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday