Nikon D300 review

Average user rating

9.0

spectacular

Average user rating from 2 users

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Nikon D300 user reviews

February 2, 2008

Posted by: sirmotto

"Entirely delightful"

What I like:

Extremely fast, wild colours, excellent control layout, good "control panel screen", excellent capabilities. If you like Nikon's way of doing things, you will love this camera.

What I don't like:

What? What's that? Yeah, it's no canon 5D but so what?

Review:

The Nikon D300 is the world's greatest amateur camera.

The Nikon D300 is far more revolutionary than its specifications suggest.

I've never said this before of any other camera, but the D300 actually makes it easier to create significantly better images than with earlier cameras.

The D300 has better color, better highlights, better shadows, it's sharper because it fixes lens flaws, and its superior AF system and viewfinder free us to compose more freely. The D300 shares these innovations with its nearly identical $5,000 big brother, the D3. Compare their menus or read their users manuals and you'll see that they are the same on the inside! Owning both, I can confirm that they both operate in the same way and give the same look to their images. At ISO 200 with an exceptional lens, there isn't any visible difference I can see.

The D300's numerous internal tweaks and far more processing power have made huge strides forward in real image quality. These improvements are so significant than even a blind artist can see them. These may not be as immediately obvious to people less than fluent in creating images on a daily basis, since these innovations deal with subtle but crucial issues of color and value. Color and value are the critical foundations of every image, as every artist knows.
The Nikon D300 is a far greater step forward than its specs would suggest. The D3 also shares these advances.

My D200 is history. If you shoot as much as I do, the D300 is worth it without any reservations.

If you don't already own a D200, just get the D300 and forget the D200.

If you already have a D200 and are on a budget, don't try the D300, because you're going to want one. Images from the D300, as I shoot it anyway, have significantly more vibrant color and far better control of highlights and shadows.

Sports shooters will love the D300's MB-D10 grip, good for 8 FPS.

The D3 is great, but looks about the same shot at reasonable ISO and with reasonable lenses. The reason to get a D3 is if you want to shoot 14mm-equivalent lenses or shoot at ISO 6,400 and get sharp results, or to shoot at 9 FPS.

I would suggest that serious photographers with D200s trash them in favor of the D300. For normal people, The Nikon D40 is still the first camera I grab for vacations and family photos for its far lighter weight.