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The Camera of My Dreams (But know what you’re buying),
Hello everybody, My name is Daniel and I am about as serious as you can be and still be considered “amateur”. I have been taking photos on SLR’s since I was 10 years old on an old film Minolta and I bought my first DSLR (a Nikon D50) and since then I have owned everything from a base line Canon XSi all the way up to the the best camera I have ever handled… the D300s. I have operated the D3, D3s, D3x and the top of the line professional $10k Canons, and this is still my favorite ALL AROUND camera. So here is the break down to why I love this camera and I will give you a list of pros and cons. I love this camera for many reasons… […]… not many people can justify spending another $4,000 (2-3 times the money) when they are looking to spend around $1,500- $2,000 for a good DSLR. So here is the benefits that I see to D300s over the other great Nikon models.
1. if you are into sports the D300s has a higher continuous frame rate than other models including the ever so popular full frame D700. With it’s DX sensor it has a crop factor of 1.5 which means more bang for you buck when using a telephoto zoom lens. If you purchase the MB-D10 battery pack it will shoot at even higher speeds of 8fps when using continuous shooting and also allows for up to nearly 5,000 pictures to be taken on one charge (when upgraded battery is purchased). With 51 auto-focus and 3-D tracking you are almost guaranteed to have your subject in focus every time you take a picture. The D300s also features Active D Lighting which makes to so your pictures end up properly exposed so you don’t end up with areas of under and over exposure which tend to be common in sports and in shadowy landscape photography
2. Freedom: although all Nikon DSLR’s allow you to manually adjust your settings they are difficult to change until you get to the semi-pro D300 model. If you understand f-stops, DOF, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focus points, light metering and other technical jargon and really want to experiment with all of these then a D300s is the camera for you. with shooting modes including: single, cont. low speed, high speed, timer, quiet, and mirror up mode this camera gives you all the freedom you could ever ask for.
3. Learning: this camera will make you learn the true in’s and out’s of photography. With the very accurate light meter it’s not very hard to get the exposure right. No matter what your ISO and f stop is at.
4. User interface. With the dedicated live view and info button new to the D300s over the original D300 it cuts menu times down significantly however it no longer has the memory card hatch release switch. The D300s includes great features such as custom menus, easy to understand menus with the classic (?) button which will explain every camera function in easy to understand terms. On the fly changes include ISO, WB, Quality, shooting modes, a user adjusted fn button, AF/AE lock, light metering, and af adjustments. So the only limitations are your imagination. Selecting your focal point is as easy as looking in the viewfinder and pushing the directional button and watching the selector move around until you have exactly the right spot selected. With two selectors (one for shutter speed and one for f stop) it allows you to never have to take your eye out out of the viewfinder.
The bottom line (why you would choose this over any other Nikon DSLR):
why you’d choose this over the D90: 51point AF w/ 3D tracking, more fps, control of image adjustments, not much more money for a lot more freedom and creativity, contrast auto-focusing during movies, ability to utilize dual card slots (CF and SD), 14bit RAW, Active D Lighting.
Over the D700: full 12MP when using DX lenses rather than 5MP, more fps, $600-$1,000 less, movie mode, smaller pixels for more refinement at low ISO, 100% viewfinder coverage
Over the D3 and D3x: A ton of money, shooting speed, optimization of DX and FX lenses and movie mode, and built in flash, 100% viewfinder coverage which allows for better framing.
This is a great camera HOWEVER NOTE THE FOLLOWING!!!!!
The D700, D3,x,s have FX photo sensors which allow for a much bigger and brighter view finder, it also allows for a wider view (no crop factor instead of 1.5x like the DX) which means if you want more area in your pictures for such things as landscapes then the D700 or the D3 lineup maybe a better option because a 50mm lens in a DX camera looks the same as a 75mm lens on an FX camera.
The D700 and D3 lineup (minus the D3x) utilize the large FX sensor and still only have a 12MP capacity which means that the pixels are larger which allows for better depth of color, better definition in shadows, and better high ISO clarity. The D300 can go to extended ISO of 6400 however the image quality is poor at best when the D3 can shoot ISO 6400 all day long and look great. The D700 also does better at high ISOs…
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|A word of warning if you’re buying a D300S for its video capabilities,
Customer Video Review Length:: 0:55 Mins
This is a tough review because this camera is so excellent as a still device and easily earns five stars. However, if you’re currently a D300 owner looking to upgrade for this camera’s new video capabilities you will be disappointed. The unfortunate ‘rolling shutter’ problem that plagues the video feature on the D90 exists on the new D300s too.
There’s a host of technical reasons for this (the CMOS sensor is to blame) but the bottom line for those looking for a great still and video camera should probably not rely on the D300S to be the ‘holy grail’ of sub $2000 “prosumer” cameras just yet. There is software out there to correct these issues, but it is a bit disappointing that Nikon didn’t address this in firmware. Watch my video to see more.
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|State of the DX art, better than FX for some,
There are plenty of very good comprehensive reviews here of the D300S here already, so I’m instead of posting another I’m going to attempt to focus on what I see as some of the pros and cons of the D300S versus other camera bodies in the Nikon line-up. The D300S has essentially identical image quality to the $500 D5000 and the now quite old (in DSLR terms) D300 and D90; and it remains a small-format DX camera while the next step up in price gets you a full-frame D700. Even so, my personal choice for the majority of my photography is a D300S rather than any of those alternatives. I have also owned and shot with every other camera mentioned here: all are excellent and I believe all can be considered good values for the money spent in today’s market. Perhaps some readers would find my perspective useful.
As far as I’m concerned, image quality from Nikon DSLRs has really been quite excellent at least since the introduction of the D70. Of course there have been all kinds of incremental improvements since then, but comparing anything since the D70 to the funky highlights produced by the earlier D100, for example, makes it clear that we have long since reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to real, visible improvements in DSLR image quality. In terms of the finer points it will continue to improve, but whether you buy a D5000, a D300S or a D700, the differences between the images you can make with the camera are going to be tiny compared with the differences in how you can use it – with the exception of the FX-vs-DX field of view, which is very important.
What I think most people will benefit from is carefully assessing the features and physical capabilities of the various bodies, considering the types of photography they like to do, and selecting the best match for their particular needs. Budget, of course, enters the equation: but for many photographers the small, light D5000 would be the best choice regardless of budget, while of course others will absolutely require the pro features of the more expensive bodies.
D300S vs D700; DX vs FX – By far the most fundamental issue in camera body selection:
This is the one real difference between the shooting capabilities of any of the bodies I’m writing about here, and it affects every image you make with the camera once you buy it. I would strongly advise readers NOT to look at format as a camera issue, but to look at it as a lens issue. Of course there are differences between the FX and DX bodies, even those closest in specification, and to some degree it’s possible to equalize lens selection: but when you begin to look at the practical realities of lens selection for DX vs FX formats, it is immediately apparent that they operate in completely different worlds. I’m convinced that this should be one’s primary consideration when choosing a camera, assuming that your budget allows you a choice between the formats.
The heart of the matter is that it really is much easier to make a great DX lens than it is to make a great FX lens. The basic physics guarantees it. The DX format is 2/3 the linear size of the FX format, meaning that, all else being equal, lenses will have to be 3.4 TIMES BIGGER (1.5^3) in FX format to exactly equal the optics on DX of a DX format lens. Because lens design is a matter of careful compromise between many factors mainly size, price, max aperture, zoom ratio, sharpness, and weight; real-world FX lenses aren’t made 3.4 times bigger, heavier and more expensive than DX lenses. They are instead made only considerably bigger, with compromises in other aspects of design – so that they must give up some aspect of performance: zoom ratio, max aperture, optical excellence – to achieve their design objectives.
Because of this, there is really no FX equivalent to the excellent 16-85mm VR DX lens (the 24-120VR is a fairly mediocre lens despite being physically larger). Likewise the 35mm f/1.8 has come out being a slightly better lens than the 50mm f/1.4G despite being smaller and lighter (though slower, unfortunately). Many excellent wide zooms now exist for DX cameras at affordable prices, while the selection of FX wide zooms has one choosing between obscenely heavy and expensive excellent lenses and “normally” priced average lenses. This conundrum spans the entire range of available lenses, and it is likely never to change or to resolve in favor of FX because it is driven by the basic physics of optics and their design and manufacture.
For this reason, DX cameras have tremendous advantages if you want to shoot lenses that are reasonably priced, that give excellent sharpness and overall image quality, that have flexible zoom ranges, and that are light and compact enough to transport and use unobtrusively.
FX, on the other hand, will be marketed as the premier format, and I think we can expect that most of the very best lenses made will…
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