For those looking to upgrade to the new D300s, I have positive news. I have absolutely no affiliation with Nikon or Canon, or any company. Just plain ol' hands on.
First off, no images to post. Our west coast Nikon representative allowed us to sample the camera for a mere 1.5 hours (and there a few of us!), so with the limited time I had, I put the camera to its paces to see if SOME of the things advertised by Nikon were true. Some may say its in its BETA firmware, but I did not have time to check any of that.
Just so you know, I've been shooting and sold my D300 (D700 on the way) with over 60K clicks on it with the MB-D10. My lens collection consists of the 35mm 1.8G, 50mm 1.8, 85 1.8, 18-200mm VR, 70-200mm Sigma HSM 2.8, Tamron 17-50 (screw-drive), and the Tamron 28-75 (screw-drive). However, I have access to almost all Nikkor lenses here where I work and so I have a FEEL for how most lenses focus (in terms of speed). I also conduct some camera tests here in the store.
Before shooting with the D300 body, I've owned and shot with exclusively Canon: 20D, 30D, 1D, 1D mark 2n, and finally shot a few games with the 1D mark 3 (owned by the local newspaper agency). So I kinda have a feel for what good autofocus should be (maybe).
Anyways: I remember being extremely dissapointed with the D300's initial aquisition speeds (especially using the 18-200 VR) both in the single point AF selection and especially in the ALL POINTS SELECTED--auto point selection (white box), even with the latest firmware. So that was the first thing I tested using the same 18-200mm VR lens at work.
Conclusion;
1) using ALL POINTS SELECTED--auto point selection (white box) the D300s is extremely FAST. There is no more of the hesitation it used to have when you depressed the focus and waited for the AF points to light up and BEEP. The D300s focuses right up: "beep!". Much much improved initial aquisition speed in BOTH the AF-S and AF-C mode. This was one of the things that bugged me much when moving over to Nikon from Canon. The delay is no resolved: AF is IMPROVED.
2) using the 70-300mm VR lens at its 300mm range in AF-C, (LOCK-ON: off, center Single AF point selection only, and release priority), the D300s is FASTER than the D300! Remember how the D300 would "slide" into focus from subject to subject (with different distances)? The D300s SNAPS into focus. As a matter of fact, I pulled out the D700 to test this side by side, and I have to say its almost the same. The focusing "torque" of the AF-S moving from area to area when tracking is the same speed and snappiness. Very very nicely done here in the AF department: Nikon did not dissapoint.
3) using VIDEO: for those who THINK the video is the same as the D90: think again! Testing the 720p video on an SD card, I panned the D300s and there is very very little "jello effect". Although I'm not a big fan of video, I took it out to film outside (filming traffic) and panned smoothly from left to right: no jello effect. I was shocked! I couldn't believe how good the video is. I liked the fact you could manually select your apreture for shallow depth of field when shooting (quite intimate).
4) 7 fps without AA!!!! This was way too cool because using the cameras drive mode without the mb-d10 made the d300 feel so light and easy to walk around!
My overall impression is DANG! I had a blast using the D300s (and the D3000 also!!!). I've got to say, for those who say its the same thing: think twice--as I was also disspointed during the annoucement of the D300s. However now with first hand experience with the D300s, I'm simply gonna say what Phil said about the D300: "its simply the best APS-C camera out on the market."
Date:
2009-12-18 - 13:03:35
Author:
John Tannock
Rating:
Short review
The claim that Nikon maintained the 12.3 – megapixel resolution and “improved the EXPEED system around it to give you better low-light/high ISO performance and improved overall image quality”....... Sorry Charlie, testing shows that there is in fact NO change in image quality in RAW or JPEG capture according to my tests.
My method was to shoot both cameras in manual mode at ISO 1600 set to capture RAW/JPEG FINE of the same file. Using the same Nikon 17-55 2.8 G ED lens on both bodies, I shot the same high contrast scene at different exposures, purposely underexposing then correctly exposing the scene. As we all know, even a correctly exposed scene with large shadow areas will show significant noise in the darker areas. The EXPEED system was set to reduce high ISO noise normally, the Active D lighting was also set to normal, JPEG compression was off. All other processing settings were set to default.
The files were then opened in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta and compared at 100%. The files had a different color cast, the 300s being much cooler than the D300. Aside from that, detail in the highlights, shadows, noise and correctability were the same for both cameras in RAW and JPEG formats.
The one thing that I do like about the “S” is that the Live View button is easy to get to for tripod work, regardless of whether you want to shoot stills or video. Although, if you are shooting video, you still have to navigate through the menus to find the “Tripod” or “Handheld” selector. Sigh…..
I did a bit of fun video with the camera and find that it’s functions are very rudimentary at best. I put the camera in Tripod Mode and tried it while recording hand held to see if I could use it that way. Granted, the auto-focus works, but not very quickly and it often ran the range of focus trying to lock. Oh, and only works when pushing the AF ON button. I’m sure there are good uses for the system for some, but to use it as a true video camera, I don’t think so.
Another thing that baffles me is that Nikon chose to use SD for the second card option. Why mix card types? Saving space? It’s nice to have another slot for redundancy or extension of shooting storage, but why change card types? There must be enough room in there somewhere to have used a second CF card slot if they wanted to double up the capacity.
The camera that I tested belongs to a friend. She bought it to supplement her D300s and give her the option of capturing short video clips. I think she would have been just as happy with a D90 or a true digital video camera for her purposes and would have saved a significant amount of cash.
Date:
2010-04-20 - 08:49:30
Author:
Charles
Rating:
Nice improvements over my D300
I upgraded from a Nikon D300 to the D300S mainly for the video capability. The video produced is not super HD quality, but I didn't expect that. The video is actually quite good especially if you use a tripod and it allows me to travel without a dedicated video camera. The other improvements have proved to be fun and useful. I like the new door over the data cards, easier to use that the D300 lever. The new location of the live view button is very convenient, the extra frame per second is useful and the focusing and image quality seem marginally beter than the D300. The rocker switch on the back has tactile feedback which is better. All in all I am very happy to have upgraded.
Date:
2010-05-10 - 09:37:19
Author:
freeman
Rating:
Nikon D300s example
I like this camera. Have taken a picture about our apple tree with:
Nikon D300s | Tokina 100mm Macro | f/5 | 1/1250th sec | ISO 200
Date:
2010-06-02 - 09:09:59
Author:
Jan222
Rating:
This camera is simply amazing. I upgraded from my trusty d200 which i had for 5 years or so. Although it is not a quantum leap from the old body, is sure is worth them money. Its, fast, solid, intuitive, and has all the features i could hope for. I can now happily shoot at 1600iso without thinking twice, a bit too noisy for my taste at 3200iso. I would stop at 600asa with my old d200. The build quality really is second to none. Have used it for regularly for 6 hours in -25oC temps without any apparent performance issues. (the camera got too cold to touch with bare skin!) The vf blackout is almost unnoticeable its so fast. 17-55 f2.8 and this camera is my dream combination and does 90% of everything, and 35mm f2 or 50mm f1.4 when it really gets dark.
The addition of the quick custom menu is also a huge advantage.
Here one of my favourite pics:
Nikon D300s - Nikkor 70-300 vr a 300 mm - 1/125 - f 7.1 - iso 800 - flash Off
