Brand & model: Nikon D300
How much you paid: $1471.83
body only (Retail at the time was $1799.99; December 2007)
Where it was purchased: Directly from Nikon through Circuit City via Vendor Accommodation (details will be provided later)
Camera Specifications: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond300/page2.asp
How long have you owned the camera: 15 months
Background/Bio: I have been shooting now for the past four years. I found that I enjoyed shooting a lot when I started playing with my mom's old point and shoot camera. I registered for a photography course when in high school because I wanted an easy A. After a week or two though I realized that I found the course to be a very fun and interesting. Ever since then I have had an interest in photography. I learned how to compose a photograph on film using my cousin's Nikon FM2. At the time digital started getting very popular and many of my classmates were getting digital SLRs for Christmas and whatnot. Initially I wanted a digital SLR but after shooting with my point and shoot (Sony DSC-W7) and my FM2 I found that was all I needed at the time. The deeper I got into the photography seen the more intrigued I became with cameras, and I did not want to get a camera body that I would outgrow quickly. At the time I was working at a photography studio and was around Canon products all day long. That studio I worked at eventually went out of business so I was forced to look for work. I began my job at Circuit City soon after. Working in retail has its perks, seeing that Nikon regularly provided us with Vendor Accommodations for their products. At this time I was feeling that I was ready to purchase a DSLR so I began to do a lot of research. Based on my research I found that I would be best sticking with Nikon for various reasons (will explain in the review portion). The Vendor Accommodation for Nikon had expired and I was about to purchase a D200 at the time. I called Nikon and they actually had a new Vendor Accommodation that they had not sent us yet so they forwarded it to my personal email and on that list was their newly announced D300. It was about 25% off the retail price so I could not pass that up. I saved much of my birthday, Christmas, and working money for this camera and soon after I purchased it via Vendor Accommodation. The total ended up coming to $1471.83 after tax and shipping. I got the camera two days after Christmas and I was stoked because they charged me on the day after Christmas. The rest is history.
Your Review: Time for the actual review. So upon receiving the package in the mail I quickly opened up the box to see the contents inside. All I can say is WOW Nikon made an awesome product. I love this camera to death and I’m very pleased to say the least. The functionality is amazing. The D300 is weather sealed and I can contest to this. I have taken the camera out in the pouring rain and it performed like a champ. I even had the nerve to stick it under a water stream from the side of a building and it still functioned like it normally would. I think the only thing that would actually destroy the camera would be if you submerged it in water. Even then, it might still work. It utilizes a magnesium alloy body which means it is sturdy. I am not afraid to take this camera with me anywhere because it will hold up against the test of time pretty well and whatever I’m shooting will not affect the camera in any real harmful way. The camera feels robust and the build quality is excellent. What I truly love is how all the buttons are right where they should be. The camera is extremely comfortable to hold and is very easy to work around. Since I have a four years experience with cameras and photography I was able to adapt to the camera relatively quickly but this is not a camera for the amateur who does not know the functions of the camera. There are no scene modes. The four modes you can shoot in are Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual. This was great for me since I’ve never used any of those features anyway. So from the get I noticed that this camera was all camera, no BS. You don’t get a bunch of filler modes as a marketing ploy. When I describe the ergonomics of the camera itself let me tell you, it is a very easy camera to adjust if you need to do essential changes to your photos. There are buttons for specific to a function. For instance, there is a White Balance button, ISO button, and Quality button for any adjustments that you may need to do to those settings. There is no need to dig through a tedious menu system to find these settings, although you may still do so if you please. There is also a dial that allows you to adjust the continuous shooting rate, the timer, the mirror up, etc. The camera is really a functional machine and it works great. Another cool feature that this camera had over its competitors at the time of purchase was its use of Live View. This is great for when the camera is on a tripod or when it is difficult to get your face near the viewfinder. The camera will autofocus in Live View but this process can be a bit slow. I prefer to put it in Live View and manually focus the lens.
So I mentioned you may change settings via menu systems earlier… Even the menus on this camera are not difficult to use. I found my way around the menus with ease compared to many Canon systems that I have used (working in the photography studio exposed me to the 10D, 20D, and 30D. My roommate last year bought a 40D and previously owned an XTi. Working at Circuit City exposed me to the 50D, not to mention that a number of my friends use Canon cameras.). Another great feature about Nikon products, which is one reason I chose to stick to Nikon, is that all their F-mount lenses still will mate with the camera. This was great news to me because I had tons of lenses that I had acquired from both my cousin and my old photography teacher. I can still use them, and my camera will actually meter when they are mounted to the camera.
So once you’ve gotten your mind past the build quality and functionality you may be asking yourself about the image quality. Well, this is nothing short of superb. The camera handles noise well at higher ISOs (another reason why I purchased a D300 over other cameras) and also will shoot a relatively high frame rate if I ever wanted to shoot sports. The camera displays accurate colors, especially in auto white balance, and when cranking up the saturation settings will produce extremely vibrant colors. The metering is good, and overall the camera’s image quality is just superb. A+!
Pros: I would say that the camera overall is full of pros. I don’t think I can think of anything I really do not like about the camera itself. It functions as it should, the image quality is excellent, and the build quality is top notch.
Cons: The only real con I can think of is the cost of the body. The autofocus system it uses when in Live View mode is slow but I don’t use Live View often so it doesn’t bother me.
Sample pictures:
High ISO:
And a 100% crop of a RAW file:
