Digital Camera Reviews - Customer reviews - Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Manufacturer: Nikon

List Price:
Our Price: $1,599.99
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Refurbished Price: $1,249.95
Used Price: $1,000.00

Average Customer Rating: -

Product details

Offers (14)

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Name: I. B. Harvey
Location: Leicester, Leicestershire United Kingdom
Date: 2008-05-09
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Great camera for the keen enthusiast or pro
Comment: Having been used to using the more advanced settings of my D70 the first day I purchased the D300 I had to do a photo shoot of a Salsa class and took the worst photos of my life. Day two I read the manual and spent much time getting used to the D300 and customising the settings. My photos since then have been stella.

Best bits compared with the D70:- Better colour, lower noise, better screen, better dynamic range.

The worst part of the camera is the sensor cleaning which is not really up to the task - poor at best.

Fantastic camera but you need to learn how to use it otherwise your photos will be dire. All the main things that you need to change are on the outside of the camera.

In low indoor light I fould that the hand held pictures were a little dark and had too much image noise(ISO 3200 using aperture priority setting). One tip is to up exposure compensation by +0.7 or more which gives very quiet pictures which you can then post process to -7.0 if you wanted.

The dynamic range of the camera coupled with the real time "Adaptive D-Lighting" means that I don't have to use my gradual grey filters so often.

For me the 12MP is not such an advantage as I never crop or print poster sized pictures. My Brother used a 6MP camera (D50) and actually produced poster sized photos for his company which they were very pleased with and paid him alot of money for. One of my customers was paid £3000 when he snapped 80 photos of a balloon going over his house with a D40. He approched the advertising company, his solicitor negotiated the deal - wow.

For the avaerage photo taker I would recommend the Nikon D40 which is an absolute bargain price and takes fantastic pictures. If you need fast shutter cycle times, complete and instant control of your photos and a rugged camera than this is one to consider. Highly recommended for the right user.

Name: DonnaW
Location: Florida, usa
Date: 2008-05-14
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Extremely pleased and excited by D300 performance
Comment: I am a previous D200 and D70 owner. Maybe it is that the controls are very similar but for whatever reason I am getting really stunning results with the D300. It seems to have much better ability to evaluate the lighting conditions and come up with really nice tonality and color. I am still working on the new focusing issues, but even without fully understanding it the results seem really good. Worth the upgrade.

Name: Classic Movie watcher
Location:
Date: 2008-06-13
Customer Rating: -

Summary: The expert camera to look for
Comment: I own a Nikon D80 for 11 months and then went to a photo shoot with friends. One of them let us try his new D300. And the consequence? We said we will buy it soon and I took my D300 home 1 month ago.

Nikon D300 has such a beautiful LCD 3" monitor. I can't help staring at the bright images it displays. And to a not so young person like me, its viewfinder is a gift. I suddenly find myself seeing much more in photo composition. The buttons are all at the right place, especially the OK button where I can simply press the centre of the multi selector. True, the camera is bigger and heavier than D80. The first day I found this a bit uncomfortable. However, once I get used to it, D80 seems to be too light and too small!

As for photo quality, it is clearly more superior with noise reduction performing beautifully - especially when you shoot at ISO 1600. Its autofocusing system is much faster. I put the same old AF lens to D80 and D300 and the difference is apparent. D80 has already allowed me to take wonderful wildlife photos. And D300 excels at low light condition. Under daylight, it shoots photos bright (compared with the darker photos of D80) and the colour more natural (compared with the more vivid and deeper shades of D80). Sometimes I prefer to have darker photos so I activate the useful active D-lighting feature to adjust the contrast. As for the white balance, the available colours for adjustment is impressive. When pressing the shutter button to shoot, despite the camera's heavier weight, the handshake effect is actually reduced. Perhaps it is the mechansim or the centre of gravity that makes this happen. The continuous high speed shooting (6 fps) allows me to capture the egret take-off easily. Yes, I admit I have not used the live view extensively - the bright big viewfinder is simply alluring. Also, I haven't studied the manual word by word - I flip through a few pages only. But that's because most buttons are so user friendly, you can guess and shoot.

Not to mention the free Capture NX software accompanying the camera. I must admit I need only a handful of the many features of Capture NX eg adjusting the brightness of a tiny region of the photo, increasing the intensity and sharpness of the photo etc. It is at such a professional level that makes the picture perfect.

Some people emphasize again and again about sharpness of the image and focusing speed. However, I find the colours, contrast and exposure even more important in my consideration. Take a sunset photo and I see amazing colours of the dusk on the photo! Also, I won't need to worry whether my 20-year old Nikon lenses can be incompatibale with D300. They just fit and focus steadfastly and accurately on the object (albeit not as fast as the new Nikon AF-S lenses.) To top it all, the old manual lens can have autoexposure on D300 but not on D80. As for the flash, both D80 and D300 built in flash serves most of my purposes. D300 exposure program is so intelligent that sometimes the flash output is not as bright as I want, so I just use flash compensation.

With my D300, I can carry it everywhere and experiment with creative shots. But don't worry about my D80, I intend to keep it, especially when the trip is tough and long. After all, that is when I need to move fast and light! D300 is awarded the TIPA 2008 best expert camera - one it fully deserves. Plus, its price has gone down to an attractive level. It is a camera I don't want to go without!

Name: A. Santos
Location: Sagamihara, Japan
Date: 2008-08-08
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Sayonara to L glass
Comment: I owned both the Canon Rebel XTi and 40D with 24-70 F2.8 L and 70-200 F4 IS L and just used them as a casual amateur photographer. I was very happy with the images they produced. I was even strongly considering the 5D when along came the D300 w/ 18-200 VR lens. We all know Canon and Nikon regularly leapfrog each other. But I seriously believe 2008 is Nikon's year. I compared the image results from the 40D and D300 and the latter just trumped the 40D hands-down on every aspect. It was close to film quality. Colors were more vivid, ergonomics are MUCH better, a rockin' LCD screen, dust and weather sealing, 51 AF points, 100% viewfinder coverage, vital controls like flash exposure compensation are not buried in the menu, ISO 1600 images with little decrement in quality, etc. Taking photographs is lots of fun with this bad boy. Another big reason for the switch was the 18-200 VR lens. Instead of changing lenses and risking dust to get in the sensor, I just leave this lens on and it does most everything I've ever wanted in a walkaround lens. One downside is that my Canon buddies have labeled me a "traitor," and always give me a hard time for it, but I can live with that.

Name: S. Crabtree
Location: USA
Date: 2008-08-19
Customer Rating: -

Summary: Buy It
Comment: To start I am an a amateur photographer with about two years experience.
I own a D40,which was my first and really enjoy it for family and everyday shooting.Great colors and focus.I then purchased the D80 which I have had
great success with and love it!But when I purchased the D300 there is no
comparison.The 51 point focus is awesome and the color choices are unbelievable! This thing is awesome when it comes to speed and focus.Quick
accurate response time is great for nature and fast moving subjects.
The pictures you take will make you feel like a pro with the very first shots taken.
The menu is so easy to use that it makes ease of changing and getting exactly what you're looking for.There is a lot in the menu but with a little time you'll get it fine because it has a help section.Anyone thinking of going another step up to a pro camera should not look elsewhere as Nikon truly has created a gem!To me this is a five star camera because of performance and the rugged build quality,A+

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