27.01.09
Nikon D300 Review
Words by Roger Payne
Life just isn’t fair sometimes. Here we are in early 2008, Christmas cheer just about evaporated for another year, credit card bills making an alarming dent in the Welcome mat and Nikon, damn it, has only gone and produced one of the most desirable DSLRs known to enthusiast photographers.
Trust me, when you get your hands on a D300, you’re going to think of every financial trick in the book to buy one, at a time of year when post-festive frugality is normally de rigueur. Kidneys could well be sold, small children deprived of clothes and shoes, families robbed of overseas holidays; be warned, this is a real home-wrecker of a camera.
To say that this D200 replacement is bristling with technology is an understatement of near biblical proportions. It is, quite simply, astonishing what Nikon has managed to pack into the compact, magnesium alloy chassis.
Take the autofocus system, for example, which sports Nikon’s sparkly new CAM3500DX AF module and no fewer than 51 focusing points, the central 15 of which use cross type sensors. Naturally, this system works pleasingly well and you can either leave the camera to make its own mind up as to which of the 51 points it uses to focus, or select the point yourself, using the selector switch on the rear.
Furthermore, Dynamic Area AF is also available, which comes into play when shooting moving subjects. Here, if the user has preselected a focusing point, Dynamic Area AF will also keep an eye on the points surrounding it (in groups of 9, 21 or the full 51 points), to ensure that the subject stays sharp when you release the shutter. Clever stuff, but not half as clever as the full 51-point Dynamic Area AF mode, which features 3D tracking and uses both colour and light information to track a moving subject and switch focusing points accordingly.
Exposure wise, the D300 is no slouch either. Sure, there are the ‘big three’ metering patterns – 3D Color Matrix, spot and centre-weighted (the latter being user-definable in terms of the size of the area being measured) – but, as with the AF system, there’s lots of fiendishly clever technology at work behind the scenes to ensure that you get an even higher percentage of accurate exposures. Take the new Scene Recognition System, for example, that recognises subject colour and lighting.
At the heart of this system is a 1005-segment RGB sensor that processes this colour and lighting information and then applies it not only to the exposure, but also the autofocus and even white-balance settings.
If you really want to roll your digital sleeves up and take full control over your results the D300 does, of course, enable you to do just that. Access the Picture Control System via the Shooting Menu on the rear LCD and you can fine-tune your picture taking over four basic settings – Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome.
The colour modes enable you to change the levels of image sharpness, brightness and colour saturation, among other things, while the Monochrome option gives filter and toning effects. Hell, you can even precisely control your auto white-balance settings, should you feel that way inclined. You don’t get much more bespoke this side of Saville Row.
As well as being flexible, the D300 is also fast. Start-up time is virtually instantaneous at 0.13 seconds and shutter lag is a highly respectable 45 milliseconds, suffice to say that if you miss a shot with a D300 it’ll be your fault. Equally perky is the frames-per-second rate, which varies according to the file format you’re shooting and whether you have the optional MB-D10 battery pack attached.
In standard form, Nikon claims a maximum of six frames-per-second (fps) for up to 100 shots when using a SanDisk Extreme IV card and recording large JPEGs, and 2.5fps for elephantine 14-bit Raw files. Fit an MB-D10 and the JPEG frame rate increases to a maximum of 8fps. My tests, completed with the MB-D10 in situ and a SanDisk Extreme III card saw the D300 plough through 100 JPEGs in 26 seconds and 58 Raw files in 45 seconds, both a little down on the Nikon claims.
Buffer clearance took one minute 53 seconds for the 100 JPEGs and one minute exactly for the 58 Raw files. No matter which way you cut it, that’s still quick when you consider you’re dealing with large files.
Live View, where you can use the rear LCD to frame your images, digital compact style, is becoming increasingly prevalent on DSLRs and the D300 is no exception. Admittedly, it’s a little disconcerting to use, as the reflex mirror has to flip out of the way, which always seems as though a picture has been taken, but it can be a useful function in certain picture-taking situations. On the D300, two Live View modes are offered – one for handheld shooting and the other for tripod shooting. In the latter case, you can magnify the LCD image to ensure precise focus control.
Dust is always going to be a problem for digital SLR users, and Nikon, like so many other manufacturers, has come up with a system to defeat the dastardly stuff. The D300’s ultrasonic self-cleaning sensor, which can be activated when the camera is turned on and off, or selected in the menu system, uses four different frequencies to shake dust away from the CMOS sensor.
In addition to this, further precautions have been taken in the shape of internal mechanisms that generate minimal dust during operation, anti-static internal finishes, a larger than average distance between the dust filter and the sensor to minimize the chances of dust appearing in the first place, and, if it does, dust reduction for Raw files using the Capture NX software.
It’s as comprehensive a dust reducing system as I’ve seen, but even so when I picked up the camera from Will ‘Dust Devil’ Cheung there was a sizeable gremlin right in the centre of the sensor. Once removed, however, the problem didn’t resurface – and, in case you’re wondering, I’ve told Will to stop storing DSLRs in his vacuum cleaner.
The D300 is a wonderfully robust feeling piece of kit that fits in the hand beautifully. The majority of controls are self-explanatory and well positioned, and almost every switch, dial and button has a reassuringly solid feel to it.
I say almost, the two exceptions are the drive control mode, which is disengaged by a button on the top-plate and then lacks positivity, and the card door switch, which I found fiddly. But I’m splitting hairs here, as a general-picture taking tool, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better layout.
As this is the first Nikon I’ve tested since the D80, I was delighted to find the clarity of the rear LCD remains. There are an incredible range of features that can be set here, but it’s logically laid out and the useful ? button comes into play when you can’t remember what a particular function does. Reviewing images is easy too, and with 920,000 pixels that make up the LCD working their very hardest, you can make accurate assessments of exposure and white-balance accuracy.
As so many other parts of the D300 are new and/or improved, it goes without saying that the processing engine and sensor haven’t been left untouched. At the heart of the D300 beats the new EXPEED processor, which, Nikon claims, offers the best ever image quality from a cropped sensor DSLR. Thing is, I’d be hard pressed to disagree with them.
Image quality from the 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor is mind-bogglingly good with a high ISO performance that has to be seen to be believed. Suffice to say that as part of this test, editor Cheung presented me with two A3 prints, one taken at ISO 200, the other at ISO 1600 and asked me to spot the difference. I couldn’t.
Can someone phone my wife and tell her I’m going to be away for a few days? Thanks; I’ve got a kidney to sell.
ACTIVE D LIGHTING
The D300 offers Active D-Lighting, which boosts the camera’s dynamic range. This means that if an image has a mixture of highlights, shadows and mid-tones, D-Lighting will adjust these areas to achieve a more natural-looking result across the frame. Three D-Lighting modes are available – Moderate, Normal and Enhanced – and are accessed via the Shooting menu on the rear LCD.
SPECIFICATION
Price: £1300 body only
Distributor: nikon.co.uk
Resolution: 12.3-megapixels
Lens mount: Nikon F
Magnification: 1.5x
Sensor: 23.6x15.8mm
Autofocus: 51 points
Exposure system: 3D Color Matrix metering, centre-weighted, spot
Exposure modes: PASM
ISO range: 200-3200 in 1/3, 1/2 or 1EV steps. Additional settings down to the equivalent of ISO 100 and up to ISO 6400, in 1/3EV steps
Shutter Speed: 30-1/8000sec in 1/3, 1/2 or 1EV steps, plus B. Flash sync at up to 1/320sec
Viewfinder: Approx 100% of actual image
Monitor: Rear TFT LCD 3in with 920,000 dots, Live View
Flash: Yes, GN 17 (ISO 200) file formats Nikon Raw 12- or 14-bit (uncompressed, lossless compressed or compressed, Raw), RGB TIFF, JPEG
Image size: 4888x2848 pixels
Storage media: CompactFlash, Type I and II, UDMA compliant, Microdrive drive system Up to six frames-per-second (fps) in standard form, up to 8fps with optional AC adaptor or MB-D10 pack
Self-timer: 10 sec/2 sec delay, with mirror-up function
Dof preview: Yes
Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion EN-EL3e battery
Dimensions: 147x114x74mm (WxHxD)
Weight: 825g body only
PROS AND CONS
Handling and build quality, high ISO performance range of features and overrides, focusing and metering performance
Price (for some, but not me and I’m poorer than a church mouse), weight, some switchgear could be better
VERDICT
Every now and again, a camera comes along that redefines the market it serves. The D300 is just such a camera. It is a superb piece of kit that never fails to impress. While some may find the £1300 body only price tag hefty, I can only wonder how Nikon has managed to make such a brilliant piece of kit so affordable.
What’s even more amazing is that in less than 12 months time, you’ll probably be able to pick up a body for less than a grand, and that will make it a cast iron bargain. Plead with your bank manager, take on a second job, cancel that holiday, default on the mortgage; do whatever it takes to ensure that 2008 sees a Nikon D300 in your gadget bag – it is all the camera you’ll ever need.
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