Nikon D300 Review – first impressions

61 Replies to “Nikon D300 Review – first impressions”

1. Great review. I always enjoy your insight.

2. Hi, Terry.

   First time poster to your blog. Found the link to your first impressions article on Scott K’s blog. Thanks for your initial insights on the D300. Like you, I’m the proud owner of a D80, and now the prouder owner of the D300. Going to sell my D80 on e-bay as well.

   Speaking of the D300, check this out:

   So, it’s Black Friday, @ about 8:10am, and I’m kinda resigned to the fact that I’ll probably have to wait till the D300 becomes readily available, being that websites like B&H and company have D300 wait lists as long as the Danube river, but I digress…………….

   On a hunch, I call up my local RitzCamera retailer located about 5mins away from me, and ask if they have any D300s.

   I expected to hear a resounding “Sorry, no”.

   Instead, the lady who picked up the phone perkily said “Actually, we have 5 D300 bodies. They arrived yesterday (Thursday)”.

   I was in the shop faster than you can say “YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!”

   I bought the 1st of the 5, which incidentally comes with a free copy of Nikon’s CaptureNX (ver 1.3 but I’m sticking with LR 1.3, thank you).

   The camera feels great to handle. I’m psyched, and looking forward to learning how to shoot effectively with it.

   Regards,

   -Ade

3. Hi Terry

   thanks for posting this. The D300 really seems to be an amazing camera. Together with Nikon’s amazing 4/200-400 VR, this would be the perfect setup for wildlife and not too shy birds.

   Although I shoot with Canon (at least at the moment) I am really exited about the new Nikon cameras. Competition is always good and it seems that Nikon really raised the bar with the new D300.

   Markus

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6. Hi Terry,
   I just got my Nikon D300 and it is thrilling (albeit a little overwhelming b/c of all of the bells & whistles)…so I was curious about the settings that you set….can you let us in on some more of your favorites and why?
   Thanks!

7. Hi Kellie,
   The settings I like to set on my Nikon cameras (in no particular order):
   Color space from sRGB to Adobe RGB
   Highlight Warning on (also referred to as “Blinkies” by some), this will show you (by blinking) where you have no detail in the highlights of your shot so that you can make adjustments to your lighting and exposure compensation.
   Image Review – as described above, this allows me to see the shot I just took instantly on the LCD for a few seconds.
   Also described above, using the Command Dial to scroll through the images you’ve taken.
   Auto rotation to display TALL on the LCD if I take a portrait shot.
   Since I use SB800 and SB600 wireless flashes. I like to set the built-in flash to Commander mode.
   Sometimes I use the built-in timer as substitute for a cable release. So rather than have a 10 second delay, I set it for a 2 second delay.
   I just got the Battery Grip, so I can set which battery it uses first (which the default is fine)

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9. I enjoyed your write-up. I also RAN to my local dealer when I found that they had received 12 D300 bodies and only 11 were taken through preorders. I snatched the last one up as an upgrade for my beloved D70 that has served so well. When I got home my wife immediately snatched my bag and hid it until Christmas (when did I lose control!). I now have an agonizing wait for another 27 days.

10. Hello,
    I truly enjoyed reading your article!! I too was thrilled about receiving my Nikon D300. Was being the key word. Unfortunately, myself AND others, have acquired the D300 with a faulty auto focus. The camera is unable to focus on its own. Nikon has said that I can ship it back (at my cost), they will REPAIR the camera AND I might receive it -fixed-in about one to two months. Needless to say, this does not make me happy. I am an avid Nikon user and obviously a fan; however, I am stunned about the customer service on this “new” product. Knowing others are in my same predicament does not bring about warm fuzzies. Sooo, I hope to be able to report back with better news – soon!

    Monique

    P.S.
    Please pass along, I love any book Scott writes! I have many and often refer to them. He is a superb author!!

11. monique, I feel your pain. It is very frustrating to get something new out of the box and have it not work only for the company to tell you that you have to send it in for “repair” instead of replacement.

    While we’re on the subject, I have a shoot this weekend that I plan on doing tethered. So I had to order the NEW Capture Control Pro 2 since version 1 doesn’t work with the d300. There was no upgrade on the Nikon site available. Nor a trial download. So I had to pay $180 plus shipping to get it here today. Then only to find out it doesn’t install on Leopard. ARGGGHHHH!

    Luckily I figured out a work around to get it to work, but it wasn’t fun and tech support (which was nice) wasn’t of much help. I was on my own to figure it out.

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13. Just got the D300 (had a D200 which I love) and I am BLOWING OUT THE COLORS (especially reds, purples, and oranges) on the first trials of photos. I have fooled with the white balance but that does not seem to be correcting my issues. I would love to have someone look at them and give me some assistance. I used Photoshop CS3 (with bridge) to correct the photos. I needed to change the exposure (darker) and decrease the saturation to improve the colors and details in the photos. I need some assistance in getting my camera set for these corrections.
    thanks………………….

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16. Greetings,
    Just got my D300, 70-200mm vr f2.8G if-ed. I shoot horse shows and sports. I too, had to go through the entire manual to set up. Am having some issues. Be careful which lens because some settings block others.
    Love the light in dark arenas, I still got alot of grain (I was pushing pretty hard). I was also having alot of blurrs in the wrong place. When 200mm is used, usually the background is blurred and the subject pops. I think the 3D setting
    averages the light, and even with center focus (forget 51 point, that throws it into a fit on a moving target), backgrounds were same as subject in light and focus. Does fire fast. Used the predicting focus and was a little better focus. Still very grainy.
    I ‘m getting HUGE light in dark areas without flash up to several hundred feet. Why or how do I get subject crisp? Out of hundreds of photos only a few were printable. I can’t figure out if the lens(supposed to be Fantastic) or the camera has issues.
    I need to shoot moving targets and they are not race car speed. what do you suggest?
    Thanks, Lena Roberts

17. Hey lena Roberts

    I have the same rig and I shot some kids dancing around in the dark. With strobes going off and all was good.

    I have not noticed your problems with the combo yet. At one point I got my diopter correction way out of whack and that panicked me for a few moments but that would not affect your image. Hmmmm! Is it possible that you have something set weird of that you AF cant run at such low contrast?

    If you go to monkeyboyphoto.com and click on MonkeyBoyPhoto.com at the top, you can see some candid shots with that setup and auto focus. Granted, she’s not moving but…

    Good Luck

18. Terry I read your reason for purchasing the D300 and it was exactly as if I wrote it myself. I keep my D80 at ISO 400 minimum and would love to go higher with similar low noise results. I didn’t D/L your photos and maybe they’re labeled, but I missed where you set the noise reduction. Was it off? Did you compare noise at different reduction settings? Thanks much – Andy

    PS I tried three of the Tamron 28-70 lenses (I really preferred this range) but got significant blurring at f2.8. Ended up with the Tamron 17-50 II and is is sharp across the board. I’m glad you got one of the good ones.

19. Nice shots Hellorusso!
    See! Thats what I want pushing to 6400, no strobe lights on a moving target in a dark arena!!! Is that too much to ask? Just kidding. Got an email from Nikon Tech, they are great! Send photo untouched, full size they can analyse every setting used. Thought I should turn off Active D-lighting was the only suggestion. I agreed I was shooting under xtreme conditions. Guess I still need to lug those strobe lights for coliseum work.
    Going to play with settings this week on less stressful conditions. I still love the camera, I just had to push it to the limit first up!
    Cheers!

21. Photo taken with my new d300.

22. I dropped an broke the case of my Fuji S2-Pro so I purchased my D300 on Dec 24. Please advise the basic settings for shooting on Automatic for the D300?

23. hi terry, i would like to know why all the people who write about new cameras, dont always tell the truth. the d300 is the best nikon digital i have used.
    when the d70 came out a lot of you guys said it was better than the d100, which in my opinion was,a lie.the d 300 is the only camera in the price range that takes better all around photographs than the d100. mine is up for sale. my d70 which i use a lot less than the d100 too

24. Lena it sounds like you really need a D3. 🙂
    I’m jealous. I love my d40 but would love the 300.

25. I just posted some new photos taken by the Nikon D300 at

    http://photocrumb.blogspot.com/

    I have also left my first impressions

26. New Sample photos taken by the Nikon D300 at

    http://photocrumb.blogspot.com/

27. Hey Rod a, well, I figured out alot since my last madness. I LOVE my D300. I turned off the D active lighting, shot HUGE files and with a small bit of photoshop, turned my so-so photos into money making shots. Actually decided that if I stay on my side of the arena and not shoot a football field away, I don’t have to push to 6400. So, it turns out that I CAN shoot a moving target in a dark coliseum with no strobe lights, and still have a “money shot”!! For the money, I would choose D300 over any of the multiple thousands “status” cameras, including the Mark III’s etc.( that was recalled ,
    how I came to purchase the D300 anyway).
    BYW, night time Christmas shots outside, ROCKED!!! When you get the opportunity go ahead and get the 300.
    CHEERS!

28. I bought my D300 on Nov. 27. Autofocus quit working after one month. On Jan. 8 I called Nikon USA Repair and told them (actually spoke to them twice that day–two different people. They both said–“Never heard of an autofocus problem with the D300.” Needless to say I don’t believe them. looking at this thread and others on the Internet, this problem was documented early on. I had to spend $50 to UPS it insured back to Nikon. They received it today and on their site my camera is reported to have non-functioning autofocus and will be repaired. Extremely poor customer service. Nikon should send me a new camera and refund the $50 I spent on shipping. By the way, I own a D200 and used to own a D70. I would not recommend the D300 to anyone until the autofocus problem is worked out. I believe there should be a recall of the earliest cameras manufactured. Unhappy is an understatement.

29. For those of you who are interested in discussing the D300 in more detail you should head on over to http://www.nikongear.com where there is a dedicated D300 (and D3) forum. Lot’s of interesting stuff coming to light about these new cameras.

30. Michael, my sympathies. Mine is going back tomorrow to Nikon in Tokyo where I live. Luckily I have a service center on my doorstep and one I am actually exhibiting in in April. So I am hoping for a short time for the camera to be in dry-dock.

    I had my D300 on November 22nd, the day before Nikon officially launched it so it may well be one with the same problem or similar as you have noted.

    My symptoms are such:

    Camera is in Single Servo mode for focussing and behaves like it is on Continuous Servo, i.e. hunting for focus even after I have focussed, heard the beep and depressed the shutter fully.

    Or, I have just taken a shot – again on Single Servo – and am holding the camera, not focussing or even with it up to my face, and it is focussing all by itself.

    Not happy but we shall see what happens at Nikon tomorrow.

31. So I have a quick question … Should I be using .NEF files straight out of my camera in Lightroom or am I better off using the Adobe proprietary .DNG and converting my .NEF files to that? I see many people on podacsts, etc. preaching .DNG, yet when they show their own set-ups in Lightroom for tutorials, etc., they all appear to be using .NEF. What’s the deal?!

32. Jason,
    Actually it’s the other way around .NEF is proprietary and .DNG (Digital Negative) is an open standard. I almost ALWAYS convert to .DNG during import into Lightroom. For one the files tend to be about 1MB smaller each (which adds up) AND .DNG files can contain the metadata of your corrections, keywords, etc. where .NEF can’t (you’ll see .xmp sidecar files).

33. Hi Terry,

    I wanted to write before to thank you on the Navigon review. I thought so much of it I went out and bought one, then wrote a review on it myself.
    http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=252016

    I see you shop at Adray’s. There was also an Adray’s here in Orange County, CA run by the brother of Michael Adray,who started the store in Detroit. This Adrays’s opened in the early 70’s and was a real hole-in-the-wall back then. I was a loyal customer for a year and then went to work for them in the camera department. Eventually I became store manager. I worked there almost 15 years (once for 10 years and again as manager for 5 years). I left in late ’97 and a year later (to the day) they closed shop.

    What’s funny is that I grew up in Redford Township not far from the Adray’s in Detroit. I suppose if the family had stayed in the Detroit area I would have ended up working for Adray’s anyway. Lol

    I just got a D300 from Nikon last week and I’m working on my review of that. I also did a review on the 21.1 megapixel Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, oh man, I loved that camera (and I’ve been a true-blue Nikon owner since the FM came out.)

    Keep up the good work. I’m looking forward to see what Adobe will do for the next version of Lightroom, I’ve been using it since the first beta was released to the public. My only gripe is that Brightness goes ballistic when you use Auto. So the first thing I do after I hit Auto is reset the Brightness. I haven’t figured out how to set it to not change Brightness in Auto. I have Camera Raw set up to work that way, I reverted to the first version in CS2 for the same Auto/Brightness problem. I really liked being able to check off which adjustments would be used in Auto in the early version of Camera Raw. I wish Adobe would let us control that in the new versions and in Lightroom.

    Sincerely,
    Robert Jensen

34. I got all excited about the D300 until I realized that in a very short while all small format cameras from P&S to the top of the line professional units will come with full-frame sensors. That said, I abandoned the D300, as the only lens I would consider using on it is the 17-55 and that won’t work on a D3 unless you shoot @ 5 mega-pix.
    So I thought about it and decided to follow Vincent Versace’s advice and get my last camera first [sort of an antiquated concept in this – the digital age] and buy the D3 with a couple of primes [28; 135, etc] as I can pretty much rent anything else I need if i’m shooting for $. Sad thing is, Nikon has no real primes to choose from. 28 f/2.8? 135 f/2 variable DOF? Huh. As I delved deeper into it it dawned on me that Nikon is probably going to start upgrading their lens line with some G-series glass – I would hope so anyway as their current line-up is tepid at best.
    Maybe I’m old school [25 years of professional experience] but I always buy the lens[es] first and build a system to use them with. In this case the choices are pretty obvious. Nikon is making some great strides and I’d really like to have a D3 but without the glass to support it I’m hanging with Canon. But, then again, maybe Nikon will surprise everyone with some killer glass @ PMA. Anyone heard any rumors? 8^)

35. Nice site.

    I got my D300 back in early December. I’ve had some spectacular shots with it. I stepped up from my D200. The 51pt auto focus is spectacular and the color rendition range is perfect for my taste.

    However, just recently, my autofocus will only focus in the top right corner on one spot. Nothing else works. I’ve tried about 4 different lenses but nothing works. Time to go to the shop. I hope they hurry!

36. Received my D300 three days ago. Wouldn’t focus on anything. Changing the lens didn’t matter. Called Nikon and the walked me thru resetting everything. Didn’t help. Said I should return the camera to place of purchase (Amazon). Kept trying and for no apparent it just started to focus properly. Now I’m wondering if I should return it now (Amazon is out of stock) or keep it and take my chances. Previously owned a D200 and D70.

37. I had a very similar experience happen to me last week. I was out of town and ready to shoot and no back up camera and it just wouldn’t focus I called Nikon and it still didnt work. I tried resetting it again and at 2 am it started to work. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. This is alsomy 4th Nikon camera.

38. Be very careful on the back of the camera is the dial which locks in so that the focusing can’t be moved to the 51 different points. It gets very frustrating and you don’t know what’s going on. It is placed in a poor position I wish I could turn off that dial so it wouldn’t lock in to the L position.

39. Of course once a camera “lets you down” can you really trust it? My D300 was unable to focus on anything for no apparent reason, even when all the factory defaults were reset. Then, just as unexpectedly, it starts working again. Who can have confidence in a camera like that? If my D300 does it again, its going right back to Amazon. If my 30 return period is up, its going back to Nikon. Hopefully the problem is behind me, however figure the odds. Everytime I have an assignment I’m going to be thinking “is this time time the focus will stop working.” Guess it would instantly send me back to the days when there was no autofocus! Wow …

40. Howard,

    I belive you’re wrong about the sensor sizes, especially when it comes to compact cameras. Read some of Thom Hogan’s thoughts on just that subject on his site.

    Terry, if you haven’t bought one of Thom Hogan’s eBooks on Nikon cameras you’re missing out on a great resource.

41. Dave,

    On your autofucus problem. I have a D300 I’m reviewing right now for DigitalMediaNet.com and at first thought I had the same problem only to find the solution in the menu settings under which buttons activate AF (the shutter release and/or the AF button on the rear of the camera). That MAY have been your problem. Another area I’d consider is the AF motor drive pin on the camera’s lens mount which may be slightly off center and not engaging with the slot on the back of the lens (assuming you have the type of lenses that use the mechanical AF coupling.) Yet another area I’ve found that can cause all kinds of weird problems is with the electrical connection between camera and lens. They should be cleaned periodically as any grease or dirt will mess with conductivity. I was in photographic sales for over 25 years and and two years after the first Minolta AF cameras came out there were suddenly a bunch of customers with problems. I cleaned their contacts and all was well again. Same goes for flash shoes too.

    Hope that helps if there are future problems.

42. Robert – Thanks for the informative feedback on my focus issue. I’ll keep it handy should the the problem return. I did reset the camera to factory default and it made no difference. And the lens did TRY to focus. It just couldn’t lock onto anything. As if you were trying to focus on a white wall, which of course I wasn’t. I put 58,000 shots on my D200 and never encountered this problem. Had the D300 out today and it worked perfectly. Thanks again for your time.

43. My boss and I are having the same problem with our D 300. Underexsposed frames and when you pull up the data it reads Aperture priority even when were in Shutter. We also just get Dashes for the Shutter speed and F stops in the data information. The other thing I noticed is on the top LCD the F-stop reads F triangle 6, and the focus locks up. We both got our original ones replaced and now it’s happening with the replacements. Any ideas? Were both baffled and frustrated.

44. Michael,

    That is unusual! I don’t know if you recorded the original cameras serial numbers and compared them to the new ones to see if they are out of the same batch.

    You might go over to the Nikonians website and see if anyone there has experienced this same problem. I’d also check over at DPReview D300 forum and ask Thom Hogan if he’s ever seen a similar problem. BTW, if you don’t know who Thom Hogan is, he’s one of the true gurus on Nikons and photography in general.

    One thing I’d ask myself is if there’s some common denominator or sequence of events that led up to the problem. One thing could be hooking a flash or studio strobe to the camera that has too high a triggering voltage and it damaged the electronics. (I still have an old Vivitar 283 that I have to use with a Wein SafeSync [highly recommended BTW] on all my modern cameras because it has a very high triggering voltage)

    Good luck!

45. Dave,
    On your autofocus issue, make sure that the Focus Mode Selector (the little switch on front of the camera beneath the lens on the right side of the camera when you’re looking it from the front) is NOT on “C” “C=Continuous Servo AF” and will cause the camera to continuously focus while the shutter is pressed. I flipped this switch by accident at some point and all of a sudden my camera wouldn’t lock in on anything. I flipped it back to “S” “S=Single-servo AF” and all is well again. Luckily I remembered the switch was there from day one as it was set on C right out of the box. It’s also easy to flip that switch when you taking the camera in and out of your camera bag.
    This feature is covered on page 62 of the manual.

46. Terry –
    Thanks for the tip. Now wouldn’t that be something. We do get a little excited taking new Nikon cameras out of the box. Your scenario is possible. I’d like to think that was the problem – sure would put my mind at ease. Should I experience it again I’ll be right back here to share my observations. I’ll be back in any case as this is a very useful site with experience and knowledgeable photographers. Thank you.

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48. Would anyone like to hazard a guess on how many camera’s are made for a first run and would the bugs be worked out on a second run?
    Kind of holding back on the purchase of the D300 but chomping at the bit to have one. Thanks to Terry and the rest of you for your thoughts and reports of problems on the Nikon.

    Cheer’s

49. Flip,

    From my years in photo retail I would say its a safe bet after the 6 month mark but Thom Hogan over at http://www.DPReview.com would be the one to ask. I consider him to be the best source for straight info on Nikon products. Other than one recent problem with exposures longer than 8 seconds, the fix for which Nikon posted last week, the D300 seems to be bug free.

    I just wrote a short review of the D300 and its pretty nice. The menu layout is not nearly as well done as say the Canon EOS-1 D or Ds Mark III’s and I wish they’d move the hard to use motordrive/Liveview/selftimer button/ring combo up to where the three setting buttons are (a 4th button would fit nicely there). The images I got from it were topnotch (but I’m still missing those 21.1 MP that the top of the line Canon puts out). The new AF system is the best I’ve used, the D-Lighting actually works. It comes with Capture NX for a short time and even though it takes some getting used to its a very powerful piece of software. In fact NIK just introduced the same U-point technology as a plug-in for Photoshop (the plug-in is actually $50 more than what you can regularly buy Capture NX for).

    If Thom Hogan ever puts out an eBook on the D300 get it. I own one for my old D100 and it wasn’t till I read his book that I really started getting the most out of my camera. I buy them for friends and family who step up to DSLR’s.

    Have fun with your new camera whenever you decide to get it. Stock up on a SB-600 or SB-800 and some good glass too.

    Robert

50. I have a 18-200 VR lens on my D300 when I put a 70-200 VR lens on I notice the field of view at 200 mm with the 70-200 is much smaller than the 200 with my 18-200. when I change the 70-200 to 135mm it equals the field of view I get with the 18-200 at 200. Please explain why the difference. When I talked with factory representative he said take it back and exchange for another lens. I tried this but got the same results.
    Thanks,
    Rocky MacDonald
    Rmacdonald2000@aol.com

51. Terry : I would like to see test on noise in pictures taken with higher ISO 800 and up, at speeds of less than 1/8th of a second or lower there is where the noise is more imminent
    Thanks

52. Awesome camera. Just bought 1 from here http://www.squidoo.com/the_best_dslr_camera and I’m really satisfied with it.

53. I just got my D300 yesterday. AWESOME! Loved the article on the GPS unit. I am ordering one today. I do a lot of fire scene photography and the GPS feature will come in very handy. Does anyone have any bad experiences with this camera? So far, I love it.

54. Hi Terry, nice review.
    I started my project Million Faces Project and every one has a chance to Win Nikon D300.

    http://www.millionfacesproject.com
    The main aim is to get one million faces. It is world wide attempt to create biggest image of Internet Users. Every one is welcome to take part in it.
    Submitting Your face will not only help to complete the project
    but is also a great chance to win great brand new camera Nikon D300.

    I hope You’ll like it.

    Regards
    Pabchu

55. Hi Terry,
    I am glad to find you. I read what you wrote a while back about noise with the Nikon D300. Do you still feel happy with your camera and shooting with a high ISO? I have the same camera and am very frustrated with having noise at 600-800. Is there something else that I could to to help this problem? I shoot with the best lenses and have read the manual twice. My shots don’t look clean and sharp at 600 ISO. I use CS3 to work on my batch of images and open the best images in photoshop. Could the problem be that I am using Bridge instead of lightroom?

    Thank you for any advise you could send my way!
    Lesley

56. Is there a way to become a content writer for the site?

57. Hello Terry,

    You are aware that Adray Appliances is going out of business. That’s were I’ve gone to buy my camera equipment. I currently use the Nikon D2h, would love to own the new D3 (one day). Can you recommend another camera store to shop at once Adray’s closes? BTW, I hope to be with you on July 18th…

    Thank,
    George

    1. George,
       I’m primarily using B&H Photo in NYC. Not very many local shops left in MI.

58. Autofocus problem just hit me. Camera is less than a year old. Hoping CostCo will do an exchange as I am leaving for Peru in 3 days. F you nikon.

59. Mea Culpa, the C-S-M switch must have gotten bumped in my camera bag.

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