Nikon D300 DX Review

Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) Review

Monday, October 12, 2009 by Smith | Posted in Best Nikon D300, Buy Nikon D300, Cheap Nikon D300, Discount Nikon D300, Looking for Nikon D300, Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

I have been a Canon user for over 15 years, I have shot on many cameras including Nikon, Olympus and Sony, but still I believed that the Canons (specifically the 5D and the 1D MkII) are/were the pinnacle of camera design and image quality that I have used.
Needless to say that opinion has now changed, for how long I can't be sure, but believe me when I say that it is tough not to give the camera five stars.
Superb build, ergonomics, image quality and the sheer amount of features put many other cameras to shame. There are a few features I would like to pull out for special attention that really sealed the deal; 3D Matrix Metering II and automatic in camera CA elimination (not just reduction, but elimination). Now I love my 17-55mm f2.8, but when it comes to CA it leaves a lot to be desired... Until now. JPEG's are simply amazing with the CA elimination, not to mention the active D-lighting (if you wish to have the benefits of these features for NEF files you HAVE to use Nikon's Capture NX, but more on that later).
The Matrix Metering used in this camera is the best I've used bar none, it is extremely accurate and it really will make you a better photographer (or some say a lazier photographer, lol).
I don't have to say much about the image quality of the D300, there are plenty of examples floating around the net, suffice to say it is very, very good.

Now, I do have a negative. Capture NX. It is a resource hog, also in my subjective opinion it can be an unintuitive nightmare. That doesn't mean that the images that it produces aren't any good, in fact they're great, if you want the most out of the camera (CA elimination and Auto D-Lighting) you will need capture NX. I also use Lightroom, Apple Aperture and Adobe RAW, oh how I wish that I could tap the CA and D-Lighting in those programs - it would mean that I could avoid Capture NX completely. But I can't.

Now there are some around here who would toss irrelevant comments at me for such a knock (Capture NX is free! or some such nonsense), but the reality is that many don't own an application such as Aperture or Lightroom, they really need this software to get the most from their camera purchase, which is not an insignificant dollar amount. I thank Nikon for finally realizing that Capture should come bundled with it's camera, but there is still some work to be done regarding it's performance in terms of speed of use and it's huge resource requirements. As a serious photographer I can't bear the thought of the horrendous time wasted waiting for changes to occur to my image in NX, but when some of the cameras best features will only be achieved through NX, it seems I don't have a choice.

I was tempted to drop the rating to four stars because of the software, considering I can't do four point five stars; but A)It's harsh on the camera, and B)Giving the camera four stars is like bait to the Nikon fanboys, if you don't believe me look at some of the flaming in those four star reviews. They would probably just add a dose of unnecessary idiocy to a simple question; Is it a worthy purchase? Yes, yes it most certainly is.Get more detail about Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only).