A "semi-pro" Nikon, familiar to anyone who's used one in the past 11 years.

Almost identical in layout to my D700, makes switching between cameras easy.

Does 6FPS by itself, 8FPS with the MB-D10 battery pack and EN-EL4 battery. (It needs the big battery to go faster, just using the grip with AA's or a single EN-EL3 won't do it.)

Meters with and has settings to store for manual focus lenses.

Shutter is rated to 150,000 frames.

Heavy duty build, weather sealing and magnesium alloy body.

Dual card slots, so you can use SD/Compact flash either as backups or an automatic "spill over" if you run out. Backup is most useful, in my experience unless you're shooting video, your daily job is taking pictures, or you never download most mortals won't fill up even a 16GB card.

"D-lighting," to enhance dynamic range. I have mixed feelings about this, I like it to lessen blown highlights but overdone it makes images low on contrast, sometimes you like strong shadows. I usually leave it on the low setting.

High ISO that was good for the day but now is so-so. My main objection is at 2000 and above or in dim lighting you start getting muddy colors and yellow blotches. How bad this is depends on your preferences and the type of photo.

People coming from a D200 will be blown away at how much better it is. Compared to a contemporary D90 it's apples-n-oranges, maybe a slight edge to the D90. Ultimately the ISO performance was my biggest decision to make in getting the 300s, and it finally came down to I already had a camera for good low light shots.

Movie mode---where to begin? The 300s offers an "improved algorithm" to reduce the jelly banding/wobbles that plagued the D90, and an external microphone jack. In those respects the 300s is an improvement; wobble is reduced but is still present if you're unsteady. The fame rate is only 24FPS so you will get jerkiness on fast moving objects or if the camera moves very much.

Two camps have come up about movie mode in DLSR's; one that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, the other that it's a gimmick. After two years with a D90 and now the 300S I'm leaning towards gimmick. The biggest advantage is using interchangeable lenses for limited depth of field, low light, etc. Otherwise you're better off with a generic camcorder for casual use or spending the money on a high end one with it's own interchangeable lenses if you're that serious.

The next big gimmick is full-time auto-focus, all I can say is look at the sample videos if you really think it's an improvement.

So aside from my soap box rant about movie mode my only real criticism of the 300s is the ISO, in all other respects it's a good semi-pro camera.

The D300s is a product improved D300, featuring a movie mode, "info" button, horizon indicator, and so on. Technology wise it's state of the art for 2007.

It was a follow-on to the successful D200, and is in every way a major improvement. It still holds it's own today, especially for action and sport shooting.

The "why" for me on getting this camera is as a backup for my D700. The real deal breaker was frame rate and compatibility with manual focus lenses. I had a real thought about whether to get this or the D7000. The 7000 has a better movie mode (more on that in a bit) and in the photos released so far it's a stop better in high ISO, and since I do a lot of shooting in poor light that was a big consideration.

I finally opted for the 300S because it was compatible with my existing battery grip and memory cards, could give 8 frames a second, and no matter how much better the 7000 was in ISO it still won't compare to the full frame 700. I have a gut feeling the 7000 won't be as good as some people hope, time will tell if I eat my words.

Customer Service

Haven't used.

Similar Products Used:

D90, D700, D1H, D50, Kodak DCS-620, lots of others.

Ergonomics and feel

Raw files demand update to Mac OS Snow Leopard.
Auto focus at indoor sports event where the lighting is not very good, at Lea Valley stadium, was poor.

Used as carry camera and back up to Nikon D3

Similar Products Used:

D3, D300, D2h

Build Quality
D300s is well built with metal body and weather sealing. The MB10 grip is a big improvement on the D200 grip for; however removing the grip to get aces to the battery is inconvenient.

Features
The Big difference with the D300 is the dual memory Cards, Live view and Video. The D300 has a LV button and the video is very easy to operate.

Video
I've been happy with the video output; its very controllable and high enough quality for occasional use. I've used the video much more than I expected although a tripod is needed. Its hard to keep the camera steady as you have to hold it away from your body.

Speed
With up to 8FPS it’s fast and with 100 frame buffer and superb focusing system its excellent for sport or wildlife.

Battery Consumption
The D300 has an excellent battery capacity and will work well with Alkaline of lithium AA cells (with MD10 Grip) this lends itself well for extended use in areas without need for charging. 900 images per battery will last for several days if necessary. AA cells will work if required.

Usability
The D300 is complex; and not a beginners camera. I struggled at first with the settings to get decent colour and contrast with the D300S.

Colour
The D300s isn’t bad; but when compared with my Fuji S5 the colours can look muddy and over contrasty especially at high ISOs You get impact for sport but it lacks smoothness for portraits; that can look look harsh.

Dynamic and Tonal Range
The D300 does not cope so well as the Fuji S5 with difficult light. Nikon have made an attempt with D Lighting which works without burning out highlights too much; but shadows can look too dark for my taste.

Low light Performance
Some say the D300 is very good in this respect; especially when compared to earlier Nikon SLRs. The image quality falls far behind the S5 at 1000 ISO and above. Noise and muddy colours become more apparent with 3200 being unusable.

I recently bought a Nikon D300s as a second camera for wildlife and sport. I Chose the S version as I anded dual memory cards and the video facility.

I have used Fuji Pro SLR cameras since 2003; I have some observations on the D300s that may be of value. I have spent three months using the D300 Camera now with 7000+ shots. The D300 is a fast performer with a superb focusing system and build quality.

Its image quality colours and low light contrast control is significantly better then the old D200; but it in is not good as the Fuji S5.

It ’s a tool that does the job; has all the bells and whistles that many photographers want; but just doesn’t have the colour quality under less than ideal conditions.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Fuji S5 Pro Digital SLR
Fuji S2 Pro Digital DLR

1) Fast, this D300s has the 51 point focus of it's big brothers and uses it well.
2) Color balance!! The firmware version for the D300s is amazing. I don't normally shoot in auto white balance when shooting weddings -- but I tried it out and was completely blown away. Auto white balance is far more accurate than the Auto setting on the D700 and produces some great images without tweaking.
3) Uses D700 accessories like the battery grip and fast battery -- so I can switch when needed.
4) Uses DX glass and gives more reach with my telephoto lenses
5) Compact, with DX glass (or a fixed 50 f1.4) and no grip the 300s is fairly small
6) Tough, nice magnesium chassis can take lots of use.

1) Doesn't have the same view finder as the D700 -- not a major complaint, but I had gotten used to the round eye piece.
2) ISO performance is good, but not at the level of the older brothers (D700, D3). If Canon can step up the high ISO performance on a crop sensor -- Nikon needs to take it up another notch too.

When I dropped my D700 with the AFS 24-70 (in a camera bag) I lost the use of my full frame camera since the 24-70 is my only medium zoom for a full frame sensor. I debated whether to buy another lens or go for a pro-level DX sensor body. I'm glad I chose the later. The D300s is an amazing little body. It doesn't have the high ISO capability of the D700 and the image quality is different (not better or worse, just different) than the D700. I've shot several thousand frames at work through it and and other thousand or so shooting wildlife (the crop sensor makes my 200-400 VR just a little bit longer). ;)

I can safely say that I didn't miss any shots while my lens was getting repaired and found a couple of really great features in the D300s (listed below).

Customer Service

Haven't used with this body. But recent experience getting the above mentioned AFS 24-70 f/2.8 fixed and an SB900 flash gun fixed has shown that even with NPS membership the customer service was very good.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon D80
Nikon D700