D300s Quick Tour
Here’s the D300 and D300s side by side.
D300 is on the left.
Both cameras are roughly the same weight. The D300 weighs only about 7 grams more – 925g – versus the 918g of the D300s (that’s with the EN-EL3a battery installed.)
Nikon has made some slight changes to the control layout, particularly on the rear, but the differences are pretty minor.
D300s on the right. Note the D-pad change and the info button.
The D300s now has a center button on the D-pad on the right, which is configurable, but defaults to select, which is much easier than the D300, which requires you to press the separate OK button. The info button now lives on its own, on the lower right. Those are really the only major changes, other than the battery door latch. The D300 required you to flip a latch lever, which popped open the door. The D300s uses a friction latch, so you just slide the door towards the rear of the body and it flips open. I much prefer this to the goofy D300 latch switch.
From the top, both bodies are nearly identical. There are now some minor differences in what’s shown on the top LCD display, and the additional “Q” for quiet release setting.
Very similar from the top.
Overall, the cameras look and feel quite similar, which is no big surprise. Of course, the D300s also supports the much ballyhooed (by Nikon) video mode. I’m curious about that feature, but don’t really know if I’ll make much use of it, although I did pick up a Rode VideoMic so I could fool around with shooting video without worrying about the shutter noise.
The D300s adds an SD card slot in addition to the compact flash (CF) slot. You can configure the different cards for different purposes – using the SD card as backup, using one card to record photos, while the other card records videos, and so on.
So that’s a very fast tour of the D300s, as compared to the D300. Let’s talk performance and handling, in the context of what I generally shoot.
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4 comments
Tim Adams says:
September 14, 2009 at 4:29 pm (UTC -7 )
Hey loyd,
Been following you from ExtemeTech day’s was sad to see the that end,
especially enjoyed podcasts… you allowed me to embrace my midlife geekery.
Caught your guest appearance on Tech Report leading me here.
Anywaaay…My daughter just finishing high school sports last year and now is participating at college level. I have spent the last 4 years in dimly lit indoor arenas trying to get high quality results. Shooting fast action indoors sports is always a challenge, even for the pro’s. Shooting action indoors requires fast shudder speeds, fast glass and strobe if allowed.
Some of nikon’s older prime lenses 85mm 1.8 & 50mm 1.4, are fast & affordable, though these are “D” type lens’s and focus is pin driven from camera body, thus slower than “S” type, but they do offer 2-3 stops which as you know is huge. Depth of field does become a issue at these aperatures but with good technique & timing you can achieve some high quality results.
If allowed I prefer to use 2 to 4 sb800′s with justin clamps (clipped on to any available support). If line of sight is good ( meaning your commander or on camera flash can see your remote unit) you can use Nikon’s CLS system, but CLS is not really designed for sports action photography. I found Paul C. Bluff Cybercync’s are small & inexpensive & are rated to to work up to 800 ft. as a good solution reliably remotely trip my sb’s.
With the SB’s You wont be able to run 7-8 frames per second as you do shooting with a high iso but if you can balance your ambient light with strobes you can get 2-3 frames per second.
Both these options will yield better results keeping your iso down and reducing noise.
Strobes are a little more work, but hey what’s a photo geek to do?
All the best and continued success
Tim Adams
Loyd Case says:
September 14, 2009 at 5:17 pm (UTC -7 )
Hi, Tim:
I know of others who use primes, particularly the 85mm f1.4. But I like the flexibility of zooms, so stick with those.
When I was shooting volleyball, it was actually against the rules to use speedlights. So while they’re great for freezing action, I wasn’t able to actually make use of them. So fast lenses and high ISOs was the rule of the day. I use a pair of Nikon speedlights in my product shoots, coupled with reflective umbrellas (an SB-900 and an SB-800). Commander mode is terrific; I just could never use them for shooting volleyball.
Here’s a link to some of my volleyball shots:
California State Championships last year:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casehouse/sets/72157610820528929/
California Central Coast Section Championships:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casehouse/sets/72157609913998324/
Jon Lusty says:
September 18, 2009 at 6:37 pm (UTC -7 )
Loyd,
Thank you much for this write-up on the D300s. I’ve had a D50 since it first came out and its been an excellent cam for me these past 4 years or so. However, I’m wanting to move up from 6MP (to allow for larger prints) and D-Lighting has appeal as well. Your impressions come at just the right time for me, right when I was trying to decide D300s or D90. I’m going with the D300s for the extra flexibility.
Hope all is going well with you post-ET. Seems you’ve landed on your feet! I think you should guest on This Week in Photography sometime. You’d fit right in with that confab, me thinks.
Jon in Minnesota
Loyd Case says:
September 18, 2009 at 7:08 pm (UTC -7 )
The one thing you should know is that the D300 has none of automated settings that your D50 has. No “sports” or “portrait” modes, for example. There is a program mode, for quick shots. But you’ll need to set up individual groups of settings (called custom banks) for your favorite scenarios.
So the learning curve is steeper, but the rewards are greater.
One other note: it’s hard to quantify, but once you climb a little of that learning curve, the 51-point metering is much more usable than the 11-points in the D90. The more granular points, combined with center-weighted or spot metering, give you tremendous control over lighting (though matrix metering can be very useful, too.)