Nikon D300 Body Only

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At the D300s’s lowest ISO sensitivity setting of 100 (equivalent) dynamic range is reduced, because rather than being a ‘native’ setting, ISO 100 is achieved by underexposure, followed by adjustment to give a ‘correct’ exposure. This process clips highlight detail significantly. The availability of a Virtual Horizon is one of the few improvements the Nikon D300s boasts over its predecessor. It is a levelling tool that debuted in the manufacturer's FX cameras – the D300s is the first DX body to offer it. The Virtual Horizon is a useful aid to avoid slanted horizons and bevelled verticals, although given that it only indicates left/right tilt, it is ultimately less sophisticated than the dual-axis electronic level gauge found on the Olympus E-30 and E-P1 cameras. Thank God for this. These focusing and composition improvements alone would be enough reason to buy a D300. The single button zooming on review images and live view is a great improvement on the older press and turn the command wheel system and the navigation of the highlight area is more rapid too.

Single, continuous (Hi/Lo selectable, 6fps for 100 frames (JPEGs and 12-bit NEF), 2.5 fps (14 bit NEF) Shot at ISO 800 and 14bit this image, taken in mixed lighting at a fashion show, shows no sign of colour noise and still retains good detail. Shooting in 14bit mode has retained both highlights and shadow detail . At high ISOs, though, the cameras showed different noise-reduction characteristics. The Sony showed markedly higher levels of luminance noise and some loss of detail. The Nikon suppressed noise much more effectively that the Sony and retained sharp detail even at the highest ISOs. At the same time, though, overall saturation was reduced, together with some of the textural detail. Inevitably, the D300s shares much of its specification with the now discontinued D300. However, because it is a new camera, I will still go over the key features of the D300s in full, albeit with more emphasis on the new aspects of the specification. Nikon D300s Sensor and ISOHowever the arrival of the distinctly pro-targetted Canon EOS 7D and the accomplished but more wallet-friendly Pentax K-7 could make Nikon's gentle refresh of the D300 look insufficient. (Due to the similarities between the two cameras, some product images come from the D300 review) Model line history

As always, switching to Daylight WB ensures that images take on a more realistic hue that represents the actual temperature of the light, but the very warm Cloudy WB preset should be avoided except in very overcast conditions. In direct sunlight, there is very little difference between the AWB and Daylight WB settings, and if anything, AWB tends to give a slightly warmer, more atmospheric result. Perhaps the most important new feature is the D300s' movie mode. Whilst the D300 was strictly a stills camera, the D300s can also shoot 720p high-definition video at 24 frames per second. Its movie mode is thus quite similar to that of the D90 and the D5000, with two notable differences. One is that apart from the built-in monaural microphone, the D300s also offers a stereo sound recording option via an all-new stereo mic input. The separately sold external microphone can be mounted to the flash hot-shoe – a sensible design solution given that you don't use flash while recording video anyway. The other difference versus the D90 and the D5000 is that you can use autofocus while filming, by way of pressing the AF-ON button. Don't get too excited about this option though – the contrast-detect autofocus method employed is so slow that there is no way it can keep up with anything that moves; which makes it completely useless for video. Really, it seems as if Nikon took an “if-that's-what-you-want-you-can-have-it” approach to providing AF for movies, without doing anything to make it actually useful. Key to the Nikon D300s specification is its 12.3-million-pixel CMOS sensor, which is the same unit as that fitted to the D300, and (minor tweaks notwithstanding) the D90 and D5000. Its ISO sensitivity range spans ISO 200-3200, with ‘lo’ and ‘hi’ extension settings adding ISO 100 and 6400 (equivalent) to the range. However, obviously the sensor in the D300s does something that its predecessor could not – it records video footage. Nikon D300s Video

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The D300s’s ‘fine tune optimal exposure’ custom function allows the camera’s metering system (in any or all of its three metering patterns) to be universally biased up to ±-1EV in 1/6EV increments. Continuous Shooting