Nikon D300s

Nikon D300s

I love my D40, but I felt that I needed more features.  It's not that the image quality is bad, but I needed a faster frame rate, faster AF, and more buttons and switches to change settings.  The latter was the biggest reason for an upgrade.  I was sick of digging in menus to make a change only to miss the shot.

I mentioned in the previous post that I was considering the Nikon D300s.  Well, I finally pulled the trigger and got one.  My first impression of the camera was that it felt better in my hand.  The D40 is on the small side, and as a result, I never felt like I had a good grip when holding the camera.  I always wore the camera strap around my neck for security.  Now, with the D300s, I don't feel so wary of dropping the damn thing.

MB-D10 Battery Pack

The D300s is easily Nikon's best DX camera.  It shoots at an amazing 7 fps (frames per second) out the box, and 8 fps with the optional MB-D10 Battery Pack (but only if you use the EN-EL4 batteries which cost over $100, and then you have to buy the battery holder for the EN-EL4 which cost another $40).  I purchased the MB-D10 and a EN-EL3e battery for extended shooting.  The other reason that I like the MB-D10 is that it has a shutter release button, and a direction control pad, positioned for shooting in the vertical orientation.  Another cool thing about the MB-D10 (compared to the MB-D80 and MB-D200) is that you don't have to open the battery compartment door on the camera to remove it.

One feature that I didn't really care about was the ability to shoot video.  Although, once I got the camera and played with the video, I found it be be quite useful for capturing quick movie clips.  The D300s records HD video at 720p and 24 fps.  Unfortunately, due to the CMOS chip (among other reasons) the video suffers from the "rolling shutter" effect.   I used the video feature while on a recent photo shoot, but I didn't get much footage because I kept forgetting that it had video capability.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Nikon D300s.  I love the controls, frame rate, and the rich colors and image quality.  Furthermore, the ISO performance is better than that of the D40.  Someone asked if I wanted to sell the D40, and before they finished the question, I dropped a quick and precise...HELL NO!  The D40 (and the D70 I believe) has one important feature that no other camera has - a 1/500 sec. sync speed.  I recently picked up a set of CyberSync flash triggers, and with the D40, I can shoot up to 1/2500 second.  That's perfect for taking the daytime sky and making it darker.  I plan to use the D40 and my Nikon 35/1.8 to do some street photography.  The small size of the camera/lens combo makes it the perfect walk-around setup.  I'll be using the D300s for most everything else.  Besides, I'm not willing to walk around in a city and take the risk of my new "Baby" being stolen!

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