Hi Larry:
How do you like the 300? Any issues? I am starting to get serious about purchasing one.
Also, the only places I purchase camera gear from are a local retailer I have used for years and Reef Photo for diving specific items. The cost is a bit higher, but the service, support, and technical help is well worth it for me.
Cheers,
Dan
I don't have a big point of comparison, as my previous digital cameras were a really early upper end Sony 2.1mp DSC f55, which took terrific pictures for what it was. I currently use my SP-350 under water. For two years it was my topside camera as well. My complaint with both was lack of speed and zoom capabilities and relatively slow focus.
The D300 shoots like a machine gun. Even in RAW, with std. battery and a max JPEG back-up it will fire off a few shots per second. In JPEG of any size, the problem is it shoots so fast that I end up having to cull 1500 pictures when I get home after a 3 day excursion. My biggest complaint with shooting a DSLR in general is that focus and light sensitivity are so dependent on the lens, and the cheapest lens costs more than my p & s did. Also, at low ISO's, my little Olympus seems to gather light a bit better. Finally, the smaller lens on the P & S in general is more versatile. The focal range is wider at pretty much all f-stops.
On the other hand, the D300 has an incredibly wide range of lenses available if you can afford them. The dynamic range adjustment is great. The 18-200VR is a versatile lens, but not fabulous. It has really nice contrast and given the ability to fire off 6 shots a second, you can handhold it and make sure you get one sharp shot, but it isn't as sharp as it could be at the long end. Wish I could afford the 80-400VR. If you can pop for the $1400, I'd get that instead of the 18-200 and then get a narrower but sharper lens to do the wide end. Battery life is excellent. Topside, I've gone 3 weeks with about 1500 pictures without changing the battery, and I tend to leave the camera on. The menu is excellent, though I really haven't figured out how to program my personal settings in like the MyMode on my Olympus. I've been too lazy to sit down and read the whole advanced instruction book. Maybe I'll pick up one of those video instruction manuals now that the camera's been out for a while and everyone should have them. I love the versatility. One of my favorite set-ups has been with my e-bay $100 Tokina 400 f5.6 prime manual focus lens. The D300 has settings for non CPU lenses. All you have to do is set for the lens and the camera will meter it in aperture mode. I took a bunch of pictures with it at the Infineon superbike race last month, and though the contrast of the lens could be better, I had no problem keeping focused. I haven't used the live view a lot because the view finder is very nice (and adjustable for your eyes) but I found it very useful for the overhead shots and such that it is designed for, and it's quite easy to use. I do miss the ability to focus on the screen that I had on the p & s, but you can see the focus better in the viewfinder anyway. Maybe if I had 30 year old eyes instead of 55, it wouldn't be a problem. Hope that helps. If I didn't answer your question adequately, feel free to delve further.
