Nikon D3 and D300… Big News from Nikon! (Cont’d)

Picking up where I left off from looking at the new Nikon D3, the new Nikon D300 is almost impressive as the D3 for different reasons. The D300 is basically an up-dated D2Xs at a third of the D2Xs’ original price! I think D2Xs owners will really want to consider up-grading to the D300. That’s right, I said up-grading!

Consider that the D300 has the following (and the D2Xs doesn’t):

- the new CAM 3500 51 point auto-focus system that is in the D3 flagship

- a new 12 Mega Pixel sensor which is better than the D2Xs’ and the D200’s from all initial reports

- the same new 920,000 pixel 3” LCD that the D3 flagship has

- LiveView

- Nikon’s new Scene Recognition System (SRS)

- Nikon’s new Dynamic Dust Reduction System

Now, what would you buy? A D2Xs or a D300? For me, the answer is pretty obvious… the D300 wins. I’d love to hear the argument for buying the D2Xs over the D300 if there’s anyone that disagrees. Frankly, I’d be surprised if someone could make a valid argument for the D2Xs over the D300. Obviously if you already own a D2Xs, the situation is a little different. What to buy once the D300 is on store shelves shortly is a no-brainer for me, but I think current D2Xs owners may want to consider the D300 as well, either as an addition or as an up-grade.

Frankly, I’m impressed that Nikon has set another benchmark for DSLR excellence. They’ve put their top of the line AF system in their $2000 range entry. The D200 had a dummed-down AF system in comparison to the D2Xs. Now, the D300 shares the best of Nikon’s auto focus with its D3 big brother. Impressive! Not only is this excellent news for soon-to-be D300 owners, its great news for the industry in general. This puts pressure on Canon and the other players in the DSLR arena to offer more in their lower end as well, which is good for us, the consumers!

The big question for me is the sensor. Nikon has been playing second-fiddle to Canon in this area for a while now. The D200 and the D2Xs had poor high iso noise qualities, and many a low-light shooter has migrated to Canon as a result (case in point… me). With this new 12MP sensor in the D300, I hope Nikon has leveled the playing field, but I have my concerns. The Mk3 is phenomenal at high iso, and while I am reasonably certain the D3 will be it’s equal (if not its better), I’m not sure about the D300 with its 12MP crop sensor. I would’ve been happier if Nikon had kept the D300 at 10MP and improved the high iso. I am hopeful though. If they can at least hit 30D high iso quality, I think most folks will be happy. If they hit Mk3 / 40D high iso quality with the D300, I’ll be both impressed and blown away!

The rest of the new features are a great addition. The new LCD looks like another area that Nikon will be making the competition pull up their socks. LiveView sounds really cool, and I can’t wait to try it out. I can think of lots of times when it will come in handy, most specifically when I’m shooting weddings. SRS doesn’t really shake my tree like the other new features, but who knows… maybe I’ll change my mind once I’ve seen what it can do. Same with the Dust Reduction System… it’s a welcome addition, but so far, nobody but Olympus seems to have done it right. Come on Nikon! Blow me away with this one too.

Nikon D3 and D300… Big News from Nikon!

Nikon set the photography world on fire this past week with their announcements for the new D3 and D300 DSLR’s. With the D3, Nikon has finally ventured into the world of full frame digital, a long awaited and much anticipated event for Nikon shooters. The D300 is a welcome surprise as well. The successor to the D200, it ups the ante and sports the same new auto-focus system that the D3 has.

The D3’s full frame, FX format, 12 Megapixel CMOS sensor is the real big news with this new DSLR from Nikon. Until now, Canon has been the only real player in the “full frame” DSLR arena. The development of a full frame Nikon DSLR has been rumoured for some time and has been the subject of many a heated online discussion. Now that it’s here, not only has Nikon done FF, it’s reported to be VERY good at high iso, something the D200 and D2Xs were not. To tease us even further, the D3 has a high iso setting of 25, 600!

Initial reports are even indicating that it’s better than Canon’s new 1D MkIII at high iso, something that, if it’s true, will make big waves in the world of wedding and sports photographers.

The D3 sports some other impressive specs besides its new sensor. It’s the first DSLR to have dual CF cards slots. Canon’s 1D series have had dual slots for a while now, but they were a CF & SD combination. With the D3, we now have the ability to use two CF cards, which remain the preferred digital media of choice for professional photographers. Those SD cards are just too darn small!

Nikon set the photography world on fire this past week with their announcements for the new D3 and D300 DSLR’s. With the D3, Nikon has finally ventured into the world of full frame digital, a long awaited and much anticipated event for Nikon shooters. The D300 is a welcome surprise as well. The successor to the D200, it ups the ante and sports the same new auto-focus system that the D3 has.

The D3’s full frame, FX format, 12 Megapixel CMOS sensor is the real big news with this new DSLR from Nikon. Until now, Canon has been the only real player in the “full frame” DSLR arena. The development of a full frame Nikon DSLR has been rumoured for some time and has been the subject of many a heated online discussion. Now that it’s here, not only has Nikon done FF, it’s reported to be VERY good at high iso, something the D200 and D2Xs were not. To tease us even further, the D3 has a high iso setting of 25, 600!

Initial reports are even indicating that it’s better than Canon’s new 1D MkIII at high iso, something that, if it’s true, will make big waves in the world of wedding and sports photographers.

The D3 sports some other impressive specs besides its new sensor. It’s the first DSLR to have dual CF cards slots. Canon’s 1D series have had dual slots for a while now, but they were a CF & SD combination. With the D3, we now have the ability to use two CF cards, which remain the preferred digital media of choice for professional photographers. Those SD cards are just too darn small!

Also new with the D3, and shared with it’s little brother the D300, is a new 920,000 pixel LCD. Initial testers and those lucky enough to get a hands-on play have said this new LCD is nothing short of incredible. It’s sharp and vivid, in fact Nikon has coined the phrase “stunning” to describe it. Featuring a 170 degree angle of viewing, I think D3 and D300 users will be in for a real treat when they first see an image on this new LCD!

The Auto Focus system has gotten an up-grade too! For a while now, many thought the D2X’s auto-focus was the best out there, and then the 1D MkIII came along and trumped it. It may well be a short-lived victory however, as the new 51 point Multi-Cam 3500 in the D3 (and D300 suprisingly enough) is reputed to take the lead in AF once again.

It’s interesting to note that this is another first for Nikon. Previously, the D2 series had the best AF Nikon had to offer, and the D200 had a simpler version that was good, but not as good. Now the new D300 shares the same top-of-the-line AF system as the D3. A good day for shooters everywhere as this pushes advancements down the line and will put pressure on Canon and other manufacturers to improve their lower end models.

And then there’s Liveview, a new feature that allows the user to focus with the new 920,000 pixel LCD instead of through the viewfinder. There’s two modes… a tripod mode and a hand-held mode, which is apparently necessary due to the complexity of this type of focusing and its inability to deal with motion. Regardless, it’s always nice to see progressive technology being introduced.

The D3 sports a new processing engine called Expeed. It works with 12 and 14 bit information to process an image, and Nikon has hinted at better sharpness and CA control, as well as increased dynamic range. All in all, it will be interesting to see just who much more advanced the D3’s image files are than the previous generation.

To top of my list of things that interest me on the D3, is a bigger and sharper viewfinder, always a welcome addition to any camera. Big and bright is beautiful in the realm of viewfinders. While I don’t mind shooting with some of the lower-end models that sport smaller and dimmer viewfinders, the difference is always noticeable when I pick up a higher-end model and I can see again!

And oh yeah… lest I forget, there’s a new piece of software called Nikon ViewNX. Sound familiar? Nikon View was always a personal favourite of mine, and like many, I was disappointed when Nikon discontinued it. Well, now it’s back in a new incarnation, and from initial reports, it sounds like an improvement over the old View which can only be good news!

Stay tuned as I’ll be looking at the D300 next...