WooHoo!! Got me a new camera

Nforce

I've just done a deal to buy a used Nikon D300 . Up until now I've been using a new D80 (only 1800 actuations so far) but have been lusting after the D300's. Anyone here got any advice/pointers on this camera?


Also, bought a SB-600 this week. It's gonna be like xmas all over next week when the courier arrives!:pac:

Rb

Congrats, have fun!

Nforce

Thanks Rb , I certainly will do:cool:

Now to start saving for F2.8 glass

Ricky91t

Congrats Nforce a decent bit of kit from what i've seen/heard

What do you mainly shoot and what f/2.8 glass you looking to get(i'm just being nosey :pac: )

Nforce

Cheers,Ricky...I'm interested in shooting aviation pics....and would like to possibly get into motorsport photography too. The faster fps will help. At the moment I've got a 70-300vr f4-5.6 and am hoping to pick up a Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 at some stage.

Tallon

Happy snappin, can't wait to see what you produce!

Nforce

Thanks Tallon :cool:

I've only just seen that link in Ricky's sig..........could have done with that when I was logged into Paypal earlier!:eek::o

Nforce

The body has ~7k actuations, and has had a recent Nikon service. What's the body rated to...~100k?

Ricky91t

Nforce wrote: »

Thanks Tallon :cool:

I've only just seen that link in Ricky's sig..........could have done with that when I was logged into Paypal earlier!:eek::o

Pretty handy alright,:D

The 80-200 should be perfect on the D300 is it 5fps?And 8 with a nikon grip or something...?

Kbeg3

Ricky91t wrote: »

The 80-200 should be perfect on the D300 is it 5fps?And 8 with a nikon grip or something...?

6fps and 8 with grip and D3 battery

Nforce

I'll definitely be fitting the grip. I've one fitted to the D80 at the moment and find it more ergonomic.:)

PC - Dublin

Best of luck with the new camera.

mrmac

Congrats on making a wise decision
I've a D300 and I'm still amazed at how many features the thing has!

Get yourself a copy of Thom Hogans Complete Guide to the D300 - it's a great reference. Make sure you get the Second Edition of this book as it deals with the Firmware 1.10 update (which you should update your camera to, if not there already).

The 70-300 VR is a decent lense, you should get some good results with that.

I've recently got a Sigma 70-200 f2.8, and it's nice and quick for motorsport
BUT, the D300 plus the lense, feels like a ton weight when worn for awhile! That's without using an added grip! So if you're planning a day out, get yourself a sturdy monopod, you'll thank me later.......

I find the handling of the D300 is great, without the grip, and a little too big with it on, but that's just me. Plus, I've programmed the AF-ON button for continuous focus, which I really like using - can't do that with the added grip. The standard EN-EL3e battery will easily get you 300-400 large RAW + Jpeg shots, using a lot of zoom, with continuous focus! Not bad eh? A second battery would be a wiser buy, than getting a grip. You can always get a grip later on, and use the second battery then.

That is unless you REALLY NEED 8fps?

I'm now on the look out for a 50mm f1.4 AF-S (also have a D60), and a Sigma x2 TC, which should keep me content for a day or two

Let me know if there's any thing I can help you with?

Nforce

Thanks a million mrmac, exactly the sort of info I needed. I've already ordered the Thom Hogan guide and am mulling over the Magic Lantern guide too. Batteries shouldn't be an issue as I've got a bunch of them for the D80 (wish I could say the same about CF cards ). I'll try it without the grip for a while and see how I get on.
A decent zoom F2.8 lens and TC are on my list :cool:. I'd seriously considered going for a D700 instead, but the dreaded recession has put that plan to rest. Anyhow, I think the D300 will suit my needs just fine.:)

Thanks again,folks

pixbyjohn

Best of luck with the D300. I got the D700 and the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 and am really very happy, buying the Nikkon 24-70 f2.8 within the next few weeks. Have a 17-55 f2.8 DX on my D80. I love the D80 but am getting used to the D700.

Nforce

Cheers,John. You've got a sweet range of glass there....wanna swap camera bags?:p:D Best of luck with the new 24-70mm :cool:

mrmac

The D700 is full frame, so you're chatting a whole different price structure there! No DX lenses for a start, but sure, maybe when I win the lotto

I don't know what the Magic Lantern DVD is like, but I've a 2 disc one by Elite Video. Fairly basic stuff, but does help figure out the cameras functions quickly.

Have a look at the reviews of the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. I'm getting great results with the D300 and the D60! Plus it's a lot cheaper than the Nikon version

As for CF cards, I use three 4GB cards. You'll get 108 shots per card, shooting RAW with Large Jpegs. You'll get a lot more if you drop the Jpegs or RAW.

Best of luck.

FoxT

I bought a Canon 40D last year, the D300 would've been my preferred choice but for me the price was insane. I'd love to hear how you get on with the Sigma 70-200f2.8. I have a canon 70-300 f4-5.6 IS ( In Canon land, IS = VR in Nikon Land) and I'd love to get the Canon 70-200f2.8 instead, but the price is absolute lunacy.. I've discovered that IS/VR is useless to me ( I shoot a lot of soccer, and the Canon IS takes about half a second to kick in, by which time the moment is gone..so I never use IS) so anyway... I would trade the 100mm extra for 2 more stops ... Hows the sigma for sharpness & fast focus? Thanks!

mrmac

I really can't complain about the Sigma (except maybe the weight!).
It doesn't have IS, VR, OS or whatever, but I don't have a need for that. I like motorsports, so I'm either using a high shutter speed, or panning with a monopod.
What is really useful, is the quick focusing. I was at a race recently where the best shot I could get was panning along an approaching track. Just before the best spot, was a bloody lighting mast, 1/3 of the way between me and the cars! While using the continuous focus feature, I could hear the lense flicker when I got to the light mast - but I couldn't see it in the view finder, and the shots came out nice and sharp! That is the ones where I managed to get the entire car in frame Found I had to back off to 135mm to catch the buggers!

Did I mention it is heavy

AnCatDubh

Some really good points over the last few posts for anyone who is thinking they *absolutely* MUST have IS or VR. Sure it's nice to have but people have been photographing for a long long time without IS. I guess old school IS would have been called using a Mono/Tripod or squashing your shoulder against a lamp-post :eek:

Nforce

I'm considering the Sigma 70-200mm too...thanks for the heads up Mrmac ..... the Tokina AT-X 70-200mm f2.8 looks good value too, anyone have any experience of this lens?
I've ordered the Phottix wireless remote for the camera too, it's supposed to be decent enough..and a bargain @ €21

coylemj

Nforce wrote: »

I've just done a deal to buy a used Nikon D300 . Up until now I've been using a new D80 (only 1800 actuations so far) but have been lusting after the D300's. Anyone here got any advice/pointers on this camera?

How can you tell how many actuations you've done on the D80?

melekalikimaka

in the exif
get a decent exif viewer

dakar

Congrats on your new baby!

I went from a D50 to a D300 last year and found it a reasonably steep learning curve. Not that I didn't start getting good images (well good for me anyway!) out of the camera pretty quickly but that I had to learn to make the effort to make the camera do what I wanted, rather than allowing myself to slide back to letting the camera make the decisions.

I got the Nikon battery pack and one of these. This works well for me and much cheaper than the D3 battery and charger and that annoyingly expensive little cap that Nikon make you buy! I love the feel and balance of the camera with it on, and although I don't often need 8fps, I do love the machine gun paparazzi rattle when it lets fly.

Lens wise, I'm torn between an 80-200 and a 70-200 Nikon. If I was only shooting sports, the 80-200 would be a no-brainer since the VR advantage is negated, but I'd like to be able to use it for shots of the kids and other random stuff, so it's hard to know. I wish I'd just bitten the bullet and gone for an 80-200 when they were €600 odd a few months ago on eBay.

I already have the 18-200 VR (not bad, bit of a jack of all trades, softish at the long end, a bit slow but ueful to have) a Sigma 10-20 (go through spells of mild addiction to the super wide shots, then sits in my bag for ages again) and a Nifty Fifty, My favourite lens by a mile, spends most time on my camera (might upgrade to the f1.4 before any other lens purchase).

I also got one of those remotes, great little yolk, very handy.

Anything specific you'd like to know, let me know. Enjoy.

coylemj

melekalikimaka wrote: »

in the exif
get a decent exif viewer

I downloaded one a few weeks ago as recommended on one of the fora but when I looked at the EXIF data I couldn't see any mention of actuations and Nikon ViewNX doesn't tell you either.

Can you recommend an EXIF viewer and which field contains the actuation count? Mine is a D90.

Ballyman

If you want to have a look at my flickr, all the sport on it (except the Munster v Leinster HEC game) was with a 40D and a Sigma 70-200mm. The GAA also had a 1.4 extender attached.
The images are very sharp in my eyes and at 10x8 sizes I can't see any difference between the Sigma and the Canon. At bigger sizes you may be able to see a difference but I've never compared anything larger so I can't comment on that.
The images are softer alright with the 1.4x attached but are perfectly useable.

GhostInTheRuins

coylemj wrote: »

I downloaded one a few weeks ago as recommended on one of the fora but when I looked at the EXIF data I couldn't see any mention of actuations and Nikon ViewNX doesn't tell you either.

Can you recommend an EXIF viewer and which field contains the actuation count? Mine is a D90.

Opanda

coylemj

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Opanda

Thanks, it's tag (field) 0x47 if you have an older EXIF viewer and it's also displayed in 'More Properties' under 'Shutter Count' if you upload to flickr but opanda identifies it as the 'Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera.'

I find it bizarre that Nikon ViewNX won't give you this information, if you click on the photo and then click on Metadata on the left bar there's no mention of shutter count even though the information is obviously in the EXIF data.

Nforce

dakar wrote: »

Congrats on your new baby!

I went from a D50 to a D300 last year and found it a reasonably steep learning curve. Not that I didn't start getting good images (well good for me anyway!) out of the camera pretty quickly but that I had to learn to make the effort to make the camera do what I wanted, rather than allowing myself to slide back to letting the camera make the decisions.

I got the Nikon battery pack and one of these. This works well for me and much cheaper than the D3 battery and charger and that annoyingly expensive little cap that Nikon make you buy! I love the feel and balance of the camera with it on, and although I don't often need 8fps, I do love the machine gun paparazzi rattle when it lets fly.

Lens wise, I'm torn between an 80-200 and a 70-200 Nikon. If I was only shooting sports, the 80-200 would be a no-brainer since the VR advantage is negated, but I'd like to be able to use it for shots of the kids and other random stuff, so it's hard to know. I wish I'd just bitten the bullet and gone for an 80-200 when they were €600 odd a few months ago on eBay.

I already have the 18-200 VR (not bad, bit of a jack of all trades, softish at the long end, a bit slow but ueful to have) a Sigma 10-20 (go through spells of mild addiction to the super wide shots, then sits in my bag for ages again) and a Nifty Fifty, My favourite lens by a mile, spends most time on my camera (might upgrade to the f1.4 before any other lens purchase).

I also got one of those remotes, great little yolk, very handy.

Anything specific you'd like to know, let me know. Enjoy.

Yep...I'm jumping in at the deep end a bit too. I started off with a used D70S last Summer,bought a new D80 the week after (long story:P) and have only shot 1800 pics with it!
I was made redundant at the beginning of the month and decided to cheer myself up by either building a new PC or getting a new camera. I looked at the D700,D300 and D90. I was offered a lightly used (7k clicks and 3-4 months use) D300 for a great price from a UK based tog...so I snapped it up .
My current glass conprises of a 50mm F1.8 ,18-70mm dx and 70-300mm VR and I've a hankering for faster glass, with the plan being to use a TC for extra reach where needed. That Kosmo looks to be a nifty bit of kit...thanks for the link.:cool:

Nforce

Camera arrived today!:D Had a quick play with it and have noticed that it doesn't work with 3rd party batteries. Not a worry anyhow as I've a couple of genuine batteries for it. Just ordered the Phottix Kosmos battery pack too.

dakar

Enjoy!:D

PS Don't forget you need something to put the phottix Kosmo into (Nikon MB D10 battery pack or similar)

pixbyjohn

coylemj wrote: »

How can you tell how many actuations you've done on the D80?

Upload to www.flickr.com a photo from your D80 without any post processing and in the "more properties" you will see actuation count in exif data on Flickr

Nforce

dakar wrote: »

Enjoy!:D

PS Don't forget you need something to put the phottix Kosmo into (Nikon MB D10 battery pack or similar)

Thanks,Dakar :cool:


Something like This should do?

Nforce

I use Opanda to view the shutter count..

clive_odonohoe

It is such a great camera, your gonna love it...

dakar

About half way down that link I found:(

[ Phottix Kosmo is NOT working with this grip.]

So more legwork for you to do I'm afraid. I went with the genuine Nikon article, bit pricier than the knock-off's though.

Nforce

@ Clive... thanks :cool:

@ Dakar.. good spot!;) Afaik they also sell a different model that's compatible with the D300. I've mailed them to confirm. Failing that I'll just pick up the genuine article

dakar

The Nikon one does feel lovely with the same grippy rubber texture as the camera body. I had a third party grip for my D50 and this one is way way nicer to hold.