Nikon D300 Review

In the hand

With around two dozen controls on the top and back of the camera, there's an awful lot going on and quite a lot to learn if you've not used this type of camera before. Here, the D300 contrasts heavily with Canon's design for its EOS range of SLRs, which seem far less fussy but manage to do all the same things. However, Nikon fans will love the D300 because everything is placed where they expect to find it - newcomers may find it a little complicated though. This is clearly one of those areas, though, where personal preference will play a big part in the buying decision.

The other point worth making is that this is a professional camera. It may not be as big as a Canon 1Ds or a Nikon D2x, but it's a serious step up, both in terms of size and weight, from an 'amateur' SLR. Compared to, say, an Olympus E-410 or a Nikon D40x, it's not that much fun to carry around all day.

And then there's the choice of lens. A camera of this calibre demands the very best quality optics that you can afford. Our review unit was supplied with a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, a DX lens which only really comes into its own when matched up to a top-quality camera.

But this is a £900 lens! What's the alternative? Perhaps a Nikon 18-70mm, or 18-135mm? Both these 'amateur' lenses might be acceptable for a D40x or a D80, but they hardly seem a fitting match for the D300. (Nikon's 18-200mm VR could be a good choice, though).

Any decent lens to go with this camera will bump up the price and the weight will go up still further. The combination we tested will set you back over £2,000.

The D300's picture quality is frankly awesome. The superb sharpness may be due in part to the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, but the quality of the colour rendition must surely be down to the sensor alone. This is borne out by the fact we made the same remarks about the Sony Alpha 700 which we reviewed recently. The colours aren't just saturated and natural looking, they seem to have an extra clarity and purity about them too.

It was interesting to compare the A700 and the D300 side-by-side in an extended ISO test with the same subject. The D300's shots were fractionally sharper that the Sony's, with no visible chromatic aberration, but we could probably attribute that to the lens we were using (the 16-80mm Zeiss lens used in our Sony review isn't quite as good).

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.

Judged in isolation, the D300's high-ISO performance is extraordinary. Some might prefer the A700's noisier but more textured and characterful images, but surely everyone would agree that these two cameras are now a clear step ahead of the rest of the enthusiast D-SLR pack.

Active processing

The D300 has an interesting Active D-Lighting mode, which supplements Nikon's existing D-Lighting technology. Until now, this D-Lighting system has only been able to be applied to images after they've been shot. D-Lighting lightens the shadow area of an image without changing the midtones and highlights. The Active version adjusts the exposure at the time of shooting to record maximum highlight detail and then applies the D-Lighting algorithm to the image during processing.

The effects are often subtle, but the system does retain some highlight and shadow detail that might have been lost if the subject was shot 'straight'. It's not as much extended dynamic range as, say, the Fuji S5 Pro, but it's an interesting tool in the photographer's armoury for those difficult photographic conditions.