To the other nikonians

[nikon50bigma]

I've been eyeing a D300 as a replacement for the my good ol' D50.
Anyone here on NYCA use the D300?
Care to share your thought on it for spotting?

[lijk604]

First off, I'l start by saying I am a Canonite...
BUT, I had to opportunity to be part of a Nikon Demo on the D3 & D300.
From what I saw, both in the demo, and actually holding the camera, you would not be disappointed in the D300. It's fast 8fps!, has Live View, Dust Protection, is a 12MP camera, and can use the lenses already in production. They geared this camera towards the sports photographer and did an excellent job, from what I've seen.
Honestly, if I didn't have so much money invested in Canon already, I probably would look at this camera as my next purchase.

[nikon50bigma]

Thanks for the imput. I really like what I;ve read about the D300... now I just have to come up with $1800

[NIKV69]

Why not buy a D200? I mean if you look at it the extra MP is not going to mean much and what is so good about live view? Are you really going to start shooting aviation or whatever by holding the camera away from your face and use the LED to frame it? I'm not. Also unless your going to work for SI and photograph the NHL or something 8fps is not an issue either. I am going to stick with my 200 for a year and wait for the 300 to come down in price.

[nikon50bigma]

I'm not all that crazy about live view, as a photograpgher I find it hard to use the LCD to frame a shot. I used to have to do that on my old Kodak Dx6440 or Panasonic FZ-20 and that was a pain.
Anyway....
I'm new to this realm of CF cards, I only used SD cards on the D50.
It says that the D300 can only take type I or II CF cards.
Would that include the Sandisk 2 GB Extreme III crads?

[adam613]

I'm not all that crazy about live view, as a photograpgher I find it hard to use the LCD to frame a shot. I used to have to do that on my old Kodak Dx6440 or Panasonic FZ-20 and that was a pain.
Anyway....
I'm new to this realm of CF cards, I only used SD cards on the D50.
It says that the D300 can only take type I or II CF cards.
Would that include the Sandisk 2 GB Extreme III crads?

You don't HAVE to use LiveView just because it's there. The D300 still has a viewfinder. An LCD is nice for point-and-shoot activities like photographing parties, because not having your eye in the camera can give you a bigger sense of what you're photographing. But for airplanes, it's easier to use a viewfinder because your eye only needs to be in one place.

To say the D300 can "only" take Type I and Type II CF cards isn't really a meaningful statement...there are no CF formats other than Type I and Type II. The vast majority of CF cards out there these days (including the SanDisk Extreme III) are Type I. So just buy a CF card, and it will work. Buy a fast CF card, and you can shoot in burst mode for longer.

Although I'm not as familiar with the Nikon product line at the high end (I only looked with any seriousness at the D40x and the D80), I have to agree with Nick about looking at the D200...it looks like much better bang for the buck than the D300 right now, if you don't specifically need anything the D300 has...