I’ve just picked up my new Nikon D300 (I’m rather chuffed) and thought I would give some very briefs thoughts on it. I haven’t taken any proper shots so what follows is simply opinions based on the camera itself, not the pictures it can take. First of all, the box it comes in is very nicely designed - huge “D300″ lettering is in raised printing across the side, and is very imposing. Opening the box I found everything nicely partitioned; body, cables, battery, charger, manuals etc. I found the manual before I actually found the D300 body; all 421 pages of it! It’s so large that Nikon include a smaller “Quick Guide” if you want to get started quickly. OK so enough with enough with the superfluous stuff, lets get to the camera. Taking it out, you immediately notice how heavy this beast is! I thought my S9600 was heavy when I first got it - the D300 is easily 50% heavier. The ergonomics feels well designed, the camera is covered in soft grippy rubber in all the right places and the viewfinder it huge! It’s also protected by a transparent plastic cover, a nice touch. As for the lens, I got the NIKKOR 18-200mm VR and it appears very sturdy. There is a bit of zoom creep in it but only if you hold the camera nearly vertically up or down.

Looking quickly through the in camera options, they seem to be endless - this camera is definitely not for the casual snapshots. I’ve been playing a little with the auto-bracketing options, especially the timer settings that allow you to set the camera up to take multiple bracketed exposures on a timer so you don’t have to touch the camera to initiate the shots.

I can’t really say anymore until I do some proper shooting, but the D300 looks and feels fantastic, it has tons of options and from first impressions it is definitely worth considering if you are looking for a pro-level camera at not so insane prices.

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