Pressing the Question mark button at any time will popup helpful advice.Ĭustomisation is a big aspect of the D300 with ten settings for AF, six for metering and exposure, four for timers and AE lock, 11 for shooting and display, seven for bracketing and flash, and ten for controls. The main sections are indicated by tabs running down the left side, for Playback, Shooting, Custom Settings, Setup, Retouch and the customisable My Menu. Pressing the Menu button fires-up Nikon’s familiar user-interface, now looking better than ever thanks to the higher resolution screen. You can also choose whether to have dark characters on a bright background or vice versa for use in darker conditions. Pressing the Info button on the back of the camera displays the shooting information on-screen which can be handy when the camera’s mounted on a tripod. As such Live View on the D300 is better-suited to tripod-based work than handheld shooting – see below for more details. The D300 also exploits the high resolution screen in Live View mode and in use it looks great, although it could become hard to see at high or low angles, or with direct sunlight. The screen looks better without, but the cover doesn’t greatly compromise the quality if you’d prefer to have the protection.
Like most Nikon DSLRs, the D300’s monitor is protected by a clip-on transparent plastic shield: the BM-8 shield is supplied with the D300. It’s a real step-up from models like the Canon EOS 40D. Like the monitor on the Sony A700, this allows the Nikon to display very fine details when playing images along with crisp-looking fonts and menus.
This ‘920k’ screen boasts 640×480 full colour pixels unlike the 320×240 pixel resolution of typical ‘230k’ screens. One of the Nikon D300’s physical highlights is its 3in monitor with VGA resolution. Lenses and viewfinder / Screen and menus / Sensor and processing / Anti dust It can also analyze highlights and more accurately determine exposure, as well as infer light sources to deliver more accurate white balance detection.Nikon D300 features : Lenses and viewfinder / Screen and menus / Sensor and processing / Anti dust For example, the camera can track moving subjects better and by identifying them, it can also automatically select focus points faster and with greater accuracy. This information is used to improve the accuracy of autofocus, autoexposure, and auto white balance functions in the D300. Its new Scene Recognition System advances the use of Nikon's acclaimed 1,005-segment sensor to recognize colors and light patterns that help the camera determine the subject and the type of scene being photographed before a picture is taken. The D300 incorporates a range of innovative technologies and features that will significantly improve the accuracy, control, and performance photographers can get from their equipment. (NORMAL-LARGE image setting, using a SanDisk Extreme IV 1GB CompactFlash card.)
In continuous bursts, the D300 can shoot up to 100 shots at full 12.3-megapixel resolution. The D300 is capable of shooting at a rapid six frames per second and can go as fast as eight frames per second when using the optional MB-D10 multi-power battery pack. The D300 reacts with lightning speed, powering up in a mere 0.13 seconds and shooting with an imperceptible 45-millisecond shutter release lag time. The D300 shares a similar Scene Recognition System as is found in the D3 it promises to greatly enhance the accuracy of autofocus, autoexposure, and auto white balance by recognizing the subject or scene being photographed and applying this information to the calculations for the three functions. The D300 features a new 51-point autofocus system with Nikon's 3D Focus Tracking feature and two new LiveView shooting modes that allow users to frame a photograph using the camera's high-resolution LCD monitor. Similar to the D3, the D300 features Nikon's exclusive EXPEED Image Processing System that is central to driving the speed and processing power needed for many of the camera's new features.
Engineered with pro-level features and performance, the 12.3-effective-megapixel D300 combines brand new technologies with advanced features inherited from Nikon's newly announced D3 professional digital SLR camera to offer serious photographers remarkable performance combined with agility.