Nikon D300
Encyclopedia
The Nikon D300 is a 12.3-megapixel professional DX format
digital single-lens reflex camera
that Nikon Corporation announced on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D3
FX format camera. It replaced the D200
as Nikon's DX format
flagship DSLR. The D300 was officially discontinued by Nikon on September 11, 2009, being succeeded by the Nikon D300S
, which was released July 30, 2009.
performance. It is quite similar to the D700
, with the main difference being that the D300 uses a DX sensor instead of an FX sensor. It offers both high resolution and high speed (being able to capture 6 frames per second, and 8 frames per second with the addition of an optional MB-D10 battery pack).
The D300 has not only a built in autofocus
motor for all Nikon autofocus-lenses
, but includes CPU and metering for older Nikon F-mount
AI/AI-S lenses and the new generation perspective control lenses (PC-E).
The built in intervalometer
(timer) can be used for time-lapse
low lit movies.
named the Nikon D300 for their official "Camera of the Year 2007" award. The magazine also reviewed the camera, and noted at that time that Nikon Capture NX software was packaged with the camera; more recent packages include a 30-day trial version.
The MB-D10 is an optional accessory battery pack that provides a vertical grip as well as additional shutter release and autofocus buttons, command dials and focus point selection control.
The MB-D10 allows the D300 to be powered by an additional EN-EL3e battery or AA batteries. An optional carrier is available which allows for an EN-EL4 or EN-EL4a battery to be installed instead. The camera can be configured to assign priority to either the internal EN-EL3e battery or the MB-D10 grip such that the other battery is used only when the primary battery is dead.
The D300 can shoot 8 frames per second with the MB-D10 & AA/EN-EL4/EN-EL4a battery installed, otherwise the camera is limited to a 6 frames per second 'shooting' mode. The MB-D10 is also compatible with the D700 but not the D200.
On February 14, 2008, Nikon released a firmware upgrade which resolves an issue where vertical banding can occur when long exposure noise reduction is enabled for shutter speeds of 8 seconds and slower.
Nikon DX format
The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24×16 mm. Its dimensions are about 2/3 those of the 35mm film format . The format was created by Nikon for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized...
digital single-lens reflex camera
Digital single-lens reflex camera
Most digital single-lens reflex cameras are digital cameras that use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera....
that Nikon Corporation announced on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D3
Nikon D3
The Nikon D3 is a 12.1 megapixel professional grade full frame digital single lens reflex camera announced by the Nikon Corporation on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D300 DX format camera. The D3, along with the Nikon D3X, was a flagship model in Nikon's line of DSLRs, superseding the D2Hs...
FX format camera. It replaced the D200
Nikon D200
The Nikon D200 is a 10.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera that falls between entry-level/midrange DSLR cameras such as the Nikon D40, Nikon D40x, and D80 and high-end models such as the Nikon D2Hs and D2Xs. It was released by the Nikon Corporation in November 2005...
as Nikon's DX format
Nikon DX format
The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24×16 mm. Its dimensions are about 2/3 those of the 35mm film format . The format was created by Nikon for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized...
flagship DSLR. The D300 was officially discontinued by Nikon on September 11, 2009, being succeeded by the Nikon D300S
Nikon D300S
The Nikon D300S is a 12.3 megapixel DX format digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaces the D300 as Nikon's DX format flagship DSLR adding HD video recording...
, which was released July 30, 2009.
Features
The D300 is designated by Nikon as the ultimate in DX formatNikon DX format
The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24×16 mm. Its dimensions are about 2/3 those of the 35mm film format . The format was created by Nikon for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized...
performance. It is quite similar to the D700
Nikon D700
The Nikon D700 is a professional grade full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by the Nikon Corporation in July 2008 and manufactured in Japan. It uses the same 12.1 megapixel "FX" CMOS image sensor as the Nikon D3, and is Nikon's second full-frame digital SLR camera...
, with the main difference being that the D300 uses a DX sensor instead of an FX sensor. It offers both high resolution and high speed (being able to capture 6 frames per second, and 8 frames per second with the addition of an optional MB-D10 battery pack).
The D300 has not only a built in autofocus
Autofocus
An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...
motor for all Nikon autofocus-lenses
Photographic lens
A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...
, but includes CPU and metering for older Nikon F-mount
Nikon F-mount
The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35 mm SLR cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three lug bayonet mount with a 44 mm throat and a flange to focal plane distance of 46.5 mm...
AI/AI-S lenses and the new generation perspective control lenses (PC-E).
The built in intervalometer
Intervalometer
An intervalometer is a device which counts intervals of time. . Such devices commonly are used to signal, in accurate time intervals, the operation of some other device...
(timer) can be used for time-lapse
Time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
low lit movies.
Feature List
- Nikon DX formatNikon DX formatThe Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24×16 mm. Its dimensions are about 2/3 those of the 35mm film format . The format was created by Nikon for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized...
CMOS sensorImage sensorAn image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices... - 1.5x field of viewAngle of viewIn photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....
cropCrop factorIn digital photography, a crop factor is related to the ratio of the dimensions of a camera's imaging area compared to a reference format; most often, this term is applied to digital cameras, relative to 35 mm film format as a reference. In the case of digital cameras, the imaging device would be a... - 12.3 megapixel sensorImage sensorAn image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices...
- Magnesium alloy weather-sealed body
- Nikon F-mountNikon F-mountThe Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35 mm SLR cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three lug bayonet mount with a 44 mm throat and a flange to focal plane distance of 46.5 mm...
lenses - Active D-Lighting (3 levels)
- 3D Color Matrix Metering II, using a 1005-pixel RGB sensor. Including matrix, center-weight, and spot metering with AI and AIS manual focus lenses produced since 1977
- Automatic correction of lateral chromatic aberrationChromatic aberrationIn optics, chromatic aberration is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It occurs because lenses have a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light...
.
- Retouch menu includes filter type, hue, crop, D-lighting, Mono (Black and White, Cyanotype or Sepia).
- Multi-CAM 3500DX autofocusAutofocusAn autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...
module with 51 sensors in normal mode; Single Servo and Continuous Servo focus modes, advanced focus tracking modes, selectable Single Area AF, Dynamic area AF, Group Dynamic AF, and Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF - Live-View Mode
- Built-in Sensor cleaning (using ultrasoundUltrasoundUltrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
) helps to remove the dust from sensor - Six frame-per-second continuous shooting for up to 100 JPEG, up to eight frame-per-second with optional MB-D10 battery grip with eight AA batteries, EN-EL4 or EN-EL4a battery installed.
- 3.0 inch 921,600 dots LCD display (640 × 480 VGA, 307,200 RGB pixels resolution)
- 10-pin remote and flash sync terminals on camera
- GPS compatible
- EN-EL3e lithium-ion battery 7.4V/1500 MAH offering up to 1800 shots per charge, according to Nikon; with advanced battery information available in camera menus.
- ISOFilm speedFilm speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system....
200–3200, selectable in 1/3, 1/2 or 1 stop increments. Additionally ISO 100 and ISO 6400 available with ISO Boost. Selectable in-camera ISO noise reduction, applied in post-processing. - Built-in SpeedlightSpeedlightSpeedlight is the brand name used by Nikon Corporation for their photographic flash units, used since the company's introduction of strobe flashes in the 1960s. Nikon's standalone Speedlights have the SB- prefix as part of their model designation...
offers balanced fill-flash with Nikon's i-TTLThrough-the-lens meteringThrough-the-lens metering is a photographic term describing a feature of cameras capable of measuring light levels in a scene through their taking lenses, as opposed to a separate metering window...
flash system, and can fire in commander mode for wireless off-camera firing of other speedlights; controlling up to two groups of speedlights with individual exposure compensation. - File formats include JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, TIFFTagged Image File FormatTIFF is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems...
, NEF (Nikon's raw image formatRAW image formatA camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image scanner, or motion picture film scanner. Raw files are so named because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor...
compressed and uncompressed), and JPEG+NEF (JPEG size/quality selectable)
Reception
The Nikon D300 was announced on August 23, 2007. Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug Magazine, and the UK magazine, "What Digital Camera" presented initial 'First Look' reviews. Imaging Resource and Photocrati also did their own initial reviews. DCR and Camera Labs have full reviews of the D300. Digital Review Canada compares it to the older Nikon D200. Popular PhotographyPopular Photography Magazine
Popular Photography, formerly known as Popular Photography & Imaging, also called Pop Photo, is a monthly American consumer magazine founded in 1937 and the world's largest imaging magazine, with an editorial staff twice the size of its nearest competitor.The current publisher is Jeffrey Roberts...
named the Nikon D300 for their official "Camera of the Year 2007" award. The magazine also reviewed the camera, and noted at that time that Nikon Capture NX software was packaged with the camera; more recent packages include a 30-day trial version.
MB-D10 Multi Power Battery Pack
The MB-D10 allows the D300 to be powered by an additional EN-EL3e battery or AA batteries. An optional carrier is available which allows for an EN-EL4 or EN-EL4a battery to be installed instead. The camera can be configured to assign priority to either the internal EN-EL3e battery or the MB-D10 grip such that the other battery is used only when the primary battery is dead.
The D300 can shoot 8 frames per second with the MB-D10 & AA/EN-EL4/EN-EL4a battery installed, otherwise the camera is limited to a 6 frames per second 'shooting' mode. The MB-D10 is also compatible with the D700 but not the D200.
'D2X Mode' and firmware upgrade
On January 15, 2008, Nikon released three additional picture control modes for the D300 which emulate the D2X/D2XS color modes I, II and III.On February 14, 2008, Nikon released a firmware upgrade which resolves an issue where vertical banding can occur when long exposure noise reduction is enabled for shutter speeds of 8 seconds and slower.
External links
- Nikon D300 Product Page Nikon global site
- Nikon D300 Product Page Nikon USA site
- Nikon D300 Operation Manual