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Nikon D300 Review
by Romulo Lubachesky
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Construction
The
body construction continues being superb. The rubberized surface
details make the grip perfect. It has a strong magnesium alloy
body with an excellent external polycarbonate covering under
its rubber skin.
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| Nikon
D300 DSLR and MB-D10 magnesium alloy chasis |
Nikon
says that the D200 and D300 do not have moisture and dust
protection as the D2x and D3 have, but in my own experience
I can state that the D200 can handle torrential rain for a
good period of time; therefore the D300 must tolerate even
more extremes, because now the buttons are sealed against
humidity.
The
top LCD display panel is still very similar to that of
the D200. The novelty here is the possibility of viewing
it (the same information) on the back LCD monitor. The
Nikon D40 and D60 do not have the top panel.
The viewfinder is slightly bigger and with a great new
100% image coverage.
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A
new HDMI video connector was added.
The LCD plastic screen protector is more discreet, but
I painted the border of mine black with an permanent
marker, like I did with my others DSLR.
The same EN-EL3 1500mAh battery is used, but the autonomy
of the camera is considerable better, trebling the number
of possible photos on one charge comparing it to the
D200. I believe that a big part of this economy is due
to the much smaller energy consumption of the CMOS sensor.
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A
new vertical grip was designed for the D300. The MB-D10
model can be connected to the camera with the internal
battery still inside.
With
this new grip you can use the Li-Ion EN-EL4a, EN-EL4
or EN-EL3e battery or 8 R6/AA-size alkaline (LR6) battery,
Ni-MH (HR6), lithium (FR6), or nickel manganese ZR6
battery. It
holds seamlessly together with the camera body.
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The
sensor got an automatic cleaning system, by vibrating
the filter in front of the sensor, eliminates the dust
particles. I can report that in the first use of the
cleaning system it was very efficient, removing dust
in the first attempt. Have not needed it again so far.
A
very important characteristic for me is the capacity
to meter with non-CPU (no electronic contacts) lenses.
This extraordinary capability was kept and improved
as I report with more details on the performance section
that follows.
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| Sample
D300 12 bits RAW image; 300mm f/4 ED IF AF Nikkor @ f/4
aperture; 1/180 shutter speed; ISO 800; Adobe RGB color
space; Direct sun light -1 white balance; zero contrast,
saturation and hue. Converted to sRGB for better web viewing. |
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