D300 Will it wow me right out of the box ???

I do almost exclusively professional work (portraits, weddings and corp events).

I upgraded from D80 to D300 and never went back, like most guys here, once you are in control of the D300 the D80 becomes almost unusable. The D300 is an spectacular piece of hardware that cannot be compared to the D80, as good as the latter is.

I personally didn't experience any of the problems other D300 owners mentioned in this forum. When something goes wrong it's usually my fault, lack of attention or expecting the impossible.

As somebody mentioned above, you should make a serious comparison with the D90. It has quite a few of the D300 features and some advantages over the D300 if you are looking to capture top images without too much studying and tweaking.

For starters, it's a lot more compact and lighter. These make a difference if you travel or like street photography a lot. The D90 video capabilities could be very interesting creative experimenting.

Aside of the high priced Nikons, there are many other lenses that will do great with the D300 and D90. I use the Tamrons 17-50 and 28-75 as well as the Sigma 50-150. All of them fixed f/2.8 aperture and couldn't be happier with their IQ.

The Nikons will focus faster and more accurately, and of course, they are much stronger but sometimes spending 3 to 4 times as much could make no sense.

Using any of these cameras with 2 or 3 SB800/SB900 flashes will open a source of amazing picture taking possibilities, even in broad daylight. The Nikon CLS flash system is really very interesting to experiment with and pretty easy to use.

Good luck, you will for sure enjoy any of these choices.
--
Steven, from Canada

--
'Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.'
===============
Nikon D300 - MB-D10 - SB800 - TC-14EII TC-17EII TC-20EII
Nikon 24-70(2.8), 105VR(2.8), 70-200 VR(2.8), 300(2.8)

You've got considerable experience with your D80, so on the D300, I'll think you'll be very happy. I upgraded from a D70s to a D200, and found it fairly easy with some pre-reading. The D200 is significantly heavier, but I love the higher resolution, better ISO, the faster focusing system, and larger screen. As one of the other posters said, get yourself some dedicated D300 books - hugely helpful - before you open the box!

Then sit down and systematically go through the custom settings and make alterations as you feel you need to, noting suggestions from the authors you've been reading. Then... go out and shoot! shoot! shoot!

You don't invest this amount of money in a camera, without some time and effort - but it's all part of the pleasure. It's only when you don't do your homework that you're likely to run into trouble and get frustrated

Or, put another way, it's not what you take out of the box, but what you do with it that makes the difference

Happy picture taking!
--
Linda R

Photography: Celebrating Life

I upgraded from a D70 and used my 18-70 kit lens originally until I added the 18-200VR which has never been off the camera since. The first WOW I had was using the terrific rear screen and also how beautifully the camera handled. Ergonomically everything just fits for me.

To see the benefits right off, I might suggest that you confirm that the D-lighting is on (medium is fine).

Also, I found I had to increase the default sharpness setting up to 5 as the images looked a bit soft out of the camera at first to me. Had I been shooting in RAW mode I wouldn't have noticed.

I also concur that I love the results shooting in the Vivid mode.

Enjoy your new baby!
Bill G
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Reluctant convert from film. Oldtimer viewcamera user
http://photo.net/photos/fermenteer

Will it wow you right out of the box?
Mine did.

Wow factors: responsiveness, ergonomics, build quality.

--
-adrian charles-
barbados.
http://guttaperk.smugmug.com

You won't be wow, but go for it. Won't regret
Merry Christmas
--
http://www.pbase.com/andrzejmakal/galleries
D300:50::ZEISS25/2.8::N24-70::N18-200VR::S10-20::S150Macro::N50/1.8::SB600

Simple approach: "put the camera to vivid and WOW"
And certainly 'vivid"doesn't give me a WOW. But there's so much more to tune.
Even the picture control settings can be tuned
--
http://anatevka.smugmug.com/

I moved from the D200 (which I still have), I work in raw and as a photographer of the old school I prefer to not second guess results before the picture is taken therefore I don't use picture control and where possible I like to make the decisions. My reasons for getting the D300 were better noise at higher ISOs and higher shooting speeds for action shots. I didn't find the D300 a wow because a "do everything for you camera" is the last thing I want but there is no doubt that in the right hands it is a better camera than the D80- D200. Whether it's worth the extra cost is another thing. Of course if you just want a really nice top notch camera (nothing wrong with that), then you will be wowed. The D80 would still make a good backup second body. I've kept my D200 as a second setup so as not to have the need to change lenses on a forthcoming African safari (I learned my lesson last year)!

I love my D300 and its "features" did WOW me, but the pictures it takes with default settings were not amazing. After some adjustments, I am well pleased.

People buy more and more expensive and complex cameras in hope of getting "good pictures" "out of the box."

I don't mean to insult the op, but a photographer buys a better camera for better control of what its doing, and I hope that if you do get a D300, you learn what it means to make photos. Otherwise you really should save some $ and get a nice p&s.

Reminds me of someone who buys a stick shift sports car after riding to work on the subway for years, and sits in the driveway wondering when it's going to get him there.

Exposure comp is your best friend! No camera in the world "knows" how you want the photo to look, or whether you want the highlights or the lows to be correct, etc, etc.

good luck,

--
Z-Man