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I'm now a D300s owner. :)

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richardday

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Hi everyone.

Another new Nikon user, well almost, I did have a Finepix 775 back in 2004, but I don't think that really counts!. ;)

I've been deliberating for some while now and finally made the move as per my original posting - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=35255819

I hope to be a useful contributor. Many of my Pentax buddies are now over here, either as dual users (I wish I could afford that!) or, like me, have switched as we can't afford two systems (actually three as I do have to own up to having a Ricoh GX200 as my pocket rocket :)).
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Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK
 
Welcome to this forum and enjoy your camera. I used Olympus E-3 before going to Nikon D300s but Pentax was actually my second choice since I have some old Pentax lenses. Maybe next time... Right now I am happy with the D300s and the system I have at the moment.
 
olyflyer said:
Welcome to this forum and enjoy your camera. I used Olympus E-3 before going to Nikon D300s but Pentax was actually my second choice since I have some old Pentax lenses. Maybe next time... Right now I am happy with the D300s and the system I have at the moment.
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I was a dedicated OM user for many years before going over to Pentax when Oly made those rather horrid IS series of bridge style SLR's rather than making any OM's with AF. I still have a soft spot for Oly, but I fear that they've never recaptured the magic of the OM's with their DSLR's. :(

I really like the handling, control features and ergonomics of the Pentax range (especially the K-7) as well as some of their best glass, which is now very expensive, but the Samsung sensor and the now very ancient (slow, but accurate) Safox AF system hampers the system for me, QC and reliability issues are also rather prevalent at the moment as well. As I'm predominately a zoom user, the benefit of the small Pentax bodies is lost.

I'm looking forward to discovering all the "special" aspects of using Nikon. So far, so good, but I'm a complete newbie at the moment! :D
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Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK
 
Good one RD, I remembered your great work back on the Pentax forum, I also moved from Pentax for very similar reasons as yourself. Due to my type of photography I was held back with Pentax, which was a pity so moved back to Nikon, and purchased D300s.

I was a long time user of Nikon back in the F2-3-4 days and the D300s is my first digital Nikon and highly impressed with it.

Cheers
Ron
Sydney, Aust
 
I still have a soft spot for Oly, but I fear that they've never recaptured the magic of the OM's with their DSLR's. :(
richardday said:
Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK
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That goes for me too Richard. I was Oly in the film days and still have an OM4Ti, OM4 and an OM10 (with manual adaptor.! Remember those).

The OM bodies are little beauties and i miss the compact size and ightweight design they were famous for.

Have fun with your new D300s.

Tim
 
Dale108 said:
Hi Richard:

Know that you have the D300s, is the AF what you expected in coming from the K20? There is no shortage of great long Nikon glass for you to use also.
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The short answer is that it's very much better than I expected and superior to the Canon 7D / 100-400 L IS combination which I managed to borrow for a week. I also had a K-7 for a few days and that was only marginally better than the K20D. :(

To be honest, it's far more complex to optimise than I thought! However, it's been very illuminating and worthwhile and I still haven't fully got to grips with all the possible permutations and which is best for my different types of shooting. :|

One thing is very clear though, is that you cannot have a "one fix" solution that works for all conditions. I'm still reading up and trying various combinations so I can build a set of my preferred settings and understand the fine nuances of the control settings. I'm nowhere near my optimum settings yet, but I'm much further forward than I was a week ago! ;)

Regarding long glass, I've been very pleased with the 70-300 VR, it definitely gives results way past it's price point! Being retired, I have a very small budget for more lenses, but for the moment I can happily work with what I have. :D

Here are some shots I took yesterday while experimenting. Sadly I never managed to get anywhere near as many good BIF (birds in flight) shots in all my years shooting with Pentax (and their best lenses). The ability of the camera to manage to track a bird with a complex background of trees without losing focus is amazing!

The last shot is not BIF, I just like the attitude of the whistler ducks! :D

All shots were taken at the Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.













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Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK
 
Like on my d300, yours offers the same option to optimize the AF. I'm still searching for the golden settings as you do. You said you had no problems tracking birds in flight. Could you tell us what settings you used ?

lock
 
lock said:
Like on my d300, yours offers the same option to optimize the AF. I'm still searching for the golden settings as you do. You said you had no problems tracking birds in flight. Could you tell us what settings you used ?
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I was using AF-C with Dynamic-area AF, 9 pt and AF focus tracking set to Normal. I'm still not sure that it's the best combination for BIF, but it seemed to work okay. I found that widening the number of points sometimes led to the AF hunting a bit. I also have a suspicion that AF settings will vary depending on the lens quality (IQ, max aperture and contrast).

The ducks were shot with AF-C with Auto-area AF.

I'm very much a newbie with regard to Nikon's AF system, so still have much to learn. Give me a year or so and I may have some better solutions by then! ;)
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Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK
 
Thanks Richard.
THat's what I use most of the time when things tend to move quickly.

THe 21 point option does use all the 15 cross type sensors, but also the ones at that are not. That may cause the hunting.

I do use AF lock off. I prefer the camera to find focus continuesly, particularly with birds in the sky. Actually, in sports where there is a clear view on the athlete, I also set it ot off. Otherwise it's on short.

Never really used auto AF. I might just try it just to find out what it does.

lock
 
Some great shots Richard. The more I see of this lens the highter up my wishlist it goes..
 
The other day I was trying to capture my daughter wizzing by on her bike with abysmal results. Would dynamic focus work better for that?
 
Welcome, Richard! I was wondering how long it would be before you joined the dark side after your exploratory post some time earlier :-) Shots look very good! I enjoyed your Pentax images, and hope to see more here.

I bought Thom Hogan's D300 book (now updated for the D300s) and found the insight into the myriad of AF and other settings invaluable - although you'll still need to experiment to find exactly what works best for you.

--
Pavel
http://flickr.com/photos/pavel/
 
I'm a new 300S owner too.

I'm somewhat befuddled by the setting selections necessary to get best image quality out of the camera. I've bought a Magic Lantern? book because War & Peace is intimidating. I mean the manual...

I used a d80 before. (And an F2 (new) and F3HP (new) a few generations ago.)

I sold out a Pentax system to get the F2. (Spotmatic II).

Wish you all the best.

DaveL
Toronto
 
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