The big questionmark for me…upgrading from my D200-should the new camera be a D3 or a D300? To try and make my decision, I’ll list the pros and cons that I’ve personally found for each camera.
D3 Pros: Wide angle returns!: The D3 is full frame now making use of all of the space in the lenses I do have.
I initially bought every single lens I have right now back when Nikon was only using Dx for its cameras with the hope that eventually they would wisen up and start making full frame cameras.
They finally did.
High ISO Fun!: Another reason for going full frame was the the more crowded the pixels are, the more noise one is likely to see in images. This was happening with Nikon slrs i.e. The D2x/D2xs and the D200. Anything above 800 and the noise was just intolerable and you had to change the image to black and white for aesthetic purposes.
It took two years, but Nikon saw that the difference was obvious and that their butts were getting kicked by Canon in the high iso section. It was so obvious the difference that my hero in wedding photography Joe Buissink went over from shooting with Nikons to the Canon 5d.
Now that the D3 is out, there’s a new high iso king, reaching an unprecedented 25,600. Church weddings without flash aren’t going to be much of a problem anymore….
D3 Cons:Price So High You Have to Sell Your Family (Just kidding. Sorta.): At 4999.00 (No I didn’t place the decimal point in the wrong spot) You’d be putting a down payment on some decent cars to get this camera. This camera now holds the top honor spot in the Nikon Lineup, taking the same price the D2x had held previously. If I wanted two cameras though, which is what I had been doing at weddings with dual D200 bodies, I’d have to drop over 10 grand to pay for them.
Buyer’s remorse a-plenty here.
Now Onto the D300…..
D300 Pros:High ISO also!: I have a friend that has both a Nikon D300 and a Canon 5D. According to him both are pretty even in terms of High ISO capabilities. Something pretty remarkable considering that the D300 is Dx and the Canon 5D is full frame.
My D200 while an awesome camera simply wasn’t up to par with the high iso capabilities of the canon 5D. Tolerable up to ISO 800, the D200 was blown out of the water by the 5D all the way to ISO 6400.
Cheaper. Waayyy Cheaper: For the price of one D3 you can get two D300 bodies and have enough money for a new lens.
D300 Cons:
High ISO Isn’t Up To Par: Why go for a camera that’s as good as a 5D (which is now two years old) when you can go for the best at the moment? I know that it’s being very picky but at the same time when starting up a studio you want the best for your clients right
Also I did a little research on this myself and a comparison from the ever famous Ken Rockwell’s site though shows that while the D300′s High Iso capabilities are better than a D200′s, they still aren’t quite up to par with a camera that’s 2 years old…however what you do get vs a 5d is:
12 megapixel resolution: Same resolution as a 5d
Better Autofocus: With the same basic autofocus mechanism as the new Nikon D3, the D300 will kick the 5d’s butt anytime.
Better Colors: This was confirmed through my friend that has both. The colors are outstanding on the D300 right out of the camera compared to the 5d. I can only assume that the same can be said with the D3.
3″ LCD: Enough said.
With all that said I’ll need to weigh my options carefully so I’ll have to update this in a few.
No related posts.
One Comment
I am lucky enough to use 3, D3 bodies in my advertising and commercial work, (I have the 3 bodies set-up for different pro-lenses and also not wishing to have to change bodies/lenses /ingress of dust: the number one enemy of every sensor!) I had moved up from 2 superb kodak 760′s, (which were 6 mega pixel ccd, but were more outstanding than some 12mp cameras including the Canon D5, in terms of quality (below 400 Iso)!, I know because some of my close Italian Papprazi were using Canon D5′s at the time ) The D3 is in another league in every aspect! I have covered assignments using the D3 from 200 right up to 6400 and the tonal range is breathtaking. I have shot in near zero light and captured subtle light conditions that previously were unimaginable!. The D3 uses a huge pixel size of 8.45 micro mmm that allows (this is the critical thing) more “light” data into each site and then almost no noise during processing – its not about having 24Mp / 48Mp sensors, its about how the light is captured and processed. Nikon have a winning design that will still be a winner in years to come and Pro’s will still be using D3′s to cover assignments. I cannot fault the D3, it does everything far better than the competition and gives you the image quality you want and reliability and robust design only Nikon can give.