D300 too old?

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Bukitimah

Senior Member
I dropped my D300 due to a faulty sling strap which I have shared here in another thread. In the processes I damaged my Tamron 17-50 f2.8 lens.

Luckily my D300 is robust and don't seems to have any problem. Now I need a new lens (wide angle ). The question quite obviously now is should I buy FX lens? With D600 going under $1k, I am not sure if I will move to FX.

This D300 will still be my backup for sure.
 
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Wolfeye

Senior Member
I was given some birthday loot, so I bought a used (8+ condition) D300 from B&H for $350. It arrives tomorrow. Not sure what to expect as far as their grading scale, and they don't even try to list shutter actuations. What would you guys consider "too high" a shutter count for that price? Inquiring minds want to know... my own instinct is <50K because of the price, which is a bit on the high side.
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Wolfeye said:
I was given some birthday loot, so I bought a used (8+ condition) D300 from B&H for $350. It arrives tomorrow. Not sure what to expect as far as their grading scale, and they don't even try to list shutter actuations. What would you guys consider "too high" a shutter count for that price? Inquiring minds want to know... my own instinct is <50K because of the price, which is a bit on the high side.
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Usually B7H and Adorama are very conservative with their grading. If it says 8+ it will most likely look almost new. I dont think you should worry about the shutter count. I bet it will be under 50K
Oh BTW. Did you not see me selling mine for the last few months? It had 12K actuations and would have let you have it for 300.00..Too late now.
 
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Wolfeye

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
Usually B&H and Adorama are very conservative with their grading. If it says 8+ it will most likely look almost new. I dont think you should worry about the shutter count. I bet it will be under 50K
Oh BTW. Did you not see me selling mine for the last few months? It had 12K actuations and would have let you have it for 300.00..Too late now.
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Well, I only got the urge to splurge after getting the B&H gift card, so I wasn't looking for one. I certainly prefer to buy and sell with Nikonites.

Tell ya what, next time you think to sell something that I might be interested in in six months, you tell me first. :)
 
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Bukitimah

Senior Member
My D300 have more than 50k actuations or even more. It is a very robust camera. I am sure you will like it. It is built to last. Over hear in Singapore, it is selling under $300! That is not because camera is no good but too many newer models to pick from.
 
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Bukitimah

Senior Member
Just checked my actuation using CS6, it is 73K and not 50K as earlier thought. Have decided to keep it and going for the tokina 11-16 ver 2 uwa lens. Will hold on any update till much later.
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
Can't really go wrong with that camera model! Build quality still a very good reason to go with it over other lesser models! Lol ;)
I would have kept mine even after upgrading, if I didn't need the money towards bills or other camera supplies! Besides I still have her big sister the D700 which feels and works just as great but full frame! :)

Congrats on the lens choice! I think you will be pleased! :)

Bukitimah said:
Just checked my actuation using CS6, it is 73K and not 50K as earlier thought. Have decided to keep it and going for the tokina 11-16 ver 2 uwa lens. Will hold on any update till much later.
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fotojack

Senior Member
Let's look at this question from a different perspective, shall we? :)

How did you like the performance of the D300 when you first got it? Did it do what you wanted it to do? Is it well built? Comfortable in your hands? No problems with it? etc etc etc?

So.....what changed? .....is it still working great? Still feels good in your hands? Does what it's supposed to do? Still well built?

Are you wanting another camera with more bells and whistles because your buddy or "everyone else" is getting the latest and greatest incarnation of a Nikon camera, that you simply want to keep up with the rest of the crowd?

Sure, some of the newer cameras have higher ISO capabilities. But ask yourself..........how often are you going to utilize that feature...realistically? I can't remember the last time I went above ISO 400! And what about video? How often will you be using video? Was that your primary reason on wanting a newer camera? You didn't have video when you got the D300. Did you miss having it then? Seriously? pffffft! If I want to take video, I'd have bought a video camera!

A flip screen.......really? Something else to go wrong, or break!

I suspect there's a lot of impulse buying goin' on with a lot of people.
 
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hrstrat57

Senior Member
fotojack said:
Let's look at this question from a different perspective, shall we? :)

How did you like the performance of the D300 when you first got it? Did it do what you wanted it to do? Is it well built? Comfortable in your hands? No problems with it? etc etc etc?

So.....what changed? .....is it still working great? Still feels good in your hands? Does what it's supposed to do? Still well built?

Are you wanting another camera with more bells and whistles because your buddy or "everyone else" is getting the latest and greatest incarnation of a Nikon camera, that you simply want to keep up with the rest of the crowd?

Sure, some of the newer cameras have higher ISO capabilities. But ask yourself..........how often are you going to utilize that feature...realistically? I can't remember the last time I went above ISO 400! And what about video? How often will you be using video? Was that your primary reason on wanting a newer camera? You didn't have video when you got the D300. Did you miss having it then? Seriously? pffffft! If I want to take video, I'd have bought a video camera!

A flip screen.......really? Something else to go wrong, or break!

I suspect there's a lot of impulse buying goin' on with a lot of people.
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Bang on here! A D400 is the only replacement! Shot surf yesterday, fast action - 8fps and tracks like a laser on APS-C! Handles like a dream with MB-D10 and never runs out of juice. Huge buffer even shooting RAW.

Pro!
 
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RON_RIP

Senior Member
All I know is that all this talk of replacing older things has got me mighty nervous. If it ain't broke, why replace it.
 
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Bukitimah

Senior Member
I ready don't know what the 'upgrade' can achieve till I experience it myself or those with fx camera can share theirs.

There are many different versions when people compare.D7200 against d600 for example. Having the ability to shoot at higher iso is a plus when you don't want to spend too much on fast lenses. BUT fast lens is also ultimate.

Of course it all boils down to one's budget too.
 
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STM

Senior Member
Oh, I don't know, you be the judge. I shot this with one the other night with a 600mm f/4 ED-IF AIS and Nikon TC-300 @ ISO 400 and 1/400 sec @ f/11 (effective aperture)

Moon.jpg
 
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simonsi

simonsi

New member
I just upgraded my D300...to a low-count D300s! Just wanted to lower the shutter count and was very pleased to have additional button-config options and the option of video, biggest workflow change was the option of SD media which I took advantage of and I now dedicate the CF cards to video.
CF prices have changed, I'm sure my first Lexar 4GB CF at D200 launch was something nuts like GBP300! 16GB SD for the D300s was NZ$25!
 
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Wolfeye

Senior Member
I now own all three, the D100, D200, and D300. Each has a place, although my D200 has the least-est place right now. :) I really like the audio clip option on the D100. Nikon knew they had a "too nice for this price class" feature there, so they removed it from subsequent models. So I keep my D100.
 
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Bukitimah

Senior Member
Went to Perth, Australia last week. Used by D300 paired with Tokina 11-16 f2.8 ver2. I am satisfied with the result.

76-Hamelin Bay - Manta Ray (south).jpg
 
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D200freak

Senior Member
I'm a D200 user. Never yet had a 300 or anything newer. In fact I own FOUR D200s. Two are like new, the other two are both in need of very minor repairs that I'll do when the parts come in. (Very soon, a few more days, I hope.)

I don't consider the D200 to be too old for anything. It's capable of better photography than I yet know how to achieve. So it stands to reason that I wouldn't consider the D300 to be too old, either.

The only shortcoming I see in the D200 is that it turns out that 10.2 megapixels is not enough for getting a clear photo of a rocket being launched from 20 miles away as viewed through a good 300mm zoom lens. The rocket itself is well defined but it appears to be made out of legos. But (visually) small objects at long range are always going to challenge your lenses and your resolution. You'll always wish for more zoom and more resolution in a case like that.

Next launch I'm going to stick my big Tamron 150-600 on my D3200 (24 MP) and see what it can do. I should get about 20x more pixels per rocket.
 
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