Guest Report post Posted January 2, 2008 Anybody had a chance to try out the new D300 yet? I am very strongly considering an upgrade in the next month or so and I am strongly considering it. My only worry is taking it on the river, it may be too much $$$ for me to feel comfortable wading with it. I carry my D50 in any weather and don't give it a thought but laying down $1800 on a new body may make me think twice which is something I don't want. For that reason I may go with a D80 which will give me 10MP at less then half the price. Is the D300 really $1000 better then the D80? Any thoughts? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 Thats a good question. I think the number of MP doesn't means as much as it used to, these days, its the quality of the pixels instead. I think you might be better off buying a D200 for a bargain from someone upgrading. I've been very happy with my D200, except for noise at higher ISO, and the D300 only gives about one extra stop of ISO without noise issues. The live preview mode is nice, but I doubt I'd use that much. If the D300 had a live exposure Historgram, I'd be buying a new D300 today. I carry my D200 and several lenses on stream, inside waterproof Simms camera belt bags. I don't pull it out unless I have sure footing, and imediately put the camera strap around my neck. I have crossed streams occasionally with the camera hanging from my neck, but I need to stop taking that risk, especially in boulder filled streams with tricky wading. I'm sure the D300 is much better than the D80, especially the cameras ability to focus on fast moving objects. Having mirror lock up and depth of preview buttons are also worth the extra cost. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ILikeFish 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 I think you're right Graham, its the quality of the CCD, and other components. more MP will just get you larger prints, not clearer images. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will Milne 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 Hi Personally I think right now the D200 ( down 400.00 CDN compared to when I bought mine) is a tremendous buy, with the price drop that has occured since the D300 arrival. Compared to a D80 you would get a more solid and featured body . a bit of a simple comparison here- http://www.dustylens.com/d200_vs_d80.htm I have a D200 and have looked at the D300. If I were doing bird/fast action/sports etc. I would probably get one. It has a more sophisticated AF system than the D200 and ever so slightly better noise at high ISO which in those areas of photography are very usefull. For everything I do/am interested in- the d200 is a very solid and full featured cam. I am considering getting a second one before they all go. Will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 3, 2008 Hey Will, I've been thinking the same thing, maybe buy a second D200 as my back-up, and twin shooting outfit, for those times when a wide angle on one camera and a long lens ready on the other shoulder is the way to go. Then all of my accessories and down-loadable shooting menus match perfectly, and all 3 of my batteries will work. I think that's what I will do until the day comes that I buy a full frame, maybe when the D4 comes out... Graham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Al Beatty 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Hi Will, You've got some great advise from Will (other Will) and Graham. I think the D200 would serve you well but what ever you decide I recomend you NOT take the cheap route. I wager that six months after purchasing a less expensive model you'll be kicking yourself. Quite frankly Will, you are in the magazine business now and you need the equipment to do the job, don't short yourself. Besides, on the water I'd take both cameras with the new one in a water proof back pack the the D50 ready for the quick shots. Then if you stumble onto the perfect "cover shot" you take the time to pull the new camera out of the bag to capture the moment. Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com Flyfisher magazine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Regarding your question "Is the D300 really $1000 better then the D80" I agree with Al, you're a pro now and need pro gear. I guess since I've started selling photos recently I should consider myself a pro...lol.. But, getting back to your question, I would say with certainty that the D300 is worth $1000 more than the D80, and I would say the same thing about the D200. I recently sold an egret in flight photo to an Arabian ad agency, a photo I doubt could have been taken with the D80 focus system, which the D200 handled easily, and it sold for quite a bit more than $1000, several times more. And, I took this photo in the summer of 06, on my first attempt at bird flight photography. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will Milne 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Quote- "it sold for quite a bit more than $1000, several times more" I sense a flood of egret shots is about to happen:))) I went to Toys R Us and they were all out of stuffed ones- I figured with some photoshopping it may have worked. Ah well I guess I'm stuck taking seagull shots and stretching them vertically and adding some blur:)))) Will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 If I could swing that deal weekly, life would be wonderful. The image is being put on billboards nation wide in Oman, as well as pamphlets. I asked for a photo of my photo on a billboard and was assured this would happen. I'm just dying to get that... I started with a full frame 10.2 mb image, and used Capture and Photoshop to change it into a 55mb TIFF. It was too large for me to e-mail so I uploaded it to my server and sent a link to the purchaser. In case your wondering, Western Union is a great way to recieve funds from overseas. I got the full amount, unlike a wire tranfer last month were 7% was taken along the way. That transfer was wired from Italy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peterjay 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Quote- "it sold for quite a bit more than $1000, several times more" I sense a flood of egret shots is about to happen:))) I went to Toys R Us and they were all out of stuffed ones- I figured with some photoshopping it may have worked. Ah well I guess I'm stuck taking seagull shots and stretching them vertically and adding some blur:)))) Will, when you consider the long hours and considerable expense Graham has invested building his backyard aviary/studio and training those wading birds, it's hard to begrudge him the success he's enjoying these days. I'm still not sure how he keeps the netting out of the flight pix, but I'd wager it has something to do with a cloning stamp. (Just kidding - congrats on the big sale - I'm jealous) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will Milne 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Graham- that'll be cool to see the pic of the pic on a billboard. Congrats on the sale and ignore the good natured foolery:) Another way of doing the image provide, is to request FTP access to their server and transfer to there. I have dealt with a mag. that does just that for it's contributers. It saves the traffic in large tiffs on your own account if bandwidth is a concern. I know my ( Canadian) bank does'nt charge me 7% for wire transfers , maybe you could save the Western Union fee in the future with a seperate account that provides free transfers. Just a thought. Will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Graham 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2008 Hey Will, I actually enjoy good natured foolery. When I photoshop the suspension wires out of the pics of the realistic egrets I tyed, it makes them come alive... Thank you Will and Peter, the egret deal is what pushed me to register a new business. I'm having fun with it. Recently I printed seven different 8"x10"'s, went to a local frame store, spent $250 for mats and frames, went home, put them together, printed certificates of authenticity, signed them, drove to a local high end type of store, and sold them for $1,050. Then it was lunch time. I realize identical opportunies are not readilly available, but I like the challenge of trying to make a business thrive, and remaining fun. Last night I realized that the D200 and D300 can use the same battery, while the D300 can be used with the 4 series battery as well. Makes me think I should get the D300 instead of another D200 when I buy a second DSLR. I hope to take a day off this week and shoot humming birds on tropical flowers at the L.A. Arboretum. Lots of cool stuff there and I'll bring some macro lenses as well. Graham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted January 10, 2008 Thanks for the comments guys, I am still undecided as to what I am going to do. I have always been a believer of "it's not the camera, it is the photographer" that makes a great photo. For what I shoot I am not sure that even a D3 will take any better photos then my D50. I don't shoot birds, sports or anything "extreme". If anybody has seen Hatches then you will see what I was able to get out of my D50. Personally, I think most of my shots were as good if not better than any other shot you will find in a fly fishing magazine. My only reason for upgrading is to have the ability of doing a double page spread which is beyond what I can do with 6MP. As I said though, I haven't decided. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Al Beatty 0 Report post Posted January 10, 2008 Hi Will, Two things: I'm not sure how large the area you live in is but here in Boise (small town) it is possible to rent camera equipment. You might consider that to try out a camera before buying. I'm with you somewhat Will on your hesitation on another camera. I went the 12MP SLR route recently and quite frankly I don't get any better pics with it than I do with my old Nikon that is 3MP. I had heard the number of pixels don't always make for a sharper picture and now I beleive it. Have you tried a double page shot with your D50 yet? Just the other day I got a look at a proposed cover photo we are considering for an upcoming book that I shot with the old Nikon; I was stunned at how good it looked. You might want to see how far you can really push the old D50! How much would it cost you to "mock-up" a double page spread and have a couple of copies made? The experiment might be worth the cost. The only reason I seem to have flip-flopped on you since my last post on this subject is two fold: 1. The cover shot I saw the other day and 2. an article I read earlier this week (with pictures) in one of the pro-mags I get that talked about an assignment Nat'l Geographic gave their photographers recently; they had to shoot a complete magazine using 6MP SLR's. The results were stunning! Take care & ... Tight Lines - Al Beatty www.btsflyfishing.com Flyfisher magazine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted January 10, 2008 Yea, I have looked into doing a 2 page spread with the D50 and the results were just too grainy for my liking. The files are simply not big enough to be stretched to that size and still stay sharp. It can be done, I seen a two page spread in a fly fishing magazine recently and I could tell they stretched it far beyond what the file could go and the result was horrible. Nick tells me of a great photoshop plug-in that does a better job at upsizing photos then photoshop by itself. I'm going to look into that and then make my decision on a new body. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
