Seems whenever I’m away from home something big gets announced. There I was relaxing after a day out in the Florida sunshine, surfing the net and checking some emails, when I discover the announcement of two new DSLRs and two new lenses…including the much anticipated Nikon D300s AND a new version of the 70-200 VR! I thought they might be a few months away yet but you can pre-order (update: now buy) the D300s HERE AT B&H PHOTO. I have mixed feelings about the new offerings, but certainly looking forward to seeing how they perform.
UPDATE: The D300s is now in stock HERE
My thoughts on the new equipment
As I’m sure most of you will have read by now, the full line up of camera’s and lenses included:
D300s DLSR
D3000 DSLR
70-200 VR II
18-200 DX VR II
I’ll admit the D3000 and 18-200 don’t really interest me too much…it’s the D300s and new 70-200 VR II that have my attention. Although having picked up a D300 for a good price a few months back, the inclusion of a 720p movie mode doesn’t want to make me rush out and upgrade. I will admit though that despite being all against movie modes on DSLRs, whilst in Florida on my recent trip I found myself filming a lot of videos with my pretty poor quality Nokia phone…so I am starting to see where a movie mode might come in handy, but as I say it’s not a ‘must have’ for me so I won’t be upgrading my D300 just yet – especially as it’s only a backup to my D3. I can’t deny that for many though this camera will be eagerly awaited and purchased by many, and why not. The D300 is a great DX camera with a wealth of features to keep even demanding shooters pretty happy, add to that the new movie mode and a couple of other new additions like a slightly faster frame rate of 7fps (rises to 8 still with the MB D10 grip – although now you’re paying out a lot of extra money for only 1 more FPS, so the speed increase of the grip isn’t quite so enticing now). Dual memory card slots is also a welcome addition although having to carry around two different types of memory is a small inconvenience IMO.
One of the first video’s shot with the D300s…
You can also see this and another video at higher resolution, as well as read some pro’s thoughts who have been using the camera on the Nikon site below.
Click to visit D300s pro site
The new 70-200 VR II
Now, this is what really has my attention! It’s been said for quite some time that the original 70-200 VR was always built with DX in mind and that it doesn’t perform very well on FX camera’s such as the D3, D3x and D700. Well, I find that statement to be both fair and unfair…whilst I’ve found the performance to be excellent on my D3 I have also found it to be somewhat lacking at times, depending on what I am shooting. Portraits and anything with a shallow depth of field are great and I can not fault the lens at all (it’s still one of the weapons of choice for wedding photographers). It’s when it comes to landscapes or anything where the whole image is pretty much in focus that you get issues on FX bodies. Vignetting I can deal with and isn’t really something that worries me too much as it is a quick and easy fix in post processing. It’s the corner sharpness that I have issue with during those times when the whole scene needs to be in focus – it is those times when I am less than pleased with the old lenses performance on my D3. Stick the lens on the D300 and it comes alive with sharp, bright images from corner to corner – which means you never have to worry, regardless of the subject you are shooting, and that’s the way it should be on FX as well as DX. Well, now hopefully it will be!
For those that like seeing MTF charts, here is the old and lens lens side by side…
Old and new 70-200 VR MTF charts
I’m looking forward to seeing some test images to see what improvements have been brought to the table…will I sell my old lens and upgrade to the new one? Tough one to answer if I’m honest. I’m not sure I shoot with that focal length often enough to warrant such a costly upgrade, but who knows, if the new lens is night and day ahead of the old one I might consider it…maybe…
Links
I wont go on and on with lists of what the new gear has to offer and just repeat what has already been said on official sites, I just wanted to share my initial thoughts on the D300s and 70-200 whilst I try to get over my jet-lag. But below, for your viewing pleasure are links to more info about all the new gear that’s heading to a camera shop near you soon.
Pre-orders
D300s at B&H Photo
D3000 at B&H Photo
Official D300s Mico Site
Spec list
D300s brochure pdf
Official D3000 Micro Site
Spec List
Nikon D300s
