Nikon D300s test shots

By Jacques Bron on Tuesday, September 01 2009

I have received my Nikon D300s on August 29 and am very pleased with the tests I have done so far. My everyday's camera is a D200 and I have shot several times with a D300 and a D700. I knew I would find quite a big difference with the D200, especially in high iso.

Right after opening the box, I must say that the beast is really impressive. It is not much bigger than the D200 but it has a studier feeling. A few minutes after mounting my 17-55 f/2.8 on the D300s, I did a few test shots and then another set of photos in the evening during a family dinner.

You'll find here some of these shots. I am very impressed by the low-light / high iso quality and also by the D-Lighting, which I almost never used before.

All these shots have been taken hand-held (no tripod) in jpeg fine mode, with original camera settings and auto white balance. No post-processing was done.

First, a "normal shot" done with the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at iso 200 (click on thumbnail to see full-size image):

Second shot, a landscape with fine details in the chair and in the trees, with large exposure differences in the scene:

Third shot, a back-lighted portrait on which I applied in-camera D-Lighting correction (set to high):

Before:

After D-Lighting (High):

Now let's see what the D300s gives in high iso:

ISO 2000 - f/4 1/60s:

ISO 2000 - f/2.8 1/100s

ISO 1600 - f/8 1/250s

And finally, the same scene at ISO 3200 - f/8 1/500s

I don't know for you, but I really love the results so far. Thank you Nikon. I really dig this camera.

Before buying the D300s, I was skeptical and was wondering whether I should move to full-frame or not. But that would have meant changing many good lenses I already own, but that are DX-type lenses that are now designed for full-frame. The choice I have made has let me keep my investment and now have another great camera body.

Ok. This is all for today. I'm gonna go back shooting with my iPhone  ;-)