Upgrading to D300

JustAnEngineer · Oct 25, 2008

How about the $300 Sigma 28mm f/1.8 or the $320 Nikkor 35mm f/2D? For $440, you could get the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II LD.

Pure · Oct 26, 2008

Well, I could survive with eh 70-200mm for now because I've been chatting with my friend who is a hardcore photographer, and he is letting me borrow this:

AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

Which is what I need for wider shots. [damn nice lens at that]

Does anybody have any issues with me getting:

D90 w/ 70-200mm?

70-200mm see below:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/274780-USA/Nikon_2139_70_200mm_f_2_8D_VR_G_AFS.html

kundalini · Oct 26, 2008

As long as you stick with Nikon, there will be no issues which body you choose. :biggrin:

Pure · Oct 26, 2008

Haha, duh.

Also, can you help me find anything lower than 999 for the D90, and 1650 for the 70-200?

Trying to be cheaper, but BH is reliable and its alot to spend online without being sure it is reliable.

benhasajeep · Oct 28, 2008

There is a $300 rebate on a D300 and 18-200VR combo right now. You can get the kit for $2,150 (Adorama price). The lens is not the fastest, but because of the VR you can use lower shutter speeds and its just like using faster glass. And its not like its a slouch of a lens in the first place. I say stick with the D300 and the 18-200. The d300 has several advantages over the d90 and d200 for future use. I just ordered a d300 body for myself. Was torn between it and the d90 and once I compared the features the extra $500 was worth it in my opinion.

If you think about it. An 18-200 zoomed out and at 5.6 according to Nikon you have a 4 stop equavilant advantage with the VR on. That means you could actually shoot at 300mm equavilant (crop factor) at F8 and still use the same shutter speed of a 300 2.8 lens wide open (since they say 4 I am betting 3 stops is probably more practical). Not shooting at wide open on the 18-200 will give you slightly better pictures (closer to lens sweet spot).

jlykins · Oct 29, 2008

benhasajeep said:
There is a $300 rebate on a D300 and 18-200VR combo right now. You can get the kit for $2,150 (Adorama price). The lens is not the fastest, but because of the VR you can use lower shutter speeds and its just like using faster glass. And its not like its a slouch of a lens in the first place. I say stick with the D300 and the 18-200. The d300 has several advantages over the d90 and d200 for future use. I just ordered a d300 body for myself. Was torn between it and the d90 and once I compared the features the extra $500 was worth it in my opinion.

If you think about it. An 18-200 zoomed out and at 5.6 according to Nikon you have a 4 stop equavilant advantage with the VR on. That means you could actually shoot at 300mm equavilant (crop factor) at F8 and still use the same shutter speed of a 300 2.8 lens wide open (since they say 4 I am betting 3 stops is probably more practical). Not shooting at wide open on the 18-200 will give you slightly better pictures (closer to lens sweet spot).

The difference in FPS is enough of a reason to spend the extra $500....

kundalini · Oct 29, 2008

jlykins said:
The difference in FPS is enough of a reason to spend the extra $500....

An extra 1.5fps is hardly worth $500 unless your primary shooting is fast action. If it is and of high importance, then the D300 with grip to get 8fps would be the better option. However, for everyday use, the D90's 4.5fps is fine. It's still bloody fast. My D80 gets 3fps and I am happy with that. My D300 gets 6fps and I am happy with that.

jlykins · Oct 29, 2008

kundalini said:
An extra 1.5fps is hardly worth $500 unless your primary shooting is fast action. If it is and of high importance, then the D300 with grip to get 8fps would be the better option. However, for everyday use, the D90's 4.5fps is fine. It's still bloody fast. My D80 gets 3fps and I am happy with that. My D300 gets 6fps and I am happy with that.

Sorry I should have clarified. I ment with the grip. I put grips on all of my cameras so I didn't even think to clarify that.

benhasajeep · Oct 29, 2008

jlykins said:
The difference in FPS is enough of a reason to spend the extra $500....

Actually is only 1 key difference. Other big ones for me are:

100% veiw finder coverage for D300 - 96% for D90 (small difference but worth it for me).
D300 uses the same Autofocus module as the D3 and D700.

2-9 exposure regular and white balance bracketing vs. 2-3 for D90

Higher speed shutter 1/8000 vs 1/4000.

Flash sync up to 1/320 vs. 1/200 on the D90

D300 gets 15% more shots per battery (using same battery).

And the biggest reason for me is D300 is wifi capable and D90 is not.

Not sure where I read it but I remember seeing 150,000 shutter actuations for D300 and 100,000 for D90. So the shutter for the D300 should be a little more robust.

JerryPH · Oct 29, 2008

benhasajeep said:
Flash sync up to 1/320 vs. 1/200 on the D90

Not really. Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec (up to 1/320 sec with reduced GN). The D200 using FP and CLS syncs to 1/8000th if needed (as does the D300), but that 1/320th sync speed is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Wifi: For the Nikon, hellaciously expensive and sloooooooooow. Useless in the real world, IMHO. I bought this and returned it a week later! I replaced it with good 8GB CF cards and a fast USB-II card reader, and am happier.

kundalini · Oct 29, 2008

I'll let you know how the MB-D10 grip handles on the D300 in a week or so. I have a Sandisk rebate check that has to go through the USPS, but got everything set up with Adorama to have it soon. :biggrin:

Gotta say the salesman at Adoram was more than helpful. To this point all my orders had been strictly on-line.

benhasajeep · Oct 29, 2008

JerryPH said:
Not really. Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec (up to 1/320 sec with reduced GN). The D200 using FP and CLS syncs to 1/8000th if needed (as does the D300), but that 1/320th sync speed is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Wifi: For the Nikon, hellaciously expensive and sloooooooooow. Useless in the real world, IMHO. I bought this and returned it a week later! I replaced it with good 8GB CF cards and a fast USB-II card reader, and am happier.

I have read that the wifi is slow for real time pictures. But I figured having the option that maybe in the future that they will improve the speeds. But I know there is a limit. Just downloading a 12 meg pic from my desktop to a laptop in my house takes a bit to do. So I really don't expect the system connected to the camera to be any faster.

I just thought it was a nice option. I did consider the WT4a when I ordered the body, but at $650 its down on my list. I did order the grip though. I have also decided to ditch my ring light and ordered the R1 flash kit.