My new D300 and Sandisk Extreme 4GB card are sitting next to my chair at home. I don't know why people are paying up for these cameras, I ordered it online last Thursday for $1799, and used a 10% off coupon, at Best Buy and it showed up today. It is still in the box. Needless to say, I am SO looking forward to using this camera... I am getting right into the middle of basketball season and it is a serious upgrade for action shots over my 3fps D80's. I was debating as to whether to go this route or the D3, but in the end I figured that for a non-pro shooter, I just couldn't justify the extra 3K when I still have a bunch of fast glass to buy... this is a case of "buy glass, not bodies" even when buying a body. If I were using a camera to make a living, I wouldn't buy anything but a D3... and then I would be buying multiple copies of it. I have been reading about all the folks here who have been getting them anxiously. I have even (heaven forbid) checked out Ken Rockwell's site (and no, that is not a recommendation... although he has been getting some absolutely insane pictures with his D300, I don't recommend Ken as a review source). I am going to be selling one of my D80's, if anyone is looking for a camera in excellent condition (I will have to check the shutter actuation's for you, it has several thousand on it, just want to be exactly upfront with it). I have 2 D80's, and I will be selling the one that I use. The one my wife uses has a hot pixel on it, and I will be shipping it off to Nikon for warranty repairs after our January trip to Hawaii. The good news is that I bought an extended Mack warranty (BTW this is a Nikon USA camera purchased this year from Cameta Camera), which is fully transferrable to the new owner, so if anybody is looking for one of these puppies I have one available. I am PayPal certified so anything done via PayPal has full fraud protection if we use them.
Thanks for the info about Best Buy, I just ordered mine today. They seem to be the only ones who have the camera.
I was in Plattsburg NY and stopped in at their BB yesterday. By coincidence, I asked about the D300, the guy gave me a look of absolute blankness... then aswered "where have you been? They are delayed for at least another 3 months!" Uhmm.. yeah, really? Right. Next!!
