The Nikon D300S new today... in 2014

[sifelaver]

The D300S is currently selling for $1619.99 brand new on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002JCSV6M?pc_redir=1395433543&robot_redir=1

My question is, is there anyone out there who would buy this brand new today, given the other (more updated) options?

Don't get me wrong... I would love a D300S at half that price refurbished, but even refurbished is over a grand.

So who's buying these "new" D300S's for $1600?!

 

[Trever1t]

What's a better buy? D300s is the last of the consumer 'tanks' all magnesium bodies. Solidly built and it's sensor capable. Don't forget video.

 

[robbins.photo]

What's a better buy? D300s is the last of the consumer 'tanks' all magnesium bodies. Solidly built and it's sensor capable. Don't forget video.

Guess it depends on what your using the camera for really, for me I shoot a lot of stuff in bad lighting conditions so the older sensor in the D300 just really doesn't offer the high iso / low noise ratio of some of it's newer, cheaper counterparts. But with all things camera, it really depends on what your needs are as to what is or isn't a good buy for you.

 

[Derrel]

I doubt there are many brand new D300s cameras being sold these days. KEH has a Very Good rated used unit listed at $729 linked in that same Amazon listing for the new unit. If you read Thom Hogan's dslrbodies.com columns, you'll know that inventory backlog is a HUGE issue for Nikon and its dealers...there are loads of new cameras being held in inventory, and they are not selling except when prices are dropped significantly. The D300s has not had very much price decline, and my feeling is that at over $1,600 it's a tough sell in today's market, due to the other cameras that have been introduced since it was a brand-new model. I think the refurbished D600's that flooded the market at around the same price or a bit more than the D300s meant a lot more new FF D600's were sold, while D300s bodies did not sell very fast.

The D300s is still just as good a camera as it always WAS...it's just that much lower-cost cameras with newer sensors and higher MP counts make it seem overpriced to a lot of people. People buy according to what they need and want, and I think the D7000 and D7100 and D600 and D610 bodies have siphoned off a lot of the D300s's appeal to a large segment of buyers.

 

[bigal1000]

What's a better buy? D300s is the last of the consumer 'tanks' all magnesium bodies. Solidly built and it's sensor capable. Don't forget video.

The D7100 !!!!

 

[Derrel]

What's a better buy? D300s is the last of the consumer 'tanks' all magnesium bodies. Solidly built and it's sensor capable. Don't forget video.

The D7100 !!!!

I know our own coastalconn, the fine bird photographer from Connecticut, used the D300s for a long time, and resisted moving to Canon and resisted buying a D7100...but he finally gave in, and bought himself a D7100...I noticed immediately that his images had higher technical quality...there's twice as many pixels in a D7100 image, and the sensor gives wider dynamic range, deeper color depth, and less noise than the D300s sensor...

For "some" people, the build quality and the controls and such that the D300 series offer is a big deal, as is the fairly deep buffer the D300s offers. There are times when a guy has to wait and wait and wait for a subject to get within range, and then he wants to shoot,shoot,shoot,shoot; that's the kind of thing the D3 and D4 pro bodies offer, like say a 29-frame .NEF buffer at full Continuous HIGH speed advance...the D7100's buffer is like 6 or 7 frames on Continuous High...it will shoot longer on Continuous LOW-speed, but the firing rate is much slower. Switching to JPEG mode helps, but then you end up with...JPEG captures....which might not be acceptable for a few reasons.

The D7100 has the image quality and the great sensor people want, but the body's controls, and the buffer depth, and the firing rate, are all decidedly "consumer", whereas the D300s was more "pro-level". I think in this ever-tightening camera market, the number of people who absolutely MUST have the "pro-level" camera-body features is just not large enough for Nikon to worry about. The amateur and hobby shooters and the small-time pros of today, the people who bought the D300 and D300s because they were good imagers, can now buy BETTER image quality, in a camera that costs as little as $599.

The up-tick in absolute, technical image quality of the new, 24-megapixel consumer cams, like D3300, D5300, and D7100, is pretty impressive. The technical image quality (DR, color depth, lack of noise) of a cheap D3300 is BETTER than a professional Nikon or Canon 1-digit camera body of a few years ago. The choice today is "the tool" versus "the image quality". MOST people are now opting for the image quality, at lower price, and are willing to give up the build quality of the older semi-pro camera in favor of better image quality, with more cropping capability, higher resolution, better color, and better High-ISO capability.

 

[runnah]

I agree Derrel. Sadly I think the lack of a follow up to the d300 formula is due to the huge product line that nikon currently has. In an ideal world there would be 3 dslrs for both ff and crop. A good, better and best scenario. Currently they do have that for ff but their crop market is way too big.

 

[bigal1000]

I doubt there will ever be a D400,but I have been wrong before chances look slim though !!

 

[Derrel]

I agree Derrel. Sadly I think the lack of a follow up to the d300 formula is due to the huge product line that nikon currently has. In an ideal world there would be 3 dslrs for both ff and crop. A good, better and best scenario. Currently they do have that for ff but their crop market is way too big.

It's almost like the guys running Nikon have started smoking crack on their lunch breaks...or the bean counters are totally,totally in charge, and all they see are the numbers of D3100 and D3200 and D5100 and D5200 sales as those OLD, discounted models rack up the vast majority of their total sales...according to Thom Hogan, the best-selling Nikon last year was the OLD D3100!!!!!!! An out of production model!!! Discounted heavily. He wrote an article on Nikon's nutty marketing/production/ insanity just yesterday.

What Nikon Has Taught Us | byThom | Thom Hogan

TODAY, Nikon lists 18 D-SLR Models on the Nikon USA web site!!! I totally agree with you runnah: a good/better/best lineup would make a lot of sense. That DOES exist in the entry level with the D3300/D5300/D7100,at least in "name"; but the reality is that the D3100, and D3200 are STILL ON THE SHELVES all across the USA!!!! I got an ad this AM from B&H photo:

"B&H Photo Nikon DLSR Cameras: Nikon D3100 Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm NIKKOR VR lens, $389.00 Back In Stock"

Nikon just has wayyyyyy too many camera models in the product matrix. The dealers are selling OLD STUFF!! The retail channel is wayyyy overstocked.

Thom goes into that in his article from earlier this week, entitled "Off-target, Overloaded, and Overpriced" Off Target, Overloaded, and Overpriced | byThom | Thom Hogan