Model Design / Appearance (8.25)
The Nikon D300 looks like a tank of a camera. It has a solid magnesium alloy body that is tightly sealed and well-built. The design hasn’t changed much from the D200. Many of the same contours and surfaces are still around on this model. The D300 also carries the inverted red triangle that is a hallmark of all Nikon DSLRs. The D300 has a little twist on it, though: the right side of the triangle seems stretched toward the lens mount and looks more like a swoosh than a triangle.
Size / Portability (7.0)
Tanks have the disadvantage of being somewhat heavy, though; The Nikon D300 is almost as heavy as its predecessor the D200 at 1.82 pounds (825 grams) not including the battery, memory card, body cap, or monitor cover. It's nearly the same size as its as well at 5.8 x 4.5 x 2.9 inches (the D200 is only 4.4 inches tall). Add a decent sized zoom lens and your wrists will surely get a good workout. Add a tripod and they’ll get some relief.
This DSLR comes with strap lugs on the sides and a nice Nikon-emblazoned neck strap that is thick and comfortable.
Handling Ability (7.5)
The Nikon D300 has a comfortable right hand grip with a nice rubber-like surface that wraps around it. There is a defined divot on the front for fingers to rest in along with a lip on the back of the camera for the thumb to better support the camera. The left hand will likely support the base or lens from the bottom, as this DSLR is quite heavy. The buttons are all well-placed and labeled and only enhance the physical handling of the D300.
 Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (8.25)
As with many DSLRs in its category, the Nikon D300 has a button on its body for just about everything. There are two command dials – one at the front of the grip and the other at the back - that can be customized to access the shutter speed, aperture, and other functions. This, along with most other controls on the camera, are unchanged from the older D200’s layout.
The function button, preview button, and AE/AF-L buttons can all be customized to access a variety of different options from the camera’s menu system. This makes it very easy for photographers who need to quickly change certain items that are normally menu-bound with a touch of a button; they can map these features onto the buttons for quick access.
There are dozens of buttons and each seems to be surrounded by a dial of some type, so there are only so many on-camera functions that can be performed quickly. The buttons are all well-placed and labeled, making them comfortable and easy to access.
Menu (8.0)
The menu system looks similar to those on other Nikon DSLRs. There is a menu button to the upper left corner of the LCD screen. When pushed, the menus appear on the large, high-resolution LCD with enough room to fit eight options on the screen at once. There are six folder tabs to the menus that appear along the left edge. There is also a help icon at the bottom that explains features when the button to the left of the LCD labeled with a “?” is pushed. The Playback menu icon is the top folder in the column.
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Delete
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Selected, All
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Playback Folder
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ND300, All, Current
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Hide Image
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Select/Set, Deselect All
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Display Mode
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Done, Basic Photo Info (Highlights, Focus Point on and off), Detailed Photo Info (RGB Histogram, Data on and off)
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Image Review
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On, Off
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After Delete
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Show Next, Show Previous, Continue as Before
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Rotate Tall
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On, Off
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Slide Show
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Start, Frame Interval (2, 3, 5, 10 sec)
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Print Set (DPOF)
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Select/Set (0-99), Deselect All
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Below the playback icon is an icon of a camera to designate the Shooting menu. This hosts a plethora of items.
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Shooting Menu Bank
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A, B, C, D, Rename
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Reset Shooting Menu
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Yes, No
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Active Folder
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New Folder Number (0-999), Select Folder
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File Naming
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File Naming (type 3 letters)
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Image Quality
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NEF (RAW) + JPEG Fine, NEF (RAW) + JPEG Normal, NEF (RAW) + JPEG Basic, NEF (RAW), TIFF (RGB), JPEG Fine, JPEG Normal, JPEG Basic
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Image Size
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Large (4288 x 2848), Medium (3216 x 2136), Small (2144 x 1424)
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JPEG Compression
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Size Priority, Optimal Quality
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NEF (RAW) Recording
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Type (Lossless Compressed, Compressed, Uncompressed), NEF (RAW) bit depth (12-bit, 14-bit)
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White Balance
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Auto, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade (each preset with +/- 6 fine-tuning between blue/amber and green/magenta), Choose Color Temperature (5000K, 5260K, 5560K, 5880K, 6250K, 6670K, 7140K, 7690K, 8330K, 9090K, 10000K), Preset Manual (5 presets)
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Set Picture Control
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Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome
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Manage Picture Control
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Save/edit (Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome – Quick Adjust +/- 2, Sharpening 0-9, Contrast +/- 3, Brightness +/-1, Saturation +/- 3, Hue +/-3)
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Color Space
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sRGB, Adobe RGB
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Active D-Lighting
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High, Normal, Low, Off
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Long Exposure NR
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On, Off
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High ISO NR
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High, Normal, Low, Off
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ISO Sensitivity Settings
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ISO Sensitivity (LO 1, LO 0.7, LO 0.3, 200, 250, 320, 400, 500, 640, 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3200, HI 0.3, HI 0.7, HI 1), ISO Sensitivity Auto Control (On, Off), Maximum Sensitivity (400, 800, 1600, 3200, HI 1), Minimum Shutter Speed (1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, ¼, ½, 1
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Live View
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Live View Mode (Handheld, Tripod), Release Mode (Single frame, Continuous low-speed, Continuous high-speed)
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Multiple Exposure
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Done, Number of Shots (2-10), Auto Gain (On, Off)
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Interval Timer Shooting
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Off, Now, Start Time (set time, number of intervals, and number of shots per interval)
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There is a pencil icon that represents the Custom Shooting menu.
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Custom Setting Bank
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A, B, C, D, Rename
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Reset Custom Settings
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Yes, No
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Autofocus
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AF-C Priority Selection (Release, Release + Focus, Focus), AF-S Priority Selection (Release, Focus), Dynamic AF Area (9, 21, 51, 51 pt 3D-tracking), Focus Tracking with Lock On (Long, Normal, Short, Off), AF Activation (Shutter/AF-on, AF-on Only), AF Point Illumination (Auto, On, Off), Focus Point Wrap Around (Wrap, No Wrap), AF Point Selection (51, 11 pt), Built-in AF-assist Illuminator (On, Off), AF-On for MB-D10 (AF-ON, AE/AF lock, AE lock only, AE lock reset on release, AE lock hold, AF lock only, Same as Func. button)
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Metering/Exposure
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ISO Sensitivity Step Value (1/3, ½, 1), EV Steps for Exposure Control (1/3, ½, 1), Exp Comp/Fine Tune (1/3, ½, 1), Easy Exposure Compensation (On auto reset, On, Off), Center-weighted Area (6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, Average), Fine Tune Optimal Exposure (Yes, No)
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Timers/AE Lock
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Shutter Release Button AE-L (On, Off), Auto Meter Off Delay (4, 6, 8, 16, 30 sec, 1, 5, 10, 30 min, no limit), Self-Timer Delay (2, 5, 10, 20 sec), Monitor Off Delay (10, 20 sec, 1, 5, 10 min)
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Shooting Display
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Beep (High, Low, Off), Viewfinder grid Display (On, Off), Viewfinder Warning Display (On, Off), CL Mode Shooting Speed (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 fps), Max. Continuous Release (1-100), File Number Sequence (On, Off, Reset), Shooting Info Display (Auto, Manual), LCD Illumination (On, Off), Exposure Delay Mode (On, Off), MB-D10 Battery Type (AA alkaline, AA Ni-MH, AA lithium, AA Ni-Mn), Battery Order (Use MB-D10 batteries first, Use camera battery first)
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Bracketing/Flash
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Flash Sync Speed (1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/250 Auto FP, 1/320 Auto FP), Flash Shutter Speed (1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, ¼, ½, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30), Flash Control for Built-in Flash (TTL, Manual, Repeating Flash, Commander Mode), Modeling Flash (On, Off), Auto Bracketing Set (AE & Flash, AE Only, Flash Only, WB Bracketing), Auto Bracketing Mode M (Flash/speed, Flash/speed/aperture, Flash/aperture, Flash only), Bracketing Order (MTR>under>over, under>MTR>over)
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F Controls
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Multi selector Center Button (Shooting Mode select focus point, highlight active focus point, not used and Playback Mode thumbnail on/off, view histograms, zoom on/off, choose folder), Multi Selector (Reset Meter Off Display, Do Nothing), Photo Info/Playback (Info right/left and Playback up/down, Info up/down, Playback left/right), Assign Func. Button (Func. Button Press none, preview, FV lock, AE/AF lock, AE lock only, AE lock reset on release, AE lock hold, AF lock only, flash off, bracketing burst, matrix metering, center-weighted, spot metering, none and Func. Button + Dials 1 step spd/aperture, choose non-CPU lens number, auto bracketing, dynamic AF area, none), Assign Preview Button (Preview Button press and Preview + Command Dials same options as previous), Assign AE-L, AF-L Button (same options as previous), Customize Command Dials (Reverse Rotation yes/no, Change Main/Sub on/off, Aperture Setting sub-command dial/aperture ring, Menus and Playback on/off), Release Button to use Dial (Yes, No), No Memory Card (Release Locked, Enable Release), Reverse Indicators (+ to -, - to +)
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Whew. The Custom Settings menu is perhaps the longest and most verbose, but hopefully it won’t need to be as frequently accessed as the standard Shooting menu or even the Setup menu.
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Format Memory Card
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Yes, No
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LCD Brightness
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-3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3
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Clean Image Sensor
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Clean Now, Clean at Startup/Shutdown
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Lock Mirror up for Cleaning
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Start
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Video Mode
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NTSC, PAL
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HDMI
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Auto, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i
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World Time
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Time Zone (choose from map), Date and Time (set), Date Format (YMD, MDY, DMY), Daylight Saving Time (On, Off)
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Language
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Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
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Image Comment
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Done, Input Comment (type on keypad), Attach Comment
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Auto Image Rotation
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On, Off
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USB
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Mass Storage, MTP/PTP
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Dust Off Ref Photo
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Start, Clean Sensor and then Start
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Battery Info
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Battery Meter (shows percentage left), Picture Meter, Charging Life (shows new to old)
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Wireless Transmitter
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Transfer Mode, Thumbnail Select Mode, PC Mode, Print Mode
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Image Authentication
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On, Off
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Save/Load Settings
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Save Settings, Load Settings
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GPS
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Auto Meter Off (enable, disable), Position
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Non-CPU Lens Data
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Done, Lens Number (1-9), Focal Length (6-4000mm), Maximum Aperture (f/1.2-22)
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AF Fine Tune
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AF Fine Tune (On, Off), Saved Value (+/- 20), Default (+/- 20), List Saved Values
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Firmware Version
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Done
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Below the setup icon is a retouching icon that accesses a menu that's detailed in the Playback mode section. And to top off the amazing selection, the bottom icon accesses an option called “My Menu,” which allows photographers to add and remove items from certain menus and even rank them in the priority that they are used.
The selection in the menus is incredible, and the navigation isn’t bad either with the smooth-feeling multi-selector. And for those who don’t recognize every option in the menu system, there is a button to the left of the LCD labeled “?” that can be pushed to reveal explanations of certain functions. These aren’t one-liner explanations, either. There is three inches of space on the LCD and most of the time, it is all used up. For instance, the D300 has this to say about the Color Space option: “Choose the color space used to record photographs. sRGB: Choose for photos that will be printed or displayed with no further modification. Adobe RGB: Has a wider gamut than sRGB, making it suited to commercial printing applications.”
The options in the menu are extensive, but will get you exactly what you want. And the customization that you can do with the menus means that you can put frequently used menu options right at the top for quick access.
Ease of Use ( 6.5)
If all you’re used to holding is a compact digital camera, there will definitely be some adjustment to using the Nikon D300. If you’re a seasoned photographer, especially one who has worked with Nikon DSLRs before, then the learning curve won’t be as steep. The controls are clearly labeled and there is a “help” button labeled with a “?” that demystifies any mode or feature on the camera. The handling is superb, as well.
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