Nikon D300S

Shooting Modes (12.00)

There is no easy-peasy full auto setting on the D300s, sticking instead with the meat and potatoes program (with program shift), shutter-priority, aperture-priority and full manual exposure modes. Instead of using a conventional dial, shooting modes are selected by holding down the MODE button and turning the main command dial.

When making manual adjustments, the main command dial is consistently used to change shutter speeds, the sub-command dial in front of the grip is used to adjust aperture values.

Focus

The D300s uses a fast 51-point autofocus system with 15 cross-type sensors, a holdover from the D3000 and the D3 before that. The focus area is selected using a switch to the bottom right of the LCD. Which one of the three Dynamic Area options will be used (9 point, 21 point, or 51 point) is set via the Custom Settings menu.

There is a very bright AF assist illuminator located between the right hand grip and the lens, which brings flashlight-like intensity to the task of achieving focus in dark environments, and works very effectively.

Recording Options

There are three JPEG compression settings, fine (roughly 1:4 compression), normal (roughly 1:8) and basic (roughly 1:16). In addition to choosing a compression format, you can select a compression strategy, between size priority (producing relatively uniform file sizes) and optimal quality, with more file size variation.

Unlike most cameras, the D300S supports uncompressed storage in two formats, TIFF and NEF (Nikon’s RAW image format). NEF files can be saved entirely uncompressed, or in one of two compressed formats. Lossless compression processes the file mathematically for a 20-40% file size reduction with no loss of image quality. Compressed NEF cuts files size down by 40-55% with minimal effect on image quality. In addition, the user can choose 12-bit or 14-bit NEF recording: the 14-bit files are about 1.3 times larger but incorporate more precise color data.

When shooting RAW+JPEG, any of the three JPEG compression ratios can be used. An interesting option that takes advantage of the dual memory slots is the ability to save the RAW images onto one card and the JPEG version onto the other.

The D300S supports three image size settings:

Other Controls (1.00)

Virtual Horizon

The virtual horizon feature is one of the few that’s actually more useful in Live View mode. It offers an on-screen indicator showing whether or not the camera is level (side to side only, not front to back). This can be displayed by itself on the LCD screen via the Setup menu, or it can be seen as an overlay to the Live View screen, which is a more practical approach.