Nikon D300S

Lens & Sensor

Zoom Ratio Examples
16.0 mm	50.0 mm	85.0 mm

The 23.6 × 15.8mm CMOS sensor has a gross resolution of 13.1 megapixels, and an effective resolution of 12.3 megapixels. By default, the low-pass filter over the sensor vibrates to remove dust whenever the camera is turned on or off. A dust reference photo can also be taken for use with the optional Capture NX 2 software.

Viewfinder (9.75)

The excellent viewfinder, held over from the D300, is an eye-level pentaprism with approximately 100% coverage and 0.94% magnification. Even when wearing eyeglasses, the viewfinder is comfortable and the information display is easy to read; nothing tucked into the lower corners where you have to shift the camera around to read it. The diopter control, mounted flat against the back of camera, offers -2 to +1 m-1 adjustment flexibility and, while it’s easy enough to move when needed, it’s unlikely to be shifted accidentally.

There’s an optional viewfinder grid overlay available via the custom settings menu. The lines are unobtrusive, and useful for aligning with horizontals or verticals along the edges of a shot, though the pattern leaves the central area entirely open, which limits the practical advantages.

Display(s) (10.10)

The D300S uses Nikon’s 3-inch 921,000-dot LCD, a good-looking display which can be read easily even when the camera’s held at extreme angles. The brightness can be adjusted to one of seven levels, with a useful on-screen greyscale chart displayed while making the adjustment.

The camera comes with a clear plastic snap-on cover to protect the LCD. Maybe we’re paranoid, but we generally left this cover in place when shooting outdoors, since it has minimal impact on visibility.

Pressing the INFO button while shooting brings up the LCD info display, which provides an in-depth display of current shooting settings at glance. Pressing INFO again turns the bottom two lines into an interactive quick menu.

Secondary Display

As you’d expect from an advanced SLR, there’s a monochrome LCD control panel on top of the camera that displays current shooting settings, particularly useful when working with a tripod. The screen includes shooting mode, shutter speed and aperture, image size, format and compression, focus point, white balance setting, remaining shots and battery level. The display illuminates for six seconds when the power switch is turned all the way to the right.

Flash (9.50)

Nikon gives the guide number for the built-in flash as 17/56 (m/ft) at ISO 200. The maximum sync speed for the built-in flash is 1/250 second; with an external flash it can be as fast as 1/8000 second, useful for fill flash on sunny days.

The flash supports standard i-TTL (through the lens) flash control (the only selection available when shooting with spot metering) along with i-TTL balanced fill flash, which uses a series of brief pre-flash pulses, in combination with range information from the matrix metering system, to calculate the best flash level to achieve a balanced exposure between a foreground subject and the background scene.

In addition to standard flash mode, the built-in flash can be set for manual output level adjustment, used in repeating mode to create a strobe-light effect, and used in commander mode to serve as a master flash controlling compatible remote units.

Flash output can be adjusted in a range from -3 EV to +1 EV, in 1/3 EV increments. Flash value lock is also available, to ensure that all photographs taken in a series have the same exposure.

Connectivity (7.00)

Most of the I/O ports are located under a tight-fitting rubber door on the left side of the camera. The standard-def AV out jack is at the top, followed by the mini HDMI jack. Below this is the external mic jack, and the connector for an optional AC adapter. Finally, there’s an industry-standard mini USB cable connection for data.

I/O and power connectors	Flash sync and ten-pin terminal

One oddity for you video-shooting aficionados: while the camera can record in stereo, the standard-def output via A/V cable will be in mono. Connect via HDMI and you get the full stereo effect (if you’ve recorded using an external mic, of course).

On the front of the camera, to the right of the lens are two connectors. The top is the flash sync terminal, the lower one a ten-pin terminal for connecting an external GPS or remote control. The D300s will work with Nikon’s GP-1 GPS unit ($265) or with select Garmin systems using the optional MC-35 GPS cable. The optional WT-4 wireless transmitter ($800) allows wireless or Ethernet printing, file transfer and camera control (with the Camera Control Pro 2 software sold separately).

On the camera bottom, a rubber cover peels off entirely to reveal the contacts for the optional for MB-D10 battery pack.