Nikon D300S

Focal length: 16mm
Aperture: f/11
Shutter: 1/250
ISO: 200

Shot in aperture priority mode, with center-weighted metering and automatic white balance. This late afternoon shot was taken in New York City, facing north on Park Avenue, toward Grand Central Station. The D300S held onto detail in the shadowed left side well, and there’s no visible chromatic aberration even at the extremes of the wide angle.

Focal length: 28mm
Aperture: f/9
Shutter: 1/320
ISO: 400

This church in Somerville, MA was shot in program mode, with 3D Matrix II metering, using the neutral Picture Control. The subtle color differences in the stonework are reproduced nicely, and the edges are crisp from top to bottom and side to side.

Focal length: 70mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/6
ISO: 3200

We mounted the D300S on a tripod, turned the studio lights down very low and shot these stamps in each of the high ISO noise reduction levels to assess detail level. The camera did quite well with the lettering and fine line work on the bell with noise reduction off, and the effect of low noise reduction is noticeable but acceptable. Beyond this level, the blurriness becomes substantial.

Focal length: 70mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/13
ISO: 200

These items with their familiar logos were shot under mixed incandescent and fluorescent lighting, with a custom white balance reading, with the neutral picture control. Color reproduction here is very good, capturing the different shades of green in the Starbucks and Heineken logos, reproducing the McDonalds colors accurately and sharply. Only the Raisinets box shows a noticeably shift in hue.

Focal length: 72mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/60
ISO: 200

This shot of our furry friend Lucas was taken in program mode, using center-weighted metering, bouncing a Nikon SB 600 flash off the ceiling. We like the exposure balance, and the fine detail in the cat’s eyes.

Focal length: 34mm
Aperture: f4.5
Shutter: 1/30
ISO: 800

At ISO 800 we were able to handhold this late night shot of the historic Somerville movie theater, We left the camera in program exposure mode, using matrix metering, and experimented with exposure compensation; the balance here was achieved with -1.3EV. In a difficult shooting situation, there’s impressive detail and little intrusive noise.