Nikon D300S

	Sample Photos Summary
• Edge-to-edge sharpness very good • Little evidence of chromatic aberration even at extreme edges • Aggressive noise reduction has substantial impact on fine image detail • Subtleties of texture and color captured nicely
	White Balance	Page 7 of 21	Playback

Sample Photos

In the following sample shots, clicking on the larger images will open the original file in a separate window.

City Sample
				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.

Texture Sample
				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.

Noise Reduction Sample
	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.
	Noise Reduction Off
	Noise Reduction Low
	Noise Reduction Standard
	Noise Reduction High

Color Sample
				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 show a noticeably shift in hue.

Feline Sample
				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.

Night Shot Sample
				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

Still Life Examples

The images below were shot with each of our comparison cameras in aperture-priority mode, using auto white balance, at all official ISO settings. Click on a thumbnail to open up a full-size version of the image in a separate window.

	Still Life Comparisons
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
ISO 12800

NOTE: The images above are not used in our testing or scoring, but are included here to show real-world examples of the differences between cameras at the various ISO settings.

Noise Examples

The following same-size crops were taken from our still life sample images for each comparison camera.

	Noise Comparison Table
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 100
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 200
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 400
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 800
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 1600
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 3200
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 6400
	Nikon D300S	Canon 7D	Nikon D5000	Panasonic GH1	Sony A550
ISO 12800

NOTE: The images above are not used in our testing or scoring, but are included here to show real-world examples of the differences between cameras at the various ISO settings.