This year I decided to treat myself big time for Christmas.  I decided that after 4-5 years of using a Nikon D70s it was a time for upgrade.  After a lot of tought and deliberation I decided to go ahead and get myself a brand new Nikon D300s.

As good as D70s served me I did have a few issues with it.  Most notable was a tiny viewfinder and relatively in-flexible AF system.  In addition the high ISO noise was not something everyone would be comfortable with, but I learned how to shoot dance at 800 ISO, which produced decent photos.  For the most part the noise at high ISO was not as much of a problem as the loss of contrast was.  As soon as I bump the D70s to 800 ISO or past it, the photo contrast, vibrance and general color reproduction go to hell.   When this is coupled with a plethora of dance photos I take it really bums me out when I loose a lot of color dynamics from the stage lights.  This was good enough for me to force an upgrade.

Initially I was thinking of getting a D700.  This would’ve been a major upgrade and it would get rid of all the problems I have.  The issue was that this is a full-frame camera and I didn’t have the set of lenses needed for it.  All of my lenses are and always have been full-frame lenses, but the focal range I have is perfect for a DX sized sensor and the situations I shoot.   For instance my main lens a 17-35 f/2.8 has shown to be perfect for stage photography. It gives me that medium range of full-frame cameras (25-55mm) and my other lens, a 50mm f/1.8, is a perfect portrait lens on a DX sensor.  As such I didn’t get the D700 since it would warrant a purchase of a 24-70 f/2.8 or similar lens, and that would make the cost ridiculous and as such not worth the upgrade.

I chose D300s since it seemed most appropriate for me as the pro-sumer camera that will allow me to get used to the feel of higher level cameras at a lower price point.  A difference between the older D300 and D300s is slight.  With the addition of video, which I’m not crazy about, there isn’t much, except one thing, a center AF button.  I find myself wanting this button all the time, to quickly activate my center sensor on AF.  At the speeds I have to work at I find this extremely important, especially if I have 51 focus points and need to go to center, sometimes it can take 3-4 clicks which at times it feels like it can take forever.  This was less of an issue with D70s due to a lower number of AF points, but I still would’ve loved to have it, since under all the confusion of shooting it comes in useful not to have to think about which sensor is active and what I need to do to get it to the middle.

My first outing with D300s was to the Cougar Mountain Zoo.  I went to check out the baby tigers and to see how well the camera works.  In essence there was no great surprises.  Everything worked fine and at 200-400 ISO I would be hard pressed to spot any major differences between D70s and D300s.    Of course this is all considered after post-processing, D300s provides slightly better looking images right out of the camera.  After this I couldn’t wait to try the D300s under more serious conditions.  I didn’t get any major chance until Rex’s rehearsal for Physical Poetry dance show.

I did the rehearsal last Wednesday and I’m getting ready to do the real show tonight.  I didn’t have a chance to really study the pictures from the rehearsal, but just a quick look showed me that D300s does a great job and I’m able to push it to ISO 1600 without having to worry too much about noise and loss of contrast.  At ISO 800 it looks stellar.  The viewfinder is amazing.  I used D300s with 17-35mm lens and the D70s with a 50mm and the difference is stagering as I switch back and forth.  Everything about D300s makes it give you much more control, yet faster access to changing settings.  I don’t think I had to take the eyes off of the viewfinder at all the whole time I was shooting.

After the show tonight I’ll spend some time editing photos and will try to write a continuation of this article with some examples and show major differences between my old and new cameras.