D3/D300 officially announced today

For those who are interested, the link below has a very nice review of the D300, explaining all the new functions. It also has a very detailed side by side comparison (including photos) of the D300 vs D200:

http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Nikon-...LR-Camera.shtml

Very, very timely! Right format, right price (predicted $5000) and (in my opinion and for what I do) the right MPixel level. If it delivers its spec viably we now have real competition again to the 1DMkIII. It looks very much as though Nikon will now have to address its lens shortfalls too so we might get some competitive fast primes specifically designed for FF before long too.

You mean, if the D3x is roughly the same camera as the D3 but with more pixels, more noise, and lower dynamic range? Then id probably stay with my D2x for a while until i saw the first underwater images with the D3 series. Im getting perfectly fine images with my D2x, so the D3 will have to be a real step forward for me to switch. And im not easily dazzled by technical specifications.

The only thing I may consider is switching to the D300 if the D3x is disappointing, just because it's so much lighter than the D2x + housings.

Cor

"Im getting perfectly fine images with my D2x, ...... And im not easily dazzled by technical specifications."

I could say exactly the same about my 1DS cameras - they are providing files which are more than adequate 99.9% of the time (real world this is!). BUT, hopefully, the D3 is the point at which the real progress in lenses will start, as we now have two competing manufacturers, and perhaps Sony will wade in too before long, although they have a long way to go. For us as underwater photographers the optical constraints of dome ports will negate much improvement of ultrawides but the idea of new fixed focal wides which may allow for better correction than wide zooms really does appeal to me. I wonder if Nikon will update their excellent 60 micro to something with substantially improved focus speed and who knows, perhaps even a faster aperture?

From www.digitalreview.ca its seems like the D300 is almost identical in design to the D200, maybe the same housing models will fit, great for the owners of the 200 (not really helpful for me with the D70 but...)

Now I only need a really good explanation why I really must this new toy, for me it's obvious, to the CFO at home a little less <_<

will the d300 fit into d200 housings?

Drew,

I was told that I can get D3 in December which means that there might be a demo camera

available for play a few weeks in advance (was the case with D200 but not with D2X). If that

is the case and you are nice to me, I might try to see if I can get you to at least touch a D3

before market release in November. However, I will be in Malapascua for a week in November though,

when are you planning to come over!

I don't really care about the D3... I just want you to spend money

Looks like Canon will have to adjust their prices on the 1DsIII in light of this new competition.

Herb, Canon didn't plan a monday announcement for nothing. They already knew about Nikon's products. They'll just start doing that silly rebate thing which I truly loathe!

Remember the 1DIII, first $4k then 4.5k. Canon is aggressive in NA, but the ROW, Nikon is so much more aggressive pricewise. I was getting D2x for under $4k within 2 weeks of launch in Singapore and Malaysia.

will the d300 fit into d200 housings?

Unlikely:

The Nikon D300 also differs from the Nikon D200 in terms of general ergonomic design and the layout of some of the control buttons. We will look at these enhancements in more detail, however we begin by looking at the major new features of the D300 and compare the differences in specifications between the two cameras.

BTW, Hi Sam! I noticed your sig - did you dump the Fuji S5 Pro in favor of the D80 in Patima? Or is Patima letting you put their D80 housing to the test?

 

Thanks for posting - it will be exciting if the D300 can fit in our existing housings although even if it does I can't see how the 3" lcd screen would work well - but maybe it would work well enough?

 

And what do you think of the proposed D300 live view? Will it be better than Fuji's?

 

Kind Regards, Carol

 

PS - Yes I'm still using the Patima BCs, currently I'm using one to "buoy" the camera up for under/over shots of the little dolphin I've been shooting almost exclusively lately. She is the one they have been working with a prosthetic tail for and I've been shooting a lot of natural light and under/overs of her and her caregivers etc. One BC on the bottom works perfect to help me buoy it in the water as I'm always moving, repositioning etc while swimming and trying not to bother her while they are working with her. Thanks again, those BCs have become so useful for me in different configurations!!

Hi Carol,

Good to see you are doing O.K. I had S5pro for a while & sold to my friend as I do not see big advantage over D200. I have been using Patima D80 few month now & is a good housing & I like it. Patima housing is not in US yet but, I hear few hundreds of Patima DSLR housings were sold in Europe.

Re D300, I am talking with local Nikon office & will try to fit it into D200 housing & let everybody knows.

Best Regards,

Sam

It looks as though with a new back to line up the left controls and enable a larger window for the enthansed lcd screen, that the D300 would fit into current D200 housings? That would be fantastic as I'd love to have both bodies with just one housing (with two backs). Maybe for once, underwater photographers gets a surpise gift?!!

Houston, Nikon has a sports camera again! Very nice specs.

Avian photographers probably have woodies this morning

Hi,

Reporters were invited to Nikon's 90th anniversary party at Hilton , Seoul this

morning & they soon found it was a setup for D3/D300 official announcement....

You can feel new camera here;

d300

http://www.tagstory.com/video/video_post.a...773&feed=NV

d3

http://www.tagstory.com/video/video_post.a...772&feed=NV

It really sounds like sewing machine...

Sam

Here is the Nikon Press Release (via Nikonians.org front page)

D3

http://press.nikonusa.com/2007/08/eight_ye...hanging_pro.php

D300

http://press.nikonusa.com/2007/08/nikon_in...he_new_d300.php

If it's roughly the same camera with more pixels and more noise and lower dynamic range which would you choose?

I think it would be appropriate to give the D3x the same benefit of the doubt as the 1Ds3, i.e. more pixels, lower frame rate, poorer high ISO performance. At base ISO, the 1Ds3 isn't assumed to have more noise or lower dynamic range and the D3x shouldn't either. It'll be nearly a year before we find out though.

As for me, I don't care about high frame rates or high ISO performance. Perhaps with FF the high ISO performance may become more important as it has with 1Ds2 users.

How many Canon shooters prefer the 1D over the 1Ds for underwater? For the D3 it will be similar. Afterall, these cameras are very much alike.

Both these cameras look phenomenal; if the D300 turns out to provide improved highlight transition and high ISO noise performance, I will have one.

I think it's interesting that Nikon has taken a page out of Canon's playbook and branded their DSP. Canon has been convincing their faithful that "Digic" is somehow special for years now; Nikon decided that it needed to be equally special with "EXPEED". Both are meaningless; all cameras have pieces whether they name them or not. Perhaps soon Nikon will relabel some of their lenses "L". They already paint the rings.

I'm pleased to see the 14 bit processing and intrigued that Nikon allows you to disable it. We'll get to see how valuable it really is, particularly on the DX model. Nikon has also added lossless compression without giving up their lossy compression option.

It's odd to see Nikon with a 20% pixel count advantage in both cameras they directly compete in. I wonder if that really matters for the D3/1D3 just as I wonder if 9 vs 10 frames really matters. At least Nikon's PJ camera doesn't appear to be an embarrassment anymore.

The near-megapixel 3" display is interesting. I'm sure it will look nice but how important is that really? Still, can't complain. I wonder if Canon will switch to it before the 1Ds3 is announced.

It appears that the D300 does not use the Sony sensor recently announced though it could be a derivative.

It's all very well for the infinitely rich, but what are the chances that the D300 is just different enough not to fit in a D200 housing?

I'm still trying to find a newbie who might want my D70 set-up...

... though a D300 would mean that I have to keep my 16mm!

**** the digital revolution!

Tim

B)

... though a D300 would mean that I have to keep my 16mm!

The D300 is not full frame, only the D3 is...

I think it's interesting that Nikon has taken a page out of Canon's playbook and branded their DSP. Canon has been convincing their faithful that "Digic" is somehow special for years now; Nikon decided that it needed to be equally special with "EXPEED". Both are meaningless; all cameras have pieces whether they name them or not. Perhaps soon Nikon will relabel some of their lenses "L". They already paint the rings.

I think this is more than sales and marketing at work. The new sensors are Nikon designed processed by their own contract fab. I think they will now converge on this and evolve both the sensor and the DSP and use it all the new designs as Canon has done all along. Previous to this they been using CMOS and CCD from Sony as well as their own LBCAST which probably required different DSP's. Going forward I think they'll dump Sony and go with their own for all new designs.

It makes sense. I wouldn't depend on a competitor for such a key component in a market with so few players.

Nikon has also added lossless compression without giving up their lossy compression option.

Nikon had called their previous lossy compression scheme "lossless". They'll have to come up with a good face saving way to explain the new format to the masses.