I'm just back from Galapagos and the Amazon this morning. This was my fourth Galapagos trip and was better than the first three combined.
I was able to do a number of dives with the D300 in the D200 housing, but did not have access to all the functions I would have liked to use underwater, since the back buttons didn't line up. When I get the D300 housing there are many new features that will be really nice to have, such as being able to display the shooting information on the back LCD. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be so its easier to read than through that little window on the top.
I did try out the liveview option and have to say it takes a bit of getting used to. The dial to turn this on or off is at the top of the camera and the Sea & Sea D200 housing did not give us the options to use that dial underwater. I hope they add this for the new housing for the D300. Otherwise, once you're in that mode, you need to stay in that mode for the whole dive. I wasn't real crazy about the feel of the liveview. It was difficult to tell whether or not you actually triggered the shutter or just reactivated the live-view. I also felt a little bit of lag when using liveview. With 36 whaleshark sightings, thousands of hammerheads, dolphins, and up to 10 eagle rays hanging with us, I didn't take the time to practice this and switched back to using the viewfinder for this trip.
What I liked best about the camera was especially evident in my topside photos. I liked the high ISO noise reduction option. I shot gorgeous low-light images inside the old cathedrals of Quito. In the Amazon we had a lot of fast moving subjects like birds and monkeys. The jungle was usually very dark and I used the 400 zoom lens most the time. I did most my shooting at ISO 400, some at 800 and some at 1250. So far, the images I've looked at look very good in spite of the poor shooting conditions.
Another new feature that was really handy was the Active D-Lighting. This balances light in high-contrast scenes and brings out details in the shadows while holding detail in the highlights. I didn't think it would be as obvious as it was, and I was amazed at how well it did. In one scene there were sealions sleeping in the shade of a ridge of rocks that were in full sun. Very high contrast and I could hardly see the sealions with my own eyes, but the camera captured the scene even better than the way I saw it. I wanted to test this on a few sunballs underwater, but since it was overcast most of the time I didn't get the chance to do this between whalesharks. I'm off to Socorro in January so maybe I can do it there.
My overall impression of the camera is very good, but I'm still picking through the images. I shot over 65 Gb so I've got some work to do. I will put more online and upload some images when I get settled.
Bonnie
