Nikon D300 Body Only Digital Camera

I bought a Nikon D300 from a shop on ebay called easishop. It should have been easisteal as, four days after I had bought and paid for the camera, I got an email saying auction cancelled and then ebay removed all traces that the company had even existed. Then they wanted me to pay them £1.50 per minute to discuss what had gone on!! Ebay removed all evidence from its site that this camera and its seller easishop were ever there. Next I contacted paypal and found out they would not talk to me about my loss other than to say “we can not tell you anything until ten days are up” (Presumably this is because when people steal your money you must give them ten days to see if they give it back !) On the tenth day, they put £150 in my account because if the seller does not have 98% or more you only get a fraction of the £500 they tell you that you have as cover.
I am now waiting for them to reply to the police, which seems to be taking them for ever! Nobody seems to care and I can`t find out where my money is.
But if I ever meet Oliver Evans of easishop, whom I believe took everyones money including mine, I will take great pleasure in making his life as good as mine has been for the last few months and then some (I hope you get my drift).
I lost a total of £770 and have now been given £150 back by paypal. I thought I was safe with paypal.
I would very much like to know what is being done to return my money as I am
£620 out of pocket.
BE CAREFUL – YOU MIGHT THINK PAYPAL COVERS YOU- YOU WOULD
BE WRONG.

I paid for this item. It never arrived. E-bay have been without exception absolutely hopeless at helping me resolve this issue. I remain nearly £800 out of pocket and have been blocked at every turn by e-bay. It is my experience that e-bay is unsafe.

Being a Nikon nut I recently decided to upgrade from my D200 to the D300 following reading a variety of reviews. Let me assure you that you will not be disappointed - the camera is indeed superb.

However, a word of warning. I foolishly decided to buy the camera through one of the Hong Kong based dealers on ebay and indeed the delivery service was very good. The huge drawback is that the guarantee is almost worthless as it has to be registered in Hong Kong. Moreover, can I get them to reply to my emails - can I heck.

So beware, buy abroad and you sacrifice the 2 year guarantee that Nikon UK are currently offering. You need to weigh up how valuable that is to you

After 3 satisfying years with the Nikon D70 I decided to upgrade for a higher resolution sensor, improved dynamic range and less noise at high ISO settings. After researching the reviews I purchased the D300 and paired it with my 18-200m Nikkor VR zoom. The camera is just slightly larger than the D70 and definitely heavier (though still easy to carry round with you), yet inside it is a professional camera pretending to be an enthusiast's camera.

The pictures are awesome - more dynamic range which makes them more lifelike; lovely colour balance; flash adjustment is quick and easy; great detail in images and you can shoot at up to 8 frames a second with the extra battery; 6 frames a second with the supplied battery! There is visibly less chromatic aberration or purple fringing - which means the electronics are taming the lens in ways not achieved before.

The camera is totally addictive - you never want to put it down! The images produced with the D300 have a magnificent natural and life-like feel to them, and this is quickly appreciated on the new VGA quality 3 inch screen.

Two slight criticisms - £1299 is a lot for a camera body - though the good news is that the price is already down to £1150 or less if you hunt, and second - the brilliant ML-L3 infra red remote which works on the D70 (and D80) does not work with the D300. Such a simple and useful tool - why was it left out? This camera is so good - with so many more facilities - it is may be the last camera I buy. Congratulations Nikon

The Nikon D300 is the best camera Nikon have made in the last 10 years It offers professional standards at novice costs You may think the D200 is good but the D300 is much better Better viewfinder 3 inch screen Live view longer battery life DX Format plus lots more and free 2 year warranty I don't work for Nikon but i wish I did selling this camera would be so easy Negatives absolutely none

Easily the best camera I have ever owned, I have a D200 and a Fuji S5 Pro as well and this is so much better than both. The one thing that stands out for me is the image quality at high ISO levels, at 800 you can not tell the difference between that and the 200 setting. I have just fired off a couple at 1000 and 1600 and again it is truly amazing, I think to get equal performance you would need to spend three or four times as much on a camera. Its a 12 megapixel sensor and you notice the difference stepping up from a D200 - it feels slightly chunkier and its better made and all the dials, buttons and switches are just that bit more tactile. Its handling (like the D200) is superb everything falls easily under thumb and finger. It still takes CF cards and thankfully takes the same battery's as a D200! 2Gb card set on RAW will give you about 98 shots so you will need to invest in some more memory.
This camera shoots at 6fps in normal mode and with the optional MB-D10 grip and EL4 batteries it will shoot 8fps. If you buy the grip get it off Ebay it is currently about £250 in shops and there is one on ebay for £159 at the moment.
This camera also has a live view mode which is helpful but takes some getting used too.
Previously the D200 had all its ancillary connections like flash and pc sync under screw on caps which were always falling off in your bag and getting lost - thankfully this now has the rubber covers that are attached to the camera and this works much better. Playback of images is better as well as you can zoom right in where as on the D200 you could only go in a couple of frames. The 3" screen makes an amazing difference when checking your images and the screen is that much clearer to read, factor in HDMI connection as well and this is pretty much all the camera you will ever need!! My only dilema now is which to sell the D200 or S5?? If you have read my other reviews you will know thats going to be an easy decision.....

This is my first move into digital slr territory. Previously I had an F90, F601 and an original Canon Ixus 2MP. Its a significant investment, but the price is dropping all the time. I have a couple of friends with D80's and I was really impressed at how easy they are to use and how quickly you can take photos and remove the poor ones. The biggest advantage of the slr's over the little point and shoots is that there is no shutter lag, when you press the button it takes a picture, you don't have to wait 5 seconds for the camera to do something (by which time the subject has moved). So, the D300, well built, comfortable in hand, relatively easy to use (given the huge range of functions), big screen. I bought an 8GB card which can take over 2000 pictures at high quality. Image quality is excellent, response is immediate, flash works really well for a built in. Advantages over D80 are; build quality, features, screen size, sensor resolution, depth of field preview (one of the reasons I bought the F90 years back). If you can stretch the budget, I would recommend.

Because of the success of this wonderful camera, the unscrupulous eBay trader is drawn towards it, to make a quick killing. Please beware Nikon will not support any item bought outside of its' intended market. That is to say an item bought in China or Japan will not be supported in the European market. The Warranties will be useless.

Beware of the trader who claims that the item is in the UK, ask for the serial number (which is the same as the warranty number) & check it with Nikon before you bid. (wuc2004 is an example in point)

I will not go into how good the camera is, needless to say it is in my opinion excellent.

What a superb camera! A good step up from the D80 which remains a favourite to use. The D300 is slightly bigger but has so much extra capability at the extreme ends of photography but might be too much for beginners, for whom I'd still recommend the D80.

HAVING READ SO MUCH ABOUT THIS CAMERA I WAS TEMPTED TO PURCHASE ONE MYSELF,THIS WAS AN UPGRADE FROM A D70(EXCELLENT CAMERA).WHEN IT ARRIVED I COULDN'T WAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON IT AND I WASN'T DISSAPOINTED.ITS EVERYTHING THEY SAY ABOUT IT IN ALL THE MAGAZINE REVIEWS,THE BUILD QUALITY IS EXCELLNT AND IT JUST FEELS RIGHT IN THE HAND,ALSO THE 3 INCH SCREEN HAS GOT TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED.IT TOOK A FEW HOURS TO GET TO GRIPS WITH THE DIFFERENT SETTINGS(STILL LEARNING NOW)BUT ALL IN ALL A FANTASTIC BIT OF KIT.I'M STILL USING A COUPLE OF LENSES FROM THE D70 THEY ARE NOTHING SPECIAL BUT IVE NOTICED A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE QUALITY ON THE D300.I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA TO ANYONE BUT BE PREPARED TO SPEND LOTS OF TIME LEARNING ABOUT ALL THE NEW/DIFFERENT SETTINGS THERE ARE.CANT WAIT TO GET MY F2.8 LENSES TO TRY ON IT.I WILL BE OUT AND ABOUT IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS LOOKING FOR SOME.

I've just upgraded from the splendid D200 and don't regret it for a minute. The D300 is a better camera in more ways than simply megapixels. I prefer its slightly heftier feel in the hand and appreciate the extra features like controlling dust on the sensor. The images are better still - crisp and even thanks to the remarkably thorough and adaptable exposure system. Cheap it ain't; great it is.

I've previously had a D70s. The first thing I noticed about the D300 is the image quality, which is simply in a different league for the same lenses. The camera feels more solid, is slightly larger and heavier, and has a lot more controls. I haven't really missed the simpler controls of the D70s, though I think I could spend more time fiddling with the settings and might miss the occasional wildlife shot as a result.

It's an easy thing, but I really like having to pop up the built in flash when I want to use it, not when the camera thinks I need it as in most modes on the D70s. With the increased ISO range of the D300, I can take quite decent hand-held shots in artificial light without the flash anyway!

The second big thing I noticed is how much more detail is available in the LCD, which is a massive 3 inches (diagonal). The third was the in-camera image enhancement, which turns what would have been dull photos taken in poor light into ones with life and energy.

A serious gotcha in my opinion is the software that comes with the camera: although NX Transfer and NX View are supplied, to view the RAW mode (NEF) images within Windows needs the installation of additional drivers, and to load the images into Photoshop CS2 appears not to be supported. So I either have to buy CS3, quite expensive, or buy the full version of NX Capture (around £120) and transfer each image I want to process in Photoshop as a TIFF.

I quite liked PictureProject, which came with the D70s, though this doesn't handle NEFs well either (my version 1.7 crashes with images from the D300 - I haven't tried playing with the settings or plug-ins yet).

As a amature photographer I wanted to leap into the 21st century with a semi-pro nikon DSLR. Moving up from numerous wet-film Nikon/Canons to the Nikon D300 I was dramatically impressed in what this camera routinely achieves! I love the 3 inch display on the back for a quick-easy non-squint view or review of shots. The cameras weight is really nice and feels secure and robust. I have tried the Nikon D200 and this model is far superior in all areas to it. I am using large telephoto-zoom lenses on it for natural history photography and the results are breathtaking and exactly what I expected from Nikon. If you are considering purchasing a D200 I really, really sugest you opt to go that extra mile and get this outstanding camera. What do I dislike about it - Ansolutely nothing - I even have the additional MD-10 battery pack which again complements the camera and provides even more electronic resilience to the body and associated lenses. Do what I did and try the camera out for weight, size and dimensions in the shops (even technical advice - your the customer so you have nothing to lose and your anways right of course)and then save yourself a packet on Ebay prices! I opted for the UK Nikon D300 as aposed to the Hong Kong or USA variants purely for piece of mind and ease on your warranty. This I believe to be good advise I received from a photographic buddy. Good luck!

upgraded from a d70, the difference is amazing
the build quality, speed, the large LCD screen.
This camera will last you a lifetime

Excellent camera. Professional quality camera with advanced professional features. I think the camera is easy to use but I was already familiar with digital SLRs and also read an extensive 450page guide to the camera written by a professional photographer. The camera costs more than models with comparable features but the build quality is outstanding with magnesium alloy internal frame, dust and water resistant seals to all switches and buttons. Low light high ISO performance is better than most and 6fps is excellent for sports.

Coupled with the Nikkor 18-200mm lens makes this an ideal travel camera, from wide angle to 9times zoom it covers most situations and you don't need to carry additional lenses and fumble around changing them all the time.

Only downside is the camera is heavy! But most models of this calibre are so it's not on it's own.

If you are serious about photography and want something durable enough to handle heavy use with excellent image quality this is the camera for you.

Nikon's D200 is a great digital camera but the D300 just re-wrote the rule book. SO much easier to use, so intuitive and so much more you can set the way you want it. The BIG detailed screen is the first hint that its a great camera, but its "My Menu" that makes it all work so much better.

But more important than any of that is the one simple fact IT TAKES BETTER PICTURES mostly cos of the Active D lighting but also because you can adjust so many of the Picture control settings to get the images YOU want.

There are also lots of little improvements which make things just - better. For instance while shooting press the Info button on the back and everything from the top screen is duplicated on the rear screen but bigger and better and clearer - doesn't sound much but its VERY useful.

Look through the viewfinder and its uncluttered - another improvement

I could go on but you got the picture by now BUY ONE

First class camera. I am upgrading from Nikon D200,the D200 is a first class camera also. I will use E Bay again.

The Nikon MB-D10 is designed to work with either the Nikon D300 or D700 DSLR cameras.
The MB-D10 multi-power battery pack increases the maximum frame advance rate to 8 frames per second (If used with 8 x AA batteries or the (not included) BL-3 battery chamber cover + EN-EL4a battery) and extends autonomous operating time when using batteries. It is ergonomically designed for improved grip with the camera in the vertical shooting position and is powered by 2 x Nikon EN-EL3e batteries (One in the battery grip and one in the camera. Features alternative shutter-release button, multi-selector and AF start buttons for use when holding the camera in the vertical shooting position, as well as secondary main- and sub command dials.

While it does increase the weight of your camera, the advantages far outway this.

top seller did what he said he would do, great camera.the camera and the lens are in top condition there is

I already have a D200 which I also bought on e-bay and have been very happy with the results so when a D300 came up within a reasable price bracket I jumped at the chance as there is more pixcel's on the D300 and the work I use it for is a boone.I must say the extra addition's on the later one is very fine both in build and quality and would recommend it to anybody considering a purchase of a D300.The body is slightly lighter which also helps, when carrying for all the other equipment needed for a filming stint.

If you have an investment in DX lenses, then this is the camera for you. Currently (June 2009) the top cropped sensor offering from Nikon.
I bought this camera as the next step up the ladder from my D80. The D90 didn't offer enough advantages and new features for me to justify stopping there.
The D300 is just stunning. The 6fps rapid shoot (8fps with external battery grip) is wonderful. The 9 shot bracketing allows for beautifully smooth HDR processing covering from -4EV to +4EV.
The huge screen on the back really does show what your pictures look like. I never realised how limited the view was on the D80 until I saw the D300's image review.

High ISO performance is very impressive for a DX sensor camera.
Battery life is on par with the D80 (it sips the battery), not like the D200 which gulps them down like a thirsty man in a bar at closing time!
4 custom shooting and 4 custom setting memories (which you can name) let you change the whole behaviour of the camera. You can go from shooting Adobe colour space small size jpegs in sepia tint with 11 point autofocus to full size raw 14 bit raw files in RGB and full 51 point AF with a couple of clicks (the custom MyMenu lets you put the the custom setting switching right under your thumb).

The D300 is bigger and heavier than the D80, but it feels good in the hand. Its solid metal chassis just oozes quality and I have the utmost confidence that following a nuclear strike, this is the camera the cockroaches will be dragging about to cover the demise of humanity.

Slot drive AF supports the old AF-D lenses, electrical contacts support the AF-G silent wave lenses. The custom lens menu allow you to even tell the camera about older pre-AF lenses you put on the front.

Do you have an AF lens that continually produces bad shots? Chances are it's either back or front focusing and basically overshooting the correct focal point. The D300 lets you fine tune each lens to correct this problem, and when you swap lenses it will remember what correction to apply to each thanks to the ID details it can read from the chip in the lens.

On camera image processing is good, the D-lighting lets you pull details from highly shadowed areas, but to be honest I don't use these features much as I nearly always shoot in raw and post process on a PC afterwards.

Only slight complaint is the lack of IR remote receiver. It would have been nice if the ML-L3 I already had for the D80 worked with it. I ended up buying a £3.99 cable release for the D300. I will get round to making my own wireless release soon enough.

This is a great camera, bought at a great price. Communication was good and the whole transaction was pleasant & efficient. Many thanks

I have been using a Nikon D200 for about two years and have upgraded to the Nikon D700 for a full format camera. An excellent peice of kit although expensive, but as I want to get into more professional work I feel it is a must. I wanted to maintain a DX format camera as a more general purpose camera to go with some of my existing kit and the D300 has it. Purchased mine second hand and paid a fair but high price for a perfect example. The Nikon spec and various magazine reviews speak for themselves with regard the camera. The person I purchased from was honest above board and the transaction postage and receipt went exceeding well. Altogether very pleased with a good piece of kit which is taking some amazing images for me.