Received two D300s bodies - WOW!

<p>After five years with two D70s bodies, I took the plunge, stretching my finances to the limit, worried that new product will skyrocket and current stock will deplete, and bought two D300s refurbs from Adorama. After only about a half hour of handling them, all I can say is WOW, what a hell-of-a camera! They feel great in my hand, solid, but there's a lot of camera here that I'm going to have to get used to.<br>

<br /> I had 4 gb cards in the D70s, which gave me over 1,000 shots with JPG fine. I ordered Delkin 8 gb high speed rugged cards figuring I'd start shooting RAW, but they will only hold under 400 shots, so it looks like my future is going to bring 16 gb when the price is right (I usually shoot from 500-700 per camera when doing concert events).<br>

<br /> I downloaded the PDF manual to my iPhone and will be doing a lot of reading the next few days.</p>

<p>I went from one D70S to one D300 (no "S") about two years ago and I'm still learning how to use it.<br>

Good luck and have fun!</p>

<p>Congrats on your purchase!</p>

<p>I went from a D70s/D90 combo to two D300s and never looked back. There's alot of camera to learn, but when you get the hang of the functions you use most you'll really enjoy shooting with them.</p>

<p>RS</p>

<p>Great camera good luck with them.</p>

<p>I would have preferred the D70/D700 combo.</p>

<p>Why the heck must you have over 400 shots on one card? Really? Wow, that's a lot!</p>

<p>“…they will only hold under 400 shots…”</p>

<p>My goodness, how did we ever survive with only 36 shots on 35mm roll film?</p>

<p>Congratulations on your new cameras.</p>

<p>What will you do with your D70 bodies?</p>

<p>What lenses do you use when you shoot concerts?</p>

 

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<p>“…they will only hold under 400 shots…”<br>

My goodness, how did we ever survive with only 36 shots on 35mm roll film?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sometimes I too wonder how I manage to use 35mm film for over 30 years. :-)</p>

<p>A couple of weekends ago, I went to this tennis tournament and in the first day, I shot over 1200 images. I was glad that I had a 32G SD card inside my D7000.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>My goodness, how did we ever survive with only 36 shots on 35mm roll film?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Even in my brief encounter with digital, I only used 128M cards which held 76 images. Now I'm quite happy withe twelve shots per roll!</p>

<p> I have had the same roll of film in my F100 for two weeks now. However I am either working or it's raining cats and dogs around here. Next weekend I am going to Yosemite to shoot some pictures in the snow and it will nice to see a bit of sunshine for a change. However congrats on the D300's. Nice camera's. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>My goodness, how did we ever survive with only 36 shots on 35mm roll film?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Or 24, or 12, or 1 (I shoot 4x5).</p>

<p>Photography has been reduced from an art and a craft to a guessing game. Just hold the shutter release down and try to find something good in the results.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

<p>one shot at a time, id rather have one kick ass image , than 400 randoms. 8GB is huge, especially if your shooting jpeg, shooting RAW a 4GB 30mbs card will do just fine. If you want speed , get a D3s.</p>

<p>People respond differently to the digital challenge. I for one shoot <em>far fewer</em> exposures now than in my film days. Perhaps only one-third in numbers these days, despite an increased photographic activity. However, due to the instant feedback, I'm pretty sure of what is captured and that the picture will come out like I envision. Then, capturing more frames "just to be safe" is superfluous.</p>

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<p>People respond differently to the digital challenge.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Absolutely. Without digital, I would never have shot so much sports during the film era. 1200 images a day is like 30+ rolls of film. Film and processing cost would have drained my bank account.</p>

<p>I shoot a lot of different subjects. If I shoot landscape, macro and other still subjects, I take my time and carefully compose. My approach to action photography is completely different, and it is even more different due to digital.</p>

<p>While on the subject of cards. How long does it take to swap a memory card? Twenty seconds? So what's the big deal with having 16 or 32 gig cards? Besides, if you measure them you'll find that smaller cards generally work slightly faster and are closer in real capacity to what's claimed by the maker.</p>

<p>Come on, really, 8 gig should be more than enough for anyone. It's hardly a major chore to pull a card out of a slot every 400 shots or so, is it? Hmmm, I wonder if there's a market for a bandolier memory card holder for those people who find 64 gig just <em>too</em> limiting. What do you think - traditional leather, camo, Nikon black&yellow or rhinestone finish? I reckon $300 would be a reasonable price.</p>

<p>I am glad to hear about your 2 D300s.... I think you made a good choice coz if you said you had bought 2 D7000 I would think that was a waste of money.....<br>

I manage to use only 4 gb cards. I have many of them but very seldom I feel 1 up in one go. I think I shoot less now with digital that what I did with film. The reason being that now I can check if I got the shot that I wanted.... before I had to take many similar shot to make sure I did....<br>

Enjoy your cameras....</p>

<blockquote>

<p>While on the subject of cards. How long does it take to swap a memory card? Twenty seconds? So what's the big deal with having 16 or 32 gig cards?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There are two issues:</p>

<ol>

<li>The fact that you still have to swap cards. With Murphy's Law, you will run out of card space at the most inconvenient moment so that you will miss some important shots while you are busy swapping cards.</li>

<li>You have to keep the used cards at a safe place. When you are out in the field, sometimes you are in a hurry and you may misplace the cards. Once you lose a card, the images are gone forever.</li>

</ol>

<p>I have good disciplines so that either one of those situations has even happend to me. I pay close attention to card usage as well as battery level. When either one is low, I change cards or batteries. I also have a habit to swap them at mid day just to be on the safe side. However, I have seen both of those happening to fellow photographers in the field.</p>

<p>In the past, the common excuse against large-capacity cards is that they might fail. Today, on the D300S and D7000 (not to mention the D3 family), there are two memory card slots. You slip in two 32G (or perhaps 16G) cards, you are set for the rest of the day. You neither need to worry about running out of space and where you put the cards that contain a lot of important images, as they are right there inside your camera.</p>

<p>Want to sell a D70? I am looking for one to convert to IR.</p>

<p>i dont think some of these posters really understand that shooting concerts you can burn through hundreds of frames rather quickly, especially an all-day or all-night event with a full artist lineup. no one shoots 4x5 or medium format in photo pits, so it's an entirely different approach. that doesnt mean its not an art.</p>

 

<p>Why would you want to keep shooting on the same card and loose risking everything if a card fails.</p>

<p>I shoot weddings and always shoot with four 4GB cards changing them at set times. This way I will never run the risk of loosing a whole wedding or run out of space at a critical time.</p>

<p>400 images on a 8GB card sounds very low. Even if you shoot in Raw & Jpeg fine. I only shoot in Raw but would get 600 images on a 4GB card from my pair of D90's</p>

<p>John</p>

<p>Michael,</p>

<p>Shooting 500-700 shots at an event is a classic example of spray and pray. If you aren't interested in shooting dicipline, just get more 4 gig cards. Remember, never put more shots on a card than you are willing to lose.</p>

<p>Bill Pearce</p>

<p>I am amazed at the direction that this thread has taken. These are Michael's cameras and his cards, and he is entitled to take as many photographs as he wants, at whatever event...If anyone else takes less photos, it is ok too....I would be more interested in hearing discussion about whether the D300 are good cameras, how the two bodies work together, do they have backup card slots etc...</p>

 

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<p>Why would you want to keep shooting on the same card and loose risking everything if a card fails.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>John, first of all, I have been shooing digital for 9 years and I have yet to lose a single image due to memory card failture. I have seen far more people losing their images before they keep on changing and juggling multiple cards and end up losing the cards.</p>

<p>Secondly, read my post @ 2:53pm above. Today, a lot of us use DSLR with dual memory cards. The OP's D300S can take 2 memory cards and record every image onto both cards. That erases any remaining concern about card failures.</p>

<p>And Bill Pearce, there are many ways to shoot events. When I shoot sports, I tend to capture a lot of images so that I have more samples to choose from. I know when to shoot and when not to shoot; it is anything but random. Just because other people have a different method from yours does not mean they are wrong.</p>