Any Major Nikon D300 Defects? (When will Nikon fix the d300)

[pablito_pistola]

I have two D300, no probs at all. huge improvement over the D200. But then plenty of others have said this.........

[eddie_shiew]

Nikon is D300 has been the best camera I have used. Auto ISO was great. Except

when shooting vertical, the color was flatter than shooting horizontal. After recent

firmware upgrade to 1.02, then I didn't see that problem.

[eddie_shiew]

Nikon D300 has been the best camera I have used. Auto ISO was great. Except

when shooting vertical, the color was flatter than shooting horizontal. After recent

firmware upgrade to V1.02, then I didn't see that problem.

[Mary Doo]

<b><i>"bitchalcoholics" </b></i>

 

<p>Learn something new everyday from these forums! LOL!

 

<p>Seriously, I must be very lucky, my Nikons/Nikkors are good. Occasionally there may be slight issues, but they soon disappear.

 

<p>Mary

[rick_larkin]

I bought a D300 in January and it is an excellent camera. No issues whatsoever.

[trung thai]

A few times I had a problem with a false "low battery" icon. The fix is easy: turn off and turn on the camera again.

D300 is the best camera for bird in flight photos. Feel free to visit my portfolio. I am very satisfied with it performance in low light. Focusing is very accurate and fast. Noise at high ISO is minimal.

[tholte]

"But I think I am voicing a valid question so I don't think there is a need for so much sarcasm." I am surprised that the posters have not been more sarcastic. If you really follow the introductions of new and popular cameras, you would have noticed that there have been few complaints about the D300. Pretty amazing for such a sophisticated and good camera. If you don't get the D300, what will you get?

[david_stevenson]

I also love my D300. It only developed a problem when the battery grip was attached. It showed the low battery warning and cut out. It then locked the focusing method and cut out. I sent them back to Nikon, who fixed and returned them under warranty in very quick time. The camera is now perfect again and the images I get from it are fantastic. I wouldn't change it for any other camera. I mostly use it with an 80-400VR Nikon lens.

[joseph_wisniewski]

"But I think I am voicing a valid question so I don't think there is a need for so much sarcasm."

 

You need to go back and reread how you worded your so called "valid question", because, honestly, you set the tone for the sarcasm.

 

"I think camera brands are a lot like football teams or religions. A lot of people get worked up if anybody attacks theirs."

 

Exactly. You didn't "question", you didn't "discuss", you "attacked". It's not an issue of whether you posted here or on dpReview. You planted seeds of hostility, and they grew.

 

"Peace."

 

Definitely. Several people pointed out to you how to achieve that.

[hooman_b]

I have 2 D300s and use them both concurrently during wedding shoots. They both also have the new grip, so I am running 2 batteries in each. This past weekend, did a wedding, starting at 11am and lasted until 11:30pm. With both cameras, shooting approximately 2800 pictures (yes, I know its a lot) between the two, with an average amount of reviewing and such, I never got past the batteries in the grip. In other words, if I recall correctly, I was around 20% in each of grip batteries in each camera, and 100% in the body battery of each camera.

 

And yes, the pictures are definitely MUCH nicer than the D200 (straight from camera, shooting RAW), 800 iso is amazing (which, for me, in the D200 iis borderline useable) and iso 1600 in the 300 is really good and definitely useable (basically not useable unless in a pinch in D200).

 

I can't imagine not having this camera. It really is THAT nice, and SO worth it.

 

I'm just curious if you'd post 3 or 4 links of the "lots" of horror stories...

[hooman_b]

Going back to your original question, I don't get why you're asking. You seem to have done the research. If you have, you should know what the people who really follow Nikon predict about upcoming models, which means you should know there isn't talk of a D300x model coming out any time soon. So why stir everyone up? Either your research shows its a great camera, an OK camera, or a POS, lol - either get one, or don't , or do whatever you want!

 

If you get it and you think it's no good, I'm sure you can sell in 24 hours by just dropping the price $100 less than retail...

[timburns]

I've a d300 and I've been using it with Tamron's 200-500 lens, and nikon's 80-200

2.8, both hiking in the woods etc. and have had no problem with the lens mount -

and these are fairly heavy lenses, especially the 80-200. All that stress on the

mount and no problems after months of use swinging and occasionally roughed up

with branches.

 

If you like the camera, but are afraid to buy - rent one.

 

Perhaps if you'd titled this thread: Is there a problem with the d300? things would be

calmer.

[van_camper]

"I was decided to buy a d300 but have been reading a lot of horror stories abbout "depleted battery syndrome" and wobbly mounts."

 

Well, I own the D200 and have looked briefly at the D300. The camera is not a redesign in body, only on internal guts. This body is very solid! I just don't believe the wobbly mount issue. As for batteries, it may be fault in the batteries (new supplier), but not the camera....why would that change? If it were an issue about banding, or other issues related to the new sensor ....that I could believe.

[john_lai3]

Buy one from Costco. You can then return it within 90 days if there are problems.

 

I don't think anyone here would say the D300 has zero problems. It's not like Canon has a perfect track record anyway.

[photo5]

My D300 has no problems. I have a lot of problems. It all evens out in the end!

[kari_karhu1]

I have a problem with my D300. Both daughters owning D100's are all the time asking

for updates - and D200's don't satisfy them after touching the D300. Horse and rock

photography, mainly.

[mark_francis]

Well, interesting. It works both ways folks. If you are having a problem you end up on the forums where these issues are being discussed. So you see them. When you have no problems you dont go looking for them, so you dont see them.Take a Walk in the other guys shoes. I am sure that anyone who purchased a D300 and has problems is going to mention it. The Ones with no problems will defend it. The fact remains there are some of both.

[mark_francis]

Here are some links.

 

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?%20az=show_topic&forum=149&topic_id=115109&mesg_id=115109&page=

 

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=149&topic_id=111230&mesg_id=111230&page=

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OT2O

[mark_francis]

One More

 

http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-

[ShunCheung]

Mark, among the four links you just posted, all but one have already been pointed out to by either Lisa B or me back on May 7 in this very thread. You are merely recycling known complaints.

 

By far the majority of us who contribute to this thread have personal experience with the D300, and most of us have no problems at all.

If you also have experience with the D300, either good or bad, by all means post it here. Otherwise, I wonder what your point is.

 

Any good product is going to have some defective samples. In the case of the D300, the annoying part is that apparently Nikon is unable to repair a few of them. However, it is very clear that by far the majority of D300 owners have absolutely no problems. Personally, I have no problem recommending the D300 to anybody. If you happen to be unlucky and have a defective one, just make sure Nikon fixes it and if they can't after a couple of attempts, ask them to replace it.

[mark_francis]

Sorry, long thread. I did not see the links. I am just a little bit frustrated. I have had similar experiences with Canon, my D80 has always been spot on. I guess what frustrates me is the fact that so many companies release products before they are fully tested and the consumer becomes the QA. This may not be the case here, but it happens so often you cant help but wonder. So far I have had no problems with Nikon products and was dissappointed to see these threads, hoping Nikon was not going the same route. I will purchase a D300 as soon as my finances allow. I feel pretty confident that I will get a good one.

[ergates1]

Just for a reference I have had the "wobbly mount" problem. For some lenses the mount do feel wobbly. And I had a problem with lenses connection though the mount to the camera where the camera would report a 7500mm lens at f95 for example. I also had problems with the auto-focus not tracking in AF-C.

 

A trip to the Nikon shop fixed the mount problem and improved the auto focus.

From what they said I understand they did a thorough cleaning, among other things there was dirt on the auto focus parts. It would seem that the D300 is slightly more prone to getting dirt on things than the D200 was.

 

I've done about 30000 actuations with the D300 so you can image what I think about the camera.

 

The one issue I think Nikon should fix is the time it takes to acquire initial focus with autofocus. I use the camera for sports photography and I consistently see times well over a second to acquire initial focus. I'm assuming the the D3 is much faster and given that the D300 is supposed to have the same auto focus circuitry one should think it should be as fast.

I predict that Nikon won't fix this as a D300 with the MD10 would then almost become a D3 at half the price :)

[gbgrubb]

I have also experienced this same issue with my D300 and the 200-400 f.4VR lens. Loose fitting and camera shutdown. Not knowing what was causing it I tried three different fully charged batteries and the results were the same. Very frustrating. In speaking with a couple of Nikon customer reps they sure don't seem to want to discuss the issue...and act like they haven't heard of the problem. To me, this makes the situation worse, in that I now am losing trust in Nikon. When I talked with the Nikon dealer I purchased my equipment from the salesman told me he had the same issue happen right in the middle of a shoot...just like I. He has found from Nikon that there is an issue. However, there apparently is no "real" fix for it as of yet. Nikon wants me to send it in...but, whats the sense in that if it comes back and I have the same situation arise again. I understand that the exact same thing is happening with the 70-200 2.8VR lens...which I also purchased. GREAT, huh? Spend over $10,000.00 on new equipment that I can't count on to do it's job.

[ShunCheung]

Gary, we have an entire thread dedicated to this issue. You are welcome to read through it, but I think you have already known pretty much everything about it:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OT2O

 

As far as I can tell, it only affects a small percentage of the D300s out there. Clearly most people who posted to this thread have no problems. You may also find Thom Hogan's recent comments in DPReview informative:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=28087239

 

He has posted many times in that one thread.

 

Hogan and his assistant have access to some 13 different D300 bodies, and none has any problems. Unfortunately, such statistics are fairly meaningless if yours is defective. The annoying part is that Nikon is not openly addressing this issue. However, if Nikon cannot fix yours, I am sure that they can exchange it until you get a trouble-free unit, as most of us have.

[doug_broussard]

<p>Aside from all the people defending Nikon here because they don't have a D300 or are so brand loyal they think everyone with an issue is a troll, there are significant numbers of D300 owners who have experienced "mirror up" failures. <br>

Unfortunately, without a subpoena as part of discovery, Nikon won't divulge the failure rate, and has not instituted a repair extension program. Used D300 owners are out of luck because the company requires an original purchase receipt. <br /><br />If you have a failed D300 mirror, or have paid for a repair, please contact me via http://d300mirrordefect.com. If there's sufficient mass to do so, we can try to get recompense or repair from Nikon. </p>