Received two D300s bodies - WOW!

[Matt Laur]

<p>I spent this morning shooting an event. Some images were methodically created, and then I'd have a subject/action that produced a couple hundred images inside 15 minutes. I do it deliberately, with no "spray and pray" thoughtless machine gunning. I'm covering action that involves interaction with people and animals, and the <em>shots that sell</em> involve split second timing, the perfect placement of a running animal's foot on the ground or the ideal alignment of the spine and position of the head while moving at 20mph across uneven ground and mud.<br /><br />When I used film to do that sort of work, I'd have no choice but to burn through a lot of it (and use multiple bodies in order to not miss shots while changing rolls), but would also have far, far fewer money making shots. People who don't do that sort of work clearly don't understand the practical realities of it. The D300, with grip, has served me very well. It (with large capacity CF cards!) pays off in real, immediate terms.<br /><br />A person shooting with a 4x5 at the same event might sell a couple of beautiful photos - but not of the same things that I do.</p>

[zack_zoll]

 

<p >I've had memory card failure, but it's never been the card's fault. I've accidentally corrupted them by removing them from the camera or computer while they were being read. I've witnessed memory card failure many many times, but only on cheap Wal-Mart specials and the like.<a name="00YSel"></a></p>

 

<p > </p>

<p >As far as the number of shots taken for events ... everyone here is right, and wrong at the same time. If your intention is to cover the event for the promoter, band, team, or your portfolio, your best bet is to watch, wait, and be prepared. They just want good photos, and probably won't use more than half a dozen anyway ... so shooting 700 is a complete and total waste of your time in the editing stage.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >But if you're trying to sell photos to a parent whose child is on the team you're photographing, 'spray and pray' is the way to go. For all you know, that sluggish, chubby kid that was only on the basketball court for three minutes could be have made their parents proud that day with their single assist, and you would have missed a sale by only taking photos of the 'important' parts of the game.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >The fact is that many working professionals will replace their camera bodies long before they reach 100,000 photos, so there's no sense in holding back if that's not what the situation calls for. And if you ARE a full-time photographer that shoots 100,000 photos in less than three years and can't afford to replace your camera body, then you're obviously not getting paid enough.</p>

 

 

[mccosh]

<p>Shun, I appreciate what your saying however just because someone has never had a car accident doesn't mean they shouldn't wear their seat belt. Card failure can and does happen. it has never happened to me and I hope it never does. Agreed using the D300's dual cards with one backing up the other eliminates this problem.</p>

<p>John</p>

[eric_arnold]

<blockquote>

<p>Shooting 500-700 shots at an event is a classic example of spray and pray.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>not when you're shooting action, which tends to be constantly-evolving scenes. even if you nail a shot, there's no telling that the next one wont be better. in video documentaries, the keeper rate is 1:10 to 1:100, in terms of what actually gets used when it's edited. in this type of photography, 1:3 or 1:4 is good. you can always stop shooting if you feel you have enough.</p>

<p>i've personally never had card failure with SD or CF. i have run out of space once or twice and had to delete shots quickly.</p>

<p> </p>

[kohanmike]

<p>Thanks all who gave positive responses. To try and address all the points made; first I will be selling the two D70s bodies, watch for them on in the classified section the next few days.</p>

<p>Next, the conductor of the two orchestras I shoot is very animated, one of the main reasons I went to the D300s is for the frame rate because I've missed him too many times when the D70s stalled for buffering. It does take too long in my circumstances to change a card. I have no problem sifting through 500-1000 images.</p>

<p>In the 1970s I used two F2 bodies for rock and club concerts and so distinctly remember the loss of shots when having to change film rolls. I even came THAT close to buying a 250 back once. So I agree, it's my camera, my job, and I'll shoot how I want. I'd rather have 400 images with a couple of dozen kick ass shots (not just one).</p>

<p>The lenses I use are a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC and Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 (wish it had OS). For the after concert events I add an SB600 flash to the 17-50 camera. (I have three SB600s that I use for dark clubs when the place allows me.) I'm also looking forward to the much better high ISO of the D300s, although D70s is reasonably acceptable for me even at 1600.</p>

<p>AND I just did a quick test and the D300s AF points are so much better than the D70s, especially the ones on the far left and right where I always place the conductor, won't have to slip focus anymore. Oh, and happy to not have the preset program dial anymore that I so often moved to the wrong setting by accident, missing shots. This is getting better and better.</p>

[lukerossknecht]

<p>Congrats on the new cameras. FWIW I've had three SD cards fail over the past five years (luckily only had a few pictures on each at the time).</p>

[kohanmike]

<p>I've had six CF cards in the last five years from Lexar, SanDisk, Patriot, A-Data, Delkin, and even a Hitachi MicroDrive, none have ever been a problem, but now with the 2 card slots, I'm going to write to both for safety.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p>Shun, I appreciate what your saying however just because someone has never had a car accident doesn't mean they shouldn't wear their seat belt. Card failure can and does happen. it has never happened to me and I hope it never does. Agreed using the D300's dual cards with one backing up the other eliminates this problem.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>John, but that is not the analogy here.</p>

<p>One of the worst advices I have seen in these forums is that people avocate using a lot of small-capacity memory cards. They repeat over and over that one should not "put all your eggs in one basket."</p>

<p>Well, first of all, 2G memory cards can also fail, unlikely but they can. So you are not preventing failures. Now imagine you are busy shooting and juggling sixteen 2G cards instead of one 32G cards that is inside your camera all day (or better yet, two 32G cards and you write to both simultaneously). You are merely introducing a bigger problem in order to avoid a mostly imaginary issue.</p>

<p>In case a memory card fails, typically you can recover you images. In fact, most "failures" are due to user errors when they pull the card out while the camera is still writing, thus corrupting the catalog, while the actual image files are still safe on the card. That kind of recovery is very simple. In case you physically lose 1 or 2 of your 16 cards, those images are gone forever with no hope of recovery.</p>

<p>In "the old days" labs have screwed up my film a few times, and I have lost a few rolls in the mail. Once Kodak sent me a box of slides captured by someone else (full of images of people's jaws, apparently by some dentist); I was nice enough to send that back to Kodak. People were not too concern about losing their film one way or another because there wasn't a whole lot they could do about that.</p>

<p>But I am glad that Nikon puts 2 card slots into the D300S and D7000 so that those who are paranoid about this don't have to buy a D3 to write to two cards simultaneously.</p>

<p>And finally to the OP, hopefully this comment doesn't come too late: If you shoot indoors under dim conditions, the D7000 will give you slightly better high ISO results than the D300/D300S, but the D300 has more cross-type AF points that I prefer to use under dim light.</p>

[rossb]

<p>I probably shot about 500 pictures all of last year. One shot at a time. I suppose if I went to a tennis tournament which is very unlikely I would not take a camera as I have no use for a tennis player picture. I would take a pair of binoculars so I could see the players as I usually have very poor seats when I go to a sporting event.</p>

[kohanmike]

<p>Thanks Shun, I always appreciate your point of view and support. I find it strange how some on this forum need to justify their own decision making by dictating to others that they have do the same. They didn't seem to notice that I did not ask if I should what I do, but that I stated what I intend on doing.</p>

<p>I'm definitely very happy with choosing the D300s over the D7000, mainly for the AF operations, and also for not having to contend with the program dial, faster CF cards, the feel of the larger body, so I'm good.</p>

[eric_arnold]

<blockquote>

<p>I just did a quick test and the D300s AF points are so much better than the D70s, especially the ones on the far left and right where I always place the conductor, won't have to slip focus anymore. Oh, and happy to not have the preset program dial anymore that I so often moved to the wrong setting by accident, missing shots. This is getting better and better.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>michael illustrates a really good point as to why someone might choose a d300s over a d7000. i've been trying to tell people this since the d7000 was announced, that it's a prosumer body, while the d300s is a pro body. if you never find yourself in a situation where the better ergonomics of the d300s matter, that's one thing. but for shooting action or sports in particular or other demanding activities, it does make a diff.</p>

[jamespjones]

<p>I lost track of who was advocating what. But, with dual card slots you can cover your bases. I've had a few bad SD cards but I haven't run into bad CF cards yet. The SD cards were 2GB cards. Who knows what was causing the problem.<br>

That said I feel comfortable shooting with large cards from a data integrity perspective. The danger is loss or theft. I only feel comfortable due to usage of dual cards slots. When we are shooting on location, depending on the kind of shoot, we backup wirelessly during the shoot if we can. The more redundancy the better.<br>

Before the D300 came out I remember thinking that the D2x was a killer machine. Then the D300 was the D2x killer. It still is a great camera. I sometimes have to remind myself not to get too caught up in the marketing hype. Shoot what you need to shoot for the client if you're a pro. Have fun and get whatever you want if you are an enthusiast. <br>

Congrats on the D300s. Great camera. FWIW I enjoy the 3D focus tracking (or whatever it is called). Check it out.</p>

[stank]

<p>Another reason for using fewer larger cards is that there is less card swapping. Less card swapping means less wear on the card and camera slot and less chance of bending a pin or introducing FOD into the card slot.<br>

Stan</p>

[kohanmike]

<p>On another note; I thought I would check the shutter actuations on the two refurb D300s bodies and discovered that one has 2345 and the other has 70. They are both pristine, but I thought the actuations were reset when the body went through the refurb process. Maybe not.</p>

[kohanmike]

<p>I'm not sure if I should ask this here, but I just put up one of my D70s bodies in the Photo.net classified and wonder what experience anyone has had with selling here?</p>