douglas_abbott

Capture NX should do what you want without upgrading to CS3 providing you're not on a Leopard Mac (Nikon has acknowledged problems with 10.5.1 and NX as well as the other Nikon imaging tools and Leopard). I also understand that Lightroom 1.3.1 will import the D300 NEFs. Aperture is working on an update for the D300 also. ACDSee is also about to release a new version I believe that allows D300 file management.

I bought a 12-24/4 AF-S and carried over my 35-70/2.8D and 50/1.4D from my other camera. With the D300, I get an effective 18mm - 105mm with a very nice f2.8 50/75mm. Image quality is very good and the 35-70 and 50 are acknowledged excellent lenses. The 35-70 is a bit soft at 2.8 but settles down very nicely by 5.6. The 70-200 would sweeten the deal but that's a lot of money and glass to carry around.

 

You mentioned "anything from street shots to landscapes to close-up architectural details (window-bars, railings, locks and door-pulls in China and Korea, for example). I look for patterns or interesting color combinations" and the combination would work very well for that.

 

You should be aware that the D300 produces some prodigious file sizes (RAW + JPG will take up 16-20MB/shot). The difference between RAW and RAW +JPG isn't much and shooting RAW will allow better post processing than modifying JPGs. There's also better detail in the RAW images. I had 4GB (2x1GB and 1x2GB) in my other camera and that was good. In order to have enough storage capacity I ended up adding 3x4GB to the camera bag. If you have your laptop with you then you can get away with less memory and download at night.

 

The D300 is a very good camera. While the pixel count hasn't increased a great deal, 12/14bit image capture, 6fps, a bigger buffer, more features, and an astonishingly good LCD display make the price difference between the D200 and D300 less a factor.

 

No matter what you select, I look forward to seeing your images. The Far East is a magical place for photography and imagery.