mauricio_orozco

<p>Hi guys,<br>

Going to an air show this coming saturday and if anyone of you has been in this kind of shows before, what do you suggest will be the best lens to take pictures with, using my D300. I have 2 available lenses for this coming show : Nikon 70-300 VR and Nikon 16-85 VR. Also, what will be the best setup in my camera for this kind of pictures ? Please advise and thank you for your help.</p>

In the report they sent me, they say they did a "rank b1" type of service or repair and I do not know what does that means. After I received my camera back, it does not looks like they open up the camera and repair or adjust something inside its cpu. I am wondering what did they do to fix what they say they did ? Does anyone knows how they fix problems ? Do they open up the camera and go inside the cpu to test and fix ? Does this work in the same way they do with cars, thay they put the computer and analize the problem in a matter of 10 minutes and go from there to fix it ? I don't know if this start to happen after I did upgrade my firmware but I don't like to have this problem, especially with a very expensive equipment. Never had this problem with either my D50 and D80. I will investigate what they did and I will update this charter.

I sent it to Melville New York.

I bought this camera back in April and I very happy with it. Nevertheless, my D300 started to do some weird things,

like getting totally black pictures, difficulty to get the WB and sometimes, when switching from Matrix to Center

Weighted or Spot or viceversa, the exposure was not right. So I decided to send it to Nikon back on September 6th

and I just got it back from them. They adjusted the WB, the auto-focus operation, the exposure, cleaned the sensor

and general inspection and cleaning. So far, so good. I still needs to go out and shoot a couple of thousands in

different setups and speed to test what they did. One thing I did like of what they did is that they cleaned the sensor

and now it does look sharp clean and they did not charge me for. So, I am very pleased with Nikon services and

every time I did call them for a feedback, they were very nice and courtess. Just letting you know guys in case you

are wondering about the kind of service they provide, so you already have an input from me. Had to be 2 and half

weeks without it and I miss it a lot but finally I got it back and will start shooting pretty soon.

I do agree with Gerald. Spot will help or exposure compensation, but most of all, even if you do not like it, the speedlight in TTL-BL will definitely save your day.

I would send it in under the warranty Monique. This is a very expensive equipment and should not behave in that way. I do believe you should contact Nikon and go from there. Mine is today in New York and I am expecting they call me today to let me know what the problem is and have it back next week.

Thank you guys for your inputs. Yes, I should feel lucky instead because this is happening before the expiration of my warranty so I guess Nikon will honor and fix whatever problem they may face and make me happy by either fixing my camera or replace it for a another one.

Hi guys, I have a D300 and recently I sent it to Nikon to be fixed. Since I have this camera, I have had two 3rd party

lenses : Tamron 17-55 f/2.8 and Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. I do not have them anymore, so I had to return them, because I

was getting dark pictures sometimes, I mean, completely black in my LCD screen. In the begining, I thought,

probably that they were not performing as they should because they were 3rd party lenses and I was unlucky by

getting bad copies, so I better decided to return them. Finally, I decided to stay with only Nikon lenses : 16-85 VR,

70-300 VR and my baby Nikon 50 f/1.8. The other day I was shooting tigers at Bush Garden here in Tampa and

again, I got a couple of dark pictures using my 70-300 VR mounted on my tripod. I was shooting from the indoor

glass room and it was in the morning around 10 AM when suddenly I got a couple of dark pictures in my LCD. I

started to inspect my camera and also changed some settings. I started using center weighted, spot and matrix and

viceversa, different WB setting, AF settings and I noted my next pictures were getting underexposed. Initially I was

shooting S and A but then switched to M and the same results were there. So I was freaking out because then I

knew the same thing happened before were I had the 3rd party lenses mentioned above, so I did realize that was not

a lens problem but probably a camera problem so I decided to send the camera to Nikon for inspection and probably

to be readjusted. My question is : has anyone of you have had this same problem with the D300 ? Please don't ask

me about if the battery was fullly charged because it was, the VR was off because I was using a tripod, so I do

believe I am very careful when I go out for shooting so I did my homework before starting my shooting session.

Also, back when I had the Tamron, I was shooting at night using my SB-800 and suddenly 2 pictures were

completely black, so I do not know if this a common problem or simply my camera needs to be readjusted. Is

anyone of you guys having this problem ? If so, did it happen using Nikon lenses or 3rd party lenses ? My camera

will be in Nikon hands today and I expecting they call me soon to let me know what the problem is and as soon as I

know, I will update you for future references but again, please help with your inputs to find out if what happened to me

was something to expect or not. Thanks in advance. You are the best !! Maurice.

According to what I have reviewed, this lens is excellent to take landscape pictures but my question is, will be good

also for indoor shooting or under low light conditions ? Seems to me that being a f/4 lens, it is not that fast or I am

wrong thinking this ? What is your opinion ? Thanks for all your help and advises. By the way, have a D300, so

increasing the ISO is not an issue, but I also don't like to count only on the high ISO capabilities but the fast glass I

should be able to put in my camera to take indoor or low light photos.

I had the tamron 17-50 but I did returned. This lens has a lot of barrel distortion in the wide end, real bad for me and the 16-85 at the wide end, believe it or not, has much less than the tamron. By the way, anytime that I put a 3rd party lens on my D300, is not working properly and it has not happen with any Nikon lens. This is my personal experience. As far as the 18-200, never used it but according to the reviews, it does has also barrel distortion in the wide end and it is not sharper than the 16-85 VR, so I am OK with my 16-85. Again, this is my personal experience. Good luck.

One hour driving is keeping you away from getting a new D300 in good condition ? C'mom, you got to be kidding me Chris !! I would not hesitate traveling 300 miles to get a replacement for my camera if I had to. You just bought it and you don't even have to use the Nikon camera warranty, but the one provided for the store which should give you automatically 30 days to return it and no questions asked. Go back Chris and replace it. It worth the time and the money you will spend in gas.

Thank you guys. Will see how much the EN-EL4 (a) will cost + the charger and go from there or perhaps it will be better to buy AA rechargable batteries instead, but again, your inputs helped me a lot to understand this better and make the right decision. Thanks again. You are amazing !!

Thanks guys for your help !!

Want to buy a MB-D10 for my D300 and I am wondering which battery should be the best with it, based on your

personal experience : the EN-EL3e, EN-EL4a or EN-EL4 ? Can you help please ?

I like this feature in the D300 and I agree with William and Simon. I use standard most of the time and sometimes, vivid with sharpening +6 and that's it. When I started to use the D300, I pumped the saturation in vivid but honestly, I did not like the results, so I switched to standard +5 sharpening only and I am getting pretty good results. I will start using neutral but only for portrait and leave standard for everything else.

Hi Michael, according to your question :

How effective is VR? Does it have time to stabilize the image with such a fast frame rate. Let's assume I'm in lighting conditions that require 1/60 or lower in shutter speed. If I'm shooting 1/500 or faster, I usually turn the VR off since I feel the shutter speed will nullify the need for VR. If you have comments on that theory, I'd be interested as well.

 

>>> Well, I am not a pro but I have been shooting VR for a few months and I like to shoot sports, wild, etc and I have a question for you : why you should turn off the VR even if you are shooting at higher camera speed ? I do not think it is related !! The VR is to fight camera movement for handshaking and the camera speed will stop the action. I will leave the VR on even if shooting at higher speeds because I don't think it will hurt but perhapas help. Now in poor light condition, that is another story. I will definitely use the VR or turn it off and use a tripod. And now that I mention this, if you are recommended by Nikon to turn VR off when using a tripod, is because the VR acts as a tripod, and we know that even using a tripod, we can use high speed shooting when necessary, so that is why I don't relate one to the other. Bottom line, I will use VR except when using a tripod regardless of the shooting speed chosen.

Guys, can anyone tell me what is the fastest memory card for the Nikon D300 please ? I do have the Extreme IV 2

Gb but still, is there something faster than this one please?

Thanks in advance for all your support.

Gabe, If you are going to shoot in daylight, I will recommend the Nikon 70-300 VR. For the money you have available, I do not see any other telephoto lens more capable than this one. This lens is very sharp from 70-240 mm and decent in the above range. If you are shooting during nightime or indoor, then you need a f/2.8 lens. But again, telephotos f/2.8 within 500 dollars range is not that easy to buy. In this case, I will buy either the Nikon 85 f/1.8 or the very cheap but very sharp and excellent lens, the Nikon 50 f/1.8. You will not get too much telephoto but then you can crop the pictures and you will be OK. If you can get close to your subject, then I will definitely recommend either the 85 or the 50 f/1.8. You will be very happy how fast can you shoot without loosing sharpness.

Douglas, the same thing happened to me on my D300. The dust was visible on my viewfinder so the dust was not on the sensor. So, what I did was to setup the camera for cleaning and I used a Giotto blower, but instead of blowing the sensor, you have to blow the mirror above the sensor. Be careful not to touch it with the blower end but as soon as you blow that mirror ( which is the mirror related to the viewfinder ) the dust will go away. Make sure you identify first where the mirror is located and then blow it a couple of times. After that, blow your sensor again because the dust you just removed from the viewfinder mirror may fall on the sensor. I did that and the dirt went away. I also recommend you to try not to change lenses under windy conditions. If you want to clear your sensor, I will recommend the E2 solution + cotton swabs 2. Happy cleaning and good luck !!

Please help !! Can anybody tell me how to setup a watermark in my picures ? Sorry for the stupid question but I

need help guys. Thanks

The bounce will work either way. I do agree with Joe A. If you shoot indoor, I will choose TTL only but if you shoot outdoor, pick TTL / BL ( BL = Balance fill flash .. because you have the sunlight on your side ). If you use the bounce card, tilt the head to 45 or more degree angle, being 45 the best in this case.

I do agree with Joe. Contact the store and they should be able to replace it right away. You have 30 days from the date of purchase to return an equipment for your money back or exchange.

Nikon 50 f/1.8

I do believe it is David. I personally have that, the D300 and the SB-800. Don't think I need more power than that so far. The SB-800 is a great speedlight and not as complex as the new SB-900, so I do believe you have chosen wisely. As far as the Tamron, I tested it before and honestly, I was dissapointed about the barrel distortion in the wide end. That is the only drawback that I found and personally I returned it because for example, the Nikon 16-85 VR has less distortion than the Tamron, even thoug this lens is wider than the Tamron. If you put both at 17 mm, the Nikon will beat the Tamron and that is why I returned the Tamron and bought the 16-85, but to be hones, now I am missing the f/2.8 and this is a great dilemma for me because there is nothing out there really good except the Nikon 17-55 f2.8 in this range but this lens is expensive and for now, out of my pocket. But again, the D300 with the SB-800 are a great combo. Good choice !!

I do agree with Joe. I personally have the D300 with 3 lenses so far : Nikon 16-85 VR, Nikon 50 f/1.8 and Nikon 70-300 VR. All those lenses are superb and I have no complaint at all. The 16-85, even at the wide end, does not have a lot of barrel distortion in compare to others lenses even with higher end, so this is a great lens, a little bit slow in the AF but sharp as a razor. What can I say about the 50 f/1.8 ? This is the best of all in sharpness and low light. I will never get rid of it for sure !! The other the 70-300 VR, simply, I do love it !! For portrait shots is excellent. I have shot pictures of planes flying at almost the speed of sound and I was able to freeze them using ( believe it or not ) the VR II on ACTIVE. The only lens that I may trade, is the 16-85 ... but just for the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8. I want to get one f/2.8 for the middle distance and probabley will be the Tamron but not sure yet. Once I get that, I will still need 2 more lenses, one macro ( thinking about the Sigma 150 f/2.8, however, I do prefer more tele like 200 or more for macro, so I am researching which should be the best ) and the Tokina 12 - 24 f/4. Once all those stay in my gear, I will be done, but again, those 3 lenses that I have, they are great so if you decide to go for them, I do personally believe you have something good to start with, unless you have plenty of "greens" in your pocket and decide to go for the 17-55 f/2.8 Nikon and other pro lenses that probable will cost you more than the camera. Good luck and happy shooting !!

Frank, I also heard about the Tokina 12-24 f/4 being a great lens and probably in the future I will get it, but to cover the distance from 16(17or 18) to 55 mm, which lens do you suggest ? Still the Tamron f/2.8 ? Know also the 18-200 Nikon is a great lens but I have no interest on that lens because the shorter the distance the cover, the better the IQ and that is what I am looking for. I also own the Nikon 50 f/1.8, the Nikon 16-85 and the 70-300 VR but again, these are not f/2.8 so I am looking one that is f/2.8 to cover the middle distance. Please suggest !!