dod
TPer Emeritus
- Messages
- 16,680
- Name
- Ebenezer McScrooge III
- Edit My Images
- Yes
There, I've said it. I've not made the full trip to the dark side yet though, this is very much an experiment to see how I get on with Nikon as it's about the only brand of camera I haven't used during the last <cough> years. If it helps anyone else having similar thoughts then it might be some use 
Bear in mind these first impressions are comparing it against my usual weapons of choice, a 1D MkII and a 1D MkIII.
So, I picked up a great condition used D300 and 24-120mm lens from "retired" and got a chance to take it out of the packing today, in between appointments.
Attaching the lens the first thing I noticed was you twist it the wrong way to mount it. No big deal but a bit disconcerting at first.
Next, the overall feel of the camera is very good. It feels solid, good weight, the rubberised feel is nice. Not sure about the red "flash" on it, pointless decoration as far as I can see but it doesn't do any harm. It's a bit more angular than the Canons but it still seems to fit the hand nicely. The lack of "vertical" controls is something I couldn't live with though so I suspect when my grip arrives it will feel a lot better. The one thing which is rubbish is the CF card door. It feels like it's been hewn out of an old crisp packet. Pretty poor when you consider the rest of it.
Next the layout. Hmm, there are wheels and buttons EVERYWHERE!!
It looks messy when you compare it to the canon and all those buttons make me wonder about the long term weather proofing on it.
All those buttons do seem to be reasonably well thought out though even though it's going to take a while to get used to "releasing" a wheel to change the focus mode. The joystick type control works well, pretty intuitive, DOF button is in a really sensible place compared to the Canon. Dedicated AF button is nice and chunky, exposure lock's in a good place. Bit confusing to start with trying to find where to adjust metering mode and autofocus configuration but again, that's a lack of familiarity. Changing the image size is a little bit fiddly as well but nothing that won't become second nature given time.
I don't yet like the dual wheel configuration for changing aperture and shutter speed in M. The rear wheel and vertical command dial of the Canon do it better. It just feels slightly clumsy on the Nikon.
Menu system is just that, a menu system. There's no point in saying which one's best as once you get used to it they both do the same thing. They both have a logic behind them, it's just slightly different. Not better, not worse, just different.
Last thing to look at is the initial impression on image quality. I'm impressed. From what I've read the 24-120 isn't one of Nikons best bits of glass but the random test shots I've tried up to now are really encouraging. The shot below is a 100% crop from 120mm, wide open. No processing, just saved to a jpeg from the NEF file.
Right now I've maybe used this camera for about 10 minutes, it's not meant to be anything more than first impressions. I haven't tested or compared how good the metering or autofocus is to my other cameras.
But, I have to say initial thoughts are very favourable. This just might be the start of a new adventure but it's still too early to say
Bear in mind these first impressions are comparing it against my usual weapons of choice, a 1D MkII and a 1D MkIII. So, I picked up a great condition used D300 and 24-120mm lens from "retired" and got a chance to take it out of the packing today, in between appointments.
Attaching the lens the first thing I noticed was you twist it the wrong way to mount it. No big deal but a bit disconcerting at first.
Next, the overall feel of the camera is very good. It feels solid, good weight, the rubberised feel is nice. Not sure about the red "flash" on it, pointless decoration as far as I can see but it doesn't do any harm. It's a bit more angular than the Canons but it still seems to fit the hand nicely. The lack of "vertical" controls is something I couldn't live with though so I suspect when my grip arrives it will feel a lot better. The one thing which is rubbish is the CF card door. It feels like it's been hewn out of an old crisp packet. Pretty poor when you consider the rest of it.
Next the layout. Hmm, there are wheels and buttons EVERYWHERE!!
It looks messy when you compare it to the canon and all those buttons make me wonder about the long term weather proofing on it. All those buttons do seem to be reasonably well thought out though even though it's going to take a while to get used to "releasing" a wheel to change the focus mode. The joystick type control works well, pretty intuitive, DOF button is in a really sensible place compared to the Canon. Dedicated AF button is nice and chunky, exposure lock's in a good place. Bit confusing to start with trying to find where to adjust metering mode and autofocus configuration but again, that's a lack of familiarity. Changing the image size is a little bit fiddly as well but nothing that won't become second nature given time.
I don't yet like the dual wheel configuration for changing aperture and shutter speed in M. The rear wheel and vertical command dial of the Canon do it better. It just feels slightly clumsy on the Nikon.
Menu system is just that, a menu system. There's no point in saying which one's best as once you get used to it they both do the same thing. They both have a logic behind them, it's just slightly different. Not better, not worse, just different.
Last thing to look at is the initial impression on image quality. I'm impressed. From what I've read the 24-120 isn't one of Nikons best bits of glass but the random test shots I've tried up to now are really encouraging. The shot below is a 100% crop from 120mm, wide open. No processing, just saved to a jpeg from the NEF file.
Right now I've maybe used this camera for about 10 minutes, it's not meant to be anything more than first impressions. I haven't tested or compared how good the metering or autofocus is to my other cameras.
But, I have to say initial thoughts are very favourable. This just might be the start of a new adventure but it's still too early to say
Far too many button for me, guess i'm not clever enough for a Nikon 
)
instead
Yeah, yeah, I know it's a cat, have to use something for testing though 
