Nikon D300 12.3-megapixel SLR

The Nikon D300 is probably one of the most important releases for Nikon so far. Not only does it have a lot to live up to, replacing the much loved and respected Nikon D200, it also marks a pivotal point in the semi-pro/serious amateur DSLR market.

Why? Well, because this is a camera that has not only progressed in leaps and bounds from a predecessor two years' its senior, it has also drastically raised the stakes for any mid-range camera in terms of performance, pricing and sheer quality.

The front body of the D300 looks fairly inconspicuous when set alongside the D200. However, check out the rear and the first thing that jumps out at you is the generously sized LCD preview TFT screen. Measuring 3.0-inches with a superb resolution of 922,000 pixels it offers plenty of opportunity to check out previewed shots in crisp detail.

There's also a handy plus point for the LCD display as it can be used to show live views if it's impractical to look through the viewfinder, meaning you can easily frame a shot without resorting to raising your camera to eye-level. Of course, this can prove a little tricky if you're shooting in bright light due to glare.

The 12.3 million effective pixel CMOS sensor makes the D300 capable of shooting images up to 4,288 x 2,848 resolution, and annoying artefacts shouldn't be too much of a burden with the D300 as it also features a self-cleaning sensor unit. Using the menu options you can set it to automatically shake off the dust and dirt that may be riddling the sensor at the camera start-up or shutdown. Place your ear against the body as you do this and you can hear the satisfying high-pitched vibration.

The D300 measures in at a weighty 825g, which might be a little heavy for some if out for the whole day. However, if you reckon you could handle more it's also compatible with the MB-D10 battery grip. As well as obvious benefits in shooting time, an affixed battery grip also speeds up the continuous frame capture of the already impressive 6 frames per second to 8 frames per second.

Picture quality and shooting features are where the D300 comes into a league of its own. With various picture controls you can manually boost sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation and hue to possibly save on image editing at a later stage.

However, a word of warning: it's not easy to see how drastic your settings are on the LCD screen, especially when boosting sharpening levels, so it's worth trying out any presets before you endeavour to shoot anything important. Take the levels up too far and images can look like they've had an Unsharp Mask applied to them.

An additional feature, which Nikon calls ‘Active D-Lighting', can be activated from the camera's menu and proves invaluable when you're having trouble with the dynamic range of your image. Turning this function on forces the camera to preserve details in highlights and shadows.

This is particularly useful if you're shooting a subject in shadows as it will boost underexposed areas for a well balanced shot. What it doesn't make clear, however, is that ‘Active D-Lighting' will over-ride any brightness/saturation adjustments you may have set with your manual picture controls.

Focussing is made a lot easier with an increased Dynamic AF setting of 51 points, which can be used with 3D tracking. With this feature set if you are framing a subject through the viewfinder and the subject moves out of frame, the camera will automatically set a new point to focus. This proves very useful if you're capturing a scene with plenty of movement, such as sports, as it's quick to respond with accurate focussing.

Needless to say, with so many extra ways to enhance and perfect an image, the quality of the Nikon D300's photos is pretty superb, with results that compare or even exceed that of the next level pro camera, the D2X. There's no evidence of fringing, the annoying under-exposure (which previous Nikon SLR models fell victim to) has been eradicated here and noise levels are impressively sparse, even at the highest ISO 3200 sensitivity.