D300 or D7000?

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Bobzilla2

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Right, its time to upgrade. The D60 won't quite do what I want it to do, no AF, no metering on AiS lenses. And the fps is very very low. Using a E Series F2.8 135mm I wasn't quite getting what I wanted shooting British Superbikes at Brands Hatch, and whilst some of it is technique, and some of it was dust trapped between the lens and the filter (and filter stuck on), some of it was the camera. Or at least some of it could have been reduced on a better camera. I might have hit more shots, and got a better keep rate with the ones that I hit.

So, the choice appears to be the D300 second hand (less than £400) or a D7000 (£620 at the best UK price I've found). I know the differences on paper, 8fps with the grip vs 6fps, bigger buffer, 51pt AF vs 39, 12mp vs 14, but how does it actually work in real life? I know the real answer is the D400, but I don't have £1500 to drop on a camera. If I did, I'd rather buy the 300 and get a better lens (the E Series above and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 F3.5 are the best I have, and I know that both are manual only.

At the minute, I am weighted more towards the D300 as the extra £220 is not worth it for what I will be using it for, and there are advantages to the D300 too. Plus the extra £200 would buy a second hand f2.8 70-200 Sigma. Am I wrong?
 
Bobzilla2 said:
Right, its time to upgrade. The D60 won't quite do what I want it to do, no AF, no metering on AiS lenses. And the fps is very very low. Using a E Series F2.8 135mm I wasn't quite getting what I wanted shooting British Superbikes at Brands Hatch, and whilst some of it is technique, and some of it was dust trapped between the lens and the filter (and filter stuck on), some of it was the camera. Or at least some of it could have been reduced on a better camera. I might have hit more shots, and got a better keep rate with the ones that I hit.

So, the choice appears to be the D300 second hand (less than £400) or a D7000 (£620 at the best UK price I've found). I know the differences on paper, 8fps with the grip vs 6fps, bigger buffer, 51pt AF vs 39, 12mp vs 14, but how does it actually work in real life? I know the real answer is the D400, but I don't have £1500 to drop on a camera. If I did, I'd rather buy the 300 and get a better lens (the E Series above and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 F3.5 are the best I have, and I know that both are manual only.

At the minute, I am weighted more towards the D300 as the extra £220 is not worth it for what I will be using it for, and there are advantages to the D300 too. Plus the extra £200 would buy a second hand f2.8 70-200 Sigma. Am I wrong?
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In terms of I.Q the D7000 is going to be better. In terms of the focus system, build etc. the D300 is a lot better and can be had for bargain proces now. I have had both, preferred the D300 personally mainly to do with the better focus system and it's a good little brother to my my D700 shared grip, batteries etc.

Both are fine camera's which ever one you decided on you won't go far wrong.
 
I'm asking the same questions myself at the minute upgrading from a D5100. Its either a d300s or a d7000 for me too.
 
If rumours are to be believed, we're due for a D300s replacement imminently. If you're in no rush it may be worth hanging on to see what's around the corner.

If you need to upgrade now, then you need to weigh superior image quality of the D7000 against the better AF and faster fps of the D300s. Bear in mind the D7000s AF isn't terrible.. just not quite in the same league as the 300s. You also need to weigh the 7fps(8 with grip) of the D300s against the 6fps of the D7000.

Whatever they release, it will be on the wrong side of £1000 though.
 
I had the same dilemma a few weeks back and in the end i went for the D300s.

I had thought about this for some time, and the reasons i chose what i did were down to the type of things i shoot.

I like being outdoors so the weather sealed body was a plus point. 51 focus points. Faster fps as standard.

And now the important bits (what ever others say, you have to take this into account), how the camera feels in your hand. The D7000 felt ok to me, but the D300s fitted my hands better, remember you could be holding it for hours and if not right you will know.

It also helps that i come from a D200, so the buttons etc on the D300s are where they were on the D200, so apart from learning a few extra bits, i could pick it up and just crack on (the fact that there is no lock on the dial on the D7000 means at some point i know i will change it by accident).

The final bit for me was the amount of people that appear to have focus issues with the D7000 straight out of the box, don't want to buy a camera and then send it back.

Whatever you go with, you will have a cracking camera. Go and try and hold them both, have a play with the dials, feel which one feels better, easier to use and go with that, unless for some reason you must have one over the other.
 
Pookeyhead said:
If rumours are to be believed, we're due for a D300s replacement imminently. If you're in no rush it may be worth hanging on to see what's around the corner.

If you need to upgrade now, then you need to weigh superior image quality of the D7000 against the better AF and faster fps of the D300s. Bear in mind the D7000s AF isn't terrible.. just not quite in the same league as the 300s. You also need to weigh the 7fps(8 with grip) of the D300s against the 6fps of the D7000.

Whatever they release, it will be on the wrong side of £1000 though.
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The D400???? Do you know something we don't?
 
I've just gone through exactly the same dilemma with the D300s and the D7000.
In the end i went for the D7000...why?
Well firstly its a newer camera than the D300s, the sensor is better, the AF system is better, higher resolution enables better cropping abilities. I dont need the pro body or the higher FPS..6 is more than enough for me.The video is better,much better than the D300s. Its also alot cheaper than the D300s....for me it was an easy choice. The D7000 is a very very capable piece of kit. Oh yes, buy new and you get 2 years Nikon warranty too....

Neil
 
neilos100 said:
I've just gone through exactly the same dilemma with the D300s and the D7000.
In the end i went for the D7000...why?
Well firstly its a newer camera than the D300s, the sensor is better, the AF system is better, higher resolution enables better cropping abilities. I dont need the pro body or the higher FPS..6 is more than enough for me.The video is better,much better than the D300s. Its also alot cheaper than the D300s....for me it was an easy choice. The D7000 is a very very capable piece of kit. Oh yes, buy new and you get 2 years Nikon warranty too....

Neil
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Sums the answer up
 
Its the focus issues i am reading about that is putting me off the d7000 slightly. It can be bought from Panamoz for around £525 but the thought of having to send it straight back would pee me right off. £630 ish from uk stock but much easier to sort out if it is wrong.
 
I had a similar decision to make and went for the D300, very happy that I did. Felt better to handle than the D7000 and the pro build quality is re-assuring. Can't really fault it at all in use and although D300s will be out of warranty now they have a good reputation for reliability and are built to last, I've heard of a few people having problems with the D7000. The money saved is always useful too! :)
 
phil_b said:
Its the focus issues i am reading about that is putting me off the d7000 slightly. It can be bought from Panamoz for around £525 but the thought of having to send it straight back would pee me right off. £630 ish from uk stock but much easier to sort out if it is wrong.
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Got mine last week from Jessops....no back focus issues...latest firmware.
 
Reidy36 said:
The D400???? Do you know something we don't?
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[Manuel voice].. I know naaarthing [/Manual voice]

Just rumours based on a few inside leaks... nothing secret and it's all over the net. Based on a leaked roadmap, Nikon were scheduled to release 4 new bodies this year, three of which turned out to be correct, which leaves a new pro spec DX body to come if the accuracy of the rumours continue.
 
This probably doesn't sound like the most helpful reply but it is meant to be. This is a very regular topic so there is a wealth of info already on here on the search facility.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/search.php?searchid=8449123

For what it's worth, I went through this dilemma a couple of years ago. I was all the set to get a D7000 but when I held both a D7000 and D300s in a shop I found myself lusting after the larger body. I actually went for a used D300 in the end rather than a D300s I couldn't justify the difference in cost for seemingly little gain. Again there are some good discussions on here on this subject.
 
Pookeyhead said:
[Manuel voice].. I know naaarthing [/Manual voice]

Just rumours based on a few inside leaks... nothing secret and it's all over the net. Based on a leaked roadmap, Nikon were scheduled to release 4 new bodies this year, three of which turned out to be correct, which leaves a new pro spec DX body to come if the accuracy of the rumours continue.
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I could be tempted to hold on and see what comes out, I took pics of my d5100 last night in order to sell it on here but that is as far as I have gotten. The thought of paying twice as much as a d7000 doesn't appeal much though, I just couldn't afford it And it would be months before the price would come down below 1k. Decisions decisions.
 
Pookeyhead said:
[Manuel voice].. I know naaarthing [/Manual voice]

Just rumours based on a few inside leaks... nothing secret and it's all over the net. Based on a leaked roadmap, Nikon were scheduled to release 4 new bodies this year, three of which turned out to be correct, which leaves a new pro spec DX body to come if the accuracy of the rumours continue.
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If by some miracle, they end up putting a high end DX sensor in a D2X shaped hole, I might just be tempted to go back to DX. It does seem to go very much against Nikon's recent philosophy though so I'm not holding out much hope.

To me, it seems that Nikon are very keen at the moment to push the enthusiastic amateur towards FX, judging not only by the introduction of the D600 but also the plethora of relatively affordable FX lenses that have been released recently. So with that in mind I'm guessing a direct D7000 replacement is most likely with possibly no 'pro' DX at all but I hope I'm wrong.
 
It could be the d7000 users thread that graham was directing us too, there has been a good bit of talk on there recently about the back focus issue.
 
Pookeyhead said:
As the link doesn't work, no, it wasn't helpful :)
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Hmmm, it works on mine but maybe that's cache thing. Either way a search in Tech talk for 'D300 D7000' with the titles only boxed ticked will yield a load of good info.
 
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phil_b said:
It could be the d7000 users thread that graham was directing us too, there has been a good bit of talk on there recently about the back focus issue.
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See my post below your's. I assumed a link to search results would work but obviously not. :)
 
The d300s is 2009 technology, the d300 2007. Should this be a consideration?
 
phil_b said:
The d300s is 2009 technology, the d300 2007. Should this be a consideration?
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They're very near identical. The D300S has a crude video mode, two card slots, a quiet mode and marginally quicker FPS. The sensor, AF system etc are identical. If none of the above matter, there is cash to be saved.
 
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