D80 vs D300s

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ffarquhar

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Hi again,
firstly apologies, as I only ever seem to come on here asking questions but can't generally offer any advise myself.

Anyway down to the crux of the post.......I am considering upgrading my D80 & buying a D300s. Obviously its a lot of money to spend & I am wondering if I will notice much difference in image quality ?

Most of my photography is taking pictures of fishing boats, taken in daylight & either with an 18-200VR lens (used throughout the zoom range) or more often with a 70-300VR lens used at the 300mm end then cropped a bit.

Thanks, Martin :)
 
Hi Martin, I've done sessions with both and the one obvious benefit is the much better quality at Iso 800 and above, apart from that I'd check the spec re drive speeds, weatherproofing, autofocus etc at dpreview.

Yoy will need to gen up on it to truely benefit from the move, it has deep and complex menus. John
 
Weatherproofing and autofocus will be better on the D300s
 
I was/am similar to you - have a D80, I discussed getting a D300s 6 months ago, but I felt it's not really worth it, in that I'd be better off waiting for the D300s (+1) or D90 (+1) upgrade to come out. For me, the D80 does everything I want and need it to do, therefore why should I upgrade just for better ISO handling! The cost (approx 1100 for the body alone) means that personally I couldn't see it offers good value. However, as redhed17 says, what's the problem with the D80 you don't like?
 
I have just upgraded to the D300 second hand with very low clicks and decent price, from the D80,
My D80 had served me well and at first questioned if i had made the right move, so far the answer is yes, but personally i did need some of the advantages with the D300. There is also a lot more to learn.
I would consider your move and see if you need the extra from the D300s.
Picture quality is great with the D80 and if you don't need much more than that then stay as you are, unless you have plenty of ££££s to play with. But please don't let me put you off, its a good move.

Most important issue is, Do you need the upgrade, although you most likly want to at some point.maybe consider the D90.
 
Rocket, can you tell me what you've found better on the D300? I've used a friends on a few occasions, so am aware of its key features etc, but am interested in what you think!
 
And ffarquhar i hope you don't mind me asking/hijacking this thread - it is relevant to what you were asking!
 
From the use you have described which lets say is 80% of your pictures for arguments sake, upgrading to a d300s sounds a bit pointless- you may be better off investing in a longer lens- if you can find a good copy, a sigma 120-400 or 150-500 for instance.

However, if you wanted to take some video clips of the boats moving and found that with the other 20% of your time, the limitations of the camera rather than the user were stopping you capturing the moment, then perhaps it would be a good move.
 
Thanks for all the replies & advise.

I don't dislike the D80 at all Redhead. At this stage of my photography knowledge & capability it does everything I want.

As virtually all my photography is in daylight, & therefore fairly low ISO speeds I probably wouldn't see much benefit from improved high ISO quality. Also I try not to take photos in the rain if I can help it :lol:

When I first got my D80 I upgraded from a Canon S3is bridge camera & the image quality difference astounded me. I can't really see the step from a D80 to a D300 would be as big.

Also no problem Emyllis, I can see the relevance
 
Funnily enough Dr.O, I had also considered getting a Sigma 150-500 to quench the heat of that money burning a hole in my pocket ! :lol:

Maybe that would be more useful at this stage.
 
The biggest upgrade in quality would be with lenses. The 18-200mm VR is not the greatest, though convenient.

Now choosing a lens, that is a whole new can of worms. ;) :lol:
 
emyllis said:
Rocket, can you tell me what you've found better on the D300? I've used a friends on a few occasions, so am aware of its key features etc, but am interested in what you think!
Click to expand...

Two things that appeal for my use is a faster focus and also continues focusing. also a handy feature being able to view the set up on the LCD screen.The various set up of bracketing such as 5 or 7 shot.
One annoying thing is the focus mode selector switch, has a habit of moving when in and out of the camera bag.
 
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