I’m so excited! I just got my confirmation e-mail. My order for my brand spankin new Nikon D300 has been processed. I should have it within a week.
So why the switch to Nikon?
I’ve been a Canon shooter since 1999 (first film, then digital), and previous to that I shot with a Contax SLR and Mamiya medium format. When I first embraced digital photography there we few affordable options. Nikon’s offering was expensive while Canon’s offering had a CMOS sensor and the image quality at that time was hard to beat. The decision was pretty easy. I was lucky enough to get a Canon 10D within the first few weeks of it being released. The camera took still takes great pictures, but I never fell in love with it like I did with my previous cameras. Something wasn’t quite right and I only brought it out for paid shoots and the occasional portfolio shoot. The other thing that irked me was Canon’s, “We won’t build one camera that can do everything.” philosophy. If you wanted to shoot sports/photojournalism (1.3x crop factor) you need to get a 1D. If you wanted to shoot in the studio (full frame) you needed to buy a 1Ds. And the 5D was a half-assed attempt at a mid range offering with some pro features in a not so pro body.
Then, last year Nikon announces the D300 and D3. My jaw dropped. CMOS sensors, 12 megapixels, pro level auto focus and much more. I waited for Canon to drop the bomb and announce their offerings to directly compete with these two cameras, and I waited, and I waited, and waited some more. Nothing even close. So I decided to go out and hold the D300 in my hand and see how it felt. It felt great in my hand and the build quality was excellent. I also started to feel that lovin’ feeling again.
Is this post biased? Darn right it is! I just bought what I consider to be the best camera for my needs that is available today. Is the D300 the perfect camera? Almost. I can’t afford the perfect camera, the D3, just yet. But I know the perfect exists and it’s a Nikon.
To all the Canon lovers out there. I know your going to hate me, but this my opinion and you are entitled to your opinion. I don’t hate Canon, I just think Nikon has the best camera for me.
5 comments ↓
Welcome to the D300 Club! I always find it interesting to hear the stories of people that switch (either way). I’m pretty sure that you’ll be more than pleased with the D300. Might take you a short while to get used to the Nikon terminology regarding lenses, but… should take all of about 15 seconds
D300 Group in Flickr’ll be there waiting when you’ve got questions
And hopefully no Canon shooters out there are mad. They shouldn’t be. The truth is the truth and if they can’t handle that, then… well, don’t listen to them. I’m sure that Canon’ll come around with an answer. And a few Nikonians will probably cross over to the other side. Just the way it is
Thanks Fried Toast
I am looking forward to this new phase of my photography career using Nikon.
I’ll be doing a post on my first impressions of the D300 once I get a hang of it.
I visit the D300 flickr group daily and read as much as I can. For anyone not familiar with the group, here is the url - http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_d300_users
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