The Nikon D300 is a 12.3-megapixel semi-professional

DX format The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24x16 mm. Its dimensions are about (29 mm vs 43 mm diagonal, approx.) those of the 35mm format. The format was ...

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

that Nikon Corporation announced on 23 August 2007 along with the

Nikon D3 The Nikon D3 is a 12.0-megapixel professional-grade full frame (35 mm) digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) announced by the Nikon Corporation on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D300 DX format camera. It was Nikon's first full-frame D ...

FX format camera. The D300 was discontinued by Nikon on September 11, 2009, being replaced by the modified

Nikon D300S The Nikon D300S is a 12.3-megapixel DX format digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaced the D300 as Nikon's flagship DX format DSLR adding HD video recording (with autofocus). It has some similari ...

, which was released July 30, 2009. The D300S remained the premier Nikon DX camera until the D7100 was released in early 2013.

Features

The D300 was designated by Nikon as the ultimate in

performance. It is quite similar to the D700, with the main difference being that the D300 uses a DX sensor instead of an FX sensor. It offers both high resolution and high speed (being able to capture 6 frames per second, and 8 frames per second with the addition of an optional MB-D10 battery pack). The D300 has not only a built-in

autofocus An autofocus (or AF) optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus on an automatically or manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system ...

motor for all Nikon autofocus-

lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

, but includes CPU and metering for older

Nikon F-mount The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35mm format single-lens reflex cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three-lug bayonet mount with a 44mm thro ...

AI/AI-S lenses and the new generation perspective control lenses ( PC-E). The built-in

intervalometer An intervalometer, also called an interval meter or interval timer, is a device that measures short intervals of time. People commonly use such devices to signal, in accurate time intervals, the operation of some other device. The intervalomete ...

(timer) can be used for

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

low-light movies.

Specifications

Nikon DX format The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24x16 mm. Its dimensions are about (29 mm vs 43 mm diagonal, approx.) those of the 35mm format. The format was ...

12.3 megapixel

CMOS sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) active-pixel sensor, MOS field-effec ...

* 1.5x

field of view The field of view (FoV) is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. Humans a ...

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

* Large, bright viewfinder with approximately 100% frame coverage and approximately 0.94 magnification *

Nikon EXPEED The Nikon Expeed image/video processors (often styled ''EXPEED'') are media processors for Nikon's digital cameras. They perform a large number of tasks: Bayer filtering, demosaicing, image sensor corrections/dark-frame subtraction, image noise ...

image processor An image processor, also known as an image processing engine, image processing unit (IPU), or image signal processor (ISP), is a type of media processor or specialized digital signal processor (DSP) used for image processing, in digital cameras or ...

* Magnesium alloy weather-sealed body *

lenses * Active D-Lighting (three levels) * 3D Color Matrix Metering II, using a 1005-pixel RGB sensor. Including matrix, center-weight, and spot metering with AI and AIS manual focus lenses produced since 1977 * Automatic correction of lateral

chromatic aberration In optics, chromatic aberration (CA), also called chromatic distortion and spherochromatism, is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same point. It is caused by dispersion: the refractive index of the lens elements varies with the wave ...

* Retouch menu includes filter type, hue, crop, D-lighting, Mono (Black and White, Cyanotype or Sepia) * Multi-CAM 3500DX

module with 51 sensors in normal mode; Single Servo and Continuous Servo focus modes, advanced focus tracking modes, selectable Single Area AF, Dynamic area AF, Group Dynamic AF, and Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF * Live-View Mode * Built-in sensor cleaning (using

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

) helps to remove the dust from sensor * 6 frame-per-second continuous shooting for up to 100 JPEG, up to 8 frame-per-second with optional MB-D10 battery grip with eight AA batteries, EN-EL4 or EN-EL4a battery installed * 3.0 inch 921,600 dots LCD display (640 × 480 VGA, 307,200 RGB pixels resolution) * 10-pin remote and flash sync terminals on camera * GPS interface for direct geotagging supported by

Nikon GP-1 The Nikon GP-1 is a Global Positioning System (GPS) accessory receiver manufactured by Nikon that collects geographic coordinate data and places it into the Exif data of a picture. It connects to the camera via a proprietary cable and can be mount ...

* EN-EL3e lithium-ion battery 7.4V/1500 MAH offering up to 1800 shots per charge, according to Nikon; with advanced battery information available in camera menus *

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

200–3200, selectable in 1/3, 1/2 or 1 stop increments. Additionally ISO 100 and ISO 6400 are available with ISO Boost. Selectable in-camera ISO noise reduction, applied in post-processing. * Built-in

Speedlight Speedlight is the brand name used by Nikon Corporation for their photographic flash units, used since the company's introduction of strobe flashes in the 1960s. Nikon's standalone Speedlights (those not built into the company's cameras) have the ' ...

offers balanced fill-flash with Nikon's i-TTL flash system, and can fire in commander mode for wireless off-camera firing of other speedlights; controlling up to two groups of speedlights with individual exposure compensation * File formats include

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...

, NEF (Nikon's

raw image format A camera raw image file contains unprocessed or minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, a motion picture film scanner, or other image scanner. Raw files are named so because they are not yet processed and the ...

compressed and uncompressed), and JPEG+NEF (JPEG size/quality selectable) File:D300liveview.jpg, Live View of image on LCD screen File:D300 Storage CF.jpg, CompactFlash memory card inside D300 File:Solmeta Geotagger N2 Kompass GPS on Nikon D300.jpg, Nikon D300 with "Solmeta Geotagger N2 Kompass" on top

Reception

The Nikon D300 was announced on August 23, 2007. Shutterbug Magazine, and the UK magazine, "What Digital Camera" presented initial 'First Look' reviews. Imaging Resource and Photocrati also did their own initial reviews. DCR and Camera Labs have full reviews of the D300. Digital Review Canada compares it to the older Nikon D200.

Popular Photography ''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...

named the Nikon D300 for their official "Camera of the Year 2007" award. The magazine also reviewed the camera, and noted at that time that Nikon

Capture NX Capture NX is a photo editing computer program developed by Nik Software in partnership with Nikon for macOS and Microsoft Windows. In September 2012, Google acquired Nik Software, but Capture NX has remained a Nikon software and is advertise ...

software was packaged with the camera; more recent packages include a 30-day trial version.

Accessories and software upgrades

MB-D10 Multi Power Battery Pack

The MB-D10 is an optional accessory battery pack that provides a vertical grip as well as additional shutter release and autofocus buttons, command dials and focus point selection control. The MB-D10 allows the D300 to be powered by an additional EN-EL3e battery or AA batteries. An optional carrier is available which allows for an EN-EL4 or EN-EL4a battery to be installed instead. The camera can be configured to assign priority to either the internal EN-EL3e battery or the MB-D10 grip such that the other battery is used only when the primary battery is dead. The D300 can shoot 8 frames per second with the MB-D10 & AA/EN-EL4/EN-EL4a battery installed, otherwise the camera is limited to a 6 frames per second 'shooting' mode. The MB-D10 is also compatible with the D700 but not the D200.

'D2X Mode' and firmware upgrade

On January 15, 2008, Nikon released three additional picture control modes for the D300 which emulate the D2X/D2XS color modes I, II and III. On February 14, 2008, Nikon released a firmware upgrade which resolves an issue where vertical banding can occur when long exposure noise reduction is enabled for shutter speeds of 8 seconds and slower. For several years there have been third-party firmware patches available for this and other Nikon Cameras. Some have added features while others have attempted to correct defects in the original firmware.

Replacement Cameras

Although the D7000 was released in 2011 D300S production continued in parallel until the release of the D500 in 2016. In February Nikon announced that the D7100 would replace the D300s as their flagship DX format camera; this would later be replaced in 2016 by the D500. The D7100 features the same Mutli-CAM D3500 DX module as the D300s. However, the controls of the D7000 series departed from the standard of the D200, D300, D700, and D800 cameras. The D500 returns to that format.

Notes

External links

NIKON D300s REVITALIZES THE STANDARD AND MEASURE OF AGILE, PRO-LEVEL DX-FORMAT D-SLR DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE
Nikon USA press release

Nikon global site
Nikon D300 Product Page
Nikon USA site
Nikon D300 Operation Manual
{{Nikon DSLR cameras D300 D300 Live-preview digital cameras