It’s the oldest trick in the book… Forget about the rush to get on a waiting list for that hot new camera, wondering when the next shipment will come in, and how many days / weeks / months it will be until you get your camera… Just wait for the people who were SO excited that they got on MULTIPLE waiting lists- when they end up with two or more cameras at their doorstep, they’ll post on a forum or somewhere, offering the camera to a fellow shooter as opposed to sending it back to the store and trying to get a refund…

Photographed a wedding today with much success and a little bit of “wow, better spend some time to get to know this camera!!! The brand new 51 point autofocus system in particular- It is blazingly fast and incredibly precise but has many ins and outs that will require mastering. I just watched an online video tutorial, and WOW, 3-D AF tracking mode is INSANE! It is derived from the “dynamic AF” concepts of previous Nikon AF systems, except now that there are 51 AF points completely blanketing the frame, it works INCREDIBLY well. I saw the video tutorial and I was like “yeah right, it can’t do THAT!” …so I tried it, and was indeed blown away…

Short and simple explanation: If you initiate focus on a subject in continuous focusing mode with 3-D tracking enabled, you can then “drag” your subject anywhere else in the frame (or the subject can walk / run etc.) …and the initial focus point will automatically move around the frame WITH the subject, following it the whole time. Holy toledo, batman! I guess it’s like a semi-improved version of Canon’s 1D series 45 point AF system? Except the D300 is $1800 brand new…

But like I said, it’s going to take a lot of mastering to really make it dance… Luckily, before my next wedding (next weekend) I will be at Scott Robert’s LA workshop this coming week. EXTREMELY excited about that, to say the least!

Peace out Napoleon,
=Matt=

PS: Oh and the high ISO performance is indeed insane. Not FF / FX insane to be sure, but I felt perfectly safe shooting normal shots all the way to 6400, and portraits up at 400… My Canon shooting friends will finally have to quiet down a little!