Buy It

To start I am an a amateur photographer with about two years experience.
I own a D40,which was my first and really enjoy it for family and everyday shooting.Great colors and focus.I then purchased the D80 which I have had
great success with and love it!But when I purchased the D300 there is no
comparison.The 51 point focus is awesome and the color choices are unbelievable! This thing is awesome when it comes to speed and focus.Quick
accurate response time is great for nature and fast moving subjects.
The pictures you take will make you feel like a pro with the very first shots taken.
The menu is so easy to use that it makes ease of changing and getting exactly what you're looking for.There is a lot in the menu but with a little time you'll get it fine because it has a help section.Anyone thinking of going another step up to a pro camera should not look elsewhere as Nikon truly has created a gem!To me this is a five star camera because of performance and the rugged build quality,A+

excellence

I did SO much research before buying this camera, originally thinking I'd get the Canon Rebel XSI... This lens is amazing, it's so powerful and versatile that when I compared it to buying the Canon body and 2 Canon lenses that would cover a similar zoom range, the Canon option stopped making any financial sense.

I'm extremely happy with the photos I've taken with this guy, from massive gigapixel panoramas to HDRI to action shots at the dog park. It makes photography as simple as you need it to be or as precise as you want.

I know the D700 is coming out soon -- unless you are a serious pro and working in a lot of low-light, don't bother paying more for this. Full-frame sensor isn't worth the premium.

It does make you a better photographer.

I sold my D70 and bought the D300 from Amazon. What a difference ! About 600 pictures in 2 weeks and only 2 deleted (clearly my mistakes). I am not a pro but a very serious hobbyist . My fist Nikon was a F2 and I have a big collection of Nikkor lenses. My favorite is now the 70-200 2.8 VR but I get great results with an old "standard' 50 mm 1.8 .

The D-Lighting feature works like a charm and I love the big , high resolution monitor.

I can't see any difference between Iso 200 and 800 and even at 1600 the pictures look perfect to me. With the D70, I couldn't get good results over 400.

I just hope the cleaning mechanism really works. With the D70 I had a lot of specs and dirt on the sensor .