OK, this is going to be hard. Lots of expensive lenses and a lot more practice. I didn't have time to play with settings today, so I just left it on the base settings for "P" mode and let the camera do the work while I tried out both lenses (35mm e-bay special and $750 18-200VR) This DSLR stuff is complicated compared to the little SP-350 and there's definitely going to be a learning curve. Overall, I'm very pleased. Speed? Wow! Clear zoom shots at 4 times the zoom I have on the SP. 8 gig CF card means shoot all day, no worries. Here are a few of my crummy first tries, but they'll at least show what it can do in the hands of a bozo. These are all hand held. No tripod.
First, here's one of the neighborhood cats that likes to come and hang out in our yard to chase squirrels and drink from the pool. We call him Pesky. This was taken at 200mm from about 40 feet away, and I cropped it down to about 10% and dropped the pixel count from 300 to 75, as I have done with all these pics.
A couple of pictures of the moon
Finally, for comparison, about the best the SP could do on a moon pic.
Without doubt, the SP is easier to shoot. It has great DOF for party portraits, and the auto settings work really well for just running around. Once I figure out what works on the D300, though, no contest. As well it should be at 10 times the price and still counting.
First, here's one of the neighborhood cats that likes to come and hang out in our yard to chase squirrels and drink from the pool. We call him Pesky. This was taken at 200mm from about 40 feet away, and I cropped it down to about 10% and dropped the pixel count from 300 to 75, as I have done with all these pics.
A couple of pictures of the moon
Finally, for comparison, about the best the SP could do on a moon pic.
Without doubt, the SP is easier to shoot. It has great DOF for party portraits, and the auto settings work really well for just running around. Once I figure out what works on the D300, though, no contest. As well it should be at 10 times the price and still counting.