[quote=andy153;28981]By the way Derek - you've kept very quiet about the new camera.[quote]
For a reason Andy, I wanted to have a chance to compare it against the D300 and see if I had made a big mistake - i.e. is the D300 more than good enough for what I need?
I love the D300 and it's performance is outstanding, but it is no match for the D3 in a few key areas.
I have done direct comparisons against shots at ISO 1600 on both (as I had to shoot the D300 at that ISO at another cycle race a couple of weeks ago) and the D300 is very good/acceptable until you start doing crops of the original image. This is where the D3 scores, I've done very large crops and still had really top quality prints at A4 and this is just not possible with the D300. I've used ISO 6400 on the D3 and sold A3 prints.
Andy is right about the AF, not only is it blisteringly fast, but very, very accurate. I can't wait to go back and do another Kite shoot and directly compare it to the D300 shots I took, but it is very noticeably quicker to 'snap' on.
The colours/contrast/overall images out of the camera are just superb. This is the first camera where I just crop and upload the majority of my images as no other corrections are necessary. OK I'll play with them before printing, but for web viewing they are the best I've ever seen straight from a camera.
So is it worth it? does it justify the huge price tag over the D300?
Well I'm happy - even if I'm living off cerials for the next year...
As with Andy, I'll post more when I've had a chance to take some landscapes/other types of shots. I'm looking forward to swapping stories with you on the Anderton meet?