Great 'Feel'

How a camera 'feels' in your hand has no real reference to what the cameras qualities or technology is/are. Yet it has been my experience over the past 35 years with SLRs, that if it does not feel right to you, you won't shoot that well with it. The D300 has the most comfortable and pro feeling about it since the Nikon F2as. First use was at an owl preserve and the plume of the feathers was as sharp as could be and the color in auto white balance was very good for an overcast snowy day. However a manual setting of white balance to an expo disc made significant improvement. D lighting is a great feature available for the first time in an SLR. This is also the first of Nikon's new designs to deal with dust on the sensors.There have been a few times in the past where tourism was first and photography was second. My past D70 got heavy and I found an 8800 to do well. This would be even more true with the D300, if you plan only a few shots, it will get heavy carrying it around. But when your shooting, nothing will feel better. Battery life is excellent but I have always keep a second battery on me and will continue to do so. It has been my experience that VR lens are a wonderful thing but do have a significant impact on how many shots per battery.