V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 768
Q:
I’ve seen CompactFlash cards marked with 150x or even
300x speeds. How do I tell which cards are the fastest?
A: First, Lexar and others use those labels in reference to the
peak access speed of a CD-ROM drive. In other words, an 8x
CompactFlash isn’t necessarily half as fast as a 16x card,
though it may be true on the D300 if the card itself can
handle sustained peak writes. Virtually all of the actual
memory chips used in CompactFlash cards are produced by a
small handful of manufacturers, and the technical
specifications differ little between them. Lexar first made
improvements in write speed by implementing an “erase-
ahead” function, not by using faster chips. That said, field-
testing has shown that the range between various
CompactFlash cards can be somewhat dramatic between the
lower cost generic cards and state-of-the-art brand name
cards, especially since the D300 supports UDMA, which is
more than five times faster than a non-UDMA card can
perform. A very good report on a reasonable selection of
different cards can be found at
http://www.robgalbraith.com
.
Rob’s results very much parallel mine, and his database of
cards is larger than mine and kept more up-to-date, so his site
is the preferred source for card speed info.
Q:
Are there any underwater housings for the D300?
A: Yes. It appears we’re going to have a flood of them (pardon
the pun). The Sea and Sea MDX-D300 is one, the Subal
ND30 is another. The Hugyfot HFN-D300 should be
available soon (
http://www.hugyfot.com
). Ikelite has a
modestly priced (comparatively) housing that allows ports for
most lenses (
http://www.ikelite.com/web_two/nik_d300.html
).
I expect Fantasea to have a more inexpensive solution at
some point soon, as well (
http://www.fantasea.com
). As far as
I can tell, virtually every dive housing maker either already
has a D300 housing or is about to release one.
Q:
Can I attach a bellows unit to the D300?
A: Yes. The Nikon PB-6 bellows can be attached by using a
compatible extension ring (PK-11a, PK-12, PK-13, or PN-11)
between the bellows and the camera. Nikon also warns that
