Nikon D300 vs Sony DSLR-A290

Nikon D300 advantages over Sony DSLR-A290

• Lens selection
  Excellent vs Good
  Better lens selection gives you more options
• Fast startup
  ~0.30 vs 0.5 sec
  Faster startup lets you catch the moment
• Higher effective ISO

  Higher effective ISO

  Maximum effective ISO is an estimate of the highest sensitivity at which a camera can capture excellent quality photos.

  Cameras with higher effective ISO will be better choices for indoor photography, night shooting, and indoor sports photography, especially if you intend to make large prints.

  You can learn more at our glossary entry.

  Maximum effective ISO test data courtesy of DxO Mark.

  D300 test data on DxO Mark DSLR-A290 test data on DxO Mark
  679 vs 615 iso
  Take photos in low light with less noise
• Longer stills battery life
  More info

  Longer stills battery life

  Cameras with longer battery life can take more photos before exhausting their batteries.

  Special note: The measurement standard for battery life stipulates that if a camera has an internal flash, it must be used for 50% of photos taken. For this reason, comparisons of one camera with an internal flash to another without will not be comparable

  1000 vs 500 shots
  Capture more photos
• Top deck display
  Yes vs No
  Check settings with a screen on top of the camera
• Higher max flash sync
  1/250 vs 1/160 sec
  Reduce the effect of ambient light in flash shots
• Pentaprism viewfinder
  Pentaprism vs Pentamirror
  Much better viewfinder picture fidelity
• More dots on screen
  922k vs 230k dots
  Can mean greater resolution or a brighter screen
• More viewfinder magnification
  0.63x vs 0.55x
  Get a bigger view of the scene through the eye-level viewfinder
• Faster JPEG shooting
  6.1 fps vs 2.4 fps
  Faster JPEG shooting (burst mode)
• Bigger JPEG buffer
  37 vs 18 shots
  Take more JPEG shots before waiting (burst mode)
• Faster shutter
  1/8000 vs 1/4000 sec
  Shoot wide open in bright light
• Higher extended ISO
  6400 vs 3200 ISO
  Higher extended ISO can give more low-light flexibility