I'm planning on buying the nikon d300?

But i'm scared lol.well i'm not sure if to buy it online or not. Its from a near by camera shop but they have a website. The nikon d300 i'm looking at is £700 its second hand and 33, 800 shutter actuation's. Do you think its worth buying? I really want it but i'm not sure. In case i'm wasting my money. Thank you.

Added (1). Also to add should i go in store and ask to see it aswell.tehy have a piture of it on the website bu i think illl go in store though.

See it, hold it, and operate it… Your going to be holding it a lot, so make sure you feel comfortable with it… And, realise that 700 quid is a start… Nikon lenses are not cheap… And at this price, you could get an Olympus E3… Which i might add is a better camera, with a FAR better metering system, and its half teh weight of a nikon…

You should go and check it. Make sure that all original accessories are there, no scratches or dents on the lens or body, autofocus works fine, etc.

You need to go and check it, and also bargain. I think £700 is a little over the odds for a D300 which is approaching middle-life. As it's from a local store there's an added bonus that they have a reputation to maintain.

The camera probably will have been tested, but you should double check.

Run it at 1/250th with a flashgun to make sure it syncs. And make sure there isn't obvious wear and tear to it. Open up all the rubber covers for the pc sync socket and cable release socket, and check inside. Test the camera's autofocus with an AF or AF-D lens (not an AF-S lens). Make sure it comes with the battery and charger.

At £700 there are a lot of interesting options open to you, however if you're looking at a D300, I expect that you're an existing Nikon shooter and wouldn't be interested into going to a Canon 5D or 1DmkII.

I have a D300 & it's a great camera - this will do you for some considerable time. The rated shutter count is 150, 000 actuations, so it's not had massive use.

See what sort of warranty the store might offer (3 months is common with second hand gear). Have a good look at it - check the contacts between the lens & body with an AF (not AF-S) lens - reason is you're checking the focus motor in the body this way, whereas AF-S lenses have a motor in the lens, Check metering seems ok. You can have a look at the mirror & sensor & any obvious dirt/scratches.

The sync speed check may or may not be worth doing - if the flash you use is non Nikon with a radio trigger, it may not sync at 1/250 anyway (that can be an issue with some triggers), but if it's a Nikon flash, then the camera is capable of high speed sync anyway, even off camera.

Check what accessories you get with it - are you getting the kit lens? You should at the very least, get the battery, charger, USB & AV leads.

See if they'll dicker a bit over the price.