Nikon D300s gets the hands-on treatment in a Best Buy

I’ve got good news and bad news, Nikon-lovers.

The good news is that the D300s is available now and looks great.

The bad news is the movie mode still features major jelly-motion, and the autofocus is comically slow. We already got a taste of the HD movies with these official productions, but as we noted then, they avoided certain camera movements which embarrass the camera somewhat. Not now!

Nikon Rumors kindly documented the bits we’ve all been waiting to here about. Here’s that jelly effect we observed in the D90 (and 5D mk II):

And here’s the autofocus, which is contrast-based and as slow as death. Can this really be the maximum speed? I mean, other contrast-based focusing cameras are no faster, but it’s still ridiculous.

Though to end a good note, the 7FPS drive sounds great and looks super responsive (of course, there’s no lens so it’s not focusing or metering):

I’m sure it’s a great camera, but like all the other DSLRs, the video has some serious issues. Don’t let it stop you from getting a D300s, though — its movie mode is on par with any other DSLR’s.