No, I think you are actually misunderstanding a bit when you explain extra reach. It is not extra reach, it is smaller sensor, catching just a part of the picture a full frame dslr would get. To upgrade from D300 and D3S it should be considered to get a D800 to replace both, and just crop the pics as needed.
A Nikon D7000, refurbished would be a good choice for you.
what do you mean by "extra reach"?
Hi, lot of replies here, still I want to add mine. I have experiance with 3 full frame cameras, Nikon D600, D700 and D800E. I have used all of them to take pictures, I have printed out large prints on paper, up to 1x2 meters in size, processed from all of them in Lightroom 4, prepared a photobook in LR4 with pics from the D700 and D800E and also a photo exihib with pics from D700 and D800.
First of all. All 3 are excellent cameras. The D800E is the best of them in most ways, delivers detail and sharpness, even at high ISO, in 1x2 meters printouts.. Pics from D700 are no match to pics from D800E when printing this size pics. I think there is no full frame camera capable of better results than the D800E. But quality is not painless. Processing and printing images from this camera is a slow process due to large files. I was working last summer with Lightroom 4 on a new, state of the art, Lenovo laptop with SSD and 8GB memory. This gear was barely getting the job done.
In this process the whole gear, cameras and laptop and the big Canon printer was own by the guy I was working for. When I started this project I had made up my mind to buy me a D800 but after working with the files I knew I would have to invest in a laptop as expensive as the camera so I changed my mind and bought a D600 instead. That has proven to be a good choice for me. It delivers excellent pics and my Toshiba laptop with 4Gb and no SSD is much faster processing than the Lenovo was with the D800 files. I have not yet printed anything larger than A4 from this camera, but some crops from bigger pics and that has proved to me that big prints can be done with excellent quality from this camera.
One more thing to mention about the D800E is that the patterns the anti aliasing filter is used to prevent in other cameras very rarely, but still in one photoshoot, were visible. So if you choose that camera you must accept that once in awhile a pic will be destroyed because you use a camera without aa filter, but in return for choosing that camera you will get best possible pic quality most of the time.
Ban everything, ban fertilizer factories, ban cars (car bombs), ban airplanes, ban ban ban .......
Nokia pureview 808 has the best smartphone camera on the market today, this is the only phone amateur photographers should carry, it is a good smartphone and then you do not need a separate pocket camera.
The sony is a 27-810, so the canon clearly wins on both wide and tele end optically.
If you want top picture quality Nikon, you should buy Nikon D800E. D4 is waste of money in comparison with the D800E. You are paying more money for less pic quality. The reason for the D4 price is long battery life, ultra fast autofocus, more frames pr second, better weather sealing, stronger body and thats about it. What D800 has that makes it better than D4 is 36,3 mpix sensor and no anti aliasing filter, lighter and smaller body. D800E is the best Nikon camera available but not the most expensive. There is no Canon I know of that can deliver picture quality on the same level as Nikon D800E. If you on the other hand are looking for the very best you may have to look at something else, Leica, Hasselblad or Leaf. There you can get up to 80 megapixels on much bigger sensors, but also at more cost than Nikon or Canon cameras.
You can check out samyang wide lenses at japanfoto. They are very good, best lenses for the value.
I recommend Ecobin's advice. To increase the shutter speed by up to 2 stops and adjust in pp. I think you would get satisfactory results with shutter speed 1/60 and up.
This lens is sold as opteka, pro optics, rokinon, samyang, bower, vivitar and maybe more. It is said to be a low quality lens, still many positive reviews about it mostly based on the low price.
I do not believe your comment about your cat, I am sure he does not care at all! I have had a cat, know how false and selfish they are, I am sure the cat is enjoying the freedom of you staring at the pc screen!!
Hi again. The original question was about 20X zoom in context with a 200 mm lens the guy has.
There are maybe many correct answers, of course a 20X zoom is like you say 20 times the value of the widest angle.
But that´s not all!
And when someone says please help me understand, like the guy did I try to help him understand, even if my answer is complicated for many.
We could have said 20X is just 20 times the widest angle and 200 mm is 1X zoom because the widest angle on a 200 mm lens is also the tele angle. But I assume that he does not have a point and shoot bridge camera with a 200 mm lens so I try to explain it for a guy who likes to understand the bridge camera 20X zoom versus what seems to be a dslr lens he is mentioning.
With dslr cameras we have the option to use a wide selection of lenses, a 20X zoom camera only has one lens. Therefore it is correct when we try to use the 20X language for dslr to include the lens range we can choose from. One of the advantages with dslr is that the zoom range is not limited by one lens only pr. camera. And of course we have to remember that the size of the sensor really matters. The easiest way to figure it out is when you use a FX lens on FX camera and then on DX camera. Then lens will work in exactly the same way on both cameras, but the smaller sensor (DX) will only get part of the picture from the lens. On the DX camera this would mean more zoom in with the lens giving higher zoomX number without actually zooming more than on the FX camera. This of course given that both cameras are using different lenses giving the same angle of view on the wide end. So when explaining to someone who is asking for help to understand this it is important to keep in mind that the sensor size matters. And it also matters in another way, the thumbnail rule is pic quality and crop possibilities increase with bigger sensors - that is why we are using FX and DX sensors and not only 6,4 x 4,6 mm. sensors in all cameras.
On the other hand this simple request may have been bigger than many can handle, but like I say there are many correct answers. You have one and I have another correct answer.
Captain C
I know this sounds confusing - or nonsense, but it is true. It is just math. And sensor size matters, do research and you will figure it out. I may explain it better if you want.
Have a nice day!