i've seen your threads on various D90 vs D7000, D300 vs D300s, D300s vs D7000.
if you ask someone that owns any of the above which is best, they will most likely say the one that they own, because they bought it and have used it, got used to it and know how to get good results out of it!
each has its own plus points, be it price, newer technology, build quality, fps etc... which is best? depends what features are important to you. are you a sports photographer, a portrait photographer, wildlife photographer or a general jack of all trades photographer?
I'm not meaning to be funny but how much do you know about taking photos? Because you asked about manual modes and programmed modes. I bought a good book which explained all the basics of things like ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, lenses, MP, sensors, depth of field, lighting, lenses, exposure, metering, filters, photo composition etc.. and I practiced with an old Canon 300D with a cheap kit lens but still got some nice results.
I got my head around a lot of the various settings and thats why I always shoot in full manual mode. I'm not saying thats the way everyone should do things, but its the way I like to do things to make sure I am maximising all the settings I understand. Sometimes there is a good article in a photography magasine that explains something like histograms or white balance and it helps me take better pictures and understand what I am doing more. I feel really satisfied when it all comes together and I've taken some great photos for my family at events of my nephews and neice that my parents or brother and sister really loved, and that's really nice for them to have and print and keep as a memory of that day.
I bought what best suited my needs after reading numerous magasine reviews and watching hours of youtube reviews of various cameras. Would I think a D300s is better than my D7000?, probably not, but it has features which are better, and others which arent as good.
its great to get other peoples opinions on which is the best camera / car / laptop etc... or whatever you buy, but the most important opinion should be yours. what you find the best.
in my opinion unless you know what you are doing and how to take a good picture in low light, bright light, and how to adjust ISO / aperture / shutter speed / WB / how to compose a shot etc.. a D300s or a D7000 / D90 is probably wasted on you. it doesnt matter if you have a D3s or a D4, if you dont understand the basics, you will struggle to take good photos.
So I'd ask yourself honestly how good you are and how much you want to learn / improve, and then choose a camera that suits you. Have a good read about them all, watch the you tube videos, go to the shop and have a play with them, then go and think about it again for a while and make your mind up.
I'd love an FX camera, i'm so curious to see what having a full frame sensor could do for low light photography. (I might hire a D700 for a weekend sometime just to see what its like and run some of my own controlled back to back tests with my D7000) I might do that and find that I prefer the D7000, but that doesnt mean the D7000 is better than the D700.
I could go out and buy an FX camera tomorrow if I wanted, but I would feel like Ive absolutely wasted the D7000 because I'm on a learning curve and can learn a lot with the equipment I've got so I wont buy one until I feel like my skills have exceeded the equipment and I think that could take a long time!
A D90, D7000 or a D300/D300s are all great cameras, all DX, all capable of taking awesome pictures, I am confident I would take good pictures with anyone of them once I got used to them. There is a price difference, thats a simple place to start for you. But you could get to an advanced level with a D90 and be ready to get the most out of an FX camera, but you would still likely prefer the D90 or whatever DX camera for certain situations over an FX camera.
just some food for thought!
