Thanks for the feedback.

My budget is about $1,500.

I have pretty much decided on a Nikon D-80 body. This has about 10 megapixel
resolution.

The selection of a lens or lenses is still something I am agonisong over. I
would guess that an image from a 50 mm lens could be cropped to give the
equivalent of close to a 200mm lens. Would such a severe crop result in
unacceptable image quality? The whole point of upgrading is, after all, to
achive better quality that what is possible with my current camera.

Cheers,

Indrek Aavisto

--
Criticism is easy; achievement is difficult. W.S. Churchill


SG Its probably not so much about the camera as it is the lens. Your
SG camera
SG really can only take as good a shot as your lens so think about
SG splitting
SG the purchase price 50/50 on the camera and lens.

SG Whats your budget? Obviously the more money you have the better lens
SG you can
SG get. You want a lens that lets lots and lots of light in (ie Low
SG F-stop
SG number) so that it becomes a fast lens.

SG In the Canon range I would suggest something like a
SG http://www.d-d-photographics.com/canoneos20dacc.htm#50 if money was
SG no
SG issue. This has a low f-stop so it will be fast. 50mm is enough zoom
SG if your
SG camera has big enough Megapixels.

SG Sean.

SG "Indrek Aavisto" wrote in message
SG ...
I am contemplating replacing my Konica Minolta Z3 with something
better. In the past this camera has taken reasonable shots of static
displays, but
the shots of flying aircraft have generally been mediocre, to say the
least.

If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated. A Nikon D80
with the kit 18-55 and a 70-300 zoom lens would just about fit in my
budget. Any comments about what sort of results I might expect with that
set
up?

Thanks in advance

Cheers,

Indrek Aavisto


--
Criticism is easy; achievement is difficult. W.S. Churchill