munim

<p>The firmware in the Nikon 1 bodies and FT1 adapter is updated by downloading the firmware, saving the file on the SD card and rebooting the camera. Why can't Nikon apply the same method to the DSLR, I wonder.</p>

<p>And here's my 5 second twilight bird shot. Shot on my Nikon D90.</p><div></div>

I'm using a D90 with 300 f4 with TC1.4 for birding. If I were to upgrade, it will be either the D7100 with the 80-400 zoom, or the 7D2 with then 400L5.6. Having said that, it all depends on your style of birding. If you do a lot of bird-in-flight shots, the 7D2+400L5.6 combo is the one to get. For long exposure shots in dark places like the Malaysian rainforests here, you'd need a Nikon, a fast lens (at least a 300 f/2.8) and a sturdy tripod. A friend of mine got good results with the lightweight combo of V3 with the 80-400.

Pink hibiscus.<div></div>

You're better off upgrading to D7100. The extra megapixels allow you to crop more and still maintain IQ. D7100 horizontal resolution is 6000 vs 4928 pixels for D7000. So that's worth about 1.2x increase in focal length.