Hi,

Looks like this thread is "sinking" with few responses, and most of the conversation focuses on D7000 vs D700. If I may, I'd like to bring back the question of D7000 vs. D300s, especially considering their different AF module. (Hopefully you will not consider this a "thread hijack...")

As candidates for purchasing, these two are much closer to each other than to the D700. In fact, I was getting ready to upgrade from my D80 to a D300s, when these rave reviews of the D7000 showed up, messing up my thinking...

What bothers me the most with my D80 is the high-ISO performance (or lack thereof...). Too often I find myself having to crank up the ISO to allow for higher shutter speeds, even under reasonable lighting. Anything above 600 ISO has too much noise with this camera.

When I considered the D90, I basically found out that although the theoretical and lab tests showed it superior to the D300 at high ISO, the output of the D300 typically appeared sharper and more "solid", especially for action photos. Yes, it was not 100% apples-to-apples comparison (similar but not identical settings, not exactly the same scene, etc.) , but still -- the D300/D300s provided better results.

The reason, as I understood it, was that is it mainly due to the AF module of the D300s. It allowed a faster and better focus even under low light without needing to increase ISO. 51 focus points vs. 11. The D7000 has 39.

I have to admit that I do not really understand why we need all these focus points and how exactly they work together. My apologies if this is a question that was discussed to death before, in which case just point me to the reading material... So:

1. What's so great about having many focus points in the AF module? What's special about the "cross type"? (what is the other type called?)
   
   
2. What possible impact could the (supposedly) better AF module in the D300s, have on real-world images in comparison with the D7000? In other words, how much of the superior IQ gap that the D7000 has over the D300 could be bridges by the 51 vs. 39 AF points?
   
   
3. Choosing the D7000 over the D300s (almost) seems like a no-brainer; What am I missing? What reasons are there for choosing the D300s?