What should I get? I haven't been following camera news at all. I'm willing to sacrifice some DR for high ISO capability. Its been a long time since S5 came out, surely even the lowest entry levels can compete in DR with it now? I'm still on a tight budget, what can I get for <$1k?
d7000 may have better shadow noise than your s5, but not nikon d90. And I´m sure none of the new bodies can recover highlights like the fuji.
I switched from a s3-s5 to d300-d700 and none of the nikons have the highlight recovery capacity of the fuji, and only d700 can compete in the shadow department (at base iso). At high iso nikon d700 is clearly better, and AF is a joy to use.
Your best bet is the D7000. You can pick one up for around $1k. Go ahead a put in your pre-order for the D800 ($3k). Start saving your $$ and when it finally comes in sell your D7000 and put that money together with the money you've been saving and you'll have the ultimate camera. The D7000 is a fantastic bargin for the price. Actually so is the D800, but it's going to be hard to get one of those for a while.
I've been shooting with an IS-Pro that I picked up late last year on closeout from Adorama; using a UV/IR blocking filter when not shooting IR, I really love the DR and colors of the Fujifilm sensor. It would have been wonderful if they continued with these ALT DSLR cameras, maybe even an FX. Despite 6MP (in real-life resolution probably closer to 8), it generates lovely and characteristically Fujifilm images.
Hard upgrade, if you are used to blow up highlights a bit, try Sony A900. Its capable of both, lifting shadows a bit and saving blowed highlights (that second it can do quite well compared to most cameras).
Otherwise, dunno.. Sony 16 mpix APS-Cs are good, but not that good. Maybe try something different and get NEX-5N.
I traded my d7000 and two 300 dollar lenses for a used fuji s5 pro. that's how much i thought the d7000 sucked.
Now looking at my pictures... yep.. the d7000 sucked. no comparison to the much older fuji s5 which also fits my hand perfectly without the battery grip
