Am I asking for too much in 1 camera? D300, D700? for HDR (AEB) & mPixels Can't decide.

A 5-stop AEB is, as discovered, rare. I don't know what Sony or Pentax cameras can do, but I doubt they do 5 stop AEB. I am pretty sure a Canon 7D does 5 stops AEB, but new it's just over budget. And then there is the Nikon D300s which will do 9 stops AEB. In terms of pixels, a lot depends on technique, but I have 30x40" prints from 12MP cameras. And printing on canvas is going to be far more forgiving than something like a metallic paper print. As to what Nikon has in store for next year, no one knows (and those that do can't say). But that is the big question: is there going to be a professional body with a cropped sensor. By professional body, I mean the same type of body as the D300/700/800 series with all the controls on the body itself, with the 1/8000th shutter, with the 1/250th sync speed, and other features such as the 9 stop AEB. OR, is Nikon simply going to give us an updated D7000 and do away with the pro-body cropped sensor camera? Again, we don't know.