Shrek, I have the same camera as you. I use the 1.3 crop all the time. I did some tests. Here are my results. Photo #1 was taken with the full DX sensor. It is 4496 x 3000 pixels (2.57 mb) and 300 dpi. I cannot post the photo as it is too large for Birdforum but it is basically the same as number three except much larger. Photo #2 was taken with the 1.3 crop. This gives you the equivalent of using a longer lens. For example, with a 400mm lens, you get the equivalent photo as if taken with a 500mm. It crops off useless space around the edge. It gives you a black box in the viewfinder so you will know exactly what is included in the photo and what is not. The size turned out to be 3600 x 2400 (1.5 mb), so about one mb smaller than number one. Photo #3 is the same photo as number one, but I cropped it in the computer to match the size of number two. Even though the size is smaller, it did not make much of a difference from photo one in appearance. Although the size is the same dimensions at number two, it takes up more space at 1.84 mb. Conclusion: The 1.3 crop is not the same as cropping to the same size in the computer. With photo #4, I cropped it in the computer to make it the same as number two. The size is 2300 x 1900 (1.4 mb). Conclusion: You have to crop a lot more in the computer to get the same photo as the 1.3 crop in the camera. The quality remained the same at 300 dpi in all photos. Overall conclusion: The 1.3 crop is an excellent feature and much better than cropping to the same size later in the computer. The only drawback is that if the subject gets too close, you might chop off the head or the wingtips. You must watch that the subject is within the black box. If not, you need to quickly zoom out or turn off the 1.3 crop.