Hi Chris,
I think you are doing just fine with your
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unguided el-cheapo Nikon DSLR
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. I assume you are referring to your D3300. Have you had it modded?
I'm in the market for a FF Nikon to have modded and I've pretty much decided on a D600/D610. I had a D800 but was less than enamoured with it's low light performance as I found anything at ISO800+ yielded noise in dark backgrounds, so not so good for shooting birds in shady environments. The D800E/D810 seem much better in that regard, possibly due to the removal of the OLPF.
I'd recently done the below set of calcs and added in your D3300 for comparison. Interestingly the D3300 had the highest pixel count per cm². The trade-off was that it had the smallest pixel size, so less light gathering ability per pixel. It seems to me to be a 'swings and roundabouts' scenario whether more detail is captured with more pixels, or more light.
In theory, in good light, the D3300 should out-resolve the D810, all other factors, such as glass, being equal. It would be nice to be able to test the theory. I suspect that the D3300 has the same PCB as some of it's more illustrious peers, with certain functions disabled.
If you peruse the figures below you will note that in DX mode the D810 has an acceptable pixel count of 4.22 MP/cm² but falls below the D600/D750 in pixel size.
At this point I should ask if you've tried your D750 in crop mode. You may get a pleasant surprise. It would be interesting to see how it stacks up against the D3300.
D3300 - DX Sensor 23.5mm x 15.6mm 366.6 mm
Total Megapixels 24.2MP
Pixels per sq cm 6.62 MP/cm²
Pixel Area 15.13 µm²
D750 - FX Mode 35.9mm x 24mm 861.6 mm²
Total Megapixels 24.93MP
Pixels per sq cm 2.8 MP/cm²
Pixel Area 35.4 µm²
D750 - DX Mode 23.5mm x 15.7mm 368.95 mm²
Total Megapixels 10.3MP
Pixels per sq cm 2.8 MP/cm²
Pixel Area 35.4 µm²
D8XX - FX Mode 35.9mm x 24mm 861.6 mm²
Total Megapixels 37.09MP
Pixels per cm² 4.22 MP/cm²
Pixel Area 23.72 µm²
D8XX - DX Mode 23.5mm x 15.7mm 368.95 mm²
Total Megapixels 15.4MP
Pixels per cm² 4.22 MP/cm²
Pixel Area 23.72 µm²
Numbers are just that, numbers, and how they relate to reality is quite often a different beast entirely. I treat them purely as a possible indicator.
PS: A link to my source of info:
http://www.digicamdb.com/compare/nik...vs-nikon_d750/