When I bought my camera I went back and forth for a long time between a D40x and a D80. I finally settled on the 80 for many of the reasons you outlined above as being walls you are bumping up against. I can say that I don't think I will ever bump up against a creative wall with the D80. The D40x (D60) will get you more mega-pixels, but it won't get you much else. If you are going to upgrade, get the 80. I will say this, as far as I know you still need to hit the shutter 3 times to get a bracketed shot, it just steps through the EV automatically.