Field of view crop factor?

[ca7696]

I have a canon 50D and it has a 1.6 crop factor. so if I put a 200mm lens on it it becomes basicly a 320mm lens? and add a 1.4 Teleconverter it is now 448mm lens? I read 1X Field of view are better, but why? If they put a 200mm lens on and are 200mm,...and 280mm with a 1.4 teleconverter why would you want a 1x crop body when you can more "zoom distance" with a 1.6 crop body?? I assume the picture quality is better with a 1x field of view camera, but arnt they loosing out on the better zoom range?

[canasta]

Well ca7696 I have loads to learn yet but I **think** I understand the answer but maybe somebody with more knowledge than me can explain it better.

My last camera was cropped. Nikon D80. It took great pics (or so i thought)...but then started noticing the edges wern't quite as sharp as they should have been.

I was told that because it wasn't using the full sensor that was the reason the shots were not pin sharp right to the edge (when all was in focus). You can't even get away with putting a better quality lens on because the crop reduces the image quality to about 5mp anyway.

So...yes...you're right (I think) - you can get better zooms but at the expense of quality.

Others may expand on this or perhaps explain if I got it completely wrong too.