willaim Loc: Sunny Southern California

Age 70. You're just a youngster. Go for it. If not, you can always use the "poor man's photoshop", Elements, which I have been using for years. I have not let my age stop me from shooting, whether it's landscape, macro or portraits. By the way, I celebrated my 50th anniversary of being 39 this past January.

tomc601 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

You've got a lot of good advice here. I'm 78 and can't wait for the next great thing. One recommendation I have is to shoot in RAW. You mentioned shooting in low light and Lightroom has a wonderful noise reduction tool that can, at this point, only be used on RAW images.

windshoppe Loc: Arizona

What he said. And by all means, shoot RAW + Jpeg so that you'll have those RAW images to work on later.

gwilliams6

You would be surprised how many hotels I have been in around the world that DIDNT have good enough wifi for image transfer. That is not something you want to rely upon when traveling, especially when you are staying out in the country.

Experience has taught me to always have physical storage options with me. I carry compact SSD drives for that.

Cheers and best to you.

AnotherBob

At 77 years old, I learn more about Lightroom with every YouTube or other adventure. I agree with "National Park," and would emphasize not putting pressure on yourself to "learn Lightroom" before your trip. Enjoy the JPEGs and experiment with the RAW files at your leisure. Enjoy!

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

I would concentrate on the trip and what to photograph and technical aspects of the shots. Jpeg +raw way to go. Post process raw on a rainy day

Bruce T Loc: Michigan

Hi. I’m 68.
I shoot RAW and JPG for myself. I shoot JPG for some customers if they don’t have the SW to handle RAW files.
If you are concerned with file size, shoot JPG. If you have lots of memory cards or are taking backup drives, then shoot RAW and JPG.

ricardo00

I have stayed in many hotels in remote places (Africa, Borneo, the Arctic, Patagonia, the Pantanal) that let me upload pics. I also have a LaCie rugged hard drive where I back up my RAW files. However our daughter was robbed in Buenos Aires on the way back from Patagonia and everything (computer, camera etc was stolen). So now I try to upload as much as I can while traveling. Hopefully this will not happen but one never knows. Also family can see as one travels some of the sights.

wayneh7974 Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Don’t overlook the software NX Studio that is specifically written for Nikon Cameras and best of all, it is totally free. If the manufacturer of your camera doesn’t know everything there is to know about your camera then nobody does. Hopefully they supply all the information there is to whoever writes their sponsored software. Many here seem to pride themselves on mastering other more exotic programs for bragging rights.

I’m 80 years old and been at the hobby since I was in my 20’s during the film era where there was no such thing as automatic anything, manual was the ONLY option. We learned to use what God gave us between our ears and still managed to turn out beautiful images and prints or slides. Post processing was done by hand in a darkroom, using manual methods, experimenting with different chemical formulations, adjusting the exposure time of the paper, dodging and burning in other areas to compensate for limitations of the film or other media.

I shoot 100% RAW and why not? Again the manufacturer goes to great lengths to give you what they consider the very best capability of their hardware. If you later want a jpg, a mouse click or two will instantly give you your smaller file. I personally don’t understand all the controversy between the various formats. These days raw processing power in the computer, tablet or even smartphone plus falling memory and mass storage sort of makes it a moot point.

To put my money where my mouth is, I recently purchased a Nikon Df camera that happily uses ALL of my old Nikon glass and doesn’t even have a fully automatic mode. Nice big and easy to use knobs on top, a fine reminder of “the good old days” when we were in control of every aspect of our hobby or profession and still turned out beautiful images and works of art.

Take a look at the new Photoshop AI software where you don’t have to stimulate two brain cells to totally change the appearance of an image. Simply type in a couple words a “poof” instantly add a house to a landscape or drop a computer generated elk into a woodland scene. At the rate we are going, soon we’ll set a little black box down and tell it to create soms sort of image just by thinking about it!

I yield my time to whoever has a supportive of critical opinion.

niteman3d Loc: South Central Pennsylvania, USA

Are you going to sell prints or make large prints for your walls? Enter contests? Shoot weddings or commercial? If so, raw may be what you need. Otherwise, little or no editing on JPEG files will serve you well and save a lot of time. You can find many inexpensive or free programs to do what's needed with little learning curve involved. Most of us shoot for fun and if editing is your idea of fun, jump on the Photoshop bandwagon and enjoy yourself. If not, JPEG will be fine, especially if you follow the good advice of so many here and concentrate on improving your gear knowledge and technique. Enjoy is the keyword... to each their own!

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

B&H memory cards 128
200 speed. $22.99
Shoot both raw and jpeg

BushDog Loc: San Antonio, TX

Sunsetpar, Check your private messages for a message from me.

jeffrey8066

I to am to closing in on 70. But I still try and learn new things. One thing about our age we have the time to learn new things. Something you learn, your can keep forever.

gwilliams6

I have also stayed in places around the world that relied on satellite internet, and were not reliable enough to upload my photos, especially on cloudy or rainy days. And even in some places out in desert areas in Western USA where there is no internet access.

I never rely on internet to upload my shots while traveling, as sometimes it just isn't possible. I make three separate copies each night , one on my laptop computer, and two separate portable SSD storage drives. And I make a habit of keeping one copy of my stored shots, on my person. Too many stories of rooms being robbed and everything, including the photos being stolen.

Cheers and best to you.

Zooman 1

First, I am about 4 months from 80, and still learning new things for processing using PhotoShop. I tried Lightroom a few years back, but it just did not work for me. But, I have not learned to use layers yet either! I do shoot RAW and jpeg, but actually prefer to work with jpeg images only using the RAW files when there is some major adjustments to make. I have been using auto ISO for a couple of years now and am very happy with the results. At this time I am planning a trip to Spain at the end of this year to try for Iberian lynx. Will shoot both RAW and jpeg. You are never to old to learn, even if what you learn is some thing you should not have tried! Have fun in Brazil.