If I didn't have a Canon 5DMkiii and Canon lenses and was starting new I would most likely pick the Nikon D810. It is slower fps wise, does not do as good a job of AI Servo tracking and may lack a couple of nice features of the Canon but for IQ, low light performance, and dynamic range it beats the Canon for out of the camera images. Having said that with a little PP I can get comparable results with my Canon.

You say she "needs" a camera but didn't say why she "needs" one. Her intended use would have a bearing on recommendations.

If she is just going on a trip and would like to take some snapshots along the way then a "pocket" camera like the Canon PowerShot SX280 HS (http://www.cnet.com/products/canon-powershot-sx280-hs/) would probably be best because it's compact to fit easily in a purse yet has a good zoom range, improved ISO for taking pictures in low light when flash is prohibited, WiFi, GPS, and other nice features.

If on the other hand she wants to start taking family photos and explore photography as a hobby where camera size is less of a consideration then the G15 or even an introductory level DSLR like the Canon T3i might be better.

There are many good cameras out there. How she intends to use it that will narrow the choices.

I recently read an article where the author recommended shooting in burst mode. More often than not the first image in the burst will not be the sharpest due to slight movement of the camera while depressing the shutter button.

I have the Tamron 70-300 and in my experience that's about the best you are going to get at 300. On my camera I shoot mostly at F8 and try and stay between 150 and 250. In good light I can get some really good shots. Between F8 and F11 seems to be the sweet spot but the light has to be really good and you have to hold it real steady. VC helps but at 300 a tripod is best. At least that my experience.

Aperture and iPhoto are being replaced by Photos. I'm not an Apple person so that's about all I know. Google it for the details. Maybe Photos will do all you want.

Personally for $10/mo I don't think you can beat Photoshop CC 2014. That's cheaper than cigarettes, Starbucks, bottled water, a cocktail after work and just about anything else you can name that you might do on a regular basis. I don't smoke and maybe you don't either but when you think about the things like that that you buy on a daily basis you could skip a couple of days a month of any of them and pay for Photoshop.

I use FreeFileSync to backup to two external drives. As it's name implies it is free. One drive is always kept in a water tight fireproof safe. I'm currently using the manual version of FreeFileSync but there is a version that backs up in real time. Since I've only been using it a short time I haven't taken the time to figure out the real time version yet.

Before that I was using Windows 8 history file however after I had been using it for awhile I discovered that it wasn't backing up everything I asked it to and files were missing from the backup. Don't know if it was a Windows or operator error but I switched and FreeFileSync is working perfectly so far.

I have never done them but read on another forum that they do and Bay Photo does them for them. At the time, within the last year, I even checked online and they did them which is how I know they didn't do all sizes. Having said that they may not do it anymore or it may vary from Costco to Costco and I don't see them as available on their website.

A friend built a camera stand. They can be purchased commercially. He puts a carpenter's square on the stand and sorts the photos by size. Then he positions the photo in the corner of the square, lines everything up, and locks the square and camera into position. Then it's just a matter of sliding each photo into the corner of the square and taking a picture. Each picture takes about 5 seconds. He locks the mirror up and uses a remote shutter release. He uses a piece of glass to cover curled pictures. When the size of picture changes he repeats the setup process and continues. He did about 4000 photos this way.

If you belong to Costco they do it. Can't swear to it but I believe Bay Photo does theirs. People who have had them done through Costco say the package had a Bay Photo return address.

I live in an active senior community and belong to the camera club there. We have one general membership meeting a month for about 2 hours and four SIGs. The Photo Enhancement SIG, the Camera SIG, the Round Table SIG, and the Printing SIG. At the general membership meeting we generally have a guest speaker.

We regularly take field trips. Some one day trips locally and some multi-day trips up to several hundred miles away. Being in northern California we are blessed with the ocean 2 hours in one direction and the mountains 2 hours in the other direction plus history all around us.

I shoot Canon but prefer not to get involved in the Canon vs Nikon vs X debates. Like Canon, Nikon makes very good cameras. So does Sony, Olympus, and others. If you are looking for something light then go with the Olympus mirrorless cameras. In the end it all boils down to what you like to shoot and how technical you want to get. Most of these cameras will take very nice photos. Most people would be perfectly happy with the pictures coming from any of these cameras. It's only when you start to compare images side by side that you may notice some differences.

Having said that I can see differences between images taken with my 7D and my 5D3. The color is better with the 5D3 and it does better in low light which was important to me because I tend to shoot a lot in low light where flash is prohibited. Plus it has other features I like.

My sister in law is perfectly happy shooting her Canon 7D in Auto exclusively. She so far has expressed no desire in learning how to use the more advanced features of her camera. At first this bothered me but I have since decided that if she is happy with the photos she gets with no interest in doing anything fancy then why should anyone else, including me, care about how she uses her camera. It does the job for her, she takes tons of family photos, and everyone is happy with the results.

As far as lenses goes some Sigmas are better than some Tamrons and vice versa. You can compare lenses at the link below but remember that subtle differences will not likely show up during normal use. http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx

Exactly only a good DSLR will probably take better pictures than a camera phone. You can buy a quality DSLR and get better quality pictures all things being equal. You don't have to use all or any of the advance features of the DSLR to enjoy the enhanced IQ you can get over a point and shoot. If someone wants to pay a premium for a quality DSLR and then shoot in Auto all the time that is their prerogative.

Instead of Canon vs Nikon with scanners it's Canon vs Epson. A decent scanner is going to set you back several hundred dollars. Depending on the number of photos and if you would ever use the scanner after scanning all your photos you might consider sending them to a scanning service. And again depending upon the number of photos consider how much time it is going to take to scan and do the necessary PP to each photo.

If you choose to do it yourself and buy a decent scanner then SilverFast software seems to be the best software for getting good results. I think some scanners come with a lite version of it. Maybe even the full version. I haven't checked.

Adobe makes a mobile version of Lightroom but it only runs on Apple. They have promised an Android version but so far nothing. If that is important to you then your choice is easy. If you don't care to run Lightroom then go to the store and look at images on the various brands and pick the one that you like best and fits your budget.

I shoot mostly in Aperture priority mode and sometimes Shutter priority mode. One author I read recently says it's better to shoot mostly in Shutter priority mode. Then a post above said a pro shoots mostly in Auto mode.

My sister in law shoots always in Auto mode. She doesn't do anything fancy and gets good results. The only time she runs into problems is when she is in a situation Auto doesn't handle well like low light without flash. There are others.

IMHO the only reason to shoot in modes other than Auto is when you are looking for a particular result that Auto won't produce. But if 95%+ of your shots are in typical situations that Auto is designed to handle then shoot in Auto. Shoot in RAW for those occasions when Auto didn't get it right and then you can most likely fix it in PP.