You will have a great time, but expect crowds at any well known spot, The Chinese love sight seeing too.
There are a couple of spots on the great wall that are much quieter go for them and check out the dragon wall in the forbidden city there are quiet spots there as well if you go on your own . Go to Yuan garden in Shanghai if you geret the chance beautiful gardfen, buildings and amazing shopping just outsid ethe garden entrance you will see a long line of people trying to buy dumplings walk past them and go upstairs its a little bit more expensive but saves a hours waiting and they are delicious. There are a few pick pockets about but no worse than anywhere else, have fun expect crowds and food unlike anything you have eaten before
Its easy to get about in the big cities, avoid unofficial taxies at Beijing airport they are very insistent and charge a fortune. your kit sound fine

Well good luck let me know how you get on, lots of luck with the lights as well some times the sun is active sometimes not , and you need clear sky as well,the trip we planned to go on gave you a free trip the next night if it was cloudy or no lights appeared sorry all my responses have been some what negative. I encountered cloud and choppy sea plenty of people succeed though. I understand the ice caves are phenominal, wrap up warm, whale watching was the only time we were offered warm waterproof clothing! Still the weather we are having in the UK has acclimatised you He He Good luck and enjoy just miss the blue lagoon it is a rip of everything else was wonderful especialy the food people and scenery I will go back one day thats for sure. PS the waterfalls are amazing and easy to shoot, you cannot fail there, try panomaras they are that big I did a couple just hand held stiched in PS5 they came out really well, It wasnt as expensive as I thought either

To be honest no, I gave up fairly rapidly after getting my lens soaked and nearly falling over a couple of time, we only saw small whales and it was rough.
You could have a totaly different experience the day before we went it was flat calm, and 1 good one in every 5000 could be the first one you take!
Not to worry the rest of Iceland is fabulous, take a wide angle and go on a couple of coach trips plenty to see and photograph.
It is getting late for the northern lights I think (I am no expert) but You will need a tripod for them and long exposures, good luck and if you do not get any whale photos enjoy the experience , once I stopped trying It was great. and I have all the lovely photos of Iceland as well it is an amazing country

Burst, they appear just where you do not expect them , you need to be ultra quick and have eyes in the back of your head.
We were supplied with good warm waterproofs.
The biggest problem was trying to take a photo from a rocking boat, whilst searching a very big ocean , remainimg standing and keeping your lens dry.
Good luck

it will be very cold and very wet take a waterproof camera cover, and keep your fingers crossed, get up high and if possible out of the spray!

Think Tank nothing else anywhere near as good for materials , manufacture and design

Always and it has never given me a problem.
Hoya pro on my 24-70 f2.8 nikon and B&W fpro on my nikon 70-200 f2.8 too expensive glass to risk it going naked.
B&W favorite better made and do not stick on

Naturally all the real pro wedding photographers will have two sets of cameras, to cover emergencies as per above and equipment breakdown anyway

rent or replace, a wedding is no time to be trying out unfamiliar equipment

17 to 55mm F2.8.
I did a wedding Saturday is covered everything and is a cracking good lens

Google converting to black and white and you will get hundreds of tutorials, just look for the ones suitable for your software (you could specify that in your search)

I am not sure if Elements has it but the best way to convert to black and white is Image / Adjustments / black and white. You can then edit all the colours seperately so it is far more versatile

Well Wellheim, sounds to me like the politicians have got it right, less crime less police needed, and I dont carry a gun because I do not have to, I love the UK.
I travel all over the world and in many 3rd world countries and feel less safe in the USA than any where else

Thank goodness for all the amateurs like myself can you imagine the cost of a modern DSLR or even simple compact if they were only sold to"proffesionals"
Also thank god for all the proffesionals who spend there lives photographing weddings thats my idea of hell.

So how do you trigger the flash?