I did a safari in South Africa (three game preserves) and Tanzania (one preserve) with my Nikon D300 and D5000. The D300 carried a Tamron 18-270 zoom and the D5000 a Sigma 150-500 zoom. Never removed a lens, never missed a shot, never got dust in a camera. Dust is big issue. We travelled in an open Land Rover, used fast shutter speeds and ISO minimum 400 and up to 1600. Tried monopod but felt it more cumbersome than held held with fast shutter, abandoned use after one session. Driver was very cooperative always stopping when shots were requested. Never tried on-the-fly shots. Missed few shots and brought home very satisfying results.
For most visible results, find a deciduous forest in full leaf on a day with a clear sky that has white clouds. Most impressive results.
If you have time on Maui, a day trip out to Molokini is a great exper[ence even if you don't have underwater gear. Not so much a photo op as an experience. Be sure to take a swim suit. The tour people furnished us masks and fins. They even had vision corrected masks for we myopic people.
It depends on your ability to adapt. I went from single vision to bifocal with no problem. I couldn't deal with trifocal - drove me nuts! Moved on to progressive and have never been sorry. Had no trouble adapting and have been several cycles of improvement in the progressives. Never sorry.
It's notable that all the posts except three focused on a typographical error. They didn't even mention lense instead of lens. Two of the three supplied links, a good solution for a complex issue. No one addressed the main issue factors specifically: platform stability and shutter speed. We should remember that many read this these posts with an interest in background to a large and complex field that mostly defies simple answers. Enuf said. (Intentional misspelling - don't correct me).
I am a Nikon (N4004, N90, D200, D300, D5000, D800E) user for decades but had a chance to get the Sony NEX-5 at a bargain when they discontinued it for the NEX-7. I now take about 80% of my images with the Sony. Smaller, lighter, articulated LED VF it is extremely satisfactory. Not that it has IQ up to the D800E, not so, but convenience is a big factor.
Up to 13 by 19 in color and monochrome on my Canon Pro9500 Mark II. I also print the 4 by 6's on my Canon iP7200 and do some 8 by 10s there as well. All reults are very satisfactory. At Christmastime, I have used Costco Photo for the 40 or so prints I need for the cards we send. I prefer the prints over the Costco printed cards as the images are better, IMHO.
No one has considered that different digital cameras format the memory cards to their own standard. You first need to recover the images before you reformat but I suspect that one of the recovery programs will find the images for you and let you copy them out. Then a reformat by your camera might possibly return the memory to usefulness in your camera.
If it's possible, someone will do it, regardless of the ethics or rules. We just have to accept that we can't trust the media any longer. What you see may not be what you get!
Yosemite is definitely not a place for a hiker with a Bigma unless you are into masochism. The 18-270 is going to see a lot of use and maybe the 14 might find a shot or two. Glacier Point is a locale to consider for the 14's use.
I agree with ricardo7. People, people, people in Summer. Busloads of them. The key is early and late when the best light is. And...the masses of humanity have pressed on to Flagstaff and Williams.
Orvieto, hill top town just off the Autostrada between Florence and Rome is worth a stop. Pictruresque cathedral (Duomo) square. Renaissance flavor to the place.
Mine was an Exakta VXIIa with an Ihagee 58mm lens. It was a choice of that or an Alpa and I couldn't afford the Alpa. Those were the only 2 SLRs in 1958.