The red/orange color didn't really show until the total eclipse and some cameras like my Sony HX400V can't produce an image through the electronic finder system and focus properly in the extreme low light at that time. It's a tough thing to shoot with conventional camera equipment, DSLR cameras with really long lenses often have shutter and mirror vibration issues that blur the image at the magnification. Just plain difficult. I got decent images right up to the total eclipse and then camera couldn't show the moon. A real challenge!

I have a Nikon D7000 modified to shoot infrared. I'll carry another camera with a 16-35 and another with a 24-105. Sometimes a 70-300 is in a pouch attached to my belt. Why 3 cameras. I don't like changing lenses anymore than I have to due to dust on the sensor, and the IR modified camera only takes Infrared pictures. I often hike for hours so going back and forth to my car is out of the question. That's just me.

I've literally bought hundreds of cameras over the years and wouldn't pay a dime for warranty or insurance.
Insurance is a big profit item for stores and in 50 years I've never had a warranty/insurance claim. If you mean insurance against theft, dropping, water damage, etc. you are the only one who can determine your need. I've also never damaged a camera. I'm a photography teacher and need to know all cameras very well so I buy, use and then sell or trade to stay familiar with the latest cameras and technology. I've never needed warranty or insurance even though I travel natural areas extensively. Your needs may very well be different.

The image quality difference will be negligible compared to the affect of slow shutter-speed. I have both and both are very good lenses. At night I'd probably go with the 35-2 IS. Flare resistance is also a big concern so I'd do away with any filter that might normally be attached and use the best hood possible to avoid stray light hitting the lens.

I fully agree. Thorough and objective, and never gushy or overly enthusiastic. One of the few I really trust.

If you shoot in Aperture priority and the camera is not aware of the flash (not dedicated) the shutter speed will be as if no flash was present, slow because of low indoor light, thus blurry pics. Set the shutter speed manually to 1/60 or faster, just don't exceed flash sync speed. 1/60 or 1/125 should work good allowing a little ambient light to smooth transition from flash to available light. If the flash is being bounced off the ceiling you will likely need more than 1/8 power. If the ceiling is dark or too high you may have to go straight on with the flash head.

While it's not totally unless, most of the added stuff is very cheap and there just to make it look like you're getting more for your money. However, you might have fun with some of it. I give away that kind of stuff to students to play with.

I travel and photograph a lot, mostly national parks and small towns. I take huge amounts of equipment, but frequently use only the lens that was mounted on the camera when I leave my home. It sometimes means a little more exercise, but that's fine with me. I don't like changing lenses because of dust on the sensor issues. A made a trip from Dallas to Ruidoso and Alamogordo, then to Big Bend and back to Dallas with an EF 16-35 F4 L on my Canon 5D lV. I think I grabbed another camera with an EF 70-200 F4 for maybe a half dozen shots. Another trip I used an EF 40-2.8 for the entire trip. I started shooting pretty much before zooms existed and became used to moving myself. For the most part I'm a knife fighter (wide angle) vs a sniper (telephoto). Up close and personal is my style...most of the time. G'day Mates, and a happy and photogenic new year.

https://www.facebook.com/roddy.parkinson/media_set?set=a.10155465668144344&type=3

Light meters read whatever light comes to them as 18% grey, middle grey. Adjusting to a "perfect" neutral on the meter doesn't guarantee a good exposure. Cameras are dumb and light meters are just a gauge reading light, they have no way of knowing what they're being pointed at. The middle setting, whether in A mode, P, or manual has to be interpreted according to the scene. Shooting in an auto exposure mode vs manual doesn't change a thing. This is a hard concept for most students to grasp. I demonstrate in class by having students photograph a white projection screen, a middle grey classroom door, and a black cloth. Only the grey door will look correct. You have to open up a couple of stops for the white, and close down for the black cloth. It sounds counter intuitive until you realize that the meter reads everything as middle grey and you're correcting the error by giving more exposure to bring the screen from grey to white, and vice versa on the black. It's done with the exposure compensation button in Auto, and going toward the + or - on the meter in manual. With the ability to see the results on the screen its easy to correct. In film days you had to get it right to begin with and didn't get to see the results until the film was developed. You might want to Google 18% grey and see if there's a good article of explanation. I teach photography and can promise you are not alone in your thinking. I call it how to be smarter than your camera. I also repeat again and again that cameras are dumb, dumb, dumb. Focus can be as confusing as well. A community college class should help, although a lot of teachers themselves don't understand all this, much less how your particular camera works. The more automatic cameras become, the more you have to learn how to override settings the camera chooses that give poor results.

It can be nearly impossible to focus correctly on stars, especially with a wide angle lens. Forget autofocus altogether. I use a 14mm manual focus lens. I go out in daytime and find infinity focus point by focusing on something as far aways as possible. I then either mark that spot on the lens, remember it, or tape the focus at that point. Few infinity marks are perfectly accurate. The latter my preferred method, but which may preclude using it for other purposes. 20-30 sec exposure seems to the the max time to leave the shutter open to avoid star trails (slight blurring due to earth rotation) and that can be done setting the shutter-speed in manual mode. Most cameras go to 30 sec exposure, after that it's bulb. It usually takes a good F2.8 lens wide open at around 1600 ISO. A lot can be done in post to get it looking really good. Very little works automatically, not exposure, not focus. A solid tripod and self-timer release are pretty much indispensable. If you're trying for star trails it'll mean really long exposures, bulb setting, long shutter-speed and you may need to stop down aperture and lower ISO depending on the length of time the shutter is open. Turn off image stabilization or VR. It takes practice and experimentation, or using settings that someone else found right. I haven't tried it yet but focus peaking (magnified focus area) might work good on mirrorless cameras. It'll be hard to judge success on your camera screen, you'll probably need to check it on a computer. Again, a lot can be done in Lightroom or Photoshop. And most of all remember, guys like me are willing to help, but none of us know it all.

The shot was underexposed so that bringing the shadows up was if they had been at maybe 6400 ISO. Try more exposure and then take highlights down.

Mine:

I use or have used them all and image quality is very nearly the same. The 7200 is a little better/heavier built and has a pentaprism viewfinder, that's about it.

Without getting too technical I have a fairly simple way to avoid too much diffraction. On point n shoot cameras with small sensors (sensor sizes vary also model to model) I try to stay at 5.6 or less (numerically) With 4/3 and APSC I consider F8 as the limit, Full Frame I'll go to F11. There are times that depth of field is so important that I'll use a smaller aperture, knowing I'm probably sacrificing a little image quality. On really wide lenses or zooms I'll open up one stop, on long tele-photos close down one. Another rule of thumb is to stay in the middle apertures on a given camera since manufactures are aware of the problem. I teach digital photography and there is enough difficulty with students just learning to control a camera without getting too technical. Tiny sensor cameras like smart phones, and some old small film cameras like the Minox, were often designed with only one highly corrected aperture, because DOF isn't usually an issue. F22 was often my go to aperture for 4x5, again depending on the lens focal length. I've learned to try to keep it simple or I'll lose students with too much technical stuff.

Imagination is more important than knowledge- Albert Einstein

Pentax has what I consider to the best menu and control system available, intuitive and easy to learn. Like Nikon you can use legacy lenses going back to '76, and screw mount lenses way before that with a simple adaptor. I can't think of a single complaint except generally lower resale value. They've lagged slightly in resolution and dynamic range, but overall I really like them. I can't speak for Ricoh service because I've never delt with them.