I agree that CDs (I think you mean DVDs) are not necessary, but there are some good ones out there if you wish to invest. I especially like "Tony Sweet's Visual Literacy" that takes the viewer on a photography workshop in the Great Smoky Mountains and afterward gives good hands-on advice about photo editing. Sweet is a wonderful photographer and a charismatic presence. He uses Nikon, and his equipment on this video is a little out of date, but his advice is timeless and useful for any camera brand.

Do your other cards work with your reader? If you just started using the latest Mac OS, the reader may not work with Mavericks.

A few weeks ago, I attended a big air show in Davenport, IA, and couldn't believe how much fun it was. I used my Nikon D800 and Nikkor 70-200 2.8 lens. I have to confess, I've had the lens for a couple of years and have hardly used it because it's so big and heavy. But it was perfect for the air show, even though I got a dislocated shoulder from the experience. Personally, I don't feel that a point & shoot could have done nearly as well.

For the results, please click on this link:
https://plus.google.com/photos/104718331841166212011/albums/6050803835214833185?banner=pwa

I agree that Silver Efex Pro 2 is still king. I started out with DXO Filmpack 2, which is very good, but kept hearing about Silver Efex from photographers I admire, like Tony Sweet. I changed over to the NIK suite about five years ago (before Google bought it) and have never looked back. Silver Efex is so flexible and deep without being complicated that anyone can get great monochrome photos with it.

I also agree with every who advocates shooting in Raw and converting later.

I bought the Color Munki Display bundled with the Color Checker Passport from Adorama on Black Friday for less than the cost of the Color Munki alone. The Color Munki is faster and more intuitive than was my Sypder Pro. I usually recalibrate every two weeks.

My scenario exactly. The 24-70 lives on my D800, and I finally got a chance to put the 70-200 to use at an air show on Saturday (yesterday). I'm not much of a landscape photographer, but I'll be getting the 14-24 for a workshop in Carmel next April.

An honest response. When it comes down to it, we behave according to what is in our genes, what we're comfortable with, what does the job for us. In my world, bigger is better, maybe because I'm a child of the 60s, where we worshiped Cinerama, Paragon speakers, Cadillacs. Just because I endorsed my Mac Pro and Dell graphics monitor doesn't mean I believe everyone should rush out and buy them. I know people who happily sail into Photoshop in their tiny 13" Macbooks. We ask for opinions on Ugly Hedgehog, something clicks, and we have our answer. Or maybe we don't . . .

I have the same setup minus the custom-built desktop. It's heavenly. The new Mac Pro (looks like Darth Vader) is lightning quick, even on the most intensive Photoshop commands. The Dell Ultra Sharp U3011 is a professional graphics display and has rich, deep colors with minimum glare. (PC Magazine gave it their Best Monitor of the Year award.) You can stare at it all day and not feel any fatigue. Dell was selling them for $1500, but I bought mine from Newegg on Black Friday for $800, an amazing deal. If you get this combination, you'll need to buy a $100 cable for full 1080P resolution with a Mac. You don't need the cable with a PC.

I teach Brian Peterson's Understanding Photography in my photography classes. It's the best book for learning the basics, with many tips and illustrations. You can't go wrong with it.

Beautiful photo. Very impressive for a P&S with a long zoom. Ordinarily, P&S's don'g give that shallow depth of field.

I'm 72, and that's all I think about.

Gene, your comments and advice make the most sense. Thanks for going to the trouble to supply this information.

I have a Custom Brackets QRS-35-H. "QRS" stands for quick release. They are precisely machined units that easily rotate between portrait and landscape mode, but they're pricey. The unit costs $195, plus you need about another $100 worth of add-ons. It's a good investment if you plan to use it a lot, as it looks indestructible. The build quality reminds me of Really Right Stuff. You don't need an L-bracket with it. Custom Brackets makes a number of other brackets besides this one. You can check it out at

http://www.custombrackets.com/products/camera-flash-brackets/qrs-2.html

I own both the Canon Pro-100 and the Epson R3000. I've found when comparing the Bill Atkinson’s printer test for each printer that the results are so close to identical that you can't tell which came from which printer, even though the Canon uses dye ink and the Epson uses pigment inks. Supposedly pigment inks produce better b&w prints, but with these two printers, I haven't noticed a significant difference in b&w quality.

That said, there are many other factors to consider: cost of ink for ea printer, archival potential of the inks, printer longevity, ease of use, etc. Since David has a healthy budget for a new printer, he might as well go for the R38800, which can print bigger photos and, like the R3000, has a fabulous track record. For those on a tighter budget, you really can't go wrong with the Canon Pro100, which is such a good deal that many people are suspicious of it, but no fear . . . it's a great performer.

Elements will do many things that Photoshop does, including everything you mentioned that you use Photoshop for, and is easy to learn and use. I used to teach Photoshop in my Photojournalism class, but the learning curve is too steep for the time allowed, so I switched to teaching Elements. My students had more fun and were more motivated to use it on their photos than when I taught Photoshop. Highly recommended.

If you search around you can find Elements 12 for $60, and occasionally it sells for even cheaper. I paid $39 for mine. Also, you can probably find good deals on older versions if you search around the web.