You can save some money by buying gray market camera or lenses but you're basically gambling that your new gear won't need any service work done during the warranty period. Also, you accept that if/when you sell it, you'll get less money because it's gray market.

Personally, I'm not a gambler so I don't buy gray market. What I find troubling is when non-authorized sellers offer fabulous deals on gray market gear and wait to call back to tell you that the camera with the USA battery charger costs $Xxxx more.

So now, I only call authorized dealers and if its new or refurbished, the first question I ask is if it's warranted for the USA market.

Congratulations - beautiful!

I use Paint Shop Pro, which is probably a bit easier to use than PhotoShop, but I've used old versions for years for web graphics and it's anything but intuitive and easy for someone unfamiliar with PP.

Sometimes, there's a lag when posting a reply and when I've hit the send button again and it posts twice. As with most things in photography, patience is a virtue.

IMHO the 12 inches behind the camera and the camera need to work well together to capture the vision. For my hobbies, I buy a model somewhat above my present skill level so I'm inspired and motivated to grow into it. If money were no object and I didn't need to justify my upgrade to my at home financial manager 😁 I'd get pro gear, L lenses, top of the line tripods for every occasion, speed lights and strobes, and a wardrobe of backpacks and messenger bags for my gear. It would take months to years for my skill to catch up....but that would be my challenge. And of course the pros would snicker at me as yet another newbie that can barely use their top notch gear.
I've been very blessed with what I do have so I'll just be another novice gear head drooling over the latest and greatest for the next 3 - 5 years.

Get what you want and just put it in full Auto or at least Program Mode when you hand it to your wife.

For those of us that are married, we will have to have already figured out great answers to those exact questions from our spouse, unless we have a secret GAS fund buried in the backyard.

Fabulous checklist and still laughing!
I'm just another novice stupid gear slut!

I think the OP probably gave good advice - if the money is burning a hole in his pocket, buying good glass which he can enjoy with his camera now and will have when he does upgrade bodies is practical. Not quite as much fun as spending it on a whole new camera with a great lens, but a great new lens gets the adrenaline flowing.

Of course what frequently happens when you get great practical advice, it's ignored. 😎

Besides YouTube, buy a David Busch's book on your model of Nikon. Read it and keep it as a reference guide. It's significantly easier to get through than the owners manual and he shows you how to set up you camera for portraits, landscapes, flash, birds in flight, kids, wildlife, etc. I used his book along side the owners manual. Made the mysteries of the many settings understandable and fun.

Best of luck!

Beautiful! You could make a large print of that camera and display it. I remember seeing in music stores large posters and prints of some of the first Steinway pianos or Martin guitars. A history in framed prints. If you have photos of your other old cameras, you could still display your collection. Glad your surgery was successful and you're still taking photographs!

Like many here advise for cameras, consider refurbished from the manufacturer. Check both Dell and HP websites. Over the years Ive had great luck with both and with a refurb you get more bang for the buck. I've used a Mac laptop for awhile at work but since I "grew up" with Windows, the layout and keyboard shortcuts never clicked for me. I'd advise to get a big solid state drive and plenty of USB and HDMI ports.

Congrats on having a generous son-in-law who is willing to help with your hobbies.

i just recently got back into photography. My first SLR was a Yashica, which I bought in 1981. I learned the basics but didn't know how to process film and didn't have a darkroom so learning photography with film was expensive and pretty frustrating. I did get to borrow a Canon 35mm for a short time and enjoyed the layout and control but I preferred aperature priority instead of Canon's shutter priority. In 2006 I did a bit of research and decided to get a Canon Rebel XT with a kit lens. My friends were using Nikons but I learned the layout and the feel of my camera. Bought some lenses and a speed light and used my old tripod from film days.

I just recently retired and decided to upgrade the camera. Seriously I wanted the same layout but much newer sensor, image processor, more AF points and options. My lenses weren't FF so I chose a Canon mid-level crop sensor, the 80D. I'm delighted with my camera and again bought David Busch's book on the 80D.

Looking ahead I've been debating about slowly purchasing FF EF lenses refurbed or used but don't know if my next camera will be a FF DSLR or mirrorless. I did just read that Canon was developing a FF mirrorless which will use EF lenses in 2018. So I can slowly buy the lenses I want and down the road get a FF camera either DSLR or mirrorless.

Right now I can take 6000 Raw + jpg shots with the SD cards I have. If I'm going on a trip and think I might need more, I'll just run to Costco and buy some more SD cards. Download and share what I want with jpg and keep what I think I might want to edit or work on in Raw. Memory is cheap and readily available so why not?