Nice work. I like them both.

We were a little too hazy and cloudy here, although we could barely make out the full eclipse. Glad you had better luck!

Nice job. The Tufted Titmouse has become a regular at my feeders lately. They look cool with their spike hairdo.

He's thinking "He can't outrun, out climb or out swim me. His only chance is to beat a hasty retreat to his car." Nice shot.

Welcome aboard, glad you're here. There's a wealth of info here and lots of friendly advice. Looking forward to helping you along and being helped back. Cheers!

Looking forward to some of your images and stories. I spend a lot of time in Kenya, the variety of birds and other wildlife is incredible. Safe travels!

Yeah, but you could see the "Cannon" coming a mile away!

What could possibly go wrong?

I'm with you, it's the photographer. I put over 22,000 shutter activations on a D5200 learning the DSLR ropes before getting a D7200 when they came out. Some of my favorite photos will always be from the D5200, it was second nature after a while. The learning curve of going to more pro like controls meant some not so great pictures with the D7200 at first, but at least that was technical stuff. I already had composition and the other basics pretty well under control by that time. Heck, I even shoot a Canon SX-50 as a backup and I've gotten some pretty decent results out of my cell phone when it was all I had. I'm a computer repair guy and also chase the latest tech, but the "computer" looking through the viewfinder is the most important factor IMHO. My 2 cents.

I do my own. For that $65 you could get a good kit with a magnifying loupe to help you see what you're doing. To know if you need a cleaning, take a picture of a white sheet of paper or a clear blue sky at a high F stop like F22. If you have Lightroom, they have a great Spot Visualizer view in the Spot Removal tool in the Develop module to help you see if you have any sensor dust. Good luck.

My understanding is the only filter you can't duplicate in Lightroom or similar software is the circular polarizing filter (CPF), which cuts glare off of water, bright leaves, etc. if you are about 90 degrees to the side of the sun as a light source. I have one of these and use it when the situation calls for it. As for my everyday protection for my lenses and to cut down on flaring, a lens hood is my solution of choice. I have yet to damage a lens, the hood has always taken any punishment. Naked lens for me!
My 2 cents.

I started on a D5200. There is am menu choice that prevents the shutter from working if the camera can't focus, I would check on that as well. If you turn that feature off, the shutter will always work, but you may not like the out of focus results.

I'd suggest getting the manual for your camera online and seeing if there is a setting for micro-adjusting the AF. The higher end Nikons allow you to make adjustments yourself, many cameras need to be recalibrated by the factory if there's a problem. Also, the newer Sigma lenses can be tuned with a USB device that costs $60. I have one, but my lenses only needed minor tweaking. Good luck!

Welcome aboard! You'll get lots of help here. Don't be afraid of third party lenses from Tamron and Sigma, some are more highly rated than the Nikon version and less expensive. I highly recommend Tony Northrup's $10 Kindle book, Stunning Digital Photography. He covers all the basics and every kind of photography, plus there are hours and hours of online video tutorials where he shows you how to do what's discussed in each chapter. A great place to get started. Good luck!

Very nice set. I go to Kenya twice a year to do vision clinics in the slums of Nairobi and it's always a joy to get out on photo safaris. You never know what you will see. What part of Africa were these taken in? You have a great eye, keep the images coming!