As a rule I use focal lengths ranging from 10 -50 mm on my d7200 for landscapes. Occasionally 100mm is useful. Long lenses are for sports, wildlife and occasional photos where perspective compression is desirable. The Nikon 16 - 80mm would be great this application. More humble lenses would be the Nikon 35mm f1.8 and Nikon 50mm f 1.8 and a lens around 16 -18 mm. The Nikon macros from 40 -105mm are not bad either but would need some wide angle capability. If you have a FX camera the 24-120mm lens would be excellent.

For those that want the best check out the Hasselblad H6D-100c Medium Format DSLR Camera - 100MP!

The question as to what the best sensor (or film size) is a complex one and depends on what you want to photograph and how big the final image will be. If one has 8 x 10" view camera a head shot is a 1:1 Macro with all the limitations that go with that. To achieve depth of field small f numbers must be used (e.g. f 32 -90) along with swings and tilts. Landscapes will be full of exquisite detail but shooting small birds in a tree impossible. The equivalent of a 500mm lens on a 35mm would be 3000mm. This would mean a lens to film distance of 10 ft at infinity focus. the diameter of an f3 lens would also be about 3 feet in diameter.

On the small size of things, physics dictates that objects below 1 micron cannot be resolved. An estimate of the size of the pixels on my d7200 is 4 microns. Making pixels less than 1 micron makes little sense. This is the same as film- a given film can only resolve a certain number of lines per mm. Worse than the film or sensor resolution is the lens resolution.

Lager pixels also receive more light - just a big films grains receive more light. Big pixels favors larger formats.

Bird photographers might favor small sensors that allow lenses smallish lenses with big reach. Where great detail a moderate focal lengths is important the Hasselblad above might be perfect. (The fact this body costs as much as a car may also affect your decision.)

If the pixels are the same size then a larger format allows for more pixels but also greater expense.

I can say that my d7200 takes much better pictures than my old film cameras. (There were a couple of very nice view cameras and a Leica M4 that were super though) I have taken some very nice low noise pictures by moonlight alone - so dark a flash light is needed to focus.

Don't worry Adorama will handle this. They have great customer service.

In general, I shoot jpg fine and NEF format. Think of a jpg as a color slide and the NEF file as a negative. Should you desire post processing the NEF file is the best. One never regrets having images of the best possible quality as files can be made small at a later time. My d7200 also allows recording in 24, 13 and 6 MP. Except for e-bay items or other temporary photos all are 24 MP.

There is nothing wrong with buying from Best Buy. If you have a lot of gift cards and you know they have exactly what you want go for it. Personally I like buying from Adorama and B and H they have everything and have a good return policy. Nikon USA sometimes has good deals too.

Nikon makes a number of zoom lenses that cover the wide angle to moderate telephoto range. The simplest is the 18-55mm kit lens. And the most expensive is the 16-80 f2.8 -4.

I am most interested in the wide angle to moderate telephoto range. I have telephoto zoom lenses that come out once in awhile.

What is the best? What is the best for the buck? Does it really matter?

I know what you mean. I started to use Corel products like After Shot. They are not bad but PS has a few things that are occasionally (for me) useful. Capture one pro seems excellent as well but I have not used. I still use office 2007 because I don't want the monthly fee.

I find Photomatrix works quite well. When used appropriately it can produce natural results. I have a some HDRs that folks would be hard pressed to say they are not regular photos. B&H has a video on youtube on how to make natural looking HDRs.

Birds generally have keen eyesight - Much better than people. They have poor sense of smell in general. If you have a bird feeder and spend quiet time in your yard the birds will become more tame. One thing to consider is that birds hate new things. My parrots like to ham it up for the camera. I am sure they would like to crunch up the camera.

You will really enjoy this camera. I have a good results with night photography.

I posted this elsewhere but here is the reason.

The focal length of a so-called normal lens is determined by by the diagonal length of the sensor or film. You can calculate this using the formula f = SQRT( length^2 + width^2). SQRT = square root. n^2 = n squared.

For 35mm Film: f= SQRT[ 36 ^2 + 24^2) = 43mm usually rounded to 50mm for lens manufacture

For 6 x 4.5 cm film f = SQRT[60^2 + 45^2] = 75mm

For Nikon DX f = SQRT[23.6^2 + 15.7^2] = 28.3 mm usually rounded to 35mm for lens manufacture. Do the math an you will understand.

to calculate the crop factor between Nikon DX and 35mm film

43mm/28.3 = 1.52

For a DX camera with a 35mm lens the corresponding focal length for 35mm film would be 35 x 1.5 = 52.5mm A 35mm DX lens is approximately equal to a 50mm film lens. For a 6 x 4.5 cm the corresponding lens would be 75mm

You should check if the metering modes are the same on both cameras. The only way to sure about a camera issue is to Photograph a gray card with a gray scale attached.

I almost always fix the color temperature. For outside light I use the flash setting (5400K) and 3000 K for general indoor lighting. Moon Light is 4100K. Auto color doesn't always work due to dominant colors in a particular photo. If it is sunset the extra warmth appears natural. If one has a night scene with multiple light sources auto can be a good choice.

Photoshop might well be the best for this. I would work with a high resolution image. For those that have old photos that faded to yellow and old Polaroids where the coating was imperfect resulting in brown stripes. Make a Photo using a 47B filter or select the blue chanel only. I think the filter works better. This image will be a lot of work. Pixel by pixel work on small sections at a time.

You actually have two problems the direct lighting and overall diffusion. I have been known to use facial tissue and napkins for diffusion. They sometimes work. B&H and Adorama have diffusors for the on camera flash as well as difussors for speedlights. The other is directionality. Mounting a speedlight off the camera axis is very helpful. Yongnou flashes as mentioned by others are good. The pop-up flash can be a rather good fill light sunny days. Consider a flash bracket if you want the flash on your camera.