No, I wasn't feeling foolish. I was responding to how helpful your answer was to my problem.

And I would have bought them from B&H but they weren't available.

Just what I needed; a non-helpful non-empathetic snarky answer. May you get just as much help in just such such a nasty manner when you need it.

Thanks but Nikon US won't help because I bought it in Canada and Nikon Canada help doesn't answer calls from the US.

I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens adjustment ring that is set to aperture. The manual focus ring still works. Bad images DSCN previous good images named. Good images first, recent awful images last.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Lovely shots.

I used that combination (D850 and 80-400) for many years along with my 500 PF (ususally with 1.4 TCE). Worked great. Only sold them for Z system.

I would also recommend May in Seabeck. Also lots of herons.

It is an excellent lens. I had one for years when I needed to be closer than my 500 PF. I would note, however that the 500 PF is tack sharp and 3.5 lbs. That is not much heavier than the 80-400.

I once had two almost new Sandisk CF cards error me "card cannot connect to camera" the first day of an Africa Safari after I had my only leopard sighting of the trip. Sandisk sent me the restore program and I got my leopard shots back when I got home, but I would never rely on a single copy on an SD card. I would vote for the adapter for your i-pad and transfer the cards to 3 different SSDs each night if you really want to be safe. I do it with my laptop.

While I agree in theory, the MSI I previously mentioned, with its onboard graphic card and 32 GB of RAM and 1TB SSD works great with PS.

MSI Prestige 14 Intel Evo Platform Laptop - 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1280P - 1080p - Windows 11 from Costco. 32 GB of RAM and 1TB SSD. Currently on sale for $799. I paid moderately more a couple of years ago.
Great transfer to USB SSD and runs Bridge and PS like a champ. Light.

Take a look at the Think Tank Harness and belt with assorted holsters. Also the peak design capture clip for one or both straps to have something closer to hand.

Thanks for all of your responses. I do have a backup camera. It updated fine. I guess I forgot to hold my breath for 6 min.

Thanks. Rental was prohibitive. Battery had 91% at start of update.