I upgraded from the D3200 to the D750 after taking an overnight workshop for astrophotography and light painting. In order to get the shots I wanted, I had to leave the shutter open for a long time, or, take multiple shorter exposures and blend together in post. I was not happy with either process, as the longer exposures created the hot pixels, but I also got a lot of ugly borders on my shots, likely either hot pixels, or the combination of experimenting with really long exposures caused the image degradation.

Having moved to the D750, those issues don't occur anymore, and I couldn't be happier with the move.

As was pointed out, it can be costly to upgrade to an FX system, but unless you plan to keep the D7200, you could always sell that kit, and help offset the costs. I had considered keeping the D3200, but decided against it once I saw the results I got from going FX.

I used this feature in Anaheim back in April (on my iphone 13). Its pretty cool, but in essence, its no different than the contact cards most hotels use now. Instead of inserting your key card, you just hold it up to a panel on the door, and it unlocks. Your phone replaces the key card.

Pretty soon, we'll just need to think about unlocking doors and it will happen...

Steve Perry's books are great. Another option would be the "...for Dummies" books. I've used those for my D3200 and D750, and have no complaints.

Sharing some of the Praying Mantis's we have in our yard. My son and I spotted a few that we had not seen before. We named them too, but I won't remember which ones are which :-) These are all different critters and I think we have now identified 8 that live around the house. It might be more because some of them do look alike. We try to find unique markings to ensure we aren't counting the same one(s) twice, but not all of them stay still once spotted. Rather than freak them out, if they want to run, we leave them alone.

Rather than use a GPS-specific app on your smartphone, just grab a snapshot with your phone when you're on location. Then you will have the location info on that phone pic, and can use that data for your "real" photographs. :-)

Save the money, no need for a standalone GPS tracker for this use case, IMO.

Oh yeah! I've bought several at a time a couple years in a row now. I put them in the bushes all around the house, and in the spring, I check them daily. Its really cool when they first hatch, because they are almost transparent. You just wave your hand a couple inches over the bush and see them move around.

I just looked, they are VERY expensive right now, but I recall paying around $10 for 2 oothecas, so I'd buy 3 or 4 pair at a time.

So cool! I bought 6 oothecas from Amazon in the spring, and my son and I have found at least 6 different Praying Mantis's (Mantii?) in the yard over the past few weeks. We named all of them, so we could quickly identify them. I find it interesting the personalities they have (if I can call it that). Some are quite chill, and don't mind being put in our hands, while a couple of them run as soon as we spot them.

Sounds like a great trip! If I can suggest it, check out https://www.nationalparksatnight.com/. These guys are always running workshops in national parks (and globally), but focusing specifically on night & light painting photography. I would suggest checking out the blog on that site and searching for the parks you're going to visit for some possible inspiration (not that you need it).

As a die-hard Red Sox fan, it gives me great pleasure to say to Aaron Judge: Well deserved sir! Its been a lot of fun watching this amazing season. I hope he gets at least a few more.

Yes, I am a Sox fan, but I'm a baseball fan first.

Come on guys. The expression is "couldn't care less" not "could care less..."

Definitely include samples of your photography when you reach out to anyone at the school(s). At least they will know you're serious.

What a bummer, this has happened to me before with FedEx (though not a package from B&H). When Amazon started delivery themselves, I chuckled when I'd get a photo of my package on my porch, but now that its been a while, I'm really surprised FedEx and UPS have not implemented a similar photo policy.

Hope you get this resolved!

I was just about to reply with a similar message

I'm a really big fan of my 14-24, but it is expensive. I mainly use it for night photography to get star trails with something in the foreground, and it works very well for that.

Another option would be to get something like a 35mm or 50mm prime and do panoramic and stitch together in post. I've done that with both of those lenses, and the results are great. Those primes are also way less expensive. Unless you want to get everything in one press of the shutter, it might be worth looking into that as a solution.

Being that there are 5 pages to this thread, I'm sure you have more than you need to go on. Personally, I have (and LOVE) the Nikon 105mm for my D750, it is a fantastic lens.

It really depends what you're doing with it. I used to have shorter lenses, and they're great for still life, but I wanted to capture the bees in my yard, and just couldn't get that close to them with the shorter focal lengths, so I went with the 105mm.

If you're setting up still life, the shorter lengths will work very well for you, and will save you some money.