I have the D7100 which is similar body style. What I like about the D7100 is the controls are on the body and it is very easy to set up for a shoot. The body feels very solid and battery life is very good. However, with my 18-200 mm lens on the camera it weighs about 4.5 lbs. It has weather sealing so I do not worry shooting in light rain. I mainly leave my DX 35mm 1.8 on the camera, very very sharp, and crop the pictures, which can be done in the camera. It is a good camera and the D7200 would be better. This camera feels very solid in my hands.

I did receive my A6000 last night. Took five hours to charge the battery. No wall charger with the camera so the battery must be charged through the camera ???? I have the Wasabe two battery kit on order on Amazon -- $28 and may order a second. The battery compartment feels flimsy and needs a gentle touch. Only one SD card slot and the card is hard to get out. No mic input if you want to shoot video with an external mic. But looking through the menu and some you tube guides, the A6000 has more features and can do more tricks than the D7100. If I should drop it, new body is only $400. The potential for this little camera is enormous. D7200 does not have the face tracking/recognition and eye focus of the Sony. Plus you can set multiple memory setups for different photo shoots. I did get the Friedman book that everyone recommends and second that recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sonys-A6000-Camera/dp/1312318791/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449245339&sr=1-2&keywords=friedman+a6000.

Gary Fong's you tube tutorial is also very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYXwCGWb7Yg, which has also been posted above but bares repeating.

It sounds like you are working toward a decision. You have already had an A6000, I think, so you are familiar with it. I did some research on this camera, and I believe that the reason a lot of people do not like it and return it is because there are a lot of silly functions turn on out of the box. I have seen recommendations to turn a lot of this off and NOT shoot it as it is out of the box. I wonder how many A6000 were returned because people did not know how to use it or how to really modify settings. At any rate good luck with what ever you finally decide.

My A6000 will be here this afternoon. I cannot wait to try it out. These, now older, bones just cannot take the weight of the DSLR. Took my D7100 to shoot my daughter running a marathon, but also had to chase my 3 yr old grandson. After three hours my back cramped up and I was bent to the left. Alarmed my wife to no end. So I do not walk around with the D7100 any more. So I am really anxious to try the A6000, small and light.

So for me the basic consideration between FF and crop is this: FF has a bigger area which means that it collects light better and therefore better noise performance. But this is not a easy statement because different lenses, sensors and camera manufacturers are different. Takes a bit of research. Now a big difference the same lenses on the crop will have a 1.5 reach of the FF. 200 MM will behave like a 300mm on the crop. But do not forget this comes a cost as the crop cameras F stop will be at least 1 stop higher and the depth of field longer. Same lenses with same setting you get different depth of fields. So if need really tight depth of field or really low F stop for speed, the FF may serve you better.

I have an A6000 coming so I am hoping for some enjoyment. I have heard that the A6000 ships with the long exposure NR turned on. Turn this off. Also this may help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYXwCGWb7Yg so check it out before returning camera. It may help. Good luck.

Good choice. What I like about my D7100 is that my controls are all on the camera and I do not need to dig through menus. I also moved the focus to back button and focusing, which a lot of people seem to have issues with on the D7100, and it has improved what I am doing. :-D

The APS-C sounds like the choice for you. I find it perfect for my shooting needs and the A6000 sensor sounds like it is more than adequate.

What do you like to shot, what is your shooting style. IMO the choice of camera should be to what you need it to do. I have the D7100 but have the A6000 coming because at 67 I cannot carry that weight for a long time on my neck. The A6000 gives me roughly the performance of the D7100. For me considerations would be cropping, I like to shoot a prime 35mm on the D7100, but FF would be better for cropping. I also like to shoot in low light situations and that pushes the ISO. If I had the money I would would really like to try the A7s as that is the low light king at the moment. So, I would note what you do with your camera and then match the camera to that.

My apologies, need to read the post more carefully.

Here is Steve Huff impressions: http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/15/hands-on-1st-impressions-the-sony-a7-a7r-and-rx10/

Gary Fong has some good "how to" for the A6000 on you tube.

Far North, you can give Adobe Photoshop Elements at try. surprising it can do a lot with your images. Also, you can find good deals on version 14 at the moment, recently under $50 at Costco.

The other day my 3 year old grandson wanted to look at the family pictures I was taking with my D7100. When I showed him the image on the cameras screen, the first he did was to touch the screen and swipe the image to move to the next one. It did not work of course but that is how ingrained that function is now in our younger folks.

I would say the D5500 for one reason, she belongs to the younger gen and touch screens are part of their world - -Ipads, smart phones are everywhere. She would be familiar with and would enjoy a touch screen for navigating the menus. It would be second nature to her unlike us old farts.