I see a thread with all the responses to the question. The three factors in selecting a tripod are durability, stability and portability. If you need all three, then the cost will be high. If you are an occasional tripod user, durability may be less important. If you are not a backpacker, portability may be less important. If you are not using large, heavy lenses, stability may be less important. You have to decide what you need and buy accordingly.

The statement that the FF camera outperforms a crop sensor camera in all situations is just BS. Sports and Wildlife are better with a crop sensor camera. The Nikon D500 has great low light capability. That said, subject, lighting and a photographer's eye are more important to a good photo than what camera is used. In photography as in life, it is the poor carpenter that blames his tools.

Maybe so. But what about the weight of the FF lens? If you are going telephoto, the 300 mm FF lens will be much heavier than a 200 mm DX lens and much more expensive to boot.

I don't go out and shoot in bad weather. My camera does not have weather sealing but does have an articulated screen. When I put my camera on a tripod, the articulated screen is really useful. It also allows me to take really good selfies.

Aside from cost, there is also size and weight to think of. For Portraits and Landscapes, a FF camera has an advantage. For street photography, sports and wildlife photography, the crop sensor cameras are better as long as you use good glass.

RTFMS always applies. However, for photos for your own enjoyment just go out and shoot. The more shots you take, the better the chance that you will get a keeper. Knowing composition and lighting helps but finding things that interest you to shoot is more important. Very few of us will publish or sell our photos to others. As Nike says, Just Do It!

Unless you are planning to edit your photos, a laptop is not really necessary. An Ipad with a card reader will do the job. However, If you shoot raw and want to see the photos, do minor editing and store them for backup, then a laptop will do the trick. When I travel, I use my Dell Insperon 13 with a built in card reader. All my PP software is available on the SSD. I import the raw data to a 256G flash drive attached to a USB 3.0 port. I do not want to fill up my internal SSD with photos. When I finally get home, I just plug the flash drive into my Desktop with the 24" monitor for final processing. The Laptop with 13.3" touch screen,an i7 chip, 8G of memory and a 256G SSD costs about $700. It only weighs 3.5 lbs and easily fits in my Manfroto backpack.

As Dinah Shore used to say "See the USA in your Chevrolet". Anywhere you go, you will find photo Ops. All you need is a camera and a photographic eye.

If I did not already have a DSLR, I would skip both Nikon or Canon and buy a mirrorless camera. Mirrorless is the way of the future while DSLRs are yesterday's technology.

Thanks for the Information. My EXIF reader doesn't give that information.

The EXIF tells you what camera and what settings were used to take the photo. However, most photos are Post Processed before they are uploaded to this site. It would be nice to list what software was used for PP with the upload.

You know that the Amish still ride in a buggy pulled by a horse. In film days, a Pro photographer could afford to take 100s of exposures to get one keeper. The amateur photographer could only shoot a couple of rolls of 36 exposures and then take them to the local drug store for development. Digital photography allows both the Pro and the amateur to take 100s of shots and post process them for custom results. It has opened up Photography to many more opportunities to getthat keeper. I choose to ride in a car rather than in a buggy and I choose to use digital rather than film.

A tripod that holds your camera and lens stationary is good enough. I have a $39 Polaroid tripod that holds my equipment steady. It is made of aluminum and plastic but does what I need to do. I am not a back packer and use the tripod for portraits and close ups of stationary subjects like flowers. I only use the tripod occassionally so it does not need to take a licking. Yes, I could buy a tripod costing hundreds of dollars but for me that would be overkill. As an Engineer, tripods are the least technically designed photographic equipment that I own. If you want to spend a lot of money on a tripod, be my guest.

It happened to me with my D5100. I just went on line and found a replacement door for about $5.00. No big deal.

Costco has one of the best warrantee and return policies available. On computers, you get an additional year of protection and Concierge service and on cameras, you have a 90 day return for full refund. Costco only sells equipment with US warrantee and does not deal in grey market equipment. I bought a Dell computer and a Samsung monitor from them and had a problem. I called the Costco Concierge and they set up a conference call with Dell, Samsung and me. We found that the graphics card was faulty. Two days later, a Dell technician was at my house with a replacement card. When I had problems with previous Dell products, I could never get that kind of service and response from Dell on my own. B&H will only give you a 30 day return for refund. If you need guidance with your purchase or want equipment that Costco doesn't carry, then go to a camera store like B&H. If you know what you want and Costco has it, buy it from Costco with peace of mind.