Good points, well taken.

Nobody likes paying taxes, including me. . . but I don't really have an issue with the concept. We all chip in to pay for that which benefits all of us.

Where I have a problem is in what is done with all that tax money. The amount of fraud, pork, and abuse is approaching absurd levels. With efficient, prudent spending, our tax bills would be less than half of what they are now for the same or better results. The problem with throwing more money at governmental deficits is the fact that it never fixes them. More money is just more money to be wasted, misappropriated, or worse. The only thing reigning in spending is the finite supply of tax revenues.

If all deficits and shortages were eliminated tomorrow, those using our tax dollars would just merrily spend more until we were in deficits again. If all our tax rates from every end of the spectrum were doubled tomorrow, spending would increase in lock step. Pushing back against taxes is the only real mechanism available to the average citizen to limit such profligate spending.

From what I've been told, I believe you can watermark your photos or even "write" on your images in Photoshop.

I thought your post was perfectly reasonable, and not unkind whatsoever billnikon. I was not addressing any one person, but merely planting a kinder seed

There is absolutely no reason to be unkind. There are many possible reasons why a person might ask a question similar to one he asked before.

We don't know what is in another person's mind or in his heart. While some people may find themselves getting annoyed by that which they may assume, I would say that self-restraint is the order of the day on public forums. "God himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days." (Samuel Johnson)

In 1996 I was at home alone in the morning when I started getting real bad AFIB (atrial fibrillations). That's not especially unusual for me, and typically they stop within a few seconds, sometimes minutes. This time they lasted for a couple hours before I finally relented and drove to a medical clinic about two miles from my home (no health insurance). On the way there, they started feeling more intense, and I became filled with a premonition of severe dread. It suddenly seemed like I was dying. I came up behind a few other cars to a traffic light which was always very, very long (In those days, not every intersection had sensors in the pavement to speed up the light). There was no other traffic and I slowly rolled up along the right side shoulder, with my emergency flashers on, and carefully, safely rolled through the red light (half hoping a cop might see me). One of the cars still waiting for the light started furiously honking their horn. A half-mile or so down the road where I paused to make the turn into the street leading to the clinic, the horn-honker zoomed up next to me, hanging halfway out his window. He was screaming filthy curse words in the spirit of teaching me a lesson about waiting my turn at a traffic light, giving me the finger, and even punched the side of my car as I pulled away. Surely if he had known what was happening to me, he would have been the first to try and help, but as it was, he was annoyed by my "cutting the line" as he saw it. When I stumbled weakly into the clinic a minute later, I was barely able to stand. They started working on me immediately (thank God), and rushed me into an ambulance for the hospital where I was to spend the next couple weeks following my heart attack. It was a close call.

I have one non-Nikon hood on a Nikkor lens, and it was very difficult getting it onto the lens. The OEM hoods fit much better, and are a LOT easier to put on.

A Nikon D3s would probably suit your stated objectives, and can be had in mint condition, lightly used, for under $1,500. These are serious Pro bodies.

https://www.adorama.com/us%20%20%20%20984747.html?msclkid=db480af24cee1e315ea851d99cb9cabf&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5bSHOPPING%5d%20%5bADL%5d%20%5bPLA%5d%20-%20Long%20Tail&utm_term=4586750196597423&utm_content=%5bPLA%5d%20-%20Long%20Tail

Here is the Nikon site:

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product-archive/dslr-cameras/d3s.html#tab-ProductDetail-ProductTabs-TechSpecs

Ha ha, made me smile. . . Hey I am 58 and that sort of thing happens to me all the time!

In the interest of wrapping up this thread for anyone in a similar situation who may be reading this:

I have a Nikon D70 which I bought in 2004 at around $1,500. Today, nice examples can be bought for about $100. Therefore, spending as-much-as or even more than the camera is worth, just to have someone else clean the mirror makes little sense to me. Either I clean it myself, or I leave it alone. With that said, the mirror was quite cloudy and also soiled with a significant amount of dust & debris which would not come off with a blower. After MUCH online research and further questioning of several knowledgeable camera people, I decided to clean it.

First I tried the sensor swabs with Eclipse solution. I was extremely careful & gentle about it. It worked, but there were still some smears after 2 swabs, and I didn't want to use up a bunch of expensive sensor swabs. Next I very lightly spritzed a new, clean microfiber cloth with lens cleaner, and cleaned it again as gently as if I was touching an eyeball. Better, but still some smears. So I breathed on the mirror, and once more I gently wiped with a new microfiber cloth, and this time it came out perfect. Zero damage, and perfectly clean.

Armed with the confidence acquired from that experience, I took the plunge, and I also cleaned the dirty mirror on my much newer and VERY expensive Nikon D3s. It too came out perfectly clean & damage-free.

Very professional and crystal clear

Thank you MT Shooter, I appreciate your input very much. Did you get a chance to view the video in my 2nd post of this thread? Is that the way you clean the mirror too? You can see that he lifts up one part to clean the little mirror underneath, and then he cleans the much larger top flap too. I assume that the actual mirror is the littler one underneath? Don't know what the top one would be called.

Take a look here and tell me what you think:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Nikon+DSLR+Mirror+wet+Cleaning&view=detail&mid=22694EDBB73AD34B76E822694EDBB73AD34B76E8&FORM=VIRE

For what it's worth:

I used to repair & maintain inkjet & laser printers for a living back in the 1990s. Our "best" (meaning most frequent) customers BY FAR were always those who used refill ink & toner. Furthermore, when we did side-by-side test printouts comparing OEM vs third-party refills, the quality difference was so readily apparent that anyone who looked at the results was converted back to OEM forever.

1. I've heard it said that you should never clean the mirror in a Nikon DSLR, even if it's foggy looking. . . that it only affects your view in the viewfinder, and has no effect upon your pictures. However, I've also heard it said that the auto focus and exposure metering require a clean mirror for accurate image & light transmission to the meters. . . and that therefore, the mirror condition does indeed materially affect the function of your camera & the quality of your pictures.

2. I've heard it said that the mirror mechanism is so fragile that it must never be touched in any way (even to clean) because it won't work again afterwards. However I've seen videos where a person sticks his finger in to lift up the mirror and lets it back down again with no apparent ill effect.

3. I've heard it said that mirrors can and should be carefully cleaned with lens spray on a microfiber cloth and a gentle touch. However, I've also heard it said that the mirror coating itself is far more fragile than a typical household mirror, and that they should only be cleaned with the exact same method & products as used to clean the main CMOS sensor (Eclipse solution and dedicated sensor swabs).

Can the mirror be wet-cleaned? Should it be cleaned? How should it be done?

I think that part of the confusion comes from the fact that ASA values for physical film are referred to as "film speed". People were often told that for action-stopping, they needed "faster" film.