Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your newest chapter in photography.

I meant two thumbs up, not one up and one down. Ken Burns could never get a thumbs down by me.

Agree. He is the best in making documentaries with black and white photographs. The Civil War and Baseball are my two favorites.

Not too long ago the support/repair facilities of both Canon and Nikon were discussed. Which facility was best to send your camera to, New York or California? Some people out west send their cameras for repair to New York because they think it is a better repair facility. I've heard praises on both Canon and Nikon west region repair facilities. And outsourcing is sometimes common on east and west when there is a backlog of repairs. Complaints on each west facility are rare, but are legitimate sometimes.

Enjoy your new D5500 camera and 18-140mm lens. I have read articles the D5500 rivals the D7100 in IQ.

Makes sense. Why waste money if the camera is not compatible to the memory card.

I've read some good pre-reviews on the new Canon 5D Mark IV. The only minor downside I've read is that the camera won't accommodate the C-fast card. Once the camera is circulated, we'll know more of its capabilities. Hoggers will post about it.

I went to a sunny outdoor picnic last month, and a pro photographer was there shooting with the Nikon D800e and a 70-200mm 2.8 lens. He told me it was his most trusted lens. His wife served as his backup using a Nikon D750. I didn't see the lens she was shooting. I have a prime 50mm 1.8 that I have used for portraits. Prime lenses are best for portraits IMO. But the very best ones are expensive, as one previous thread indicated. Such as the newest Nikon 105mm 1.4, $2200, not a macro. There are less expensive portrait options with Tamron and Sigma. Tamron's 90mm 2.8 macro lens is a good choice. Less than $1000. I borrowed one for a day for my DX, and loved it. It was not used for macro by me, but the owner of the lens does use it for macro.

I already have more bags than I need. But for 10 bucks, you're not getting ripped off on this. It looks like it can be used to pack just about anything.

I just can't see a pro wedding photographer retiring a camera on the present level of a Canon 5D Mark 3 for a future smartphone type camera. But in the next 20 years, who knows what will happen. The USA was flying propeller planes at the end of WW2, and 24 years later we landed on the moon. 1969.

Age vs gear? No arthritis vs gear is mostly the problem. Not so much with age, some handle it better than others.

The USA can't even keep Amtrak afloat financially with Government Subsidies, a billion dollars per year donated.

Those are some excellent landscape photos. I'm familiar with the great 24-70mm, not so with 14-24mm. It apparently is an excellent wide angle zoom lens as well. Thanks for sharing.

Nikon knows the gray market serial numbers. Send in a gray market camera or lens for repair and you'll be notified of a non-fix policy.