I don't shoot sports too much, but I switched from a Canon 5D to Pentax 5 II and love it. There are more lens for Canon & Nikon. He might want to handle what ever body he wants before buying it. For me it was the reduced size & weight from FF to a crop body.
My Pentax shows the virtual horizon both in the view finder and live view. Sometimes it comes in handy.
I've carried my Canon SLR's & lenses around on my motorcycles for years. I always carry the camera body & lens in a well padded camera case. In the last ten years or more I rode a Goldwing and the camera bag was in the trunk of the bike.
The only possible problem I had was with a Sigma 24-70mm lens, the lower barrel of the lens started cracking apart next to the lens mount. The lens was about eight years old. I don't know if this was from traveling so much on a bike or something else I did. On the plus side Sigma was able to repair it better than new.
If you shoot RAW you can change it when processing later.
Not sure where you live, but make sure what you buy is not gray market, which will not have the full USA warranty on some items.
When I was using a full frame Canon 5D I purchased both the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Ex DG OS HSM Macro Lens and the Canon 100mm IS F2.8L Macro to compare them. I ended up keeping the Canon and sending the Sigma back. Both were very good, but I felt the IS on the Canon worked better. I mostly took photos of flowers and didn't use a tripod that much for this. Both also make a great portrait lens.
Here is a link to both lens I used if interested:
http://wingincamera.zenfolio.com/lens-testIn the Sigma folder the photos with the focus chart were taken with a tripod, everything else was hand held.
I don't know what the laws are in Canada, but in Washington state it is illegal to record someone's voice without their consent, which probably happen. There are exceptions to this, but from what was posted what happen would probably be illegal.
As to signing a ticket with just an "X" I am surprised the officer accepted that and didn't require a signature similar to what was on the driver's license. If still refusing to give a proper signature, that would escalate to a criminal ticket and maybe even an arrest. My question is why do some people bring this on themselves?
I am another Neat Image user, works good for me. I have the Photoshop plugin version.
Remember Oklahoma and Timothy Mcveigh? No guns were used there. I guess we will have to ban fertilizer and u haul trucks.
I am new for using liveview, my old Canon 5D Mk1 didn't have it. Now I have a Pentax K5 II which has live view. I still like using the view finder for most photos, just feels more natural. For Pentax while liveview is slower, the focus is more accurate in good light.
I am mostly a landscape shooter, so not too many moving things.
I do like liveview if shooting something down low or odd angles where I can't get my eye ball & glasses to look through the viewfinder.
I have used and like the Bill me later offer. You are told up front what the interest will be if not paid off within the six months, so nothing to complain about. Payments are applied on the total, not individual items or purchases added. I just put the money aside in my bank where it draws a little interest and pay off the Bill me later when due. Our credit cards work the same way, use their money and pay the balance in full each month.
I must have missed the original post on this. I would be interested, and sending you a message. Only possible conflict known at this time is we travel to sidecar event each year about that time.