I appreciate all the advice from all of you wonderful HOGS! You guys all ROCK! Thanx a bunch!

Thank you for the reply. I also researched and couldn't find an answer, but your acknowledgement to my question is appreciated. Thank you.

I have always left the lens hoods on all my lenses while shooting indoors and out, but recently when I attended a "shootout" at a modeling show I noticed almost all of the photogs removed their lens hoods. Is there a reason for this? When should I remove my lens hood and when should I keep it on the lens while shooting? I would imagine there was a "reason" most of the photographers removed their hoods. Can anyone explain?

I posted this earlier but the auto-correct changed my title. All of a sudden some (many), not all, my images are transferring from my SD card into my MacBookPro either sideway or upside down. I shoot with a D7100. Any suggestions? Could I have inadvertently bumped a button on my camera somehow? Is there even a control for this on the camera? My shoot was 400+ images and roughly 125 of the images are upside on my Mac. On my MBP I create a folder in "Pictures" then copy the images directly from the SD card and then copy into the created folder. This hasn't upside down thing happened until yesterday. And yes, I always hold the camera in the same way… for portrait one way of course for landscape another, but I never vary, in other words, I'm consistent in how I shoot. Any help on this will be really appreciated. Thanx!

No way! Where? I googled and could not find a single SX50 for that price. Please point me in the right direction.

Where? I looked at cameta, no SX50's refurbished or under $399. I'd love to pick up an SX50 for the glove compartment.

Is there much of a difference in the two cameras? Just curious. I have the "SX130is" and keep it in my glove compartment for those spur of the moment unanticipated shots when they occur. I love the images it produces but have noticed many photogs use the SX50. Just curious as to the differences in the two cameras. Normally, I shoot most things with my D7100, but the "SX130is" does come in handy from time to time. Are the differences major?

WOW! All of you who replied to my post are amazing people! I love this place! So, my problem isn't focus points, it's DOF. I need a shorter lens, narrower aperture. Okay, I think I get it now. BTW, the settings I used were f8, 1/125 and focal length 75mm and I was in Manual Mode. I don't know how to find what my ISO was set at. I got my info by right clicking the image on my Mac and selecting "Get Info". Is there a better way to get ALL of the EXIF info, other than looking at the camera LCD? I only have the image in my Mac, I already had formatted the card, so I can't view the image using the camera's LCD screen.

I love my 7100 but I'm a bit frustrated trying to figure out the focus points… how to set them and trying to determine how many focus points is best for certain conditions. I do some close up work, NOT macro, but close up like maybe 2 to 3 feet from the lens, and sometimes it's shooting at an angle at products lying flat on a table, but I'm not always able to shoot directly above and downward towards the object. I'm standing in front of and aiming downward and forward. Naturally the closet portion of the object on the flat surface table is in sharp focus while the portion of the same object farthest away from me is blurry. Imagine shooting a ruler laying on a table… the 1" mark being sharp and each inch marking further away becomes more and more out of focus. So what setting should my focus points be set at so that all the marking would be in sharp focus? I'm attaching an image of a vaping device I shot for a vapor store for some constructive suggestions.

I too have the D7100, and I too have a question. A very basic question at that. I cannot find anywhere in my menu the setting for choosing my focus points. I have gone through the menu up and down several times. What am I missing? I seemed to have misplace my owner's manual.

Thank you very much Tom. I do appreciate your help. You and others on this forum are great resources of valuable information. I really do appreciate all of you. Enjoy your sleep : )

I'd like to thank of of you who chimed in and offered your help. I'm sure a USB cable came with my D7100. I think it may still be in the box that I stored in the garage after buying the camera. I'll check, if not I can always buy one at the local camera store. Speaking of which, can you believe in a city the size of Las Vegas there is only ONE camera store left in the entire city? All the others have closed up shop within the past 2 years. If this one closes, photographers in Las Vegas will be screwed, convenience-wise. There's always B&H, but the convenience of walking in a store… well you know how it is.

I use LOTS of third party software. There's a lot of great stuff out there, especially for photography. as I posted a bit ago…

To clear it up… when I said I didn't want to use a third party program, since I had already established that I am ALREADY using Lightroom 5, my reference was to a post that mentioned other software programs to enable using camera and MacBookPro. My meaning was that I didn't need ANOTHER program because I already have LR5. Hope this clears up the confusion here.

To clear it up… when I said I didn't want to use a third party program, since I had already established that I am ALREADY using Lightroom 5, my reference was to a post that mentioned other software programs to enable using camera and MacBookPro. My meaning was that I didn't need ANOTHER program because I already have LR5. Hope this clears up the confusion here.

Awesome! Thanx! I'll check out the link right now! I'll respond tomorrow… going to bed after I look at the link. Thanks again.