I've used Easy Canvas Prints for both canvas and metal. Quality was very good and prices are exceptional. So was customer service.

Probably fixing issues you may not have experienced and getting the api's up to date for current operating systems so that it will work as new ones are released. Don't know for a fact, but often times when companies pick up a dead product like this they offer it at a cheap price and it includes future upgrades at no additional cost. Where if you wait until later the cost of the software may be considerably more. I have the old NIK loaded on my PS, but I find that Topaz Studio has significantly more capabilities, and is a stand a lone product that is free and comes with 10 free adjustments. You might want to check it out.

UPS is on the verge of a major strike. May have just been a po'd driver who was trying to make UPS look bad.

There are lots of reviews on the Internet. Google the lens you're interested and read as many as possible. That way you get a better idea of the pros and cons of the lens.

Probably get blasted for this, but is anyone actually taking bad pictures because they have a mirror in their camera? Will not having a mirror make you a better photographer?

I would suggest that you first sit down and make a list of the things you feel like you are deficient in. Then find a photographer who is willing to give you some meaningful critique of your work and thoughts on what areas they feel you need to improve. That will help you determine where you are and where you want to go. Then you can genuinely evaluate whether this schooling is going to help you in those areas or not. It would be a sad waste of money to sign up for this and find out too late that it isn't really going to help.

I see that you are in Raleigh. I used to live in Cary. Retired to the mountains up in Ashe County. Are you in any photography clubs? If not, then you might want to see what's available in the area. They can be most helpful, and it's free advice. If you are into nature photography, there is a local chapter of CNPA in the area. Check it out at: http://www.cnpa.org/

Just talked to a buddy of mine yesterday who recently got a D850. His big problem with it is that the RAW file structure is different than what Nikon has used in the past and as a result he cannot download from the camera nor can he see the pics unless he uses Photoshop or a DWG converter. He's a Mac user and has been told he will have to upgrade his OS, but if he does that several of his programs he uses for work will no longer be usable. Not sure if this an issue with Windows versions. New technology is wonderful, but it pretty much always creates problems initially.

What about a backup crop camera and the teleconverter. Then you can use both your existing lens with the tele on both cameras.

As noted in a prior post, one real consideration is the effective focal length of the FX lenses on the DX body. I have a D7200 and about half of my lenses are FX. The rest are DX and a couple from my film camera days. I have a Sigma 150-600 FX lens with a 1.4 teleconverter that I use mostly for birds and wildlife. With it on the DX body the reach is unreal and extremely sharp. However, now that I'm looking at a true wide angle, I am having to decide if I will go the DX route to keep the low focal length or go the FX route with the longer focal length. Also, a pro at our camera club meeting this week made a point I hadn't thought about. He recommended keeping a DX body as well as an FX because sometime you need that extra reach that your FX lens on the DX body gives you.

Just some other thoughts on your question.

Reality is that you like what you use and know the most about. PP software is a tool, and like most tools, there isn't one that is the best at everything or the easiest to use. Find what works best for you, but never hesitate to try something new. It might be your new best friend in the PP world!

Adobe Bridge with Adobe Camera RAW is a pretty good place to start. Topaz Studio is free, but it does have some significant hardware demands similar to what the most current version of Lightroom.

I understand business relationships and am a big fan of it. Part of the reason for suggesting it was not necessarily to take you business elsewhere, but to see if you get the same results from another lab. That would help you isolate the source of the problem. If the prints look the same as your normal lab, then you know it's something on your end. If not, then you can tell your lab friends that you did it, not to find another lab, but to help find the problem and it appears to be on their end. It's a process of elimination to find the source of the problem so it can be fixed.

Topaz Studio is becoming a very popular software and it is free. It comes with 10 free adjustments and just like the other programs discussed, you store your images where you want them.

Have you considered a different lab to see how their product compares?

I've been in the IT business for 30+ years and as I have posted before starting with Windows 7 there is a backup program that is part of Windows that has the ability to create an image backup of your entire hard drive. You need a dedicated external hard drive for this, but you can recover your entire system with this kind of backup or use it to migrate to a larger drive. You should run this backup at least once a month. In addition you should utilize an off site (cloud based) backup for all of your data folders and files that runs at least once a day. That way you can recover by restoring the image backup and then restore your latest data backup and get back to whee you were. Your IT tech shoudl be able to help you get all of this setup once you're back up and running.