If you need to ask the question you probably should not be shooting film. Dedicated film shooters should know why they ae shooting film, and how they plan to process it to get the results they want.

It's hard to say how sharp it is because what's presented is only a lower resolution thumbnail. It's more than likely that if he had attached a higher resolution downloadable version It would have been much sharper.

That is true, but he has posted thousands of videos over the years and many seem more philosophical to me even though I usually don't agree with him.

Apparently, nothing happened to him. Here is the link to his active YouTube page with 4 videos from the last week alone. It just appears that he has not been doing any lens reviews for quite some time. His current videos are mostly philosophical.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVcxJ9k14bi__-uA1cGkEcA

There are actually two different skylines in NYC. One is in lower Manhattan and is accessible from Liberty State Park. The much larger and more iconic skyline, is in midtown Manhattan. You can't get good shots of it from Liberty State Park. For that, Weehawken is the best place to go. A very wide angle lens or the ability to capture multiple images for panoramas should be considered.

Well, it depends on the perspective you want. You can see a lot from the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State building located at 5th Avenue and 34th Street.

"Do you ever miss having a big zoom lens for the photography that you do?"

Not at all. When I was a Canon shooter, (7D Mark II), I owned a Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L with a Canon 2X Extender. I rarely used the lens, with or without the extender. The two lenses I used the most were the Canon 15-85mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens and the Canon 35mm f/2 IS USM prime. Even with the 15-85 the majority of my images were at 50mm or wider. I shoot only static images, many in low natural light.

My preferred lenses these days are my three Voigtlander fast manual focus prime lenses designed specifically for the Nikon Z mount, the DX D23mm f/1.2 Nokton, the DX D35mm f/1.2 Nokton, and the FX 40mm f/1.2 Nokton. The two DX lenses are tiny and weigh a bit less than 8oz each. the 40mm FX lens is not much bigger weighing in at a bit over 11oz. All these Voigtlanders have electrical contracts and pass metadata and aperture to the body like an AF lens The only AF prime I use is the DX TTArtisan 28mm f/2.8 which, like the Voigtlanders, has a metal barrel and is quite tiny weighing a bit over 3 oz. I also have a few other TTArtisan MF primes. I really enjoy using manual focus primes on my retro Nikon Z fc body.

A couple of us mentioned the very compact Peak Design tripods. I forgot to mention I also have a much smaller, much lighter and even more compact Benro tripod which is occasionally useful but it is much shorter and much less stable than the Peak Design when fully extended. I don't tend to use it much because of its limitations, but my very light kit will work on it. Even though it is aluminum, I believe it weighs less than 2 lbs.

Even though I have an excellent Vanguard carbon fiber tripod and Vanguard head, it is too big, bulky, and heavy for me to travel with. I only use it very rarely these days. My tripod of choice is the very compact and light weight Peak Design carbon fiber travel tripod. Unfortunately it's also quite expensive

Over time my gear requirements have changed significantly and I've selected gear that specifically meets my photographic interests. My current camera is the small and light weight Nikon Z fc. I use prime lenses with it almost exclusively and the majority of them are very small manual focus lenses. I realized some time ago that the focal length of the overwhelming majority of the images I've captured were wider than longer and that fast wider angle prime lenses suited my photography goals.

This combination of a compact and lightweight camera, with compact and lightweight lenses, mounted on a compact and lightweight tripod is perfect for me and I am enjoying my photography much more than I have in the many years of lugging around large and heavy gear.

As a general rule it is best to import all your files into Lightroom and then back them up before deleting them from your original source. It is the safest way to ensure you don't lose anything.

I believe the Nikon articulating LCD screen design is very similar to the Canon design. I have had this screen design on my Nikon Z fc for last two years and find it useful when needed.

The OP indicated his monthly income is only $980. He also indicated he can't go out to Photograph anything because of his feet. He also already has a PowerShot XS40, a relatively easy to use camera, which he says it too complex. Probably purchasing a $600 camera is the last thing he should be doing. Assuming his current camera is working correctly, he needs to figure out how to use it. I believe spending any money on a new camera in his situation would be a poor decision.

While all the choices you mention are potentially good alternatives to Lightroom, they are all at least as complex to use with an equally large learning curve which is exactly what the OP wanted to avoid.

It is all relative. Many people are only interested in much more basic software that is as easy to use as Picasa. For them more functionality may be overkill and the complexity of LightRoom will be a real challenge.

It is absolutely his choice and he should spend his money anyway he sees fit. However, he did ask for advice on a grip and I gave him my opinion.