Right on, Ron. I've taken some pretty amazing photos over the last year or two with whatever was handy, sometimes, GASP, even a cell phone. And got asked how I did it, what kind of camera I had, etc. The only thing worse than the IWAC, is the person that looks at one of your pride and joy WOW photos and say "That's a great picture. You must have a REALLY good camera." Argh... I love good equipment, and it does help, but it can't help you stalk that bird or bride as you mentioned.

I agree. Interesting solution...

Recuva does a good job. I'm a computer guy and we've had good luck with Card Recovery, found at www.cardrecovery.com. They have a trial version that will get one picture at a time back to prove it will work. Seem like it was about $30. Good luck.

I got the D7200 after a D5200. The bigger buffer for continuous shooting and the better low light performance were worth the extra bucks over the D7100 for me as a bird and wildlife enthusiast. I have yet to find an electronic viewfinder that can hold a candle to the live optical viewfinder on a DSLR. Very important for action shots. My 2 cents...

I have the subscription and spend nearly ALL of my time in Lightroom. One of my New Year's resolutions is to get up to speed on Photoshop and make the subscription really worth it. For what it's worth, the subscription is good on 2 computers at any one time. Good luck!

It's done in the camera. Get the PDF manual for the D7000 from Nikon.

I cut my teeth on a D5200 and it was great. I moved up in April to the D7200 (just a little more capable than the D7100 but very similar), and while I miss the variable LCD at times, the pro controls of the D7200 make changing settings on the fly a breeze. I don't want to go back to doing that with menus. Go with the D7100, it's a great camera and there are great deals around. I saw a refurbed body for only $500 the other day that almost made me get one as a second body. Good luck!

I've been very happy with a Sigma 18-300 Contemporary on my D7200 as a walking around lens. I'm pretty serious about birds in flight and other wildlife and shoot with a Sigma 150-500 for that purpose. With 24MP, you can get pretty good reach out of an 18-300 by cropping in post. You really can't go wrong with the Tamron, the Sigma or the Nikon, it just depends on how much pain your wallet can stand and what kind of deal you can run into during the holiday sales. Good luck!

Getting the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary this week at Precision Camera here in Austin when they have their semi-annual expo, with reps here from all the major manufacturers. Extra trade-in allowances and special factory deals should overcome the tax benefits of buying online. Plus, I like to support a good local business. Will post some shots as I move up from a 150-500 Bigma. I don't think you can go wrong with the Tamron either, they're very close in specs to the Sigma, in design and in weight. Good luck.

I do my own. The Lenspen Sensor Klean system from Amazon costs about $60 and has worked well for me on dust spots except for one stubborn smear. I got some wet swabs, also from an Amazon vendor and it did the trick. Nothing to fear. As others have stated, mirror up, fully charged battery. Use a rocket blower first, you may not need to touch anything at all. The Lenspen kit has a lighted, magnified loupe which makes the job easy. One pointer, if you have a spot in the upper left of your picture, it is on the lower right of the sensor. Good luck.

My understanding is the second you click the shutter in the U.S., you have copyright protection. I watermark photos I post online and my copyright info from within the camera's setup menu is in the EXIF data. You get an extra added layer of protection by registering with the government. This topic has been visited many times, you might just go to the government's copyright site to answer your question about the number of images that can be batch protected. Good luck!

If you compromise on size, I had a SX-50 refurb and liked it, met all the other criteria. I now have a Nikon P600, also a refurb, as a backup to my DSLR. Not pocketable, does not shoot RAW, but great results. No camera could meet all of your criteria without breaking the laws of physics or the bank or both. Good luck figuring out what to compromise on...

I'm a computer guy and do a fair amount of remote work for my clients. Being on the other side of the table, giving up control, would be hard for me as well... Glad it worked out.

Nice job Linda, and congrats on your anniversary here. I turn 3 on December 7th. The Hog has been very encouraging of my obsession with photography and you have contributed on several occasions. You're one of the good things about this place. Blessings!

As a computer guy, a man can never have enough backups. Storage is cheap. I clean up every month or so and keep a couple of backups in reserve. They are also out on Carbonite and an external drive. I'd hate to lose all my edits. Luckily, even if the catalog goes south and you can't get it back, your originals are still on your hard drive. This is why I still use a hierarchical filing system where I categorize by year -then shoot -then edited photos under the original folders. Just in case Adobe goes belly up, I have some semblance of order. I import into LR from that hierarchy. Guess I'm a belt and suspenders, raincoat, galoshes and waterproof boots kind of guy, but I have seen the wailing and gnashing of teeth of my clients when they haven't heeded our advice on multiple backups onsite and in the cloud and disaster has struck. I love LR, I just don't trust it 100%.