Ditto to Don and Jerry. Just got a refurb Nikon P600 as a backup camera from Cameta. I buy used and refurbed from KEH, B&H, Adorama and others and have never been able to tell that I didn't have new equipment other than to check the shutter count, which was usually exceptionally low. Good luck!

I'm hoping he is just having a setback, he's one of the good guys here. Always helpful and cheerful, willing to dig deeper to find an answer. I'm keeping him in my prayers...

I spend a lot of time here in Central Texas tracking down raptors and water birds. I pull a few rabbits out of my hat, but this series gives me something to shoot for. Very nice work. I know how much time and patience it takes alongwith a little luck, mixed with good gear and most importantly, wait for it..., a skillful photographer for shots like these to "just happen". It all came together in this set of shots. Again, kudos.

Born in Toledo, raised in the Chicago area, moved to Texas to escape the snow. Welcome aboard, this is a great place to get help and to pay it forward when you can. Check out the many sub-forums here for every photographic interest and make good use of the basic search function, many questions have been answered many times before. Welcome aboard!

Tony Northrup's Kindle books on Lightroom are excellent and include hours of video tutorials as well for only $10. Best money I ever spent. I learned a lot of new tricks after thinking I was pretty proficient. Good luck!

I have the D7200 Experience by Klostermann in Kindle format on my computers and smartphone. Much more in depth than the manual. He's been doing these guides for years, I'm sure he has one for the D7100, one of the most popular cameras of all time... Good luck.

Had an SX-50, gave it to a missionary friend in Africa recently when her camera died. I got it refurbed from Canon for $179 last April. Replaced it with a Nikon P600 factory refurbed by Nikon through cameta.com for $199. Better zoom range and I think it's a little better low light than SX-50. It doesn't shoot RAW, if that's important to you. Good luck in your quest.

Different strokes. If you have thousands of photos, keywords can help you find a needle in a haystack quickly. One of the strengths of Lightroom is it's catalog, a database of your images if you will. With keywords and a date range, you can find all pictures of horses from 2013, for example. If you don't use the catalog's benefits or don't want them, you're almost better off staying in Photoshop. of course, in the Develop module, you can copy settings from one photo to others and save a lot of editing time. Good luck using the features you like at the moment. The rest of the package may grow on you.

Nice images, glad you're here. It's a great place to learn from others and to pay it forward. Good luck!

I use Carbonite for $59.99 a year and it is truly unlimited. I have 1.4TB of mostly pictures out there and they are all accessible on my smartphone or any web-connected computer in the world. It takes a long time to upload large amounts of data, most Internet connections are asynchronous, with upload speeds much slower than download. Once you have a current backup out on the cloud, it only has to keep up with new, modified or deleted content. Carbonite also has a service for a fee to overnight a hard drive to you of your backup in the event of a disaster or you can prioritize what you want restored first and wait for the rest to dribble in to anew or restored computer. As a computer guy, I recommend some form of cloud backup to all my clients, partially because the newer ransomware viruses can encrypt your computer and any attached external drives, whereas online backup services usually keep a rolling month of all you files. With Carbonite, I can go back to the way my data was yesterday or a week ago or up to a month ago. I will NEVER pay the bad guys a ransom for my stuff. I do also use external drives, but you really need a good cloud backup as well for full protection. Good luck!

I recently went from a 35MB/sec older 64GB Sony Class 10 card to a Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 MB/sec when I got a D7200. The older card would buffer after about 20 high quality JPEG shots, I can crank out about 100 images now before it begins to slow down. Big difference. The card was about $50 at Amazon. Well worth it if you do wildlife or other action photography. I use the older, slower cards in the second slot as overflow in case Slot 1 fills up. Good luck!

I got the 35mm F1.8 used from KEH for around $125 last summer. Can't tell it from a new lens. I think your kit lens would be fine, as someone else said, don't mess with new glass or equipment on an event until your comfortable with it. With that said, used and refurbished really help you stretch your budget. Renting lenses is another avenue to help you determine if that next expensive toy will really help take you to the next level. Good luck!

I was considering the D750 and settled for the D7200 when it came out just in the nick of time at around $1100. Great low light performance, 24MP and a bigger, faster buffer than the D7100 for continuous shooting. I can crank out up to 100 shots at high quality JPG when needed with a pro speed SDXC card. You could use the lenses you already have. Or sell them. I would spend the savings on better glass. Unless there is a good reason for full frame, like landscapes or maybe architectural photography, we serious amateurs can be very happy with a good crop sensor. Nobody asks me if my best shots came from a full frame camera or not. My 2 cents. Good luck in your quest.

I would think that putting the Tamron zoom on the D7100 would make sense, since it's 24MP. That will give you a little more reach if you crop in post processing later. Just a thought.

I travel to Kenya twice a year and my go to lens most of the time is a Sigma 18-300 Contemporary with my D7200. The 24MP sensor allows for a little extra zoom by cropping later. I also have a Sigma 150-500, but hauling that halfway around the world on my mission trips when weather is iffy and I might only get one safari out of two possible ones to happen makes light and easy better. I had a Canon SX-50 with me last time for extra reach and as a backup. The bean bag idea is great, you will probably be in a popup van and it will steady your gear. Make sure the driver turns the engine off when you want him to, engine vibration is death on zoomed shots. Also, one zoom with a good range makes sense because you may be in very dusty conditions and changing lenses won't be a good idea. Good luck.