Mamba,
Manhattan was, once, in the 1600's through the mid 1700's a rural agrarian place with streams, woods hills and marshes. Obviously, it all changed as the Dutch and later English settlers arrived and populated the area. The same for the other borough which were counties. Central Park was a deliberate effort to preserve "what once was" for the residents and future residents and visitors. Besides it being New York's Comfort Zone, it sits as a gleaming Jewell among Urban parks throughout the world. There are many parks and thousands of acres preserved across the boroughs. The NY Parks Department has done a fantastic job staying ahead of the intrusion of destructive and despoiling behaviors exhibited by people who don't respect themselves enough to realize their obligation to respect others.

Those parks, especially Central Park, are the sanity restorers, as well as the vitality restorers for the residents and visitors. I hope you get a chance to visit NY again, perhaps with a local. There's plenty to relate to. And with the sheer scale of the population and diversity of the terrain, there is plenty to see. With the transit system, it is affordably accessible, too! And most of all, there are probably as many of whatever your "down home restaurants" as other are "down home." Yes, BBQ Beef, pork, chicken, ribs and more, Red Beans and Rice, TexMex, and everything else. Chicken fried like it is supposed to be. I couldn't think of a way to be exposed to world culture than to take a week wandering the parts of NY that are home to those people from all around the country and the world who made NY, NY their home. Foods from Greece, China, Japan, Africa, Russia, Europe, Philippines and more. Count 'em TWO of the largest Chinatowns and Litle Italy's in the WORLD. More Greeks than in Athens. SO if you do decide to stretch your comfort zone and visit again, remember, Central Park, Astoria Park, Prospect Park and a dozen other BIG ones including 3 large Botanical Gardens and I think 3 Zoo's I have visited when I lived and grew up there 60+ years ago. And let those parks be your comfort zone, too. A little visit goes a long way, especially if you bring a bag of "down home" lunch to enjoy while you're there.

The best parks are the little "vest pocket" parks in the middle of a city block, where some building used to be, and instead of re-building they put in some grass, some benches and a table or two. Instant 60'x80' $1M comfort zone.

C

I went to the New York Campus of that old school.
C

Beg the question!

I think this is a left-over from the film days, when many of the users had cameras they used on manual or semi auto modes like aperture or shutter priority. EXIF didn't exist and couldn't be included. There is a subset of photographers, no matter how experienced, to whom the exposure triangle is pure magic, and therefore settings continue to confound them. I turned it into a game and viewed the images a light evaluation exercise, until I found that futile. But as Linda pointed out, it was info requested by the publication. Perhaps it attested to the fact that the photographer was a religious not taker. after exposure. Cynical me says the pubs wanted to keep up the Camera manufacturers' techno metering mystique while selling subscribers low-cost re-hashed basic exposure editorial material as new content.

"My, my, did he ever take the most beautiful ISO 1600 landscape I ever saw! And at 1/2000 of a second, no less"

I think this hits the heart of the matter. With the entire photo with 20 MP, you're selecting 10-20% of the image area, and enlarging that to the full-sized frame. This gives you the resolution of a toy camera. The purpose of a crop is to place the subjects in a smaller frame. Be sure to do this in camera, by zooming or walking closer. Even if your shot was a tight one of the family, pulling the boy out would leave you with a too small number of pixels. Yielding a soft image.

If your ENT can't get it, order the kick-start model! Good luck.

SAME! I paid too much to have to replace it!

My neck strap his detachable from the part attached to the lugs, and they can clip together, so for short bits, I can carry with a short finger wrap or wrist wrap.
I shoot my verticals elbows in tight, upside down actuating the shutter with my thumb. Reminiscent of TLR days.

All very old school. I'm learning to use my flippy screen to advantage.

77 blue

As an ol' perfesser put it: "just a wink."

That image alone should sell the zoom lens. Thanks, Bill, for your years of good sense and wisdom here.

As a long experienced amateur, I shoot my grandson's baseball games. He's a High School Catcher, so any non-screened-in shots with him facing the camera need to be taken from about 120 feet away where there's a way to shoot around the fence.
I have a Canon Aps-C camera with the 26MP Sensor and Digic 8 processor. The only body specs that make a difference in still-image quality. I use the EF-70-300-II which delivers crisp images and shines as a non-L smaller max aperture lens. It is a great budget alternative, but still good enough to be a lighter weight substitute for very demanding pros on the go.

I fill the frame with him in the low position at about 200mm--which is about 320 after the "crop." And for his at-bats he fills the frame at about 190mm or 304 with the crop factor.

I hope you solve your tele needs. Try renting some alternatives. The Converters, long a staple for Nature, wildlife and even Sports pros, were never a good solution. I remember when I had a sideline opportunity at a football game. I got terminal Lens envy over a BIG WHITE 600 mm my host was using like it was a 70-200. He mounted it onto my camera, making the FOV of 960mm. I was much younger and still pushing some "big plates" around the Gym. But handling that monster yielded some very lousy camera-shake shots in my display. I returned it after two series.

As bad as trying to shoot with that monster was, carrying it to and from the van was worse! And that'll never be a one lens solution, so you've got another 30# of stuff to schlep.

Almost every wildlife "in situ portrait" is already heavily cropped for print or publication. The converter will degrade the image far more than a good modern APS-C sensor.

The APS-C body gives a long lens shooter a great advantage. Come to think of it, a quality 1.4 or 2X converter costs nearly as much as a nice used APS-C body--especially if that's all you're using it for. And it could save the bacon if a back-up body is needed. And except for extreme low light situations, today's sensors and processors are delivering excellent images from these newer bodies.

And mine even has a mirror!

Historic note: The late great Galen Rowell used to carry an EOS 35mm Rebel when he was on location and during his regular fitness runs. One of his famous mountain-top Indian Temple photos was taken with that rig.

C

No, it has a range finder. Like so many before us. OR it has a ground glass viewing screen, ditto. or yes, it does have a mirror, but it is stationary---does that count. Think Henri, Ansel and Earnst. You think Mirrorless is going to make you that good?

Extreme lens design parameters are still the exception, not the rule.
Live view is a convenience to some.

But let's get away from the camera makes the photographer nonsense. That was a dead horse long ago.

The best advice running in the forum, when asked about evaluating a new upgraded camera purchase usually advised the poster to list those things they're unable to do with their present gear, that the new gear allows.

Nice features that IBIS, EVF, eye focus. They either aren't relevant to my work, OR I've been working around them for 30 years and if I'm not perfect, I'm better than good enough.

With all the metering and focus points sensors have today, if you need to see a capture preview, except in the extreme, get a one-on-one tutorial. The rest of us learned that in Jr High, and then found bracketing/compensation when it became available. I bracketed and compensated with my thumb for years. With a modern DSLR, I still can do it faster than the automagic!

C

I'm glad I have company disagreeing with many valid points.

And it's FUN, too, when those valid folks get their safety straps in a wad!

Made me smile.
C

Back in the manual film days when as automagic as you got was "fill in the bland" Priority mode--and then there was Program? Then there were exposure menus, from spot to global and auto focus menus, too. Also the film and ISO "Speed" was also quoted. All, I think, to give other pros and enthusiasts, and students a feeling for the process and choices made.

Today, with so many factors that once were "materials" choices now native to Digital cameras' Processors and sensors. Of course, film development notes were often found on the Art B&W's--developer, "finishes" Preservers and more. The fact that the Processor, Sensor and file rendering (jpeg etc.) impact the image as displayed, they are proprietary, usually, to the Camera Make and Model.

I think we all look at an image and try to figure out how "he" made it, or how to duplicate it. It is part of the "Art Learning/Teaching method. The reason photography has such a grip on so many of us is the constant pull to get better, make an image "like that" one, etc. I remember getting a "sharp" shot of Oscar Peterson at the Village Vanguard in 1958 using my father's Kodak Signet, f/3.5, 1/20th sec, every (MY!) body part braced, and breath held, shutter slowly squeezed--as if--! It came out great, Still taking my turns in the Photo Geek Parade. Oh yeah, Tri X Pushed 2 to 1600 ASA. It was as close as I could get to the NY Times guy with his Leica M4 and Noculex at close to f/1 and a sensible 1/125th shutter. He was a wonderful on the scene coach. Sadly, his name has receded from my memory.

Nope, it is the equivalent of processing a RAW image. Consider RAW an acronym with you being smart enough to assign flattering initials.
Photo Craig
Been married since there were Super Bowls: XVIII.

I'm down to initials.