I have one camera that produces noticeably worse results on a tripod when IS is on. It tries to stabilize the image even though there is no motion and causes blur. The other two cameras I own sense when on a tripod and don't have the same problem. In other words, it depends, but turning it off can't hurt unless you forget to turn it back on when you remove the camera from the tripod.

I don't know from personal information but did hear on a podcast by an astronomer and photographer that you should not use any filter that doesn't cover the front of the lens. He specifically mentioned that drop-on filters were not suitable.

I was in Iceland in 2021 on a Viking Ocean cruise that went completely around the island. I took a Fujifilm XT-2 camera (APSC) with four lenses. I used the 10-24mm zoom for 50 shots, the 18-55mm for 950 shots, the 55-200mm for 328 shots and the 60mm macro for 41 shots. "Keepers" were in about the same proportion. Hope this helps, and have a great time!

I use two speed lights with umbrellas on stands for portraits both on manual power. I generally start at 1/4 power at base ISO and f/5.6 or f/8 and adjust as needed, either changing the power for large changes or the light position (distance) to make small changes. I have one transmitter on the camera, and two receivers (one for each light). It's pretty basic but gives reasonable results, though not really professional quality.

I read somewhere many years ago that in the early days of photography (all film of course) someone took images at a variety of focal lengths, printed them as 8x10 and put several different people at the location where the photo was taken. They were asked to say if the photo was the same as they saw the scene, more wide angle, or more telephoto. It was found that when the focal length was approximately the same as the film diagonal, the view was rendered normally. This would equate to a 6" lens (approximately 150mm) on 4x5 sheet film, about 43mm for 35 mm film. The camera makers settled on 50mm to 58mm as the "normal" lens.

When digital cameras were initially made the sensors were very small due to the difficulty and high cost of making larger sensors. This resulted in much "shorter" focal lengths being "normal". As a way to make it easier to understand to the average photographer the concept of crop factor was introduced. Since everyone either used or knew about 35mm film, they said "multiply the actual focal length by the crop factor and note the answer". You will get the same field of view as that focal length on a 35mm film camera".

Today, we can just look through the viewfinder or the screen on the back of the camera and compose the shot till it looks good, and ignore all that other stuff.

I like eating children and not using commas.

The Epson ET-8550 is a six-color wide carriage Eco-Tank printer. I have a smaller ET-4850 four-color all-in-one that does letter size. I normally print on a Canon photo printer, but have used it occasionally for photos and got really good results. I have had zero problems with clogging in about two years. The only small thing is that the ink volume remaining is not accurate (generally it over-estimates the amount of ink used) and you need to go into the menu every few months and recalibrate the ink levels, but it's pretty easy to do. I am considering switching to the ET-8550 when my Canon Pro-100 dies, mainly due to the much lower cost of ink.

First, you have to unlock the System Preferences before it will let you make any changes such as removing the SSD from the excluded list. Second, I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner since it will let you schedule backups. I make two backups every night starting about 1:30 AM, one of my photos (all on a NAS, so backup to a separate external drive) and one of my Mac mini to a folder on the NAS. You can choose any source and destination (a full drive or just a folder) and schedule whenever and as often as you want. It does incremental backups (only new or changes files) so it doesn't take long after the initial backup. Cost is about $30 and it gets upgraded frequently at no additional cost. I highly recommend it.

You should also consider an off-site backup, either by moving a backup drive to a safe location, or by using a cloud backup program such as Back Blaze or Carbonite or whatever.

My only recommendation would be to consider getting a reader with both USB-A and USB-C connections. I have one and it future-proofs the device. Many new laptops only have USB-C now.

I'm running it on a M1 Mac mini with no problems. It might be different on an older Intel machine.

Drives listed on the "options" page are EXCLUDED from the Time Machine backup. Select it and hit the "minus" button to remove it from the list and it should be included in the backup. You will need to authenticate to make the change.

I use a Mac as well. If you are on a budget, I got a Mac Mini M1 with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD for $1,100 then paired it with a 24" BenQ monitor for $400. I have been very satisfied with the performance and don't think you will need a Mac Studio unless you use lots of layers in Photoshop. If you do, you might consider the Mac Mini with the M2 PRO chip. It is between the standard mini and the Studio. By going with a separate monitor you can upgrade the computer and keep the same monitor.

Good Luck!

Your Mac comes with Apple Photos, and it is a pretty simple but effective program that does everything you asked for. Look at it first and see if it meets your needs.

I found that "most" heads are mounted with a 3/8" threaded post on the legs and a corresponding hole in the head. The head should just unscrew from the legs. The heads may have "stuck" if not removed in a long time so it could be difficult. Try more force, but not too much. Some of the heads may be built-in and not removable. Look for a line between the head and the legs. Good Luck!

I have an Epson ET-4850. I primarily use a Canon Pro-100 for photos but have printed occasional pictures on the Epson and the results are very good. If you are getting washed out photos I suspect something is wrong. I would try a small pack of Epson paper since it is "guaranteed" to be compatible. If this solves the problem then try finding an icc profile for the paper you are using (but it must be for the Epson ET-4850, too).