All of the previous comments are excellent.

However; I own seven bodies ranging from D300 to D850. I have a lens change technique I used on a nuclear submarine and none of my cameras have ever needed cleaning!
[The camera's innards & the rear lens element are only exposed to the air for a maximum of three seconds.]

(If necessary take a soft lint free rag from my pocket and place it on a suitable surface)

Place the camera on its back, push the lens release button and rotate but DO NOT remove the lens.

Take the new lens, place it face down next to the camera or (if necessary, between my legs) and and rotate but DO NOT remove the lens cap.

Lift the lens from the camera body and transfer the rear lens cap from the new lens onto the old, set the old lens down and install the new lens onto the camera.

I must admit that this technique would not be suitable during dust storms in the Sahara or in burning buildings.

I have no authoritative knowledge on the subject; but have shot wide angle through telephoto directly into the sun with a Sony RX-100M3, Sony RX-100V and a wide range of Nikons from D200 through D850 with no detectable signs of damage what so ever.

JD750's damaged camera would give cause for concern. But I have to wonder what sort of shutter speed he was using to photograph that solar eclipse or if he had the shutter open and was using the camera's display as a viewfinder.

In my examples, the direct sun makes the shutter speeds very fast and I use the normal SLR viewfinder; so my biggest concern is to protect my eye-ball while looking through the viewfinder !!!
Viewing fast with a stopped down lens and a tripod helps with that. (Note: the tripod is not for slow shutter speeds but so you can accurately aim the camera using quick peeks through the view finder.)

I have voiced my preferences for the D850 and why in the past.
Just today however, I discovered a tiny feature on my D850 (probably not important to many photographers) but will be very important to me for the equinox four days from now. I am shooting 360º spherical panoramas with my fisheye lens. These shots require ultra precise tripod work. The D850 is the only model I have out of five others starting with the D200 through the D810 that has this feature.
It is a tiny little hole on the bottom of the camera near the 1/4 20 mounting hole. A spring loaded pin on the tripod mounting plate fits into that hole to prevent the the camera from rotating relative to the tripod! It's the tiniest feature I can possibly imagine; but it will be crucial to my once a year work next week and helpful any other time I use a tripod.

I have both models. They are fairly similar (for some strange reason the locations of the ISO & Mode buttons are switched. I use both and have no problem switching back and forth between them. It's very easy to switch between them. I frequently take both — one with a telephoto lens and one with a wide angle lens.

The BIG difference to me is that the 850 Has a full stop extra ISO and considerably higher resolution (45.7 vs. 36.3 megapixels). Those two features alone are worth the extra money when you need them and I can't remember the what price difference was.

For me It's a no brainer. If I only had one, I would want it to be the 850.

Hello Sunshine Willow.

I am a photographer and I have purchased multiple houses. In years past, I've had a couple of realtors for friends.

As a buyer, I never placed too much stock in real estate photos.
Realtors are very rushed. So they don't have a lot of time for photos. Also if the photos are too fancy, they look faked. But I believe you are correct — there are actually photos out there that do more harm than good.

The fact that you asked such a question makes me think you may not need an expensive class.
I think you should follow your instincts — pass on the expensive class and take photos the way you think they should look.

That's not even a remotely fair question !!!

If it was film, you turned it into digital when you digitized it and placed it on the internet.

I have a mixture of Nikon and other good brands (the not so good brands are awful and are quickly discarded).
For non professional work I can take pictures for several days on a charge and the money saved is substantial. The Nikons do seem to last longer and are definitely all I would use if I were a professional photographer.

I think you will be very happy with that arrangement.
Just be sure that the focusing, zoom and aperture rings rotate in the same direction as your main camera (your subconscious needs those rings to rotate the same way or you will miss some important shots).

It just isn't practical to carry a bulky camera with you all of the time; yet not having any camera at all when that magic event happens is a total bummer.

Any decent compact camera can do a good job on about 70 — 90% of the photos we take and not having a camera with you when you need it is a real bummer.

I have never encountered that formulae before.
I am very eager to try it out.

You know more about what you want in focus than those so-called experts.

Do not use continuous auto focus for most of your shots.
Do as you did before — use the back button focus to focus on what you want and then recompose the way you want and take the picture.

This is a total no brainer. Store raw and/or TIF on two drives.
Raw or TIF are the highest quality available and hard disk storage is hands down cheaper than any other photography equipment you own.

WOW !!!!
For sea creatures, insects or birds; I don't think I've ever seen better camouflage.

WOW !!!!
For sea creatures, insects or birds; I don't think I've ever seen better camouflage.

Since B&H sold you a camera claiming it would meet your needs and then refuse to take it back for the full price;

they are now on my EXCREMENT list !!!!!

Wow !!!
I wish I had known that before I bought my 8—15mm fisheye.
That extra three degrees would be just enough to solve my blue equator problem in my fully spherical 360° (aka 4π steradian) panorama shots. I'm working on other solutions but they are complicated.