I guess I see Sony's a9iii as several things. First, I believe it is valid that Sony wanted the bragging rights that come with being the first CMOS, full frame, stacked sensor camera. They're a major player in the sensor market and a large player in the camera market and this gets people talking. Next, there are some photographers who will generate additional income with this camera. It will shoot at speeds and in ways that allow things (banding elimination or very high sync speeds) or make things easier than other cameras (high frame rate, etc.). I suspect the number of photographers who need this will be relatively small. Then there will be another group of people who want it, for whatever reason they do, and they can afford it, so they'll buy it and enjoy it, regardless of its limitations.

Truthfully, I think the A1 was very much in this vein as well. When it was released there was nothing like it. It was a tour de force and would do some things no other camera would do at the time. Like the a9iii, there were some who turned the capabilities into profits. However, I suspect there were many more who bought the camera because they wanted it and could afford it. Sony picked up many wildlife and birding photogs because of this camera and I know very few people who make any real money shooting these genres. It doesn't matter though, because people, especially those in wealthier countries, buy lots of stuff they don't need. As a side note, I think Nikon is currently capitalizing best on this with their wildlife and birding lens lineup. I suspect the majority of 400f4.5s, 180-200, 400f2.8TC, 600f2.8TC and 600f6.3 buyers aren't making lots of money with their kit, they're shooting as a hobby.

Finaly, with respect to dynamic range, for years Canon lagged Sony and Nikon. The 5Dmkiii had relatively abysmal dynamic range (1 to 2 stops behind depending on which camera it was compared to). Amazingly enough, though, it sold amazingly well, was used to produce countless photo contest winners and served many photographers very well across all genres. More broadly, there were many years in which Canon's dynamic range was behind (a stop or two, depending on the year and comparison), and they did lose some buyers to Sony or Nikon for this reason, but they still chugged along making cameras which sold and performed quite well; well enough to keep them at the top of the heap from a volume standpoint. For some, the dynamic range of the a9iii will be a deal breaker, but for many uses, it will likely not make much difference.

The LA-EA5 works pretty well with screw drive lenses (I have several remaining from my a99 and a99ii days), but as was mentioned above, is only supported for screw drive lenses on certain bodies. The first bodies supported were the a7Riv and a6600; I believe all bodies since then have support and none before.

Based on research I did with a focus on price and performance, I ended up with with a Lenovo P27u-20. It's 4k and 99.5%, Adobe RGB, and around $500. I've been quite happy with it, though I admit I'm not an aficionado. The colors are good, it calibrates easily and retains calibration. I also like the ports it provides and use it as a Thunderbolt hub for other devices.

I think it'll be interesting to see how Canon's strategy works out. From a sharpness standpoint, a given generation of prime is typically sharper than a zoom, but as technology progresses the differences have gotten pretty (negligibly?) small. The zooms will certainly be more versatile, but they'll also certainly be heavier and more expensive. There will be many who like these offerings, but there will be some for whom the price and/or weight will be to much.

As they've said, get the la-ea5 as it works well. You'll likely eventually want native glass, but what you have will work and possibly you have one or more of the classic Minolta lenses (I like the 35f1.4, Zeiss 85f1.4, 100f2, 200f2.8, 80-200f2.8, etc.)

Ah yes, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

I don't have anything to add to the D850 vs. a7Rv discussion, but I will share a bit of experience on adapting and mount adapters. I shot Sony A mount (Minolta's AF mount) for 30 years and it became aparant that A mount was going to die a slow death as they'd allocated their R&D to E mount. I saved for a couple of years and then did a complete mount swap including all lenses. The main drivers were AF performance and lens performance.

Canon and Nikon have a much longer list of legacy lenses and many reports suggest some of their lenses work more seamlessly than the A mount does on E mount, but in time they won't offer what new lenses do from the perspective of IS, sharpness, AF speed, weight, etc. Given this, the ability to adapt can allow the transition to occur over a longer time, but I think most people will end up doing a full or nearly full converstion anyway. This delayed transition can be financially beneficial, but I think relatively few will actually continue to adapt DSLR lenses over the long term.

I love the high key b&w. Very nice.

That is a beautiful composition.

Mingo Falls in Cherlokee, NC and a bull elk from the Oconaluftee side of the Smokys resting on a relatively warm, winter morning.

Vivid Metals (vividmetalprints.com/) hosted my photo club a couple of months ago at their print plant. They print exclusively on aluminum and have been doing it a very long time (as die sublimation printing on aluminum goes). They have a nice shop and do beautiful work. After our visit I worked with them to have one of my images printed. It was an image with some area which I wanted to be very dark, but not black. They took the time to help get the shadow level correct to achieve exactly what I wanted with one proof and then the final print. I would definitely recommend giving them a shot.

What are you looking for the tripod to do? Are you looking mostly for a landscape setup to use with relatively light, wide lenses in reasonably calm situations? Something to hold the camera and a normal focal length lens for family group photos? Are you looking for something you can put a 100-400mm lens and take long exposure landscape? Are you looking for something to put a 600mm lens on for wildlife? What you want to do with it will have a large impact on what you need. If the rig is reasonably light and the conditions calm, you can easiy go with a fairly lightweight setup. If you're doing long exposure with a 600mm f4 that weighs 10 lbs in a decent wind, it's either going to weigh a lot or cost a lot and possibly both.

I've not used a Legion, but have used Lenovo engineering workstations since around 2006 (though I don't remember the exact model I started with). The first model I remember was a W520 at work and then bought another to use at home in 2012 and bought my daughter a W520 in 2015. I bought my cousin a W541 a couple of years ago, replaced mine with a P51, replaced my daughter's with a P50 and recently replaced my P51 with a P15 Gen 2. My work W520 was replaced with a W540 and then a P50 and then I left the company for another who used Dell. Every single Lenovo I've purchased is still in use by family members. Nothing has been replaced except for a battery or two. Additionally, the Lenovos have proven far less glitchy than my Dell Precisions, though the Dells are similarly spec'd.

Here's another vote for Vivid Metals. They hosted my camera club a month or so back taking several hours to take us through the process and tour the facility. I had a pic I had planned to print on metal for a year or so but was looking for a company who would take time to help me get everything right for printing. They coached me through the best file to upload, printed a proof for me ($10 I think), recommended some optimizations and then make the print itself (16 x 24). I was really happy with the output and will return to have them print more. As a note, I believe they have white bases with three gloss options and they also have clear with a couple of gloss options (with clear the color of the aluminum takes the place of the white).

If a ballhead is ok I have had good success with the Sirui k30x ($123) and k40x ($138).