Thank you so much. Just what I was looking for.

I am an amateur enthusiast and shoot landscapes, nature - still and in-flight, night scenes and family events with a Nikon D850.
I have 24 & 50mm F1.8 primes. I've thought about a 1.4 or 1.2 for better low light performance but am concerned about DOF. As I've thought more about it, I realize I rarely even use the 1.8 wide open. I have gotten some nice night night shots handheld or minimally braced with the 1.8.
Maybe I just don't know enough about what tool to use in what situation.
So the question is - in what situations is an f1.4 or 1.2 the right tool for the job and what will it give you that a much less expensive 1.8 will not?

Thanks. I have some decent backup equipment. I see you're also from DE. I'm just north of the canal in Bear.

The screw just worked it's way out over time. Happened a few times before where it was part way loose and I always caught it and tightened it. They were warning shots and I missed the clues. I've been tightening it as tight as I can with my fingers.
Please --- anyone who reads this --- pay attention. Near misses are gifts.

I just finished filling out the repair order to send my 3 month old D850 and my Tamron 24-70 f2.8 for repair. The camera no longer focuses properly with any lens and the lens has a loose mount and some stripped screw threads. It only fell from about 18".
I was using an Altura shoulder strap that screws into the tripod screw hole and it let go when I picked up the camera by the strap. The strap is in the garbage now. I am posting this to hopefully prevent someone else from going through this experience. If you have any screw in type strap without a backup tether - get a replacement before your next camera use.

Hopefully I will have both back in a few weeks working properly.

We were walking near the 911 memorial in NYC and I looked up and saw the moon and thought it looked pretty cool. I shot it this handheld on my d750 at 1/10 sec, f5.6 and ISO 12600. VR was on I'm sure.

(Download)

One of my first attempts at HDR with photomatix at a local marina.

This was a street vendor drawing a portrait in the shade of a tree in central park (New York City) from this summer. Taken with my D750 - 28-300mm nikkor at 85mm, 1/100, f14, ISO 640. I don't do many portraits but I really like the color and softness of the reflected light.

This was a from a first day trial run with my Tamron 150-600 telephoto at 1/4000: 600mm: f7.1: ISO 1000. I was practicing with the 3d auto focus on my D750 and this was part of a burst. The birds like to hang out at a railroad bridge that crosses the canal and I took a few hundred shots that day. This one was coming in for a landing. I love the shadow of the birds head on the inside of the wing.
BTW - I kept the lens.

This was taken from my kayak at a local pond this summer at 1/1000 of a sec, f6.3 and ISO 3200 at 300mm on my 18-300 lens. I was set up for trying to catch birds in flight and saw this in the distance close to shore. It was on the shady side of the pond when the sun was getting low. I love the way the light sets off the bird and the stump and the reflections.

Go into file explorer.
Right clock on the pictures folder
Select properties.
The total size of the folder will be on the General tab.

I would recommend B&H photo. I went to their 4 day Optics seminar a few months ago so I visited their store in NYC multiple times. They are great people and very knowledgeable and helpful. I witnessed first hand that they have a very good return policy. Absolutely stay away from 42nd Street Photo (NYC also) where I bought my D750 (which I love). I was lured in by a very low camera and lens package. When I placed the order, they told me I needed these $200 memory cards (120 mb/sec) for the camera to work properly and these extra high capacity batteries. (They probably improve performance if you do video, but I don't.) When I got the manual and saw that the ones I already had were listed as compatible and would work fine, they would not allow me to return just the overpriced add-ons for a refund. They wanted me to box up the entire outfit and send it back.

If I could only have 1 lens for this pup, I would get the Nikkor 28 - 300. I use it 90% of the time. I did get a Tamron 150-600mm which has taken some great shots, but is a beast to carry around. It allows me to get better shots of animals before they bolt from me trying to get too close.

I am an amateur with similar goals. I just made the switch from DX to full frame getting a D750 with the 28-300mm lens. It rocks. I chose it over the 810 because I do a lot of low light stuff. I view the bodies as disposable after 5 - 8 years as new features and functionality are available and this was as much as I was willing to spend on a body. The max shutter and fps are fine for everything I've attempted to date. (Don't do car races and haven't been to an air show yet.)

I've been using and exploring the features every chance I get for a few months now. I'm now comfortable with finding and changing most settings and knowing when to do it. I did add a 150-600mm tamron zoom to get close enough to the birds for better shots. The 600mm is too big and heavy to carry regularly -- but I've gotten some really good shots with it.

I just moved up to a full frame camera (D750). If I select a picture size of anything other than large, what is being eliminated when I reduce the size? I just shot the same picture twice - once as Large and once as small with everything else the same. I zoomed in to max on one spot and there is no discernible difference in the detail when viewing it on camera. Does the camera use a smaller area of the available sensor or something else?

Thank you all so much. This is one active forum.

Distilling what I learned from the responses -
#1 - get the shot - I'll leave ISO in auto mode and maybe toy with limiting it's max value if I get unusable images due to noise when shooting low light subjects. When my skills and knowledge allow, I can modify my process and settings.

I'm just starting getting to know my new D750. This should be quite the adventure.