I am thinking of replacing my Tamron 150-600 Di VC lens. I have a Nikon D7000 and a new Z7ii. I have been very happy with the Tamron it works well on the D7000, BUT it does not auto focus on the Z7ii. As best as I can find it is the firmware/software on the lens and cannot be updated. I love the Z7ii and the focusing capabilities. I am thinking of the Nikon's F mount 200-500 f/5.6 E ED (used it can be had for 900 range at MBP) or the Z mount 180-600 f/5.6-6.3 VR (new 1,700 no used listed that I have found). I have the F to Z adapter. I have been happy with my past used purchases from the usual suspects (KEH, B&H). I have a few F mount lens those that autofocus work with the F2Z adapter and work on the Z7ii. I have two Z mount lenses 24-120 and the 105, both are S lenses and have to me outstanding image quality. I would be using this lens for birds and other nature photos. If you have either or both which do you think has the best image quality and would be my best option?

You seem to be making my point. When someone mentioned that the image looked a little soft, you didn’t mind the critique, especially since you knew it was so due to shooting through glass. I posted my original rant several years ago after I replied (POLITELY) to a Gallery post suggesting that a background was too cluttered and stepping left or right a few steps would have improved the shot and I got slammed (NOT so politely) for daring to offer criticism in that forum. If your ego can’t take a well intended suggestion, you should consider not posting.

This machine has 32GB RAM. That's more than adequate. It also has two hard drives, one SSD (512GB) and one HDD (1TB). That's fine too. The price is good. The only thing I see that it doesn't have is a dedicated graphics card. Depending on what you do, it may not matter, but it might if you're editing video. Video editors sometimes make heavy use of the graphics GPU. Anyway, fine machine on a budget. Some on UHH are going to suggest spending megabucks or having a custom machine built. Whatever suits them, but buying from Costco is the easiest thing in the world.

Conflicting / confusing exposure suggestions for Baily's beads. Also, confused about the Diamond Ring.

Two very prominent names in the solar eclipse photography world are Fred Espenak (Mr Eclipse) and Xavier Jubier (creator of solar eclipse timer software).

Fred has a suggested Eclipse settings chart where you pick your ISO and F-stop, then it suggests best shutter speed. Xavier has an online tool where you enter your ISO and f-stop and it suggests best shutter speeds.

For Baily's Beads, Fred's chart, at ISO 100 and f8, suggests a shutter speed of 1/4000th, but Xavier's tool suggests 2/3 stop faster at 1/6400 (note these speeds are with filter off).

For the Diamond ring, both the chart and the tool suggest the same: 1/125th

Discussion: What are your thoughts on the Baily's beads settings? would you shoot at 1/6400 (pretend you're using ISO 100 and f8) as Xavier's tool suggests, or would you slow the shutter speed to 1/4000 (which would move the exposure 2/3 to the right)? I'm conflicted. I will be shooting High Speed shutter and don't want to bracket because the R5 will only shoot the bracketed shots then stop unless you release the shutter and re-press it again, which I don't want to have to do.

Also: I'm a bit confused about what is called the "Diamond Ring" effect. Many resources seem to imply that the Diamond Ring is the bright bit just before Baily's beads, but then I've seen other resources that suggest that Baily's beads occurs just at the end of Baily's beads. In both Freds chart and Xavier's online tool, the recommended shutter speed is significantly slower than what they recommend for Baily's beads. This would suggest that they are referring to the latter definition of Diamond Ring" that would be at the end of the Beads and thus have less light. Otherwise, if the Diamond ring is what occurs before the Beads, why would you be shooting so much slower when there would be much more light? I'm confused. Thoughts?