I started using L brackets a few years ago after some bad experiences with (cheap) tripods that didn't hold the camera level in portrait mode. I was also frustrated that each tripod manufacturer seemed to have their own idea of what plates were needed to have QR capability. ("That's why I like standards--there are so many to choose from.")

It seemed that the most "standard" clamp was ARCA. So now, each of my cameras has an L bracket with an ARCA groove, and each tripod has an ARCA type clamp. Attaching the camera in either portrait or landscape mode is a cinch. The L brackets also allow easy access to the battery and memory card(s) and they slide out for access to the HDMI, USB, etc. connections.

It might be useful to have something like a JKSafety vest. But to be identifiable as a photographer, it would be nice if there was something like "Professional Photographer" or maybe even just "Photographer" stenciled on the back. A photographer friend of mine was crossing a suspension bridge (in the pedestrian lane). At one point, she leaned over to capture the image of a boat passing under the bridge. Someone spotted her and misunderstood what she was doing. The police, trying to "save" her from taking her life, made a mess of the traffic. A vest identifying her as a photographer might have prevented the incident.

I mostly saved all my photos and negatives from about age 6 to 18. About that time, I added color transparencies (slides) to my repertoire. I have most of them, to about age 50. Meanwhile, at about age 20, I got serious about b&w negatives and darkroom work. I carefully preserved these and annotated the proof sheets. Unfortunately, after college I began moving around a bit and stored most of these (along with my baseball cards and other "valuables") in my parents' attic. Just by magic, by the time I had a more permanent home, they had all disappeared (including the baseball cards). Fortunately, I still have a couple of 8.5" x 11" prints of the best photos.

Now, since I first started shooting digital, I catalog everything in Lightroom Classic. Every quarter or so I cull out everything rated ** or lower. This leaves me with "only" 95k images. With my quarterly clean-up, I have moved most of those to offline storage (2 copies each). I keyword enough so I can usually find what I'm looking for.

I don't claim that any of this represents a "best practice," but it seems like a good compromise between spending time managing my inventory and going out and shooting more (and enjoying other aspects of life).

Very nice!

Wow! You must be almost as old as I am. I still have his album "Murray the K's Gassers for Submarine Race Watchers." I don't remember what station he was on. Was it 880 or 770?

I bet your first camera was a Brownie Target Six-20.

With Lightroom on my Android phone and LrC on my computer, any photo I take on the phone (using LR, of course) just shows up on my computer. If I don't need it right away, I'll see it the next time I import from my camera. That is, I will filter on all the photos that are Unlabeled, and the phone photos show up. Then I keyword and rate them along with my DSLR photos, and they just live in the usual workflow from there.

Sorry, but it isn't the same with patents. If you had invented a solution that turns red when it contacts urushiol (the rash-causing chemical in poison ivy, oak and sumac), you could have patented it.

Suppose, then, that I invented a cloth that is impregnated with your solution. I could have patented the idea of impregnating the cloth with your solution and rubbing it on poison ivy. But if I created such a cloth, I would be infringing on your patent and would have to purchase your solution (or get your permission--usually by paying a royalty--to make it). Yes, anyone else who impregnated a cloth with your solution and did not get my permission (and yours) would be infringing on both patents.

No matter how significant the improvement I make on your patent, I cannot patent the result de novo. I can patent only my improvement.

With copyright, if I create an image by significantly modifying yours, I can copyright my image in its entirety. It is not so with patents. Also, by the way, copyrights persist for something like seventy-five years after the death of the creator. They are intended to protect the effort and skill of the creator. Patents persist for something like nineteen years after the patent application is filed. Patents are intended as an incentive to the inventor to publish their invention (patent applications, with all their detail, are public) by protecting the inventor's effort and skill of the inventor.

I've had my D850 for a number of years. I traded in my D800E for it. I've now had my z7 (not z7II) for a little over a year now. In that time I've used each one for about the same number of images. I'm glad I got the z7. Now I'm not drooling over the z8 or z9, neither of which I can really afford anyway. Unless it breaks, I'm not likely to sell my D850. If the z7 dies, my first inclination will be to look for a used D850 to replace it.

I don't know how my personal experience compares with other people's, so I wouldn't say it counts against your prediction. Consider this just the rant of a septuagenarian whose learning curve seems to be lengthening daily.

I am not interested, and do not even look at, threads whose subject line is vague, like "Problem with Lightroom" (what problem?) or "Nikon Z8" (What is it about the Z8 you want to share or ask?). Now, "The I'm Not Interested Thread" caught my eye. Good idea!

Thank you Rich and Angela. I will take the test drive after the update ships, as you suggest. It sounds like a winner.

Thanks for relating your experience. My need for storage, and my initial interest in Mylio, was due to the fact that I do most of my work on a MacBook Pro with a 500MB internal drive. I'm often getting Photoshop errors due to insufficient swap space. I have a WD My Cloud Home, but the performance is poor. What's the performance like on your SSD? Is it direct attach or NAS? Would it be useful for swap space?

That's what I thought.

I've been looking at information about Mylio Photos. It looks too good to be true. They claim to be able to squeeze all of your photos into 5% of their current space. Do they use compression? Do they "resize" the photos? I noticed one claim that "Mylio Photos shrinks raw photos to less than 5% of their original file size while still preserving full editing. The Smart Previews are ready to share on social media or even make a 5x7 print."

One question I have is whether you can get back the full size raw photo, or only a file with enough data to make a 5x7 print.

I'd be interested to hear if you've had any experience with this product.

I'm sorry for your misunderstanding. But if more people with Z cameras would do as you did, it would be a windfall for other Z owners. We'd happily purchase those F mount lenses to use on our Zs.

Beautiful!