Thank Mo T and Andee!
Andee, I do feel blessed to have been able to raise the money. When it happened I had visions of going much longer without it. Well the camera has only been here for a few days, but my initial observations (as compared to my D90):
More focus points means autofocus works more quickly and more accurately. The lowest "true iso" was 200, now 100 means I will not have to rely on the neutral density filter as much. The highest iso is also twice the D90s. On that, comparing iso 1600 on the new camera to iso 1600 on the D90 grain is much less visible. Of course the move from a 12Mpxl to 24 may have some bearing on that. That would be the next obvious thing, 24 mpxls means larger prints! I didn't have mirror lockup on the D90, that should improve my macro photographs. This camera also has an "interval meter" (something that was on my wishlist).
If I remember correctly, Andee, you were/are a D90 user. You will be glad to know that the layout and menus will look very much the same as you remember. If you have an specific questions please let me know.
No downsides per sae, but the file size is much larger. I will have to spring for some larger SD cards. On that, this camera has two slots! And I'm a PSE9 user, Adobe will not be offer ACR upgrades to cover the D7100's RAW files. I just purchased PSE11 and hope the instal goes well. I've hear various things.
These are my initial observations. I will add to this later as the use the camera more. Can't wait for the weekend and some outdoor opportunities!
