Brian

Those spots on the lower left are usually caused by dust on the sensor. Though it could be particles in the lens, my gut is telling my you need to use a Rocket Blower and clean that sensor. For the crack, content aware could work. So could cloning. I've used the patch tool in the past to remove telephone lines in my landscape photos. That diagonal line isn't that much different. It's all the same theory. What lens are you using in this photo? If you need replacement recommendations, be sure to post your question in "The DSLR Bistro" forum in "Ask Brian."

If you are looking for a laptop, I'd use this one for photo editing: Asus 15.6" Laptop If you look on the main page, you'll see the 4 things to look for. 8GB RAM Minimum / 16GB Preferred 1TB HD at a Minimum A separate Graphics Processor with its own dedicated Video RAM IPS Based Screen The CPU chip isn't a huge consideration these days, unless you are doing lots and lots of batching with a bunch of open photos, or are editing video. Today's i5 CPUs or equivalent work just fine. You also have been working on a slow laptop for so long, you have no idea just how small 4GB is these days, let alone 6GB.

Keep in mind, both of those lenses are variable aperture lenses. As you zoom out, the lens automatically stops down to f/5.6. The only time you will get it's wide aperture is when you are at 18mm or 55mm. You still might need to invest in a prime or a flash for tricky lighting situations.

Just so you know, that 70-300 lens in that eBay kit is the Non-VR 70-300 lens, and is regarded as one of Nikon's WORST lenses. They can't give them away. I SERIOUSLY WOULDN'T BUY THOSE ALL-IN-ONE KITS FROM EBAY! I know your budget is tight, but you are throwing money away. If you do purchase the eBay stuff, I wish you well.

Most of those "Free Stuff" items in eBay are Gray Market items. Meaning NIKON WILL NOT TOUCH THEM IF SENT IN FOR REPAIR. Basically, those items become paperweights if they break. I'm very concerned for this Wedding you are about to shoot. I would NEVER shoot one with a 18-55 kit lens. If I were a guest and these photos were just keepsakes, fine. As the main photographer providing the official photos? Forget it. $800 is a tight budget. It's not going to get you much. Chances are at that price point, you will be renting gear. You could get a used D7100 and rent a Nikon 17-55 f/2.8G DX lens. Add a SB-910 flash and you could do a whole wedding with that combo. You could also rent a Nikon 24-120 f/4 VR lens. That would also work. My 1st Digital Wedding that I did, I had the body but ended up renting lenses. After my costs, I made $50 that day. But you know what? I needed the photos. Those photos allowed me to book another wedding, in which I was able to purchase new gear. A 50 1.8 is used by crop cameras for portraits due to the Angle of View change. If you were shooting on a full frame body, you would need a 85 1.8 to produce similar results. If you had to, you could use a D7100 and a 35mm f/1.8G DX, that is equivalent to a film SLR with a 50 1.8. Then I would add a 85 1.8 for a little more reach. Something "normal" and something "long." The 35mm runs about $197 new. The 85 is $497 new. That's $700 in lenses rounded up and is the bare minimum...there goes your budget. If you must shoot this wedding, you will need to add to the budget. The $800 should cover lenses and some SD cards, but you will have to finance the body yourself.

The cool part is, it comes with all the cables and is already MAC FORMATTED. All you need to do is hook it up. Enjoy your purchase!!

See if that works. You might get lucky. If it doesn't, try installing and running Recuva: https://www.piriform.com/recuva There is a free version and a paid version. Try the free, but I'm sure you can upgrade and pony up the $25 to get the paid version. In my experience, sometimes it's worth using paid versions of software.

Oh boy. Have you tried right clicking the Recycle Bin and select restore?

You are correct. Doing a restore to a previous version doesn't work that well, especially when trying to recover files and folders What version of Windows are you running?

4TB G-Drive: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG/g_technology_0g03050_g_drive_4tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html Yes, the more space you have available for PS, the happier it is.

Just remember, you DO NOT need 75 RAW photos of your lunch from 3 years ago. LMAO!! If it's not going to see the light of day, or hasn't in the last few years, it won't. Good luck culling. The feeling is like shooting your kids, one by one.

Your situation with the scratch disks is "better," but is nowhere near being completely fixed. You need more storage.

G Drives are "better" in a sense that they use better components and parts. I use them. Chase Jarvis primarily uses them. They are tough drives that last. Especially the "Professional Grade" models. They aren't your $79 Special from a Big Box store. You are running into dangerous territory AGAIN. That external is almost filled. You need another HD ASAP. In reality, you do not want to go more than 75% full on ANY HD, internal or external. 5GB free is NOT GOOD AT ALL. Today's GB are yesterday's megabytes. People think that a "Gig" is enough. It's not. You might as well have 5MB free if this was the late 1990's Combine that with your D800, and there is no question on why you are running out of room. Either you become ruthless in culling your photos, or you are going to need to get a 4TB HD in the near future.

I have one USB EHD for my TM backups (Backs uo the Main Internal HD) and a 3TB G-Drive EHD for my photos and important data.

4TB Thunderbolt G-Drive 2TB USB 3.0 G-Drive meant for Time Machine ONLY

Yep. That's a G-Drive. They also have a 4TB model.

Your target needs to be between 80GB - 100GB free. That's Gigabytes not Megabytes. Basically 1/3 of a Mac HD needs to be free at any given time.

Oh, with only 941MB free out of 250GB, your HD is in danger of corruption. So be ruthless in culling and what gets stored on it.

The main problem is your HD is only 250GB. That is microscopic by today's standards. You will need to move EVERYTHING off the main drive and use an external Thunderbolt drive. I recommend the Thunderbolt G-Drives, but they aren't cheap. Basically, only the OS & programs will be on the main HD. You are going to have to be ANAL on what gets stored on it. No images, no iTunes library. Just the OS and programs.

Well, Adobe's products are using the graphics CPU chip and video memory now more than ever. That said, they still haven't figured thing out 100%. (Black Boxes anyone?) Honestly, I would still get the stock $1799 27" iMac. Then when you get it, head to Crucial.com and run their scanning tool. It's free and harmless. After you run the scanning tool, it will take you to a page with your options. You are looking for a 16GB kit. After you install the crucial RAM, you will have 24GB total. Now all that's left is for you to purchase a 3TB or 4TB Thunderbolt G-Drive and a 2TB USB 3.0 G-drive. The USB 2TB drive will be used for Time Machine backups and the 3TB/4TB Thunderbolt EHD is for your images.

No. Well, let me clarify. I'd rather you spend that money on an external Thunderbolt G-Drive.

Yeah, photos is a real pain to disable. If you want to auto-import photos from your phone, I use the free version of Dropbox. It syncs you phone to a folder in its cloud service. Granted, the free version is only 2GB, but it does give you a chance to put your photos somewhere so that it doesn't end up in Photos. After importing, you can always move them to a folder on your HD.

When it comes to Photoshop, there is only about a 5-7% speed boost with an i7 Intel CPU. That said, if you were to do anything with video, then a i7 makes a world of difference. Honestly, having more RAM will benefit you more than a faster CPU. Whatever you do, skip the 21.5" iMac and head straight for the 27" variety. Get a 16GB kit from Crucial.com to take you from 8GB to 24GB.

Final thought: It's really crappy for Canon to do this. It's just not the 5D Mark II either. Many other Canon bodies suffer the same fate. It's pathetic and unacceptable for a company as large as Canon. My (Retired) Entry Level Nikon D40 with its 3 whole AF points runs circles around a Digital Rebel from that era when it comes to focusing. A friend of mine stopped using his AF system completely. He manually focuses and his results are way better than his Canon body's AF system. People pay good money for this sh*t and they shouldn't have to fork out $3000 for an accurate AF system. /end rant

In addition, you need to practically be on the surface of the sun for a 5D Mark II to lock on your subject. Of course I'm exaggerating and having a bit of fun, but I'm also serious. You need to have enough light and contrast swing in order for a 5D Mark II to lock on consistently. Of course, there are exceptions and others might disagree with me, but you aren't the 1st person to question accurate focus with a 5DMK2.