You should be able to see the shutter count in the exif data on any image. There are a couple of web sites that will decode that if you upload an image. It doesn't matter what the image is!

One site I have used is http://www.exifviewer.org

I recommend a used Nikon 28mm. W high quality sensors, you can always crop an image and 28 is good for interiors, street photography and travel in general. Might consider a 90mm or 85 next for portraiture and for sports and such! Zooms are also very good and will cover a wider range in one lens, but are generally slower unless you spend a lot! Primes in the f2.8 range are affordable.

As a Mac user for many years, I find the absolute BEST thing to do will take about an hour. Be sure you have a good recent back up like Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner back up and "restore" the machine to a factory original status. This will clean out ALL junk. Then set it up as a NEW machine and after that install any software you had installed from the original disks or download new versions if possible. This is automatic for software bought at the App Store, and for Apple software of course. Then transfer your user account from the back up, or even better, set up a new user account and just transfer the files you need to the "new" machine. This does take an hour or so, but in my experience fixes ALL problems that are not hard disk or RAM failures. These are also possible so a good diagnostic to rule that out is a good idea before this major restore effort!

If your Hard Disk is nearly full, its time to upgrade it to a bigger SSD! And take off some of those old iPhoto or Lightroom files to a back up disk or two for redundancy!

I would agree and add that cropping the image from the lens w/o TC will give equivalent IQ if not better! I would bring a monopod if you have one or consider buying one. These are great esp if you have a small chair of some sort!

Love it! You won't ever leave your card at Starbucks, Home Depot or other places you can use it! Seems more secure too. Clerks and waiters dont actually get your card so they can't copy exp date, security code and number so it reduces chances of ID theft!

Your images do look great, so the lens you are using looks good. I am very happy with the Sony 70-200 f2.8 on my Sony A77II and also use the 24-70 f2.8 in smaller venues (Ballroom Dance). I just picket up a used Sony/Zeiss 85mm f1.4 which shoots as a 127mm on the A77II. I am anxious to see the bokeh w this lens! For many events this small very fast lens may be perfect!

Fundamentals of Photography, Joel Santore, the Great Courses.
I am also viewing this course. I have been an avid photographer for more than 30 years and I have learned some things that are definitely improving my skills. Good for those with minimal experience to people like me with years. Very enjoyable too.

There are good discounts on the Great Courses. I got the DVD set which comes with a small book too, and you can stream the course too. The DVD's can be saved or loaned to a friend.

I love the Sony/Zeiss 24-70 f4 for travel. Very nice, but a bit large for all day getting about. Also love the Zeiss 18mm f4 ZM (manual focus) w adapter for wide angle shots. Amazing lens. You can get used ones all over. About to try the Loxia line too.

I do like manual focus lenses, especially wide angle to 50mm since you can set them at f8 or so and just shoot without any focus in daylight and get great shots. Sometimes autofocus hunts and takes too long!

BTW, I also have the Sony 70-200 F4 FE lens you asked about, and I agree w the other posters that it is excellent. Better (for me) than the Nikon I used to shoot with on my D800 before I switched to the A7r. For it range it is a gem but for me a bit too long for city travel photography. I AM taking to Puerto Rico in a couple of weeks to use at a Ballroom Dance competition, and in the Rainforest looking for birds! Great for both types of photography!

70 -200

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70-200

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24-70

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Others have showed how to set the focus peaking. I have a A7r and some Leica lenses and find focus magnification better than the peaking feature. To use this, you push the C1 button on the camera top and it brings up a highly magnified image of the central portion of the scene. This is MUCH more accurate than the peaking indication! The trick is that you need to take the photo while the magnification is still showing, and the image will be the full frame you set up, not just the magnified portion.

You can set the duration of the magnified view, and I have it set to always when using MF lenses, and 2 sec when using the new Sony Zeiss FE1.8/55, which is a great lens!

I always use aperture priority, and set that to f4 or perhaps 2.8 if available. That gives me the best possible shutter speed. You need a relatively high shutter speed to get clear shots of moving dancers!

BTW, most real pros seem to use flash, sometimes multiple units on poles for what they do. I find available light, w auto white balance works really well if your camera can shoot cleanly at 1600 ISO or higher.

I shoot ballroom competitions quit a lot and like the no-flash approach. The lighting is pretty good, but you do need to shoot at f4 or lower and a shutter speed of at least 125/sec to get clear shots. This works at ISO of 1600 to 3200 in my experience, so you may need to do some digital noise reduction in post-processing. I used a Nikon D800 and 70-200 f2.8 lens very successfully but it was getting a burden to carry around, so switched to a Sony NEX-7 w the Sony 18 - 300zoom. That worked pretty well. Now using Leica primes with an adapter and will soon try my new Sony A7r both with Leica 90mm f2.8 and a legacy Leica 80 -200 f4 zoom. The 90 mm is a good lens for general shooting at a comp. (with full frame sensor camera) See some shots here: http://www.greenwayphotovideo.com/Dance/Competitions

Wide Shot at Ohio Star Ball 2013