Stan (not Steve - sorry, long day at the office!),
Thanks for the nice words. As Dirk mentioned, you'll find many excellent ND shots from various members. The ND has some shortcomings: slower autofocus, small buffer, 4 sec startup time and big battery consumption, but has excellent tonal range, ergonomics and feel, not to mention the Zeiss glass, which zooms are just about second to none, though not especially light-weight. It CAN take good action shots often, but don't bet your life on it.
The raw format with the Adobe plugin is a real joy to use, but it's "blind" at the camera - it can't be previewed until you load it to the PC and use the software. But hey, that's just like film
. I have found the exposures tend to be dark off the bat, but that works in preserving the inherent tonal range - that's what Photoshop is for, and we're not talking jump through hoops adjustments, but basic saturation, brightness and contrast to get you in the sweet zone. The additional tools Photoshop provides give you even more control.
Good luck in your quest, wherever it takes you!
DJ