Any Nikon guys here? I need some help/info

[Parasite]

I'm looking for several things:

1) A good, hopefully local, camera shop for advice/issues. If I can't find that, can you guys recommend some good forums or resources? Or should I just ask questions here?

2) A good course(s) on digital photography. I've taken a black & white photography course in college 20 years ago, but that was film. I need to gain some new knowledge and learn my D7500 better. Any places offering a good course?

I've got more questions, but I'll build on those later.

[Ricochet]

I'm down here in Oregon so I know diddly about any of your local camera shops but the handiest source of info is Youtube.   Any books by Chris Weston or Moose Peterson are good, and since they shoot Nikon the nomenclature will be the same.  Unfortunately different brands tend to name identical functions different names so it can be confusing to read stuff from those guys with the ugly white lenses.    If you need a manual for your camera that you can actually understand, Thom Hogan is the guy to go to.  I don't have a D7500, but have a D500, D810, and a D7100 that I shoot regularly so I might be able to answer some of your questions and I'm very willing to try.  Talking about photography is almost as fun as talking about hunting. 

[Parasite]

Well one question I have is why my images appear grainy and not so sharp. I'm running the 18-300 lens with polarizing filter. I thought I had it at the maximum resolution setting. I'm just looking at the JPEG files right now, but I do have the RAW files for when I learn to use digital editing software.

[Parasite]

And is it even worth while using the polarizing filter these days? Or can digital editing do the same thing?

[Bob33]

What are the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO of the images in question?

[Parasite]

What are the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO of the images in question?

Good question. I did not realize I could look up this information after-the-shot.

1/250
max aperture 4
ISO-200

[Bob33]

What are the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO of the images in question?

Good question. I did not realize I could look up this information after-the-shot.

1/250
max aperture 4
ISO-200

Those settings shouldn't cause grainy images. Do you have any other lenses you could try to see if that's an issue?

[Parasite]

No other lenses at the moment. I was worried it might be the lens.

[Ricochet]

Being able to instantly review images and recall settings in one of the greatest things about digital photography. I agree with Bob33. with those settings you should get sharp images.  From personal experience, since I make long trips where I camp out for weeks at a time, a little too much dust on the lens or the focusing sensor inside the camera can lead to soft images.  If you want to check the autofocus, you'll need a tripod, set it securely and focus on a distant object that has good contrast.  Then turn on Live view, zoom in and see if you can improve the focus manually.  Many times you may be able to improve the focus just a bit but it shouldn't be much. If there's a real noticeable difference between autofocus and what you can achieve with Live view, then you have focusing problem. Before you go crazy trying to fine tune the focus, make sure you have carefully blown the dust out of your camera and off your lens.  Steve Perry has some good videos available for free on Youtube that explain the focus fine tuning and the various ways to do it.
As far as the polarizing filter goes, I hope it's a circular polarizer.  It's actually the only filter I use but I use it sparingly.  I do very little landscape photography so unless I'm trying to shoot fish or need to deal with glare, it stays in my bag.
I see now why you need a local camera store.  Hands on, it would probably be fairly easy for an experienced tech to find the source of your problem.

[Tracker0721]

I had this with my old camera but it was dust on the sensor or something. But that was 2nd hand well used camera. And with my new one they look better sent to my computer than the camera screen.

[Parasite]

I bought the camera and lens new about a year ago and they have never been apart. I did separate them today, and no dust on the lens or mirror.