I use icloud but not for photos. If I sync my photos manually to my mac using finder, will I be able to sync them back from the mac to the iphone once I wipe the iPhone?
You can use the Finder on your Mac to sync photos to your iPhone from the Photos app, or from a folder on your computer. Each time that you sync your iOS device with your computer, the photos and videos on your iOS device update to match the albums on your computer.