NOOOO!!!! The 200mm f/2.0 is discontinued!!!!!

[Joel Eade]

Understand that for sure.

As for "the big whites" I have been able to get good quality and prices on used items over the years.

I started in 2010 with a used 300 f/2.8. It was great but as relative newbie to bird photography I did not know that it really wasn't enough focal length so a few years later I bought a used Version I 500mm f/4L.

I kept the 300mm f/2.8L for a long time but rarely used it after I got the 500. Last year I traded it for a used Version I 500mm f/4L for my son's birthday!

After several years with the 500mm I got the itch for the 600mm f/4L so I sold the 500 and bought a used version II 600mm f/4 for less than half the retail price.

I feel that the 600 f/4L is the ultimate bird lens at this point and birds remain my primary interest.

I have done a couple weddings and some portrait work for friends but have no desire to try to produce revenue from it.

So I have never jumped at a $13,000 lens. I just couldn't see the value in it compared to a nice used one. Especially, as you said, it's not producing income.

As for the spouse approval ... I am very fortunate there .... as long as all the bills are paid and savings/retirement are on track she never fusses about how I spend "extra" funds.

She enjoyed going with me for the Ecuador bird trip as a non-photgrapher.