Canon R3

[Fast Glass]

Well, if you are used to a 400mm f/5.6. Even a 600mm f/6.3 from Sigma or Tamron is gonna make your 400 feel inadequate in comparison, especially with extenders. It's just a whole another league of reach. Especially for things like eagles. I wouldn't even think of using anything less than a 600mm for a starting point for eagles, you use extenders from there. Eagles are reach hungry.

But more to the point, while gear can make or break a shot in bird photography. It still will never make birding a truly easy situation. I have gone wading up to my chin in water, freezing cold till I can't feel my fingers. Rained on. Sweating hot. Sinking in quicksand (That got me a little scared, threw my gear onto dry land and my brother pulled me out. lol!). Stalking for 3 or 4 hours or making special trips to places for shots. It's still offers plenty of challenge no matter what. And when you have done all that, I'd much rather have a 600mm f/4 or 800mm f/5.6 with an R3 and walk away with the shot that looks amazing, maybe a shot of a lifetime.

I do have fun doing it, but it's not the reason I do it. It's the end result always that gets me my high. When I land a great shot, it's a rush. That's my fix. Because without that, all the fun I had going out to take the shot wasn't really that fun anymore without that end result. If I wanted to enjoy nature I'd go hiking or birding with binoculars. Which I also do.

Kind of like racing, people race to win. It's an imperfect example, but you get the idea.

It's imperfect because no matter what racing itself is also fun. But photography, the end result is much more important. How excited can you get of the gear or taking shots that are not very good?

I can relate to this growing up, we didn't have a lot of money and I would mess around with film cameras. I didn't always have film so I just took shots without film. Or when my camera was down and I didn't have one for almost 2 years. I'd go out birding with my 600mm even though I didn't have a working camera.

Let me tell ya, that got old quick. It wasn't fun unless you took a picture to give you some sort of reward for your effort.