By: Tom Hill

If the camera companies had navy fleets, their flagships would be the super-telephoto lenses — super-teles. Both Canon and Nikon make huge 600mm lenses that stand heads and tails — size and capability wise — above the rest of their arsenals. Use one of these out in the general public, and your quiet nature photo expedition becomes a question-and-answer session. “My, that’s a big lens”. “Can you see really far with that?” “I bet that cost a lot of money, didn’t it?” Geez… it’s annoying being interrupted by such inquiries, but it’s the price of doing business. Sure, someone is thinking to himself or herself, we shouldn’t be flaunting this kind of equipment around at the risk of attracting attention of the unwelcome sort. It kind of makes you wonder? Is there a low-key way to use equipment this big? I’m not sure. If someone out there does know, drop me a line. I’m ve...