Bird-Nerding in a Kayak
I would have never brought it in my kayak. When I had my Nikkor 200–500mm lens, I was initially excited about the types of close-up bird shots that I would get when DW and I were out paddling. Up to that point, I was using my Nikon D7200 with a 70–300mm lens, which was much more compact and fit inside a 5-litre dry bag. With that old Nikkor lens, I got the equivalent of 450mm reach, in terms of a full-frame camera. With the beast lens, as I called it, I could get up to 750mm if I used it with my crop-sensor camera. However, I never took it with me in the kayak. At more than three kilograms, it was unwieldy: Were I to swing fast while tracking a moving bird, I could see myself capsizing. That wouldn't be fun: with a strap around my neck, it would be like an anchor, taking me down with it. Now that I have my Sony α6700 with a 70–350mm lens (105–525mm equivalent), not only do I have better reach than with the D7200 and 70–300mm lens, the camera is smaller and lighter. It looks so...
