WelcomE RF 600mm F4

Palo Alto, California, March 2026

After a certain point, what equipment you use for photography shouldn’t really matter. A photographer with a good vision should be able to make do with whatever equipment he or she has. Capturing the right moment is what makes the ultimate image. There are some now great photographs even being taken with smartphones. However having said that better equipment still helps. Esp. for wildlife photography that requires a lot of luck, I find that better equipment helps one push the boundary even further and increase the number of possible keeper images. A longer lens in particular gets you closer to the subject and reduces the need to crop your images more. With that spirit I got a new 600mm lens to complement the 100-500mm zoom that I have. These are some images from my very first three test outings to nearby Palo Alto Baylands, my favorite birding spot less than 3 miles from home. While these images may not be unique, it’s amazing the number of sharp shots that I was able to get even on my first few test runs. The lens is amazing needless to say. With the built in IS, handholding works just fine. However it is a pretty heavy lens and I might need to build more arm muscles to really carry it around for extended periods. Also tracking flying subjects and keeping them within the frame can be pretty difficult. The 100-500mm is still much more versatile overall. Out of these images, in particular I like the telephoto landscape of the Great Egret at dusk. The telephoto lens has a flattening effect where the foreground marsh and the background towers that are actually at a significant distance seemingly coming together in this image.