Todiramphus macleayii (Forest Kingfisher)

IUCN Status: Least Concern

This image is cropped more than I’m comfortable with. Sorry. The bird was sitting out in the middle of an inlet in the Enoggera reservoir. I simply could not get any closer without getting into water of unknown depth… with my beloved camera. Nope.

When I sold my Tamron 150-600mm and replaced it with the beautiful Canon 100-400mm II I knew I would really miss the extra 200mm. Missing a photo due to gear stings. Compromised shots are likewise unpalatable. In its defence, I will say is that the 100-400mm is utterly amazing in the quality of the images it takes. I had a 1.4x teleconverter on the lens, and the results are ridiculously sharp.

When I bought the 100-400mm II I had in mind to buy a 600mm prime. Canon has been hinting at a DO version, for years, but just announced a new release (version III) of the current lens technology that is much lighter, with a slightly shorted minimum focus distance, includes other incremental improvements, and a massive jump in price. This lens was already crazy expensive.

So now I have to hope a second hand market for the version II lens builds, as they’re hen’s teeth rare at the moment.