In the field with big glass, Fear and loathing of the 600mm F4

" There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

The late great Hunter S Thompson, undisputed godfather of gonzo journalism and all round maniac penned those words, and plenty more, during his somewhat unconventional life, which sadly he decided to end with one of the many guns he was so fond of waving around and taking pot shots with, when the mood took him.

So what has this got to do with using big glass ? Well I just happened to be reading one of his books and those few words simply seemed to lend itself to the lens, in a gonzo type of way !

A strange beast !

Since buying the lens I have had a love hate relationship with it from day one, all 6+ kilos ( 13+ Lbs ) of it. I have carried it across vast swathes of southern Patagonia, in blistering heat and in temperatures of - 20 degrees in knee and waist deep snow, while searching for Mountain Lions. It has been carried up mountains and over glaciers, through dense damp undergrowth, and thick forest in search of the elusive and endangered deer species, the southern Andean Huemul ( hippocamelus bisulcus). These last few years, here in Andalucia, it has made over a hundred journeys up steep and fractured limestone rock faces, where my latest subjects, Griffon Vultures and Bonelli`s Eagles nest in the most inaccessible of places.

Pleasure and pain, but not in that order. This lens, in my humble opinion, should be tried by all wildlife photographers at least once in their lives, but remember, it is most definitely a try before you buy lens. There are a number of locations in Europe and the USA where they can be rented, all only a google away. It will have a life changing effect on you ! . By this I mean your desire to spend huge amounts of time with it chasing wildlife, might well outweigh the length of time you wish to spend chasing your wife or current girlfriend, or both, yes it really is that addictive.

Like others who take the giant leap of faith, not to mention the financial leap, and purchase one of these lenses, I thought my images would be transformed in an instant, and high quality razor sharp images of distant wildlife would be filling the gigabyte space of my Sandisk CF so fast it would make my head spin. Well at first it did spin, but for all the wrong reasons.

These lenses are in a league of their own, and require a little more time, patience and understanding, to get your head around using it due to it's demanding inherent traits. First is the sheer length of this mini missile, and with length comes unwanted shake, and plenty of it. If you just set up your lens on a tripod and give the front end of the 600mm a push while looking into the viewfinder you begin to see what your dealing with pretty quick. In this wonderful age of digital capture with cameras like the Nikon D3, whose superb quality sensor make shooting in low light such a joy, it is possible as never before to shoot with long telephoto lenses in low light and capture even fast moving subjects in razor sharp detail, but one has to practice using it in low light and getting used to handling such a beast,to get the very best out of it when you need to.

I believe in starting from the ground up, so as important as the super expensive lens and latest camera model, you have spent your hard earned cash on, it is the tripod that is going to support it all. This last year I purchased a Gitzo 5541 LS , which is not cheap, but certainly worth every penny. It does exactly what it says on the tin or should I say carbon fibre. Rigid and very resistant to torsion, surprisingly lightweight and easy and fast to change height. It is the dream tripod to match up with big glass (400mm 2.8 upwards ) and for anyone who needs more height than the maximum available on this model 1.53 mtrs you could raise the bar and go for the 5561SGT which has a maximum height of 2.6 metres.

Just because you have a tripod that goes to 1.53 mtrs or taller does not mean you have to use it, regardless of the fact you have paid a kings ransom for it, or that it is so comfortable to stand straight up and look through your viewfinder without getting a stiff neck or back. Obviously the available space in your shooting location determines how much movement one has to pan or spread the legs, of which there are 3 settings with the Gitzo models mentioned above. If you can set it at it's minimum height in poor light conditions, do so, because the tripod is the sturdiest at it's lowest setting, every little helps.

Next up the head. It is impossible to rant on about how important this bit of kit is. The last couple of years I have been using a Wimberley MK II. For me the buck stops here. It is a total no brainer if you are shooting with big lenses. Hit the forums go to the Wimbereley site , drool if you must, but save those pennies, buy your girlfriend less expensive gifts, drink cheaper wine and forget about everyone of your friends birthdays, boycott Xmas, Bar mitzvahs' , betting on the horses and just about everything else that will save you money, you need a Wimberley MK II for big glass.



The Camera, most models nowadays packed with more technology in a few square centimetres than the Apollo 11 Saturn 5 rocket had bundled inside it. Having said that, at the end of the day it is just a means of gathering light. All have their limits, but how incredibly cool are those limits in models like the Nikon D3. It is important you know how far you can squeeze every bit of this digital wizardry to one s advantage. How far up the scale of the ISO settings you are willing to go may be governed by the quality needed for the final product, is it for personal use, or is the picture editor from the publication you are on assignment from going to cringe when he sees the image because the noise level is just not going to make the cut.

So with your lens and camera clamped snugly into the quick release plate of the Wimbereley , this on top of legs, that I deem to be more valuable than Naomi Cambells, although probably not as much fun, but just as hard, you are well on your way to attaining the images you dream about.

We all know the effects such long lenses have on the image, focusing is critical. Opening up to the widest aperture is going to help you get a little more light, allowing a faster shutter speed but will the shallowest depth of field setting on the lens be adequate for the subject ?. It`s all trade offs, and sometimes having to accept that sometimes you just wont get the perfect picture you had in your minds eye. Certainly when photographing wildlife, and by this I mean real wildlife, as opposed to game farm images, one has no control over the subjects movements, so luck may be the only deciding factor when it comes to you leaving for home with the shot in the bag or you driving home smoldering about the one that got away. However utilizing all the tricks like locking the head down if there is not a lot of motion going on with your subject. A little homemade soft fabric bag partially filled with rice or sand placed over the lens body to dampen vibrations and minimize camera shake, or even resting your freehand close to the end of the lens will help. When you have such a set up do not be too timid and treat it like it is a priceless Ming dynasty vase, when photographing fast moving subjects get comfortable and start swinging it, believe me it is not going to move when the legs of that Gitzo are in place.

As I said above this lens needs time and patience in order to feel comfortable using it. Over time your techniques will develop and be honed, and you will find yourself creating images that will delight you and hopefully the stone faced, hard to please editor that sent you out there in the first place.

Somewhere above I mentioned sacrificing numerous things in order to buy such wonderful equipment, I would just like to amend one of those" life is to short to drink cheap red wine !!!