The instinct with any big raptor is to get the face. Wait for the head-on stare, fill the frame with the beak, go home. That instinct throws away the best part of a griffon vulture, which is the back. Scapulars and wing coverts laid over each other like roof tiles, every feather a slightly different shade of sand and buff, the whole thing narrowing into near-black flight feathers at the bottom.

Sony already sells a 100-400mm. The GM version has been around since 2017, weighs about 1,395g, and still asks roughly $2,500. The new SEL100400 covers the identical focal range at 654g and $849.99, shipping in September. Canada gets it at $1,079.99. The money came out of the aperture. The GM opens at f/4.5-5.6. This one starts at f/5.6 and closes to f/8 by the long end. That is the whole trade, and whether it matters depends entirely on where you shoot.

A leopard walking straight down the middle of a dirt track, head low, eyes locked on the lens. It is the frame everyone wants and the one most people blow, because the animal is doing the one thing telephoto gear handles worst: closing distance along the axis of the lens while the light is flat and the vehicle is still rolling. Focal length is a distance problem, not a prestige problem The reflex is to buy the longest lens available.

Canon U.S.A. has announced the CINE-SERVO 40-1200mm T5.0-10.8 lens alongside a broad firmware update covering the Cinema EOS C400, C80, C70, C50, and R5C — a dual announcement aimed squarely at professional cinematographers, wildlife and sports shooters, live event crews, and virtual production pipelines. CINE-SERVO 40-1200mm T5.0-10.8 The new lens extends the range established by the CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9, pushing the telephoto ceiling to 1200mm — and to 1800mm with the built-in 1.