At What Cost Magnification?

There are photographers, and then there are people who collect photography equipment. If you’re reading this, you are probably in the former group and believe cameras and lenses are tools to tell stories.

So, when Nikon users of both variants looked longing at Canon’s 800 mm f/5.6 lens, there were existential crises in the making: The other system has a lens my system doesn’t. Should I switch?*

Well, crises averted – Nikon has announced their own 800 mm f/5.6 lens will start shipping in April. Start saving your one hundred dollar bills now, the estimated price is, ahem, $17,899.

*I am, of course, mocking the gear-heads who buy equipment for bragging rights, not actual usage. This is such a specialized lens that the vast majority of people will never have a use for it, but there will be some crazy folks on forums talking about switching, “just in case” they ever need that one piece of kit.