Thankfully for me, my style doesn't involve super teles yet.:bsmilie:
Nah.. don’t say so early u won’t get Super teles yet… share with u my personal example.
Frankly when i started out in dslr with a nikon d50 many years back (d50 was the first camera i bought in my life, previously in the past decades, i just use the kodak/fuji disposable camera), i have never even think of myself getting one of the super teles before.
In fact at that time i got my d50, i was just telling myself "ok, just make good use of these camera with the kit lens and play with it as much as possible, the quality is already much better than the small compacts".
But after 1 week of d50 usage, and having shot abt 12,000 photos in that week (yea i know i was crazy, afterall this is my first camera after so many decades of my life!!!!! So i shot everything, i have shot more than 4,000 pics of my fighting fish and another 3,000+ of my arowana & some other misc stuff during that week, trying out all the different settings & learn the ropes myself...)
However, after that 12,000 shots, i realise that d70s is much better, with more manual controls and better button layout, and i sold my first camera of my life after just 1 week. Then by the time i have the d70s, i am more aware of the dslr functions and how it works, then i started to look at lenses. At that time i already love wildlife and birds, and realised that the d70s kit lens. 18-70 is just too short, so i went to get the nikon 70-300mm lens.
I also got the kenko 2x teleconverter to make it a 600mm lens,and then i learn it myself wat is meant by "severe image degradation" & "dam slow focus". But i smell first hand the awesome reach of 600mm for the first time!!!!!
Then i realised that the colours and sharpness of the 18-70 is so much better than the 70-300. When I research further, I realised 18-70 has all those ED, ASPHERICAL, or whatsoever crap which made it sharper and colours nicer. Its was also during this time that i realise that lens really have impact on image. So i went to research and read around, and realise lenses are more important than camera for image quality. So thereafter i found out abt this gem called the 70-200 f2.8 vr. Every review i read are positive and so i saved up and got this + 1.7x teleconverter. And boy, the moment i mount it on the d70s and take photos, the image quality bombed me away in a manner the 70-300 wasnt able to produce. I went around the island shooting birds after that. I was simply blown by the awesome image quality compared to 70-300.
But after a while i realise the range is not long, and image can be better without teleconverter, so i research again, and found out the 80-400 gem. Then i sold the 70-200 & teleconverter & got the 80-400. The range was longer and the image was better (no teleconverter) but the focusing is too slow, practically not useful in real world applications. However the image quality again made me realise lens is very important.
Shortly, i learn the limitations of d70s - the megapixel too low for cropping and the iso is only good till 800. I had trouble using in dark forest areas, which flash also cant help much. Then i saw d300, which offer 8fps and good iso performance & even better button layout and feel. I then sold my d70s and got D300. And wow!!! That was the first time i felt 8fps machine gunning, sibei song!!!! The iso performance made me produce many more shots previously mot possible.
At that time, i was very serious abt birding and wildlife. So i research further to find out what the pros use to shoot the awesome wildlife photos. Thereafter, i realised that most pros are using the canon BIG WHITES. At that time the nikon equivalents have no stabilisation. It was then i also realised canon has much wider lens variety and better iso performance.
At that point, i was toying with getting the 1d3. Then i realised it's plagued with issues. So i stuck to nikon. However, when 1d4 came, and its associated positive reviews, I was thinking to myself that the time has come for me to ditch the nikon and move to canon.
At that point of canon migration, I remembered my painful $$$$ experience above. I remembered all the losses I made from buy/sell camera and lenses & the reason I made the losses is because every time I buy the items, they were not the best and just mere incremental upgrades. I felt so silly and stupid then, and curse myself incurring so much losses. (think I have incurred almost $2k losses from camera, lenses, flashes accessories etc.)
So thereafter when i sold off everything nikon, and I straightaway get the 1d4 & the 500 f4, the gitzos, the wimberleys, the markins etc.
I have absolutely no regrets plunging into the 1d4 and 500 f4 - it brought me so many images which i could only dreamt of previously. It was real sweet. Subsequently, I got the 500 f4 II. It was lighter, but not much sharper. At that point I was thinking of whether to sell the version I or II, which in the end I sold off the version II (I didn’t make any loss on this one though). I personally felt version I was prettier, sturdier, doesn’t have the protective lens in front which u can replace at canon, and it was the one that had more memories with me. Next comes the 1DX, think I don’t need to say more...
When I started with D50, have I thought of having a 1 series camera? No.
When I started with D50 kit lens, have I think of having the big whites? No.
Conclusion: Anything is possible!
