Sell your Canon kit now, before it is 5 years old!

Canon U.K. have just told me in writing that they can’t repair my 300mm F4 lens as they only keep spare parts for 5-7 years on all their products. I bought it new in 2004 for £1000. I am not certain what part is required, but suspect the image stabilizer module. What a terrible service. I have always advised people to buy second hand gear as most photography equipment is under used. No longer is this a good idea. The second hand value of Canon gear is now much lower. It is a pity there are only two dominate players in the camera manufacturing  market, Canon and Nikon. It needs more competition to drive better customer service.

One of my arguments for selling my 600mm F4 IS lens last year was that it was 10 years old and if anything went wrong with it spares would not be available. My 800mm is okay for another 4 years, then £8000 could be worthless!

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Red-breasted merganser at Westport Lake, Staffordshire. I was never prone to going to see birds that had turned up locally until the internet, but now that is possible to see if they are photographable I am more inclined. This bird was tame enough to do with a 300mm, but I only had the 800mm with me.

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I usually find snipe to be nervous of a canvas hide put up on the day, but this is from a semi-permanent wooden hide that has been on a shallow scrape for a year now. Unlike a typical hide on a nature reserve this one allows you to poke the lens out at ground level and lie on the floor for a low angled shot. It has been productive in recent days with curlew, green sandpiper, osprey and sparrowhawk all landing around the scrape. The osprey landed twice on the same stump we had put out, but alas at the wrong end of the scrape for a picture.