You are not being rude. The reason I am on the forum under btbg instead of my name is because I work for a newspaper corporation with 23 or 24 newspapers. I shoot spirts and write. I also get sent out on low light news stories, bad accidents or fires, or police activity, the things that shake most people up.

I have the equipment I have because of kow ligjt and the fact that for some things like fires having a big lens may be the difference between having a shot for the news or not. I try to shoot sharp photos, but the reality is I get paid for the decisive moment not the technical quality of the photo, akthough that is still important.

I use the nickname heee, which standa for big tall bald guy because I participate in the attic at times and doing so under my name would not be considered professional

I am actually a professional soorts photographer. Dont often post sports photos because historically the corporation I worked for claimed they owned the photos. They no longer claim that so I am now posting some sports photos.

As to not posting in the bird sectiin I only posted in the main section because this was about converters not birds which is why gwilloams posted people being pulled on tubes behind a boat.

Also I think most of the argument about sharpness of the original images ia more about exactly where the focus point is, the narrow depth of field and the post processing or lack thereof. For example the beak of the wren is not particularly sharp.

As to a 600 f4 I thought about getting one but the 400 2.8 with a converter covers essentially all of Nikons big lenses while only buying one. They make the 400, a 600 f4, a 800 f6.3, well the 400 with the built in 1.4 is a 560f4 so almost the equivalent of the 600 f 4 and without the 1.4 converter but wirh the 2x attatched it is an 800 f6.3, so in my view it is more versitle.

Also for some of us there is no such thing as a big enough lens. A couple years ago I started shooting softball from behind the outfield fence. It allows you to shoot both batters and defense and baserunning at all four bases. All you miss is catches in the iutfield. Well sure enough they wanted me to shoot baseball from the same place and since fields are much larger even 1120 is marginal for home plate.

As to rodeo I have never shot from the stands. A 200_500 is pretty good for every event except team roping if you are in the arena.

I only have the big lens because of shooting sports in low light. Other than that I would have stuck with my Sigma 150_600 sport. Think is its almost as heavy as the 400 though. The 180-600 is a much better choice for most people.

As to the naysayers I posted just because of a previous discussion about converters and expected what has happened. Thats a non issue. I have always done my own thing photographically good and bad.

And you are absolutely correct about good enough. Good enough is far better than not at all, especially in my line of work.

You choose the experts you want to believe. If you want to look there are plenty of articles on the other side of the fence starting clear back when Obama agreed to the initial deal. There are peoole on both side on this one. All I would say is no matter which side you are on why would you even consider negotiating with terrorists and lifting sanctions on them? Thats insane.

Thanks Jules.

Well since you don't know I have a little secret to tell you. To defeat an enemy you must go where the enemy is. If they are cowards hidong in the middle of women and children that is on them.

Another factor that you are ignoring is in rhe U.S. we consider them to be kods until they are 18 but in parts of Africa and the middle east they may be enemy cbatablnts at the age of 12 or 13. In war ignoring someone because they are a "kid" gets you k**led.

I agree they wanted back to a deal, but it was still a bad deal. Look at what Iran did during the Trump administration and what they are doing now. Far worse now so the rational conclusion is Trump was right.

Denny, answer the question that has been repestedly asked. How is Israel supposed to protect themself from Hamas? Raz posted a lenghty article that documents how they build their military infrastructure in and under schools and hospitals. What do you want Israel to do, capitulate? Do they have a right to defend themselves or not?

Also the 6 billion was frozen but kike most of the left you have ignored that lofting sanctions was not just about that 6 billion, it has also allowed them to sell more oil internationally and use that money. So I'm not talking about that 6 billion even though I think Biden was foolish to start releasing that money.

Trump was right to withdraw. That should have been a ratified treaty and it was not. It was a bad deal that virtually guaranteed that Iran would get nuclear weapons and it wasnt legally done. And who cares about the U.N. Do you really think that they have our best interests at heart? Lifting sanctions just helps fuel terrorism and their nuclear program. We have made mistakes in the middle east since at least Carter, and the only president I have agreed with on middle east policy since then is Trump.

Try reading for understanding. We have contributed 75 billion as of when that article was written and are v****g on 60 billion more. All of the rest of NATO combined are at 93 billion. Let them pay their fair share, especially since we are not even an ally of Ukraine. You want to withdraw support from Israel who is our ally and continue to give billions to a country that is not our ally. Let the countries in NATO who are near Ukraine do their job. Tje article would indicate that only about tjree other NATO countries are doing much of anything.

Thanks

Thats the 6 billion. Biden lifted the sanctions so they have oil money again. Look it up.

Duh. Couldnt afford their nuclear program with all the sanctions but they sure can now.

Withdrawing from the deal wasnt the problem. The deal was the problem. It gave them money to fund their nuclear program and never had verifiable checks. Thats why Trump withdrew. It was a terrible deal that should never have been allowed as it should have been a treaty authorized by congress and that was never done. It is Obama and Biden who have given Iran access to the funds they needed to run a nuclear program, not Trump. Backing out of a bad deal is not the problem.