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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wavering" data-source="post: 1491108" data-attributes="member: 67056">Seaspirit, you are right in the sense that it is not fair to say "I can read the distant lettering better, therefore it is a better lens" BUT I think it would be fair to say "I can read the distant lettering better, therefore it is a better lens for reading distant lettering" If that is not tautological.It is very easy to lose sight of your objective and, to quote Yogi Berra, if you don't know where you are going you will end up someplace else.So, I am looking for the best system to take photos of ships at considerable distance and read their names and IMO numbers if possible. Presumably similar objectives apply to bird photos where you want to be able to see individual feathers and what they had for lunch (but what do I know)So far, in this quest I have established to my satisfaction, that for this limited objective the DigiScoped TV85 is the best I have (ie "better" than the Sigma 50-500) The Panasonic FZ28, incidentally, is fantastic for the money. It is also very small, discreet and easy to use - like a SEAT Leon as opposed to a Ferrari (I can bore for some time on cars)The £10,000 question is "Would the Canon 800mm be measurably better?"</blockquote>