I’m an amateur photographer, not particularly gifted, but I enjoy taking pictures, especially of landscapes and urban architecture. For years I used Canon cameras and lenses, but when about two years ago I was interested in moving up to a “full frame” sensor from my existing “APS-C” system (see is here for an explanation), I decided to make a change given the lack of good reviews for the newer full-frame Canon I was thinking about buying. I splurged and purchased an advanced new Sony full-frame “mirrorless” camera, the Sony A7rii, a beautiful piece of equipment. Originally I bought an adapter that allowed me to use all of my existing Canon lenses with the new Sony camera, but it became apparent early on that the image quality of the Canon lenses that I owned wasn’t up to the image capture capabilities of the new Sony, and the electronics of the Canon lenses didn’t communicate well through the adapter either. So I decided I needed to invest in native Sony lenses. The camera came with a “kit” lens that was actually better than I expected it would be. A 24-70mm zoom, it worked very well as a “walk around” lens, and the resulting pictures were excellent — certainly a step up from those I got from the Canon. But because my focus is on landscapes and buildings, I needed a wider-angle lens too. Another splurge got me the beautiful and excellent Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens, which produces pictures of outstanding color, depth, and image quality (see for example Louvre Ceiling, Louvre Arch). A third lens I bought was an 85mm prime portrait lens, but unfortunately only got about 15 shots out of it before it was taken by the Tubbs Fire. (Happily the rest of my kit was with me in France.) The obvious next addition was a telephoto lens, especially since the Berkeley house has such an amazing view west of San Francisco, the Golden Gate, Marin, and Richmond. After a lot of research I did another splurge (which I found more justified given my situation) and acquired the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens. It arrived on Friday. A beautiful piece of equipment, white, solidly built, gorgeous really, a little heavy but surprisingly well-balanced with the camera.