It is time to say good-bye to several old photography friends who have been solidly with me for many years- my trusty 70-200 f2.8, my indulgent 300 f4 and my rock solid, pound nails with it Nikon D4. Bye-bye, see you later, hasta la vista, so long bucko, ta-ta, adios.

The criteria for me to sell my gear is if I have used it in the last year or two or if given a choice am I going to use it in the year to come. Each of the three fail this test. The 70-200mm was a favorite lens of mine for many many years but over the past four or five years I have barely used it. It has been replaced by either my Nikon 24-120mm (my all-time favorite lens) or the Nikon 80-400mm- each one does a better job within its range than the 70-200mm. And the 70-200 that I have is an older model, 2 or 3 iterations off the current offerings.

The 300mm is a beautiful lens with lightning quick focusing but it is a fixed focal length. The 80-400mm is slower but much more useful. I got the 300mm so I could use it handheld for moving animals, particularly flying birds. But as high ISO performance has become better and better I can now compensate with my ISO to get the shutter speed I need and not rely just on a fast lens.

The Nikon D4 is a wonderful, incredibly reliable camera but it about to be replaced by a new Nikon D5 sometime this spring. So I am selling it now before the value plunges next year. In the meantime I will use my two Nikon D750 for all my photography needs. I am sure I will buy the D5 when it comes out.

The picture above was one of the last shots I took with the 70-200, four years ago! Bye-bye, old friend.