Before I got back into FF/crop-mix life was easy. R5 with 100-500 for opportunistic walks, 800/11 when I knew what was coming. But the croppers, first R10 all too soon swapped to R7, have caused some confusion when to choose gear of the day.
R7+800/11 is 1280mm FFeq. field of view. That is one narrow straw to look through in search of fast BIF. On steady ground with wide view, ok to a degree. But my preferred small boat, no, it simply does not work. The sea ice is finally breaking up and I had hundreds of seabirds swirling around me, no not good. And within the ice there is no waves.
So I tried R7+100-500 (160-800 FFeq), yes! 800 is just about max. With 160-799 available, it will be my goto combo for most of my boating.
However, there is a forgotten gem around, the 600/11 STM! I got such a good deal on one that resistance was futile. On crop it is 960mm and it is _very_ handy compared to the 800/11. The difference is substantial! This lens should have a thread of it´s own, but it would die instantly due to lack of users, probably with some stupid comment about inability to totally destroy, sorry, _blur_ the back ground from some f/4 nut as the last nail.