Heat shimmer at 500mm

Heat shimmer is what kills long-lens work from midmorning onward in summer. No amount of sharpening fixes it, and the usual advice to shoot at lower focal lengths isn’t really advice, it’s a concession. What has actually helped me: shoot earlier, accept that anything past about 80 meters is cooked by nine, use burst mode and pick the fractional frame where the shimmer briefly settles, and avoid shooting across bare ground, roads, or roofs. None of that gives you a good image from a bad time of day. It just buys you a couple of extra minutes before you put the camera down.