Ok... now... here's a bit of info that may be helpful... maybe...
I am into photography... just as a novice with many cameras over the years, lenses and too damn much money spent on crap...
With the high resolution cameras on the market today... almost any high quality digital will suffice...
Example... I was in Yosemite National Park several years ago... there were some 'climbers' on the side of El Capitan... the 4000' granite cliff that is in the center of the park... I was sitting in my pickup with a set of 10X50 binoculars watching these idiots scale the sheer cliff face... they were about half way up the side... say 2000' and I was about 1/2 mile from the base of the cliff so they were at least a mile from me in distance... (1/2 mile=about 2000+2000 up the cliff) please note that you can barely see a human body with the naked eye at that distance and even with good optics it is still quite difficult to see face recognition...
Anyway... I got out my Nikon D70, which at the time was one of the first Nikon digitals and has a top resolution of 3008x2000 and if you shoot with the setting at 'JPEG fine'... your picture will be huge in size... like almost 3 megs...
Image size is measured in pixels... small size produce small files... the larger the image, the larger the size that can be printed or copied without becoming noticeably "grainy" and that is the deal when trying to take clear long distance shots... I had my 300mm Nikor lens attached and I took a series of pictures at over a mile... here's the point...
I took the pictures at the highest resolution... then I downloaded the pictures to my laptop and 'tweaked', 'cropped' and enhance these pictures enlarging in size till I got some closeups. Current models of medium priced cameras are capable of taking some really sharp and clear images... you would be surprised what some of the medium priced software products can do to a digital picture...l
YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON CAMERAS OR SOFTWARE....
learn a little about how to enhance and tweak your digital pictures and you can probably come out with pictures very, very close to what you would gain with all that money spent on lenses.... unless of course you happen to have access to some of the sophisticated stuff that is available through some of the more.............. uh................. secretive organizations... but if your like me... a nice Nikon Coolpix, that is available for under $300 will do nicely and a software program that does the rest. I do have a couple of cameras and the Nikon D70 was the most expensive at around $900 for the body and the lenses are a couple hundred... depending on what you get... usually one good quality telephoto and a general lens like a Nikor AF-S 18-70 1:35-4.5 G ED for a few hundred is all you will probably need...
Let me regress a bit... my little Nikon Coolpix S51 and a good software product would probably be all you would need... it is all I use for defendant pictures and most all general work... I only pull out the D70 when my lovely wife Gail wants a really good picture of our dogs.........................
and IMHO the results are probably no better... (but she thinks so and that is what is important)
Here are a few pictures with explanations ... hope I do not bore you with this stuff... photography has always facitated me although I have never risen to a level other than novice... I learn daily however...
This one was shot with a standard lense... about 50mm.
This one was shot with the 300mm telephono...
This one is the same original picture enhanced even further with the same software.... are ya starting to get the Picture???
another of the guys up on the cliff... shot with a standard 50mm lens...
shot with a 70mm partial telephoto
shot with the 300mm lens from a closer distance... I drove a bit closer but was still a good mile away from the base... look in the very center and you can just make them out...
Now this is the same picture as the other but again,,,, enhanced and cropped... you should be able to make out two standing on the ledge and another "hanging" below on a rope... are these people crazy of what.... gheeeeezzzzzz....
Even though the last picture is a bit grainy... the point is compare the first cliff picture and the last and it was done with software... I know most of you can obtain better quality software than I...
Here again is the bottom line... with a good modern digital camera capable of taking high resolution pictures all you need is a medium priced telephoto and a good quality software program and you can simulate and obtain good quality pictures... now if you absolutely need "face recognition" then you may still be able to use this stuff... you are probably gonna be a lot closer than I was to the person... I just don't think you need all that high tech stuff unless you just want to spend the money...
Here is one more picture I took with my little Nikon Cool-pix and enhanced it from a very long distance... this little camera has no telephoto and the turkey was at least 500yds away.... I rest my case. BTW... for all you turkey hunters... nice beard on that one, huh??? and you all should know how hard it is to get good pictures of turkeys... although I do have several of Scott.... uh...... yeah...
Please send your questions and tech help to Scott, he knows a lot more about this than I...... and so does Dave and Marshall.......
but for those of us that haven't made it to the top yet your answer would be a Telescope or Spotting scope with a camera adapter on a tri pod. you won't beleve how long you can stay at one place with a hard hat and vest and never be questioned. I use this set up alot and it has never failrd to produce the long range photos that i get for workmans comp cases. I have used this set up at the lake out of my boat several times.
Ya know I have a lot of time on my hands since I am unemployeeeeeeddddd.... 
besides, I have to keep up my reputation... don't want to get toooo serious............. 
