But I can handhold a 300 mm lense, which translates into a much
longer lense with this camera. I could not possibly handhold a nearly
500 mm lense.

I hear ya.

I don't use very long lenses much, but it takes a fast shutter speed to get a
clear focus on a handheld shot. Fortunately, depth of field doesn't seem to be
such a huge problem when trying to photograph something hundreds of yards away.
f3.5/ 1/2000th :-)