While you can photograph almost anything with any combination of a lens/camera, there’s one thing where telephoto lenses are almost a must, and that’s bird photography. You’ll rarely see someone shoot with lenses under 300mm, especially if they have a low megapixel camera (with more pixels, you could crop the shot to make the bird appear closer).
Not to mention, bird photography requires patience and a ton of photographing, but once you get that shot, it’s all worth it. Take a look at a couple of beautiful examples of bird photography (author and gear used below each shot) to see how exciting this type of photography is.
Tahir Abbas
Joshua Clark | Canon EOS-1D X + 500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x Extender
Ali Shah | Canon EOS 7D + 400mm f/5.6L USM
Mia Moreau
Adrien | Canon EOS T2i/550D + 70-200mm f/4L USM
Carlos Duncker | Sony a6000 + 50mm f/1.8
Winston Broderick | Nikon D7200 + 300mm f/2.8
Ricky Floyd | Canon EOS 7D + 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
Jammo | Canon EOS 70D
Carole Hawthorne | Canon EOS 7D + 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
Returning to Nomadism | Canon EOS 60D + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Martha Case
Daniel Hallqvisst
Gerard Kanters
Ersin Demir | Nikon D5100 + 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6
Cory | Canon EOS 7D + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Iain Forbes | Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Jefflack
Karen James | Nikon D3200 + 70-300mm f/4-5.6
Sergey Pisarevskiy | Canon EOS 5D II + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Larry Daugherty | Nikon D800 + 500mm f/4
Larry Keller | Nikon D7200 + 200-500mm f/5.6
Steve James | Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Lori Bour | Nikon D5100 + 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6
Ray Hennessy | Nikon D4s + 500mm f/4
Michele Nespoli
Winston Broderick | Nikon D7200 + 300mm f/2.8
Roland Lehnhardt | Canon EOS 60D + 120-400mm
Nigel Voaden | Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4x Extender
Penny Hall | Sony A77 + 70-400mm f/4-5.6
Roy Delonga | Canon EOS 7D Mark II + 800mm f/5.6L IS USM
Rick van der Krats | Canon EOS 7D Mark II + 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Wil de Boer | Canon EOS 80D + 150-600mm
Yves | Canon EOS-1D Mark IV + 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS USM + 1.4x Extender
Jörg | Canon EOS 7D Mark II + 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4x Extender
Nedko Nedkov | Nikon D4s + 200-500mm f/5.6
For bird photography, you want a camera that is accurate and quick when it comes to focusing, and has a fast burst mode (over 5fps is recommended).
Recommended Cameras & Lenses
Canon EOS 7D Mark II – An excellent semi-professional DSLR that has 65-AF points and 10fps burst mode, worth every dollar.
You should also check out the Canon EOS 80D, Nikon D7200 and D500. All of these were made to shoot action! Sure there are cheaper and also more expensive models, but for most people, these are the best combination of price/performance.
Lens wise, I recommend you to go with lenses that can reach at least 300mm (200mm is the absolute minimum). Not only because you’ll need to be far from your subject in most cases, but because longer focal lengths make the background blur look that much more appealing/blurry.
For Canon DSLRs, check out the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM. If you’re on a really tight budget but still want something with acceptable range, check out the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM.
Nikon shooters should take a look at the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR and 200-500mm f/5.6G ED VR.
As always, try to stay away from fully automatic modes and read our tutorials about the shutter speed, aperture size and ISO speed. Once you understand these 3 and how they affect the light, your shots will greatly improve!
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