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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Camera/lens recommendations for BIF in low light (1 Viewer)

For the record, I found this article on the best mirrorless cameras for wildlife photography very useful and interesting, as well as the dpreview photo comparison that Vespobuteo linked to.

Thanks to everyone for their advice!
Reading through that article, reinforces a bit that (like the rest of us ! :) you are looking for the holy grail, and once weight and cost become factors, I tend to agree with Jim - "Frankly, I don't think the camera you want exists"

I think you have several options for better performance based on how much you want to carry and how much you want to spend.

i) 1" sensor Sony RX-10 MKIV . This has an in-camera crop to give you 900mm equivalent at about 10(12?) MP. Importantly the max aperture at the long end is f4, the BSI-CMOS 1" sensor is cutting edge, and so is the AF for a bridge camera - being the first with phase detect.
It will give you an improvement over your current camera though more incremental. Weight is ~ 2&1/4 lbs. Cost ~ $1500.

ii) m43 sensor Olympus OM-D EM-1 MkII + 300mm f4 PRO + 1.4x TX . This is currently state of the art in m43 and will give you 20MP of 840mm at f5.6 The sensor in this camera performs very well for its size and is near APS-C performance, as it is for AF.
It should give you better improvement over your current camera. Weight is ~ 4&1/2 lbs. Cost ~ a bit over $4500.

iii) APS-C sensor Nikon D7200 + 300mm f4 PF + 1.4x TC. High resolution 24MP sensor which you would best use on centre point continuous AF. 630mm f5.6 , or use the 1.3x in-camera crop for 15.4 MP of 840mm at f5.6.
It should give a quite good improvement over your current camera. Weight is ~ 4lbs. Cost ~ a bit over $3000.

iv) APS-C sensor Nikon D500 + 200-500mm f5.6. Pro level AF, with the larger sensor providing much better high ISO image quality. You can either shoot at full res 20MP of 750mm at f5.6, or use the 1.3x in-camera crop for ~12MP of 1000mm at f5.6
This should give you noticeable improvement over your current camera. Weight is ~7lbs. Cost ~ a bit less than $3500.

v) FF sensor. Here you are looking at the Canon 1DX MkII , Nikon D5 , or the Sony A9 , and (5/)600mm f4 + TC's .
You will see the best performance available and a huge step up over your current camera. Weight will be ~ 11 or 12lbs , you will probably want a tripod or rest or something, and there won't be much change from 20 grand ! :eek!:

As you can see, you rapidly move up in size, weight, and cost from bridge camera levels. Probably the best bang for the buck is option iv) , and probably the best bang for the size is option iii) .
Where you lob will be up to you !
I have no real idea what each of these rigs would cost to rent in your location, but assume that the rates would be somewhat proportional to the buying cost. :h?:


Chosun :gh:
 
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iv) APS-C sensor Nikon D500 + 200-500mm f5.6. Pro level AF, [...]
The stellar AF performance of the Nikon D500 is useful in almost every case, but in certain low-light situations it may be an idea to shoot with focus locked. Prefocusing at a distance where you hope the bird will appear, and then rely more on high fps. Maybe even shooting at 1/100 seconds, as in the OP with the first owl shot, and panning. Plus lots of work editing the RAW files... :-O
 
The stellar AF performance of the Nikon D500 is useful in almost every case, but in certain low-light situations it may be an idea to shoot with focus locked. Prefocusing at a distance where you hope the bird will appear, and then rely more on high fps. Maybe even shooting at 1/100 seconds, as in the OP with the first owl shot, and panning. Plus lots of work editing the RAW files... :-O

Edit: Apologies for killing a lively thread with my off-topic remark. :eek!:
 
To reinvigorate the thread, I ended up buying a mirrorless system. There was just too much choice from Canon and Nikon, and because I didn't have a preference for either, I found myself overwhelmed by the options for both camera bodies and lenses. As someone who does a lot of research to find the best prices (eBay, used from camera shops, etc.), there were too many possible combinations and I was exhausted trying to work out the best combination of features, IQ, reach, and cost. I realised pretty early on that the Sony RX10 IV wouldn't be a worthwhile investment; it has been extremely effectively hyped, but it's very expensive for a camera that can't be customised or extended beyond 600mm @ f/4.

After perusing the article on mirrorless systems, I researched the combinations mentioned there in more depth. I wasn't happy with the low light performance from Olympus or Panasonic, and Sony was out of my budget, even secondhand. I'm now using a Fujifilm X-T2 + XF 100-400, which I'm very happy with; it has customisable continuous autofocus settings, the image quality and sharpness are excellent, SOOC JPGs look great, and I can put together an astro time-lapse movie without any effort. Best of all, I feel as though I got a good deal on my gear, which, even if I am fooling myself, makes me feel better about spending a load of money on something that's just a hobby! :D
 
The Fuji X-T2 (with the XF 100-400) seems to be a very attractive camera. I've just googled for it and its low-light abilities are often mentioned. I hope you'll occasionally post some of your owl and bat BIFs!
 
.....I ended up buying a mirrorless system..... I'm now using a Fujifilm X-T2 + XF 100-400, which I'm very happy with ....
Congrats on the new system. It looks like ISO performance is near the Nikon D500, and you would have spent a similar amount of money to that camera equipped with a 200-500 f5.6. You're losing 150mm equivalent reach to that rig and some AF performance , but also ~1.3kg (nearly 3lb) in weight which is pretty handy.

It will be interesting to see what shots you come up with :t:



Chosun :gh:
 
I'm now using a Fujifilm X-T2 + XF 100-400, which I'm very happy with; it has customisable continuous autofocus settings, the image quality and sharpness are excellent, SOOC JPGs look great, and I can put together an astro time-lapse movie without any effort.

I've been a Fuji "X" user since the day the first X100 hit the shelves. The current 24MP X-Trans sensors (I own 3 Fujis with these) have a 1 or 2-stop advantage over m4/3 when it comes to noise. You can check this out at DPReview by comparing the most recent m4/3 20MP sensors with current APS-C 24MP sensors. Look at both RAW and JPEG at different ISOs

With the X-T2 (or in my experience the Nikon D500 and D7200) you should have no problems shooting at ISO 3200 or 6400. This particular shot of my cat Psotka on Flickr is generally representative of the current sensor class at ISO 6400.

Time spent post-processing X-Trans will pay off. If you are using Windows, the Iridient RAW converter has worked best for me -- I'm playing with digiscoping now and shoot everything RAW with an X-T20. Find a good noise reduction application. One of the best sets of plugins is the Nik Collection (Once sold by Nik, then bought by Google and made available for free, then abandoned by Google and acquired up by DxO -- which filed for Chapter 11...But new software, including Nik, is supposed to be released within a few months.) You can download the pre-DxO versions from DxO's site. Check out Viveza, which allows simultaneous adjustment of brightness, contrast, saturation, and structure.

I have some camera trials albums on Flickr. Included in each are some high ISO shots. Not birding photos, but you can pixel-peep and for some of them I added notes on the PP: Fuji X100F / Nikon D7200 / Nikon D500
 
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@Chosun Juan I do have a 1.4 TC for extra reach, although most of the time I haven't needed it. The light weight of the rig is definitely appreciated; it's easy to handle and carry around, so I don't need to think twice about taking it out on walks, etc.

@ljclark Thanks for the tips and links. I haven't really explored RAW post-processing much yet - I used to use DxO with my Panasonic, but haven't spent the necessary time to properly try out the different X-Trans processing software options. I have the Nik software, but also need to dedicate some time to learning to use it effectively (although I'm good at using it ineffectively!). With the improved weather and longer daylight hours, sitting at my laptop going through tutorials is a lot less attractive than going out to take photos! :S

I've attached a few photos (cropped, resized for the forum) taken with the new gear for comparison with those at the top of the thread.
 

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Excellent photos, the Barn owl is a shocker. But apparently the UK is a special place: "The barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range, but in Britain and some Pacific islands, it also hunts by day." (Wikipedia)
 
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