Newbie Needs Advice: Overcoming Bird Photography Challenges! (1 Viewer)

[jasminx]

Hi everyone! I’m fairly new to bird photography and have been running into a few challenges while shooting in the wild. It’s been a bit overwhelming, and I’m reaching out to see if anyone else has faced similar issues and how you've tackled them.

As a beginner, I struggle with several things: getting autofocus right, finding birds in the viewfinder under tricky light conditions, and the daunting task of adjusting camera settings such as shutter speed and ISO. Sometimes, by the time I think I'm ready, the moment is gone, and all I have are empty branches in my shots.

Have you also experienced similar challenges with camera? And how have you tackled them?

• Autofocus issues
• Difficulty finding birds in the viewfinder due to limited dynamic range
• Troublesome adjustments of camera settings (e.g., shutter speed, ISO)
• Others?

What camera do you use or recommend for bird photography?

• Bridge camera with telephoto lens
• DSLR or Mirrorless < 400mm
• DSLR or Mirrorless ≥ 400mm
• Others?

I’m eager to learn from your experiences and hopefully make my next birding outing a success.

 

[dalat]

Bird photography certainly needs a learning curve, no way around that.

A few comments/tips:

• Which camera depends on your budget. A bridge camera is great to start, but has its limits in image quality. If you progress and grow into it, you soon will wish to upgrade.
• Generally, I think 400 mm (equivalent) is the minimum, generally more is better. Birds are always too far away.
• Usually, the most tricky bit is getting the bird in good focus. Test different settings for focus, to see which works best for you and your camera. I find a small central focus are best for most situation, for birds in flight a larger focus area is better.
• Don't play too much with settings and concentrate on getting the bird in focus and get a shot. Make use of the camera's option to save settings (most cams should have this). With some experience, you can come up with 2-3 custom settings for different typical situations. For example, for perched birds or birds in bushes, you can set: narrow central focus field, shutter speed 1/1000-2000, serial pics of 5/s ore more, Iso and aperture on auto. Then you just preset these settings and do "point and shoot".

Have fun!
Florian

 

[nartreb]

• Autofocus issues
  Get a lens/camera that lets you control the focus point. That is the only way you will get in-focus shots of birds that are in the midst of tree branches, reeds, etc. Best solution is a big expensive zoom lens with manual focus ring - that generally means using an SLR. But some point-and-shoot or bridge cameras have a single-point focus mode. Put the bird (ideally its eye) in the exact center of the frame, because that's where the focus will be. Crop later.
  
  
• Difficulty finding birds in the viewfinder due to limited dynamic range
  I guess this means your "viewfinder" is actually an LED display, otherwise I don't know what "dynamic range" has to do with it.
  This is another area where SLRs are just better. See exactly where the camera is pointing, real optics with no screen.
  But some cameras have an LED eyepiece, and those aren't bad. Holding the eyepiece up to your eye prevents bright sun or reflections from interfering with your view. An off-axis optical viewfinder isn't terrible either, but is less useful at high zoom.
  Even with pure optics, it takes practice to point the camera in the right place and/or get the bird into focus. It helps if you have a zoom lens - start with the lens zoomed out, find points of reference (that tree, that branch), zoom in from there. With practice you'll be able to adjust focus at the same time.
• Troublesome adjustments of camera settings (e.g., shutter speed, ISO)
  While waiting to see your next bird, keep settings appropriate for quick-reaction shots - quick shutter speeds, high-ish ISO. If the bird sits still, you'll have time to change them so you get richer color or whatever other effects you prefer.
• Others?
  Think about how you carry your camera - minimize the time it takes you to be ready. Do you have to unzip something? change lenses? Move a lens cap? attach a lens hood? Whenever possible, carry your camera out, longest lens on, hood on, lens cap off.
  
  Tripods - or at least monopods - are usually required if you go longer than 400mm. There are a couple of ultrazoom cameras out there with really amazing image stabilization, but they have other drawbacks: small lens and sensor -> reduced image quality (especially color); autofocus only -> difficult to photograph birds in trees.

 

[njlarsen]

Several answers:
1 There is a dedicated Camera section of Birdforum, you may get more answer in that section.

2 Make sure you state when you are talking about equivalent length of lens versus absolute. When comparing different cameras and different formats such as bridge vs exchangeable lens cameras, this becomes a must. For example, a micro-4-3 lens of 100-300 have an equivalent reach of 200-600 mm.

3 I agree with Dalat that 400 mm equivalent reach is minimum for most bird photos.

4 Which one to recommend depends a lot on available funds and commitment. If you are truly committed, you may not blink at spending >2000 on a setup -- but for most people, it makes sense to start with a (second hand?) bridge camera to make sure this is something you want to continue doing.

5 How much weight are you prepared to carry around? In my personal example, I could afford to purchase a larger sensor camera than the one I am using, but once considering the weight of the setup, I have no intention of doing so. Remember that with a larger sensor, the equivalent reach becomes less for the same absolute size of lens.

Niels

 

[robinlanark]

Hi everyone! I’m fairly new to bird photography and have been running into a few challenges while shooting in the wild. It’s been a bit overwhelming, and I’m reaching out to see if anyone else has faced similar issues and how you've tackled them.

As a beginner, I struggle with several things: getting autofocus right, finding birds in the viewfinder under tricky light conditions, and the daunting task of adjusting camera settings such as shutter speed and ISO. Sometimes, by the time I think I'm ready, the moment is gone, and all I have are empty branches in my shots.

Have you also experienced similar challenges with camera? And how have you tackled them?

• Autofocus issues
• Difficulty finding birds in the viewfinder due to limited dynamic range
• Troublesome adjustments of camera settings (e.g., shutter speed, ISO)
• Others?

What camera do you use or recommend for bird photography?

• Bridge camera with telephoto lens
• DSLR or Mirrorless < 400mm
• DSLR or Mirrorless ≥ 400mm
• Others?

I’m eager to learn from your experiences and hopefully make my next birding outing a success.

My short answer - spend years of pleasure with a 30x bridge in order to develop the skills, then find a $500 Canon SX70 like mine that has incredible focusing and zooming performance. I tried a few others and found they don't all perform as well, and fast focus and shooting is key once you have the skill to find a bird in the branches.

I'm recently upgrading to less zoom in a better camera (MFT Panasonic g9 with zoom lens for 3x the price) but I don't expect to get all my observations on camera even if the photos I do get are better.