If money is no problem, then Dries Cronje's advice on the equipment
set up you need for bird photography is what you need to read.
If money is a problem, it is still useful to know what the
professionals use to kit themselves out, and you can go to
his website and admire. With patience and ingenuity you
can still get good photographs of birdlife with less expensive
equipment, but I acknowledge that you'll have to work harder
to get them.
Equipment Needed for Bird Photography
The nice thing about bird photography is that it can
happen anywhere on our beautiful globe. The not so nice
thing is that birds are small or shy, and you need to
be able to get close enough with your equipment. In this
article, we will be looking at the ideal equipment for
bird photography. We will also be having a quick look
at how to use this equipment.
Camera body
We live in the world of digital photography, and therefore
we will only be discussing digital camera bodies. I am
also a really big Canon fan, so I will talk Canon, and
you can translate it to other manufacturers if you need
to.
You will need a decent camera body that allows you to
set continuous focus while shooting images in the raw
image quality. The cheapest body allowing you to do this
is the Canon EOS 20D. However, it is not really cheap.
The reason for it being not too affordable is that it
is actually a very good all-round camera body for the
serious amateur or professional. You cannot go wrong
with this body…
Lenses
A lot of amateurs think that a really decent long zoom
lens will solve all their problems. I have been there
guys, and it does not. Do what the professionals do and
get that long prime lens.
I used the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM for
a long time, and my results were decent but not good
enough. It is not the sharpest lens. If you need to use
a zoom rather stick with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L
IS USM. It is pin sharp.
I now use the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM and it is the
best thing that could have happened to my photography.
It is very sharp and very fast at the same time. A bit
heavy at times, but I need the exercise! With this lens
I mostly use a Canon Extender 1.4x II for an effective
focal length of 1 120 mm with autofocus! That is plenty
for any bird, and I cannot imagine getting a lot of good
bird photographs with anything shorter.
By the way, do not use manual focus. Today’s cameras
were not built for manual focus as the viewfinders are
small and do not allow you to see enough detail to manual
focus effectively.
Photographing flying birds
Okay, now you have all the equipment and you are heading
into the field to get that award winning photograph of
a flying bird. You have to have enough light entering
your lens for a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the
action. You also want your camera to focus where the
bird is in that split second you are going to give it
before firing away. So what do you do…?
Set you camera to an ISO speed of 400. In sunshine this
ought to be fast enough. The reason for not using ISO
100 or 200 is that you are photographing action and you
do not want anything to blur.
You must also make sure your lens is open at its maximum
aperture. A Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens coupled with
a Canon Extender 1.4x II gives a maximum aperture of
5.6, and this is what I use when photographing flying
birds.
Also ensure your camera is set to continuous autofocus.
Canon calls this setting AI Servo focus. This is crucial
and the main reason why I am not a fan of camera bodies
like the Canon EOS 350D. They do not allow you to use
this focus with raw images… Thanks Canon!
I also set my image stabilizer to Mode 2 for photographing
moving subjects, to avoid it actually working against
that sharp photo rather than for it…
Now all that is left is moving that heavy lens around
while the birds are flying past. Happy shooting!
Conclusion
We professionals have a way of sometime making it sound
like you do not need good equipment to be a good photographer.
That is utter non-sense. Get yourself decent equipment
and you will see why the pros get the shot and you don’t.
The other thing that makes the professionals so much
better than the average amateur is patience. Go and sit
somewhere where there are birds, forcing yourself not
to move for three hours, and you will get the magic shots.
Your patience will be rewarded.
Dries Cronje is a freelance nature photographer operating
in Southern Africa. He has a passion for teaching and
has dedicated one of his sites, http://www.africa-nature-photography.com, purely to helping his
fellow nature photographers.
