PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS - II EQUIPMENT

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

+ Go to beginning of the series
+ Continued at Photographing Birds III - Approaching the bird

Generally speaking, a lot of photographers say a lot of times that the equipment you have doesn't matter, and it is the person behind the camera who does most of the job. It may be valid in a general context, but unfortunately not so when it comes to bird photography, or wildlife photography in general. The reasons are many:

1. Birds are fast moving subjects, it helps to have a fast autofocus in the camera/lens system.
2. It is difficult to get close to the birds. The solution is to get longer and expensive telephoto lenses with large magnification. These telephotos also require cameras that are powerful enough to drive them.
3. The best time to get bird or wildlife images is during early morning and evenings. You may not get enough light in both the times and it helps to have faster lenses which can let in more light.
4. Wildlife photography is demanding on quality and sharpness of the image. It helps to have expensive lenses which can render sharp images.
5. Features like image stabilization can be crucial when shooting handheld.

Because of all these reasons, it is important to have the right equipment for shooting birds. The lenses play a more crucial role than the cameras. A basic 75-300mm might serve as a good 'practice lens' in the beginning, but as the photographer gets more serious about bird photography, it becomes crucial to use longer lenses which can render sharper images. Some of the criteria to look for in selecting a lens.

1. A prime lens usually gives sharper and clearer image than a zoom lens.
2. Faster lenses are useful, as they can be used to shoot in low light. An f/2.8 lens is always better than f/4. But keep in mind that faster lenses tend to be heavier and expensive.
3. If you are likely to shoot handheld, image stabilization is a must
4. The longer the lens the better. Long lenses can be expensive. A 400mm or more will be important to be able to fill the frame with the bird. If you are buying a prime, you can back it up with a teleconverter, which can help increase the focal lenght. Teleconverters are not recommended with zoom lenses, since they can bring in considerable loss in quality and the loss in light it lets in.


To shoot small and agile birds like Plain Prinia, one needs a good telephoto lens that can also focus quickly

I would say that a 400mm prime lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, driven by a camera which has a crop factor of 1.5 to 1.6 should be ideal. Of course, it helps to have longer lens.

A tripod is another necessary equipment in bird photography. Best images are always made with camera mounted on the tripod. If you are not using a tripod, it is important to have lenses with image stabilization to compensate all the vibration from the hand. Since longer lenses tend to be heavy and also magnify the camera shake, it is nearly impossible to get vibration free images if you are not using either a tripod or IS lens. Also make sure that your tripod is strong enough to support a heavy telephoto lens.

Camera does not play a role as important as the lens when shooting birds, but when choosing a camera, it is essential to ensure that the camera can support and drive your telephoto lens. Continuous shooting speed is one of camera features to look for. 3 fps will suffice most of the times, but a higher number of frames per second will be useful in shooting birds in flight.

As you might have figured out by now, photographing birds can be an expensive hobby. But equipment play a very important role in bird photography.

To be continued..