Bird Watching: What Kind of Camera Do You Use?, 0 by f_chisolm

f_chisolm wrote:
I use a Canon 400D. Most of my bird shots are made with a lens that zooms to 300mm. It is not enough zoom. I wish that I had a zoom that would go to 500mm. The digital zoom on the point and shoot cameras are really just cropping the pic that you can get with the most optical zoom. You can do that on your computer if you want to. I would not consider the digital zoom. My first digital camera was a Canon G5 and I learned quickly that I could not get good pics using the digital zoom. The optical zoom is the one that is important. Also remember that the more megapixels the camera has the more you can crop and still get a good pic. Ten megapixels is a good place to start but more would be better. But that cost money. Camera companies keep increasing the megapixels with each new model. Also a lens with an image stablizer is good to have. Some of the p&s cameras have an iso shift to do this but that is not as good as an image stablized lens. A stabilized lens is important if you want to hand hold the camera. Also a lens with low aperture number is important to allow as much light as possible to the sensor. A lot of my bird photos are made in the shade. I find that I need more light. The more light you get means you can use a lower ISO which means a clearer pic. If you use a high ISO you will need to use noiseware software which also takes away some of the sharpness. So it is always better to use the best lens you can afford. Lens converters and polorizing filters cut down on the light so try to get a lens with f4 or lower at full zoom. That means beginning at fifteen hundred dollars and going as high as anyone can imagine. LOL

This image was made with the zoom at 300mm and the robin was 15 feet away. It was only cropped for a better shape.

I belong to several international photo forums and it seems that most of the people who have dslrs either prefer Canon or Nikon. Both companies have a good choice of lens plus lens are made by other companies to fit those cameras. The kit lens that comes with cameras are good for landscapes, family and still life but you need better ones for bird photography. You might consider a macro lens also if you want to get pics of insects and small wildflowers.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2008 12:46 AM