What camera/lens are you shooting and what setting for these bright days and fast birds? Looking to get into it myself. Got my eyes on a nikon D500 but still researching.
Thanks everyone. I always appreciate the comments.
Regarding what I’m shooting and settings, I'm currently shooting both Canon dSLR and Sony mirrorless gear. For mode settings I always shoot in manual. I expose for light and use aperture to control depth of field, shutter and ISO to keep the image sharp and in the best case, still show a tad bit of wing motion.
Not trying to be vague on settings, but light conditions, flight speed, wing beats/minute and length of lens all come into play when determining what settings work best in the moment. Since I often shoot in the first and final hour of daylight, my settings for flight shots change multiple times during that hour as the sun’s position changes.
Regarding gear, I always recommend building your kit around the best lenses you can afford. The old adage for photography gear is, “Marry the glass, date the body,” and that still holds true.
The good news is it’s a great time, perhaps the best time at least in my life, for wildlife shooters in the market for a world class kit on a limited budget. Due to the evolution from dSLR to Mirrorless camera bodies and the native lenses designed for each system, the market is currently flooded with both new and preowned gear, that has plenty of life left such as the crop sensor APS-C Nikon D500 dSLR that SeaAggie is considering or a full frame Canon 5D MkIV, or even better Canon 1Dx pro body series. We’re at a rare historical crossroads of market drivers that is helping slash preowned dSLR prices and native dSLR mount lenses.
For some specific examples on options available to have gear capable of capturing shots like the ones I post, any of the below paths will allow you to capture world class wildlife images.
Preowned Canon EF 500mm f/4 + Canon pro dSLR Path - $2.5K-$4K BudgetThe
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM (original and vII) lens is a favorite tool among pro sports and wildlife shooters. It’s been used by pro shooters at every major sporting event and has more than likely capture the most jaw dropping wildlife images in the last 20 years.
You can currently snag a preowned, pro flagship Canon dSLR and world class Canon 500 mm f/4L lens, a combo that cost $15-$18K new, can now be had within a $2.5K-$4K budget. What makes this so unusual is that while dSLR bodies are basically like computers with significant price drops expected due to bleeding edge technology advances every 18 months, Canon pro glass is like other advanced optical system, once near perfection is reached, there isn’t much room for improvement in image quality. Historically, Canon pro lenses have delivered very long practical life, often over a decade or more. Until just recently they have always held high resale values that made acquiring a pro wildlife kit painful or out of reach for most.
Cons, things break and while rare, they are out of warranty with limited service options. The vII version of the lens is newer and should last longer before needing service. I still have the original version and it works perfectly.
Hybrid Path - Preowned pro glass with new mirrorless body - $3K-$4k
If you’ve always lusted after the EF Canon 500 f/4L, but want to go mirrorless, any of Canon’s EF lenses like the 500 f/4L that were designed for Canon’s SLR/dSLR systems will mount to the new mirrorless bodies from Canon and Sony with a simple adapter. That’s an option to consider since Canon has produced over 150 million EF lenses so you can build a world class kit on a shoestring preowned budget. Cons, while image quality will be outstanding, for action shots, a new native lens designed for mirrorless bodies like the one mentioned below, will provide slightly better performance when it comes to autofocus, image stabilization and frames per second. The image quality on either is world class.
Mirrorless Wildlife Kit on a Budget - On the other hand, for $3-$4K, you can leap into the future and build a new mirrorless wildlife kit around the impressive
Sony 200-600 zoom lens, and one of Sony’s less expensive alpha (ILCE) E mount mirrorless camera bodies. Images and overall performance from the Sony 200-600 is truly outstanding. Some consider it the most versatile wildlife zoom lens currently available and it’s only $2K. Here is a link to compatible Sony cameras that work natively with the Sony 200-600. Link:
Sony 200-600 compatible camerasWhile $2K is still expensive for most to spend on one lens, it’s easier for most to justify compared to spending $13K for Sony’s 600 mm f/4 prime. Comparably, the Sony 200-600 is the best value of any high performance, long reach wildlife lens in my lifetime. Cons, very few.
The good news is that in competent hands, and with the right monopod or tripod support for stability, any of the above mentioned systems are capable of capturing images similar to the ones I posted.