Birding

Why is it that every newcomer to photography seems to end up on FaceBook asking for advice on what camera they should buy so they can shoot pictures of birds, do portraits and maybe a little street photography?

My standard answer is once you’ve read the manual for your camera and taken a few lessons in basic photography (with emphasis on the exposure triangle) and maybe a birding weekend workshop with a pro finished off by hours and hours of watching YouTube “how to” videos on bird photography you just might be ready to start your apprenticeship as a birding photographer.

Shooting birds is hard!

I’d go so far as to say shooting birds, especially small birds, is the most challenging forms of photography you can do.

First of all unlike a lot of types of photography bird photography is one of the few where gear makes all the difference between snapshots of ducks floating in the harbour (as above) or fine art shots of hummingbirds feeding from flowers.

While it’s possible to go birding with an all-in-one enthusiast’s level camera the basic kit generally calls for a modern mirrorless or DSLR capable of shooting an insanely high frame rates. Cameras do differ in how well they can lock in focus on small flying objects or on small birds hidden deep in brush or twigs. Better performing cameras in general cost more…a lot more.

For lenses you’re going to be starting at 200mm and zooms are preferred that range from 100-400 or, in my case, a 150-600mm Olympus zoom (300-1,200 35mm equivalent.

Big lenses and especially big zooms get heavy and cumbersome and are really expensive. You might be considering an expensive ($1500 or so) tripod and head.

And after all this your results at least initially are going to be awful!

Shooting birds takes practice and a lot of it. You won’t get good let alone competent shooting birds over night. It can take months and years of practice.

But what camera would you recommend to shoot pictures of birds, do portraits and maybe a little street photography?

BTW the answer I chose was an Olympus OM-1 and OM-5 (backup) and a bag of PRO lenses plus the 150-600 for most of my work. But for street I normally shoot an ancient Nikon FM2 35mm film camera with a 35 or 50mm lens.

I do a lot better and have significantly more success shooting street than birds LOL.