p.2 #1 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
You need what you need. No area is the same as another, and bird behaviors are more erratic the further away from people you get. 800+ is where you’re gonna have more haze issues but you can get them at 400 on the right day. To me, 800+ is the limit if you don’t like uphill battles.
On the flip side, 800 can often be too long. That’s why the 200-600 types are so popular.
p.2 #2 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
RoamingScott wrote:
You need what you need. No area is the same as another, and bird behaviors are more erratic the further away from people you get. 800+ is where you’re gonna have more haze issues but you can get them at 400 on the right day. To me, 800+ is the limit if you don’t like uphill battles.
On the flip side, 800 can often be too long. That’s why the 200-600 types are so popular.
This thread has been overwhelmingly useless
“This thread has been overwhelmingly useless TO ME ”
p.2 #3 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
I only do video, but for birds, 99% of the time I'm shooting anywhere from 840mm to 2700mm, mostly around 2000mm. That's because even with 4k video you don't have the resolution to crop in post so you need to get the framing right during capture if at all possible. To get those "equivalent" focal lengths, I'm using a 600mm (e.g. 180-600, 600pf or 600TC), plus TC(s) and am often recording in at 4k120p with the 2.3x DX crop. Stills shooters may be surprised what their "equivalent" focal length once they take into account cropping in post.
p.2 #4 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
When i was shooting birds at times back when i had a D300, i had a 200-400, 500 and 600mm lenses. If i were to start shooting birds again on my full frame camera i would start at 600mm. A 600TC with the abilty to switch back and forth from full frame to crop would be cool. If you want to fill the full frame............... well, how close can you get? Look at Alan Murohys work.
p.2 #5 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
I prefer to stay at 600 and less. A few reasons for that:
1) I prioritize BIF whenever I'm out doing bird photography, I prefer a bit looser framing to help keep the bird in the frame and rely on cropping more than I would if just concentrating on perched/floating/wading birds.
2) I find when I'm reaching for 800mm+ I'm also fighting other things like atmospherics.
I probably crop to 800mm and beyond a lot of the time when shooting 600mm but I still like to just shoot 600.
But every environment is different, I have birds that I shoot at 300mm and 400mm and can get them large in the frame. There is no correct answer for every scenario.
p.2 #6 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
However much you can get. There're lots of 'if's and 'but's. Longer the lens there's chance for getting a bird in frame. You might miss some close subjects. But always there'll be more birds farther from you than closer. My 2 cents.
DWOfPaul wrote:
After going down the rabbit hole of telephoto lens research, I thought this could make an interesting discussion.
How much reach / effective reach do you find you need to fill the frame for bird photography? For example, if you can fill the frame or close to it with a 600mm lens on a full frame camera, I would say 600mm is the reach you need. But if you are using a 600mm lens on a FF camera and cropping to A-PSC size, I would say your effective reach need is 900mm.
p.2 #7 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
Gary Irwin wrote:
I only do video, but for birds, 99% of the time I'm shooting anywhere from 840mm to 2700mm, mostly around 2000mm. That's because even with 4k video you don't have the resolution to crop in post so you need to get the framing right during capture if at all possible. To get those "equivalent" focal lengths, I'm using a 600mm (e.g. 180-600, 600pf or 600TC), plus TC(s) and am often recording in at 4k120p with the 2.3x DX crop. Stills shooters may be surprised what their "equivalent" focal length once they take into account cropping in post.
The favored lens by pro wildlife photographers is the Canon 50-1000mm $70,000 lens. From your comments they would need to be using 2x teleconverters much of the time.
p.2 #8 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
Yesterday I was photographing Forster's terns at a distances of 40-50 yards and 800mm was OK some of the time but often I would have liked to have a 1100mm focal length. With brown pelicans there was no such issues and 800mm was more than enough.
I have enccountered large birds like turkey vultures where 400mm made for two narrow a view angle and I adjusted my zoom for 300mm.
In terms of image size a 800mm lens provides a 77% larger overall image size than a 600mm lens. For small birds the additional image magnification is important.
p.2 #9 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
elkhornsun wrote:
The favored lens by pro wildlife photographers is the Canon 50-1000mm $70,000 lens. From your comments they would need to be using 2x teleconverters much of the time.
p.2 #11 · How much reach do you need for bird photography?
Depends on the (1) the bird (how big and how approachable), (2) what it's doing, and (3) your preferred shooting style.
I'll shoot at 400mm for a large heron, ibis or egret in it's environment, or a flock on the wing. At 600mm to frame those birds, or for woodpeckers, ducks or cormorants in their environment. At 800mm+ for warblers, coastal "peeps" and shy Attwater's prairie chickens. Often, no focal length is too long, or long enough. One glaring exception was when I was doing research in the Galapagos. There, almost everything was at 400mm or less because you could stand within feet of most birds.
My approach has changed quite a bit as the price of the lenses I could afford has risen. I started out many years ago with a 70-200 and a teleconverter. Soon after, I added a 300 2.8, which served me for quite a while. Then I added a 100-400 that gave me both a little more reach and wildlife versatility on longer hikes. The 800 was a revelation and I thought I was done at that point. Now in a Nikon system, I recently added the 400 TC, which gave me greater access at dawn and dusk and enabled me to shift quickly from environmental shots to portraits. These days, I'm at 400mm about 20% of the time, at ~600mm 50% of the time and 800mm about 30% of the time.
