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Author: Jay
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Article is copyright of Jay
Introduction
An often asked question when one starts to venture into bird photography is the appropriate focal length lens to use. While most people will recommended using the longest focal length that one can bring or afford, the truth is, there are a variety of lens which are appropriate for different subjects and environments.
Birds are generally lively and challenging subjects. They are especially active in the early morning and late evening, when light is usually lower. Things are not helped by the fact that many wild birds (except maybe common ones like mynahs, sparrows and swallows) in our region are especially skittish due to poaching. As such, it is important to understand the comfort distance at which one can approach a particular species and use the appropriate lens accordingly. For birds that can be found in Singapore/Malaysia, a minimum focal length of 400mm (bare lens or with teleconverter) is recommended to create quality images where the bird is of a reasonable size in the frame. However, in order to get frame-filling images and to maintain a comfortable distance from most subjects, a 500mm or even 600mm lens is desired. Adding on a 1.4x or occasionally 2x teleconverter to a 300/400/500/600mm lens will give the photographer more chances to photograph the wild birds as compared to shorter lens.
However, one must remember that these monster lenses, especially the 500mm and 600mm, are very expensive and heavy. It is important to first gauge and see whether one can handle them comfortably with other accessories such as tripod and flash before going ahead with the purchase. A wrong purchase can prove to be very expensive! Considerations should also be given to the kind of transport used to reach the shooting location and distance that you may be walking to search for birds before deciding on the particular lens to buy or bring.
A quick look at a few commonly used lenses among bird photographers :
Canon 400mm f/5.6
A lightweight (1.25kg) and fast focusing lens which is often used by bird photographers due to its ease of handling and relatively low price. Considered one of sharpest prime telephotos, it is a very good lens for bird-in-flight images and for tamer subjects that can be approached with relative ease. With a 1.4x teleconverter, one can only autofocus with the Canon 1-series pro-DSLRs. Often used by photographers with a big gun such as 500/600mm as a secondary arm for quick grab action shots.
Canon/Nikon 300mm f/2.8
The 300mm f/2.8 lens is often considered among the sharpest and fastest focusing lens in both the Canon and Nikon lineup. These lens are fairly easy to manage in terms of size and are easily handholdable for bird-in-flight images or situations which require a high degree of mobility such as forests. The 300mm f/2.8 is often used with a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter for added reach with little compromise to lens sharpness and still allows for reasonably fast autofocus. On its own, it represents a cheaper option to achieve the much desired 600mm focal length. Together with a big gun (500/600mm), the 300mm f/2.8 with teleconverters will provide the bird photographer with a very flexible and useful setup for different kind of subjects and situations.
Canon/Nikon 500mm and 600mm
These two lens represent the ultimate telephoto prime lens for bird photography. They are expensive and heavy, often requiring a good tripod to go along. However, they also provide the ability to create images of birds at a further distance and yet achieve a reasonable and sometimes frame-filling sized image of the subject. These big guns require some getting used to in terms of handling in the field and also good long lens technique to reduce blur from lens shake. In choosing between the 500mm and 600mm, besides price, the 500mm is considerably lighter by more than 1 kg and can be handholdable for brief periods while the 600mm definitely requires a tripod but provides a 44% increase in subject size. Those using 1.3x crop or full frame bodies will appreciate the extra reach of the 600mm in photographing small forest birds especially.
Other options
Other options for bird photography include telephoto zoom lens such as 50-500mm, 120-300mm, 100-400mm or 300-800mm which provide high flexibility especially when working from a hide. A zoom lens also allows the photographer to zoom out to locate a subject before zooming in to the desired length to capture the image. However, in comparison to the telephoto primes, these zoom lens tend to be slower in autofocus and see a more significant decline in sharpness when used with teleconverters.
Summary
In summary, it is important to understand the kind of subjects and environments that one are intending to capture when choosing the appropriate lens for bird photography. Key factors to consider include budget, manageability, approachability of subjects, size of subjects, available lighting and degree of mobility required. Last but not least, it is always cheaper to make the right choice from the start than to go through a series of buy and sell to acquire your ideal bird photography lens!
Article is copyright of Jay
