Note: This tip comes from pages 5-6 in Tobie Schalkwyk’s free eBook - Bird Photography: Most Popular Lenses
Photograph by Jatin Dayal
Any bird photographer wants his or her viewer(s) to look at a bird image and say, “Wow, look at the detail!” The first time I saw bird images in which the feather detail was simply superb, I said to myself, “Amazing! I also want to do this!” and I was hooked!
For a lot of photographers’ sharpness is the main factor in choosing a lens.
The brand-name prime lenses, from 300 mm to 600 mm, are certainly the best lenses in this category for distant or extremely small bird subjects.
This is an important consideration when buying a ‘bird lens.’ Prime lenses in this category can weigh from 800g to 5kg (1.5lb to 11lb), which is a huge consideration, especially if you’re planning on carrying it along on hikes!
I know top bird photographers who own 500mm/600mm prime lenses, but they would rather use a much lighter 300mm/400mm prime lens 80% of the time, just because of weight.
Tip #01 – Prime lenses tend to be extremely sharp and fast (wide aperture), but that comes at the cost of extreme weight.
Photograph by Richard Sagredo
Prime lenses almost always have a very wide maximum aperture for a beautiful background bokeh.
But these advantages come at a high cost. One can expect to spend upwards of eight to twenty thousand dollars or more for a high-quality, extreme telephoto, maximum-quality lens.
Tip #2 – An extreme telephoto prime lens is undoubtedly a bird photographer’s best tool. If cost becomes an issue, try renting some of the third-party prime lenses to see if you find them satisfactory. A third-party lens in this category can cut the price by half or even more.
Photograph by Chris Charles
Have you ever looked at a beautiful bird through a prime lens, but the subject is too close to cover the whole bird within your frame? Or, on the opposite spectrum, is the bird too tight to allow a pleasing background?
Let me tell you, you feel like grabbing the front of your mega-prime lens and stretching it to all sides to enlarge your view! Then you clench your teeth as you fight the urge to rob the guy next to you of his cheaper zoom lens because you know this opportunity will never offer itself again!
So, what do you do? Some prime-lens bird photographers have a second camera body with a telephoto zoom lens on standby, just in case of events like this.
Carrying only a second (zoom) lens with you is not ideal, as a bird perched this close to you will not wait for you to change lenses before it takes off again.
When cost is the ruling factor, the best solution would be to purchase only a high-quality zoom lens (thus covering all scenarios). You can then add a prime lens later for those ‘special’ shots where the prime lens is the best option.
Photograph by Joao-Guilherme-Soares
Tip#3 - An extreme zoom lens, say in the 100mm to 500mm category, provides the most options in bird photography for the least money and weight. There are many lenses in this category that any bird photographer would be proud to own. Don’t forget to look into third-party manufacturers such as Tamron and Sigma as they both have superb products in this category.
Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)