Your First Bird Photography Setup: What You Really Need

^{Note: This tip comes from Audubon’s article - How to Choose Your Equipment}

Finding the right gear is the first challenge if you're getting into bird photography. Bird photography can be a wonderfully satisfying hobby. But it also comes with many challenges, the first of which is choosing the right equipment.

Here are the basics.

Tip #1 – Cameras

A digital SLR (DSLR), mirrorless, or bridge camera with an option for a lens of focal length 400mm or longer that will allow autofocus (essential for getting sharp images of fast-moving birds) and provide flexibility for capturing birds in flight.

When camera shopping, don’t be pulled in by bells and whistles; many are surprisingly irrelevant, at least in raw image quality.

Also, remember that more megapixels don’t always result in higher-quality images; a higher price tag is often a better indicator of potential image quality than higher megapixels.

Even more important than sensor quality is autofocus accuracy: Higher-grade camera models typically have more accurate autofocus, and that’s critical for getting tack-sharp images of active birds.

If you’re a beginner or on a budget, consider buying used; you’ll often get better value by purchasing a used professional-grade DSLR rather than a brand-new mid-grade model.

Tip #2 – Lenses

Third-party lenses from reputable brands (notably Sigma) are often substantially cheaper but slightly less sharp than those of the top-tier brands. You don’t need to spend thousands for that white Canon barrel.

For general bird photography, you’ll need at least 400mm of focal length, ideally more. Smartphone cameras just won’t cut it in bird photography. 

Unfortunately, teleconverters—which increase magnification—are no magic bullet for those with smaller lenses, because they reduce autofocus capability on smaller-aperture lenses. Again, think about buying used here.

Tip #3 – Digiscoping

If you’re not ready to spend money on an expensive camera and lens and you already own a spotting scope, you have another option: Simply point your camera—and yes, that includes your iPhone—into the eyepiece of your spotting scope and photograph the image projected by the scope.

To improve image quality, it’s best to remove the eyepiece from the scope, and the lens from the camera and directly mount the camera body to the scope using a specialized mounting ring.

Digiscoping, as this technique is known, has its drawbacks—such as the lack of autofocus and the need to use a tripod—but for the beginner or the budget-minded, a basic digiscoping rig can cost far less than a quality camera-and-lens setup.

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!)