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Photographing Birds, Part 1: Equipment

© P.C. Robinson

If you like to take pictures, sooner or later you’ll want to take pictures of birds. Like birding, photographing birds is exhilarating and frustrating and never dull. If you can shoot pictures of your family and your vacation, you can shoot your feathered friends.

Point and shoot cameras are efficient for capturing your Kodak moments of family events and vacations, but for birding photography you’ll want a good camera that’s sturdier and has greater capabilities for shooting birds over long distances. A 35-millimeter camera with basic autofocus capability is recommended because it will quickly focus and meter for you, saving you the time and trouble you may experience if you are new to the hobby.

Because most birds are skittish and prone to flying off if disturbed, you’ll want a camera lens with enough strength that lets you shoot from some distance while getting a decent close-up of your subject. Depending on the size of the bird and how close you are, a 200-millimeter lens may be adequate. More often than not, however, a 300- or 400-millimeter lens is necessary.

The photo of the pelican shown here was shot using a 28-210 zoom lens set at 200.

The yellow-crowned night heron and junco were shot using a 400-lens from approximately the same distance (although obviously in different places!).

In some cases, 500-, 600-, 800- and even 1000-millimeter lenses may be desired, but these lenses are expensive and can be priced in the 5-figure category. If you feel you need a more powerful lens but can’t afford it, do what we economically challenged individuals do and use an extender or teleconverter. A 1.4X teleconverter turns a 400-millimeter lens into a 540-millimeter lens. A 2X extender on a 400-millimeter doubles it to 800.

The type of film you use is just as important as your camera and lenses. Professional photographers generally use slow-speed slide film (50 or 100 ASA) because they can produce prints that are clear and not grainy. However, because the speed is slow, they must often use a flash and/or tripod when shooting in order to properly light the subject, or to keep the camera steady if shooting at slower speeds without a flash.

If you don’t plan to exhibit or sell your photos for publication, 200-speed film is a good, generic film speed because you can generally shoot through a telephoto lens without losing so much light that you need a flash. Higher-speed films (400, 800, 1600) are also excellent for capturing birds in motion but are prone to some graininess.

Brown pelicans share the pier with onlookers

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