Buy This Gear to Start Bird Photography (on Any Budget)

I enjoyed your video. I'v been a shutterbug for about 40 years. Spent many hours in the darkroom back in the day. Now days I shoot with Olympus (now OM Systems). I do a lot of "Backyard Bird" photos and videos. I'm lucky enough to have woods behind my house and get a good view from my upstairs studio room. Camera are cheap compared to the lenses I have bought over the years. The nice thing about the newer Olympus cameras is, you can halfway hold down the shutter button and the camera is buffering photos until you press the button all the way down. Not only do you get a number of photos after pressing the shutter button, it saves a number of photos before the button was fully pressed. As far as my background goes, I do a little bit of everything. Weddings, Landscapes, Birds, Stock photos ( one of my photos of dolphins swimming was used in a "Photoshop for Dummies" books). Here is a short Backyard Birds video I did. https://youtu.be/5FxiX7eDoKM Once again, thanks of the video.

It's such an addictive hobby that will get WAY more expensive than you ever anticipated. Take it slow and don't impulse buy. Nothing wrong with rentals with some of the costs of birding equipment before you buy.

I've been a lifelong birdwatcher and bird fan thanks to my birdwatcher mom. This week ive decided to start trying to learn to take good photos of them too! Thank you so much for doing this content for us newbies. ❤

I have been using a z6ii with a afs 200-500 and so far it's just been awesome. a z6iii and 180-600 would be my upgrade in the future. my must have would be a 95mm variable nd filter. on sunny days if you wanna take some videos of birds its imperative you have a good quality nd filter

IMHO a secondhand Nikon D750 and 200-500 f/5.6 is a hard combination to beat for anyone serious but not shooting professionally. Throw a nice rugged set of sticks and a gimbal head in and you've got a very impressive and capable setup for less than 2 grand

I would suggest getting superzoom bridge camera or buying used equipment starting out especially if you aren't sure if it is really going to be a passion for you. Used equipment can be resold for close to what you paid for it if you don't want to continue or want to upgrade. Once you see how you want to use your camera you can better decide which way to upgrade or if even necessary.

Very nice video. I have however some things to add. First of all, you can make great bird photo's without needing a very long lens. In this video it is assumed that you are going to be in plane sight and you are approaching a wild shy bird. There are however zoo's and duck ponds where the birds are very used to come close to people. At duck ponds the birds might even eat out of your hand. Even if you want to photograph wild shy birds then there is no need to be in plane sight. You can use a hide out in some shape or form. But you can even get closer then that. If you set up a bird feeding station and you put a nice branche close by then the birds will often first land on that branche and then hop to the feeding station. If you have a remote controlled camera close to that branche then you can make perfect pictures by controlling your camera with your smartphone. It is up to you. Do you prefer to spend more then 10k on a lens or do you spend a few bucks on a ticket for the zoo or a bird feeding station. A few of my sharpest photo's of birds are taken with a macro lens.

I find bridge cameras do great for casual walk in the park bird watching. No need to change lenses and zoom on those beasts are crazy. Nikon P1000 etc

You have prepared a great guide for the most difficult field of photography in my opinion. Thank you. I would like to share my own experience; I started without knowing exactly what I wanted to shoot. I preferred Fuji, which produces relatively economical cameras. In time, I realized that I wanted to observe birds and take bird photos. For a long time, I continued this effort with Fuji's 18-55 mm lens 😊 which can be considered quite good for a kit lens. meanwhile, I used a lot of international and local resources such as collins, ebird, trakus to describe birds. While I have improved in recognizing bird species, learning about their behavior and how to approach them over the past two years, the most important improvement I have made has been my "determination to go out" to take pictures. Finally, after 3 years, I bought a 70-300 mm lens to meet my range need for focal length. right after that, I expanded my equipment by acquiring a 1.4 teleconverter. my camera (x-t3) may not be the best in auto focus, but it is more than enough for me for now. I don't plan to add or upgrade equipment for a long time because I see myself as a bird photography student who continues to learn every day to improve his technique. what I mean is that I have to evolve with the tools at hand to get the best results to my satisfaction. I know it's a long post, sorry. Thank you again and I want to write that you have gained a follower from far away ✌

Great video. Your explanations were right on. One of the biggest misses people starting out experience, in my opinion, is not understanding behavior. Instead a lot of new bird photographers think the best way to get a good image is a high end camera and a 600mm lens. But with an understanding of behavior, habitat and a handful of luck you can even get good images with a 200mm lens on a full frame camera. In fact one of my favorite bird images from a trip to Madeira was with a 70-200 f4 shot at 200. But that said I just spent a week of bird photography and never touched my full frame camera opting for the crop sensor body with a 150-600 lens. Oh and one last thought, I found a pair of bino's a bit bulky since I almost always prefer to look through the camera lens. I did invest in a monocular, easily carry in a deep jacket pocket, which came with a phone clip attachment and does a not bad job at least giving good enough resolution to I'd a bird with the merlin app. Anyway take care, I look forward to more of your videos.

I started my YouTube Creator journey to get a button plaque to make into a bird feeder😂 Not there yet I has high-functioning autism and do all my channel art and video editing on a app Also I only film on a free Android😂 and made A homemade bird feeder for my window One day I plan to buy a old Canon GL2 and a tripod

Mate, this was a great video! Nice and simple, and I've learnt a lot. Thanks 👍

Great video! I can vouch for the Sony A7IV as a great all around fairly low budget option for a really incredible camera with a full frame, 33MP sensor, incredible autofocus, and lots of features for the price.

Vow excellent Video for Beginners like me so much thankful ❤

Great video, and great style - thank you!

Great an informative show , learned a good bit about lens, I’m thinking about getting a camera an lens , I’m in the middle category, thanks again, keep the shows coming !!

just stumbled on to your channel and im happy I did . your aprotch to the subject is so refereshing and that sounded so strange but its early and my cofee havent kicked in so i stick with it😁

I purchased a canon 1500d equivalent to rebel t7 and sigma 150-500 mm second hand worked very nicely under usd 1000 and took some good photos with it for around 9 months then I purchased Sigma 150-600mm new contemporary which is also a great lens. So learning only matter.

This is a good video Alan. If people are discontent with their cameras and lenses, they can always upgrade. I like using the Nikon D750 with the Nikkor 200-500mm lens. I demand high quality bird pictures and the D750 puts me there. The camera is fast and I can do some extra ordinary fast focusing and tracking with the D750. I can see myself keeping it for the rest of my life. I had to chuckle when you said the Nikon P1000 was weird. LOL. Yes, it is a weird camera. But the 3000mm lens enabled me to get a Belted Kingfisher picture that I could take from a safe distance.

Thanks for the tips. I'm still working on being comfortable with my new mirrorless m50. It doesn't take great stills, but love the videos. My husband takes the photos. Then we both have nice binoculars and an ok scope. It works since he like still photos and I like the videos of the birds in action. Thanks for making me think about goals first.