Hello everyone. I am a beginner in photography. I love birds very much and would like to buy my first camera and lens so I can photograph birds. Can you recommend me some camera and lens?
In terms of specs, you probably don't need to worry about a specific model, all the cameras these days have great quality sensor wise. What is you budget? What is your knowledge level? I can say mirror-less is taking over for where DSLRs have been for 20 years. But that means the gear will become more modest priced on the DSLRs, Mirror-less systems are a little lighter to lug around however. For birding the longer the lens you can get the better, long quality zooms are not cheap, but there there are a variety of options.
Welcome to the forum, Dyton, What sort of birdlife are you going to be photographing, Local birds that are use to humans being around , such as what is in the trees in your local parks, them maybe a 300mm minimum and as we come to wild birds in a country enviroment , we are in the 600 mm range. Now we come to cost. The longer the lens, the greater the cost. Lets start off locally. What ever camera you have ,use a 300 mm lens, good ones this size can be found for a reasonable cost. If you want to go longer you have two ways to do it. Buy a two times extender, which cost as much as a lens itself or go for a 400mm lens. Taking images, is best done just sitting and watching, birds are spooked by movement. So sit and watch with a drink and something to eat. Or set out some food in your garden , eg. a bird feeder, they will get used to feeding here. Again movement will frighten them off. Have a look on youtube there is a wealth of information there.
Without you suggesting a dollar value. I am going to suggest a Canon R7 with the RF 100-500 lens. Gary
My budget is between $1500-$1800 for both camera and lens all together. My level of knowledge is a beginner, I really had no experience with cameras until now, I took most of the pictures with my phone.
Well, to begin with, I plan to photograph only local birds. Thank you so much for the tips, you really helped me a lot
I am going to suggest a canon 60D, you can pick one up for 300 to five hundred dollars. for local bird life pick up a 400mm lens. This is my personal setup, I also have a Vivitar 120 - 600m lens , this cost me 80 dollars. It was so cheap because t is a old film camera lens. I use an EOS to FD mount adapter. The main drawback is no auto focus. I use the live view on the back of the camera and magnify the image +10 to get sharp focus. This may or maynot suit you but it is a cheap way to get up close to the birdlife. you will also need a good sturdy tripod. The other option is to buy a modern 500mm or 600mm lens but these will cost a lot, even for a second hand one.
You could probably grab the 150-600 Sigma for a grand. Then a used DSLR like a 7d mark2. This would fit the bill and either would be easy enough to flip if you get some experience and want to go mirrorless or full frame DSLR and upgrade the kit a bit. Its another option at to look at right at your price point,, which would be fairly modern, between Craigs older gear setup, and Garys newer r7 build that is 4k.
