10) What is your best offer for a beginner if he wants to gather his/her first set of equipment for digital photography of birds or wildlife?

When just starting, I think it is very important to get quality gear that is the best in its range. I don’t think it is necessary (or wise) to spend a fortune, but I feel it is important to start with gear that is very capable. Consumer grade gear, especially zoom lenses and then lenses that are often sold as part of a kit, can be very disappointing, so I would avoid them if at all possible.

For someone looking at Canon gear for bird photography, I think a good camera is the 30D. The 30D has a 1.6x crop factor, which gives you extra reach when shooting small or faraway subjects, has very good AF performance, and good image quality. It is also relatively affordable. If the 30D is out of your league, the Canon Digital Rebel XTi is also a very capable camera, albeit with a few less features.

Stepping Out

Red Fox Kit, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware, USA, April 2007
Camera: Canon 1D Mark II N, Lens: Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS USM. Settings: 1/200s, f/5, ISO 800, RAW capture, 88% of full frame, supported with Gitzo G1325 tripod and Really Right Stuff BH-55 LR ballhead, processed with Adobe Camera Raw, Noise Ninja, and Adobe Photoshop CS3 software.
April is the time for red fox kits in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, so I made it my goal this past April to find a fox den and photograph the babies. I visited three different dens in two states over the course of five days before I was able to find the kits I wanted, and it was only on my second day at this den, just after sunrise that I got the shot I wanted. This den was located at the edge of the woods near a road, and the morning sun provided heavily dappled, mixed backlighting for the kits, which can be difficult to work with. Luckily, with my Canon gear I could shoot at ISO 800, which allowed me to get a moderate shutter speed and aperture setting. In better lighting I would have preferred a shutter speed of around 1/500th of a second and aperture of around f/8, which would have frozen the action of the playing kits and kept the nose and ears within the depth of field, but often with nature photography the conditions are less than ideal and you must work with what you have. I didn't have a very high keeper rate with the settings I used, but had I been shooting at a lower ISO setting, like my Nikon gear would have forced me to do, I would have lost many more shots.

A beginning bird photographer should definitely invest in a long, sharp prime lens. I would recommend the 300mm f/4 IS, as you get excellent optical quality and image stabilization in a lightweight and affordable package. This lens will not be long enough on its own for most bird photography, so it should be coupled with a 1.4x extender (the 2x extender with not autofocus on an f/4 lens with any non-pro Canon body). Buy the Canon version, as it is superior to those offered by the other manufacturers. Chris uses this setup with a 20D body and gets amazing shots.

If money is an issue the 400mm f/5.6 or 300mm f/4 non-IS are lenses that I feel would be appropriate for a beginning bird photographer as well. You don’t get IS with either lens, but both are very sharp with good optics. Remember, non-pro Canon bodies need at least f/5.6 to autofocus, so if you get the 400mm f/5.6 you won’t be able to use converters. Using either 300mm f/4 with the 1.4x converter will give you slightly more reach, but also be a little less sharp wide open (f/5.6). The sharpness of any lens and teleconverter combination will improve when the lens is stopped down at least one stop (to f/8 with an f/4 lens and 1.4x converter).

The 300mm f/4 lenses coupled with a converter also provide very good magnification combined with a close focusing distance. This makes them ideal for any opportunity where you get very close to your subject.

Avoid zooms like the 70-300mm and mirror lenses. Those consumer lenses are simply not as good as the shorter telephoto primes. The 70-200mm zoom, while optically very good, will not give you enough reach when coupled with a 1.4x converter, even on a 1.6x crop factor camera. While the 70-200mm f/2.8 with 2x converter will autofocus on a non-pro body, for that price you are better off with a longer prime lens if bird photography is your primary focus.

You will also need a sturdy tripod and head. Gitzo tripods have a great reputation and I am quite happy with mine, but tripods by other reputable brands like Bogen/Manfrotto are very good as well and a little less expensive. Whichever tripod you get, make sure it is sturdy, that the leg locks are secure, and the legs don’t bow at all. Three section tripods tend to be a little sturdier than four section tripods, but four section tripods are a little more compact. I prefer a three section pods for use with heavier telephoto lenses, but both can work great when they are manufactured well. The cheap tripods you find in electronics stores are rarely any good and should be avoided. A tripod is going to support all your expensive gear, so skimping on a tripod is a bad idea. Make sure it is rated to hold at least the minimum weight of your setup, preferably double. Remember the tripod needs to hold not just your camera and lens, but the head you put on top of it, quick release plates, your batteries, flash, and whatever else you add on. The head is equally important, and for bird photography, a ballhead or gimbal head is best; a pan-and-tilt or video head won’t give you enough fluid motion and are more difficult to adjust quickly. Make sure the ball head is rated to hold the weight of your gear and that it locks securely. I prefer heads with an Arca-Swiss style release platform, such as those made by Really Right Stuff, Markins, Kirk, or Arca-Swiss, but even the Bogen/Manfrotto and Gitzo heads can be fitted with an Arca-Swiss style platform to accept AS style plates. Gimbal heads are great for long lens photography but don’t work well with lenses that don’t have a tripod collar. If all you want to shoot are birds, than this might be a wiser investment for a couple hundred dollars more, but if you ever want to shoot landscapes or wide-angle subjects, the ballhead is more versatile.

If you still have money left over, buy a flash and flash extender. I have the Canon 580EX and don’t consider myself a flash expert at all, but I think the lower end Canon flashes will suffice. For birds, I mostly use flash for fill light, so you don’t need a whole lot of power, but the flash extender is a necessity. If you aren’t going to bother with the extender, don’t waste your money on the flash. While you don’t need a flash when you start, using a little fill flash can improve your images in many situations so it is a wise investment if you can afford it.

With a capable 1.6x crop factor body, short to mid range telephoto prime, possibly a teleconverter, sturdy tripod and ballhead, and hopefully a flash and flash extender you are almost ready to get out and start photographing birds, but before you start, you’ll need to make a few other important investments. For starters, get an extra Canon brand battery for your camera. In my experience the off-brand batteries don’t last anywhere near as long and you really will need at least one backup battery. You also need memory. I recommend SanDisk Ultra II or faster compact flash cards. Get at least one 2GB card at minimum, more if you plan on shooting for more than an hour or so in your backyard and don’t have a portable storage device. 4GB of memory is usually good for morning or afternoon of shooting. You will also probably want a good padded camera bag or case to transport everything in. I prefer backpacks, but if you never have to do a lot of walking when you shoot, you might prefer another style. After you take the images, you will need software to process them on your computer. Adobe Photoshop is an excellent program, and the most recent version of Elements should be enough to get you started. I love using the most recent version, Adobe Photoshop CS3 with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR 4.1). Canon cameras come with RAW editing software, so if your version of Photoshop does not have ACR, you can use that. I highly recommend that when photographing you shoot RAW (or RAW + JPEG), as these are the best quality files your camera can produce and they allow for the widest range of alteration when post processing.

For those on a budget, consider purchasing used items from online forums or resources like eBay. You have to be careful and research carefully when buying from individuals via the internet, but you can get some really great deals and often find well cared for items at excellent prices. I purchased all of my Canon gear this way and saved well over $1500 by doing so.