Bird Photography – Cameras, Lenses & Accessories to Help Your Photos Attain New Heights

Whether you're just learning to spread your photographic wings or are a full-fledged pro, Henry's has the bird photography equipment and accessories you need to help you photograph birds of all kinds.

The Best Cameras for Bird Photography

When looking for a new camera that you intend to use for bird photography, look for a model that has:

pre-burst shooting mode
fast autofocus
great low-light shooting
a good selection of lenses, especially telephoto zoom lenses

For shooting still photos, go for a camera with a high rate of frames per second, ideally 8 or 12; the more the merrier.

For shooting video of birds or other wildlife, high resolution and high frame rates like 120p or 240p.

Tips for Buying a New Camera

How many megapixels do you need for bird photography?

The more pixels, the higher the resolution, the better the camera will be in low-light situations like in a forest or early in the morning when birds are most active. 15-20 megapixels will do very well. Full-time pros or photographers who want to print out large, high-res photos may want to opt for more, but for most of us, 15-20 MP is plenty.

Having a high-resolution camera means you can crop in without having super long lenses for photography or videography.

Autofocus and subject detection

Many models of cameras include built-in AI-driven bird and animal-eye detection autofocus to help you capture the best shots of these frequently hard-to-catch subjects. The Sony A7 IV, for instance, features real-time AF for birds for both stills and video, allowing automatic tracking of a specific bird, whether it's perched somewhere or in flight.

Go for video, even if you only shoot stills

Don’t underestimate the power of adding an 8K or even 6K video camera to your kit even if you are not a fan of video. A single still frame pulled from an 8K video clip is 33MP. High-end photographers are exporting stills from their video clips, carefully choosing the best frames. Your camera might only burst off photos at 8FPS, but video standards start at 24FPS. Most cameras even have 60FPS available to them as well, so that means you are getting 60FPS shooting video. You can then export a single still from any video clip with the help of software like Premier Pro or Davinci. Now, rather then choosing from an 8FPS burst of photos, you can choose 1 of your 60FPS video clip. And if you are shooting higher res video you can crop in and still pull out a 16MP photo, which is totally fine for social media use. That's the power of 6K or 8K video!

Best Pick for Beginners

Canon EOS R10 - recommended camera for beginner birders

The Canon R10 is very affordable and saves you plenty of room to get the right lenses you may need. The camera allows you up to 15 frames per second which is plenty for shooting wildlife.

Get to know the Canon EOS R10

Best Pick Overall

Sony’s A1 II is the ultimate sports, wildlife and action camera. It features Pre-capture Mode along with high-res shooting up to 50MP, Internal Built-in Stabilization (IBIS), and animal eye detection. Shoot up to 30fps stills and 4K 120P video, which is awesome for slow-motion captures. The Sony A1ii checks all the boxes and is paired with best in class autofocus for superb wildlife photography.

Learn more about the Sony A9 II

Bird Photography Lenses

Often people will buy a 70-200 and then realize how far away you still are from these tiny subjects. For birds, you really want something 300mm and above. If you want the bird to fill the whole image, opt for a high focal length like 400mm. This will help you capture great images of birds from quite a distance away.

Photo credit: Joe Donoghue @The.OutdoorCollective

Best Lenses For Bird Photography: A Complete Guide

The lens you choose plays a crucial role in determining the quality of your bird photos. In this guide, Joe Donoghue explores the best lenses for bird photography, focusing on different lens types and highlighting top options from Sigma, Canon, Sony, and Nikon. He also discusses some add-ons that can help you get even closer to your feathered subjects.

READ THE ARTICLE

Best Pick - Lens

The Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.33 C DG lens is by far the most popular lens for wildlife. This is a DSLR lens, but will work on mirrorless with the adapter.

Find out more about the Sigma 150-600mm lens

Best Lens Overall for Bird Photography: Sigma 150-600 f5-6.3

Accessories

Accessories like tripods and gimbals are great for capturing images of birds no matter where you're shooting from. Pair the Yelangu YLGA17 Gimbal Head with a sturdy tripod to help you smoothly track birds flying across the sky.

Other accessories support when and how you shoot. Lights can soften shadows and help bring out fine details of the birds on your feeders, for instance. Straps and bags can help you carry and protect your gear.

Tips for Taking Pictures of Birds

Expert tips for capturing incredible imagery of our feathered friends.

Detailed photo of a blue jay with a blurred background.

Separate your subject from the background

Look for opportunities where there is a good distance between your subject and what's in the background. Select a wide aperture, so you capture the crisp details of your subject, but the background is blurry.

Shutter Speed - Catch the Action

Set your camera's shutter speed to 1/1000 of a second or above to freeze the bird's movement without any blur. Keep an eye on the ISO as well, so your images don't get grainy.

Fast shutter speeds are required to freeze motion - no slower than 1/500th of a second is recommended. But sometimes, if you can manage to time it right, hummingbirds will flap their wings mid-air and hover in place for moments at a time. This would be awesome to capture at a slightly slower shutter speed so when you look back at the photo, the wings will show a little motion.

Play around with your shutter speed, but not much slower that 1/200th of a second or else things get blurry quickly!

Using a fast shutter speed to freeze a bird's movement.

Photo of a bird with its nearest eye in focus.

Focus on the bird's nearest eye.

If the eye is not in focus, your photo will be less than satisfying. A glint of light in a bird's eye can bring your photo to life.

Get the Support You Need

Even with image stabilization and vibration reduction, using a tripod or monopod will give you a better chance of getting the shot you're after.

The rule for hand holding shots is 1/your focal length. If you are shooting on a 600mm lens, for example, then your minimum shutter speed will likely be a little bit higher than 1/500th of a second if you are hand holding the camera. This is where tripod gimbals can come in handy! Plus, gimbals allow you to smoothly track subjects flying across the sky.

Photo of a yellow warbler taken using a tripod for stabilization.

Stretch Your Wings

For those not comfortable in manual mode yet, try shooting in a shutter priority mode. This made be labeled “Tv” or “S” on the main dial of your camera. This allows you to set the shutter speed to what you desire it to be. For those a bit more advanced, then setting your aperture to the lowest aperture available would also be highly recommended. This will ensure your lens is letting in the most amount of light and not needlessly turning up your ISO and adding extra grain into your images. The more control you have over the camera, the greater the results!

Set the camera’s autofocus settings to track subjects continuously, rather than single shot autofocus modes. Continuous autofocus will ensure even if you have pressed the shutter button, the autofocus will stay with the subjects. New cameras will have amazing animal eye detection, but they still require you to have your autofocus settings dialed in correctly. Canon cameras have autofocus settings that tell the camera to quickly grab a subject that is entering the frame. Going through the menu and learning as much as you can about what is available on your camera is key to the higher success rate when photographing birds.