![]() Some bird specialists go out with camera and lens on a neckstrap, spare batteries and memory cards in their pockets, and that’s it. Of course, it depends on what you need on a particular shoot. You want a rugged one that can handle life in the wild and that can hold what you need and provide easy accessibility, preferably without having to take it off every time you need something contained therein. To carry gear in the field, a photo backpack is the best solution it leaves your arms free for shooting and climbing, and won’t fall off as a shoulder bag might. Note that because long lenses generally weigh more than a camera body, you generally mount the lens to the tripod head, rather than using the camera body’s tripod socket. The important thing, if you use a tripod, is to get a sturdy one a flimsy one won’t hold the camera and lens steady. But with today’s image stabilization-both optical in-lens and sensor-shift in-camera body-many wildlife shooters do work handheld. A close minimum focusing distance is important if your wildlife subjects include insects and spiders.Ī tripod can hold the camera steadier than a photographer can, especially important when using long lenses, where camera shake is magnified along with the subject’s image. Two things you want in a wildlife action lens are a focusing-range limiter (so the lens doesn’t have to hunt all the way down to minimum focusing distance when your subject is 100 feet away) and the ability to set focus manually while in AF mode (the AF system will acquire focus more quickly if you start with it manually “ballparked” on the subject, something you can’t do quickly if you have to switch to MF mode to do it). But, besides cost, they’re much bulkier and thus more difficult to carry and handle. AF performance is a matter of both camera body and lens those hugely expensive pro bodies and lenses really do autofocus more quickly and more accurately on action subjects than lesser gear. ![]() It’s hard to get close enough to most wild critters to get good shots, so wildlife specialists like really long lenses-300mm is a bare minimum most use 500mm, 600mm and even 800mm, often with teleconverters to increase the reach (see the “Teleconverters” sidebar). The prime requirement for a wildlife lens is reach (focal length), followed closely by AF speed and accuracy. If your wildlife ambitions lean more toward animal portraits than action, then action AF performance isn’t so important, and mirrorless cameras offer the advantage of smaller bodies and lenses, easier to carry into the field where the wild things are. Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have far fewer native wildlife focal lengths available, and their AF systems don’t handle quick and erratic subjects like flying birds nearly as well as DSLRs. ![]() ![]() The best wildlife cameras are DSLRs because they have the best bang for the buck-the best AF systems for animal action and the widest selection of long wildlife lenses, along with excellent image quality and ease of use. Here, we look at the best wildlife photography gear available for a low budget, a mid-range budget and a high-end budget. While you can photograph wildlife with any camera and lens, some gear makes doing so easier and more productive. ![]()
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