Wildlife camera gear advice

macvisual

macvisual

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Peter
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What advice would the more experienced wildlife shooters use camera & lens gear without spending a fortune…?

Would the likes of the Nikon D7100 fit the bill regards speed and cropped sensor for extra length lens wise…?……would a 2x times converter be handy to attach to lenses…?

Any advice most welcome - appreciated…!

mac
 
What do you have and what do you shoot at the moment? Do you have a budget?
 
Presently have elderly and slow Fuji XE1 & X-Pro1 bodies. I mainly shoot static captures like dogs/landscapes/motorcycles.

Many years ago I’ve owned a D850 with Sigma 150-600 zoom. I’d love to capture a kingfisher…….problem last time I tried wildlife photography was the lens length wasn’t long enough and didn’t have the money to spend on decent fast lens length of around 400/500mm etc….

Im guessing a low’ish budget of around 1k, not much I know, I’m guessing I’d struggle on that budget for what I’d like….!

Cheers;
mac
 
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A lot of people in my local group shoot with a D7XXX series camera and a Sigma 150-600mm and get great shots of kingfishers.
Quick google shows the Contemporary lens is between £600 and £850 used to new. Body wise D7100 is £300ish used and D7200 is £400ish used so not completely out of budget
 
D7500 and a sigma 150-600 would be a good option if you can up your budget a bit....£1418 new from E-infinity.
 
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In your budget the d7100 and sigma or tamron g1 150-600 would be doable. Another £1-200 on budget would probably see 7200 and tamron g2 as options

an option to consider might be the oly om-d-em1 and pana 100-400 for a bit lighter option in same ball park budget

you’re on a restricted budget so you have limits to what you can afford but the kit will still take good images if used within its limitations.

good luck with decision and if its some kingfisher images then consider a hide day.
 
On that sort of budget I would also consider a decent bridge camera one of the 1 inch sensor models , I.e Panasonic fz1000ii or Sony rx10iv both are capable of doing b.i.f and are surprisingly good. There is a thread in this section dedicated to them
 
Another vote for the D7200 and sigma 150-600c, I was always very impressed with mine, imo, for wildlife on a budget it can't be beat on IQ.

I used them for 4 years and found no limitations, the wife is still using that combo, I would be too if it wasn't for GAS :rolleyes:

One thing I would advise, buy a secondhand body but the lens new.

I've 1000's of bird in flight and low light photos all taken with the above, a very capable budget combo (y)
 
macvisual said:
What advice would the more experienced wildlife shooters use camera & lens gear without spending a fortune…?

Would the likes of the Nikon D7100 fit the bill regards speed and cropped sensor for extra length lens wise…?……would a 2x times converter be handy to attach to lenses…?

Any advice most welcome - appreciated…!

mac
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I used a D7000 with sigma 150-600 for a couple of years and got some great shots.
The 7200 will be even better.
Not sure if they'd be great with a converter though.
 
Fuji's new 70-300 is surprisingly good. Can you justify a slightly higher spend if you get a newer fuji body and keep your old lenses?
 
The Sigma 150-600 is excellent value for money, it really is in my opinion, the best 600mm lens for that kind of money. I have one, it's super sharp. The only crit I have is the aperture at 600mm, being f6.3, I often struggle with that but I'm usually under heavy tree cover or undergrowth. Give it the light though and it's fine.

I can't really advise on a body as I'm not Nikon. I use both full frame and APSC and I find myself reaching for the crop sensor (M5) more than the FF (5Div) mainly because, even with the Sigma on, it's quite easy to carry around. I like the extra reach too but the image quality isn't as good as the 5D. I get 960mm equivalent on the M5 with the Sigma. I needed the extra reach as I wasn't quite as close as I wanted to be to my subject (kingfisher) as I wanted to be to begin with but towards the tail end of last year, I was able to get close enough to use a full frame camera. Just a few feet make all the difference and I eventually was taking pictures of perched kingfisher from about 15 feet.

In your position, I'd go for a crop sensor. That said, images don't have to be frame fillers, they can show the habitat too.

There are a few ways of photographing kingfisher. Paid hides make it as easy as it's going to get. I have nothing against paid but you do miss out on the experience of prepping your own set up and the knowledge that brings. It takes time that way, first you have to find a kingfisher and then it's usually a case of watching it and working out its habits, which can take a while. You also, in most cases, unless you have a kingfisher that is used to people, cars etc, have to know how to hide yourself. That will come though. This would apply to wildlife in a lot of cases, not just kingfisher.

Patience is key too. (y)


I wish you well, I really do, be prepared for some long days but when you nail it, you'll know why you do it. :)
 
Thank you for the replies - great stuff..! Appreciated.

Is there much different between the D7100 over the D7200 body wise…?

Cheers;
Pete
 
macvisual said:
Thank you for the replies - great stuff..! Appreciated.

Is there much different between the D7100 over the D7200 body wise…?

Cheers;
Pete
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On your teleconverter question, they play best with fast (expensive) primes. The apertures on zoom telephotos tend to make the 2x TC's not that practical. The 1.4x TC would be better but you'd still be trading something for reach.
 
You possibly need to give a bit more information. What animals, are you wanting to shoot them when they are moving and how close will you be photographing them and in what light. What works for a large, static animal in good light might not work for a small bird flying at twilight. The more light the more the super zoom teles make sense. The Fuji 100-400 is meant to be a very good lens.
 
mikeyt said:
Fuji's new 70-300 is surprisingly good. Can you justify a slightly higher spend if you get a newer fuji body and keep your old lenses?
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300mm on a fuji is just not long enough for birds, ive the 100-400 and that doesnt give enough reach
 
The one factor missing so far is camera crop factor to , you have three basic computations to play with , full frame , 1.5 crop on the likes of Nikon /canon aspc models or 2x crop on olympus . These days I use olympus so a 100-400 gives me against FF a effective 200 .800 mm reach , with no loss of i.q . ..effective image stabilisation in both lenses and bodies means that in the 3 years since changing I have not used a tripod or monopod .
Just another option to throw in the mix
 
I would say that even a D7000 is capable of decent shots and will give you more money to spend on a decent lens/extras. You can always upgrade the body later, once you have learned your craft. - If shooting wildlife, there is no substitute for getting close to your subject and portable hides are now available for very little money!

I would also consider a good second hand tripod, as if you are spending long hours 'in the field', you will soon tire of the weight of a long lens and it will also give your shots a steady base.

Good luck, with whatever you choose!
 
Throwing a spanner in the works.. perhaps consider the Leica 100-400 paired with one of the many Panasonic bodies? This should come under 1k just about. I have the 100-400 and am currently using it on a LUMIX G9 - but it’s been used successfully on the cheaper LUMIX G100, Olympus OMD EM5 mark 2. It’s best on the G9 or G5 but these models are above 500 used. But they’ve very good. I think you’d be fine with something like the LUMIX G85 body wise - if you can stretch, G9 or GH5 by all means. This is form someone who also has the Canon R5 and various lenses - and a million other cameras. If you’re ever in the north west - very welcome to try my set up
 
stickytape said:
Throwing a spanner in the works.. perhaps consider the Leica 100-400 paired with one of the many Panasonic bodies? This should come under 1k just about. I have the 100-400 and am currently using it on a LUMIX G9 - but it’s been used successfully on the cheaper LUMIX G100, Olympus OMD EM5 mark 2. It’s best on the G9 or G5 but these models are above 500 used. But they’ve very good. I think you’d be fine with something like the LUMIX G85 body wise - if you can stretch, G9 or GH5 by all means. This is form someone who also has the Canon R5 and various lenses - and a million other cameras. If you’re ever in the north west - very welcome to try my set up
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I got great results using the 100-400mm on my Panasonic G80.....
 
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Bobsyeruncle said:
I got great results using the 100-400mm on my Panasonic G80.....
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yep, I think from the G85 they were pretty dang nice cameras. I had the G85 at the time on a trip to NYC a few years back..and got a ton of wildlife shots. never left me wanting more at all. Although, in hindsight, I like models that feature 4k 60p video as a minimum in case something presents itself more suited to video.
 
Peter, £1k is do-able. My advise is to not get too hung up about the gear starting out. What you've proposed will work. If you can't get a shot at 600mm with a cropped sensor body, it's too far. It'll take a bit of time to learn to get close to your subject. Perseverance is key.

Below was taken with a Nikon D3100. I took this back in 2014, with an old 500mm f4 lens. Took a few weeks. HTH

D3100-01.jpg

D3100-02.jpg
 
dragonfly said:
Peter, £1k is do-able. My advise is to not get too hung up about the gear starting out. What you've proposed will work. If you can't get a shot at 600mm with a cropped sensor body, it's too far. It'll take a bit of time to learn to get close to your subject. Perseverance is key.

Below was taken with a Nikon D3100. I took this back in 2014, with an old 500mm f4 lens. Took a few weeks. HTH

D3100-01.jpg

D3100-02.jpg
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Thanks for that - that’s an amazing capture there - patience pays off I see……a great combo that.

I’d have that kingfisher image professionally printed large - wOw

Cheers;
Peter
 
My camera at the time was the D3s but it broke half way into the project. I wasn't a member of NPS then so had to make do with my son's camera.
 
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