African Bird Pictures - Pg1

It's taken time, but friends have gradually convinced me that watching - and photographing - birds can be as enjoyable as viewing larger wildlife when visiting nature reserves.

However, photographing birds from a vehicle is not easy. Ideally you need a powerful 600mm super-telephoto lens to bring the subject close enough to ensure you get a worthwhile image and not just a tiny speck in the center of the frame.

Southern Double-collared Sunbird - click to enlarge

Click on picture to enlarge.

Hugely Expensive Lenses Powerful telephoto lenses are not only hugely expensive, but they are not designed to be hand-held - ideally they should be supported by a heavy tripod to reduce camera shake. To eliminate any camera shake even further, the camera's shutter should be fired using a remote or cable release. That's not easy when you're in the passenger seat of a vehicle with a bunch of other people. So my bird photography has been limited, not only by lack of suitable equipment, but also by lack of enthusiasm as a result. Digital Photography However, digital photography is changing the landscape. Not only are there affordable cameras available with powerful 24x or more zoom lenses, but the "consumer" SLR digitals (like the Canon EOS 600D and Nikon D90) have a built-in multiplication or crop factor of 50% to 60%. So using a 400mm F5.6 lens (or a 300mm lens with a 1.4x converter) is like shooting with a 600mm. Add image stabilization and it becomes much more feasible to photograph birds from your vehicle while visiting game and nature reserves. See also: Bird Photos Pg 2 Return to Wildlife Galleries

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