What is the appropriate focal length for professional bird shooting? Do you have any recommended shots?

What is the focal length of the lens used to shoot birds? This also depends on what kind of bird you are shooting, such as the forest bird. It is best to shoot birds on the beach with a lens above 600 mm. If you shoot birds at a fixed point, such as birds near the Bird's Nest, you need to capture them and like to shoot artistic birds, then the 400mm lens has an advantage. Many bird friends here will buy two bird heads, 600/f4 and 400/f2.8 I also have an article in front of me to buy bird heads for your reference.

The attached picture was taken with a 400/f2.8 lens.

The basic requirement of bird photography for SLR cameras is that the pixels should be high, with a minimum of150000. Many times, your film needs editing. The speed of continuous shooting should be fast enough, preferably more than 6 pieces per second, so as to capture the wonderful flying feather moment; The camera should have a high sense, so that it can shoot films with less noise in bad weather or dark forests. Take the Canon camera as an example. You can choose entry-level half-frame cameras such as 7D, 60D and 70D, and the price of camera body is usually around 4000 yuan to 10000 yuan. Better cameras can be selected from Quan Huafu, such as 5D3, 1DX, and the price of camera body is between 1.5-35000.

First of all, the mainstream lens of camera bird photography is a large aperture telephoto fixed focus lens. Regardless of the money, Canon's 600mm/4.0 and 800mm/5.6 lenses can be regarded as one-step lenses, but the price is still quite expensive, usually about 70,000 to 80,000. Professional-grade lenses also include 500mm/4.0 and 400mm/2.8 lenses, and the price is 20,000 yuan lower. These lenses have clear imaging and high color reproduction, and are equipped in some top ornithological laboratories in China. I recommend Canon's 300mm/4.0 and 400mm/5.6 fixed-focus lenses to amateur photographers. The price is below 10,000 yuan, the imaging quality is also excellent, and it is very light, which is more suitable for long-distance travel. Most bird watchers use Canon's 400mm/5.6 fixed-focus lens (commonly known as 456), which is also my main configuration at present. Another advantage of fixed-focus lens is its fast focusing speed. Otherwise, the bellows will be pulled up when the light is bad, and long-term out-of-focus will make you uncomfortable.

Canon 456 performed very well in the dark forest. The orange-headed thrush in the cherry blossom garden of Wuhan University, exposed for 1/2 seconds, is still in full bloom.

Generally speaking, zoom lenses have a bad reputation in bird photography, including Canon's 100-400mm, commonly known as Dabai, and some sub-factory lenses, such as Shima's 170-500mm/f5-6.3, have poor clarity. Recently, however, there is a zoom lens of Longteng 150-600mm/f5-6.3. When the light is good, the clarity is good and the price is very cheap, only about 6000 yuan. Considering the cost performance factor, it is also a good choice. If you add an entry-level SLR body like Canon 7D, it will add up to about 10,000, and you can make a great film, which should be regarded as a very good economic configuration.

In addition, some telephoto folding lenses are often sold online. These folding lenses are cheap and the focal length is long enough, but the imaging is really not ideal. If it weren't for the doughnut-like spot effect, it would hardly be worth mentioning. But if you just take notes, you can also consider it.

I have seen world-class masters take pictures of birds with fisheye lenses.

My first bird-catching shot was Nikon 340PF, and later I bought a three-generation rangefinder, TC 1.4. With D500, the focal length can be extended to 630mm ... mainly shooting larger birds, taking into account daily bird shooting, and it is very light. Later, I bought Nikon 80-400 for some special occasions, and recently I bought Nikon 556, which is mainly used with D850. The whole process took three years.

With the improvement of photography, maybe one day I will think of 640 or 856, and that is another story. No matter what you learn, step by step is always a more reliable method.

Learning photography is not an easy task, even if you work hard, it will be a long process. I had three years to shoot the scenery before shooting birds, and I had a basic understanding of photography. So when choosing a bird-catching lens and camera, there is no detour. If you are a layman in photography, it is not easy to choose a lens because you don't know what you want. So my suggestion is to do your homework first, and then enter the equipment. Only in this way can we avoid detours and pay less tuition fees.

The attached photos were all taken by me with Nikon D500/340/TC1.4III.

Personally, I think it depends on my own financial resources. Pursuing perfection, the focus should be fixed at 500,600,800, and pursuing general zoom, such as 150-600, 200-500 zoom. The key is the joy of participation.

These photos were taken with a Nikon 200-500 lens. Please forgive my poor shooting. [Cute] [Cute]

If you can reach the level of professional bird shooting, money should not be a big problem. As the saying goes, an inch long and an inch strong, dexterity is not as good as home, especially when shooting birds to the extreme, 600 and 800 are necessary. Although the focal length of shooting forest birds and positioning birds can be appropriately less, it is essential to start with a 400 focal length lens.

At present, the lenses used by most photographers are basically limited to Canon's100-400; Nikon 80-400 or 200-500; Sony's 100-400 or 200-600, and a large part of them use Sigma and Longteng's 150-600 or 60-600. The films made by these movie friends are also very useful. Although it doesn't completely reach the number of pornographic films, it is also very useful to entertain yourself. This group is in the stage of connecting the preceding with the following: they can upgrade their professional focus, and when they are tired of playing, they can retreat to the integrated telephoto machine, just like the "bridge" camera in the movie period. When they are skilled, they can go into battle lightly, and with good luck and good light, they can do it.

I'm old,

At present, I am swimming to a professional level and have been shooting birds for more than ten years. I feel that the pan/tilt behind the lens is easier to use, and it is not faster than the professional focus setting. Therefore, it is really unnecessary to spend hundreds of thousands on high-end equipment to play. If you are unwilling and not discouraged, then you have to March into professional lens, professional fuselage and professional pan/tilt!

Shooting birds is the most demanding and expensive photographic equipment. Bird shooting equipment is generally polarized. In general, you have to invest hundreds of thousands to make the best cameras and lenses, such as Nikon d6 and Canon 1dx. The lens is mainly set at 600 and 800, which basically looks like130,000. If you are not short of money, I recommend you to enter 600 or 800, so that you can complete the top choice of lens.

The second polarization is the equipment held by many people who like to shoot birds. Most of these lenses are Longteng or Sigma 150600, with relatively high penetration rate and acceptable image quality, which basically meets the requirements of birdwatchers. Another kind of lens, such as Nikon 200500, is also one of the lenses that many people choose. It is said that these shots were taken by poor people. In addition, if you shoot birds or lure birds in the shed, the other two zoom lenses are also available, one is Nikon's 80-400 and the other is Canon's 100-400. The picture quality of these two lenses is particularly good, much higher than the poor bird-shot lens mentioned above. The disadvantage is that the distance is relatively short, and sometimes it is out of reach to shoot birds.

Hello, let me talk about some personal views.

I think the choice of bird swatter is definitely longer. Because birds are timid and sensitive, you can't get too close to them, otherwise it is easy to disturb them. At present, the activity place of birds is either in trees or in water, and only a long lens can capture its more natural state.

A 400 mm focal length f5.6 fixed-focus lens (Canon) should be able to handle most shooting. The new 100~400 mm fixed-focus lens (Canon) is also a very useful lens. In addition, Longteng 150~600 mm zoom lens f5~6.3 is a cheap product, which is also very easy to use and convenient to shoot birds. Choose one of the above three shots according to your own situation.

One thing to say is the camera. The continuous shooting speed of the camera should be high, at least 5~6 frames per second, which is beneficial to capture beautiful moments. The camera should be Quan Huafu, and a higher pixel is better. Now Quan Huafu has 40 million pixels. It is more conducive to later cutting and highlighting the main body.

In addition, a stable tripod is also essential.

Well, that's the answer. I hope my answer can help you.

If the financial resources allow 400,600,800, the limited financial resources can be enlarged150-600,200-500.

I still think 400 2.8 is more practical. If you are far away, add a 1.4 magnifying glass, so you can't fit several heavy guns at once.

There is a joke about shooting birds: the lens is never long enough. But from a more professional point of view, the most commonly used are two lenses:

In addition to the above two kinds of lenses, there are Sigma telephoto zoom lenses, which are very competitive in price, but few users.