Thread: Serious compact for birding

Originally Posted by Janis

Thanks, PDH! Andrew, I crop birds heavily all the time because my longest lens is only 300mm (or 420 with a teleconvertor), and that's another reason that ideally you use a camera that gives clean, detailed images at high ISOs. Another thing that helps (when at home) is to set up some dead limbs near a birdfeeder so the birds will perch while waiting their turn at the feeder. Then you have a chance to catch them in flight as they go to the feeder, and you can pre-focus and fire a burst. Ideally, you would have as unobtrusive a background if possible. Since you'll be using a high shutter speed you'll probably have a fairly wide aperture, such as 5.6, to help blur the background. Also, think about the light at various times of day. You want to avoid a dark bird against a super-bright background because the bird will be too dark or the background will blow out. I use flash sometimes to deal with that situation but I don't like a bird to look obviously "flashed." For hummingbirds, I grow plants they like right next to the windows and shoot from inside. You need clean windows!

Great hints there. You put a lot of thought into your bird shots.

Originally Posted by Janis

Thanks, PDH! Andrew, I crop birds heavily all the time because my longest lens is only 300mm (or 420 with a teleconvertor), and that's another reason that ideally you use a camera that gives clean, detailed images at high ISOs. Another thing that helps (when at home) is to set up some dead limbs near a birdfeeder so the birds will perch while waiting their turn at the feeder. Then you have a chance to catch them in flight as they go to the feeder, and you can pre-focus and fire a burst. Ideally, you would have as unobtrusive a background if possible. Since you'll be using a high shutter speed you'll probably have a fairly wide aperture, such as 5.6, to help blur the background. Also, think about the light at various times of day. You want to avoid a dark bird against a super-bright background because the bird will be too dark or the background will blow out. I use flash sometimes to deal with that situation but I don't like a bird to look obviously "flashed." For hummingbirds, I grow plants they like right next to the windows and shoot from inside. You need clean windows!

Thank you Janis!