For starters, point & shoot cameras just won’t cut it much here, but any SLR or D-SLR cameras and any size lenses will work. There are however, lenses and cameras that offer better abilities over others and these are often much more expensive.
Many wild life and sport photographers are either on assignment being paid by someone or work for the ‘someone’ and often have access to wonderful equipment. Some, but not all, own all the bling bling seen around their necks. A lot is from the companies – locker..
Now, to get started, your just beginning, right..? 1st thing, don’t get discouraged. Nothing happens over night or on the 1st few tries. Any of the D-SLR’s in the $500 range are a good place to start if you haven’t one already. If money is flowing, go up a few steps and look for camera bodies in the $1000 range. Look into used as well..
Regardless of bodies, you will need lenses. Here the choices can be rather easy, to a degree. Refocus your desire on what part of nature / wild life you want to focus on. Meaning, there are things both near or far you can – focus on.
Buy a very expensive super telephoto lens at around 3 to 5,000 bucks or buy a 70 to 300mm zoom and a 100mm macro and look at things closer to your feet. Really..! There is a hell of a world just under your feet and with in a hundred yards of you, or less.
Use your local Zoo or park as a practice area to hone your skills and help in seeing, understanding light and in just handling your equipment. A camera with a longish lens setting on top of a tripod can be a monster sometimes and can be come most awkward at the worse times. Learn how to deal with it with as little fuss as you can.
Don’t be afraid to look into used equipment. While a f/2.8 – 3 or 400mm lens would be great, a 4.5 or 5.6 work equally as well and offer few disadvantages. I work with a 500mm f/8 mirror lens bought used and it produces for me..!
Mama Red tail – http://lensmen2.smugmug.com/gallery/5537… – This was hand held shooting almost straight up over head.http://lensmen2.smugmug.com/gallery/5537… – A tripod shot of a desert coyote.
You CAN do good things with less expensive equipment, you just have to know and understand the limitations the equipment ‘may’ impose on you or your camera. Higher ISO’s now in many digital’s don’t induce as much noise as did just a couple years ago so this is one way to compensate for a ‘slower’ lens. Watching your lighting will help too.
Remember, and look at earlier photographs, photographers and equipment. We take for granted and common place lenses and bodies photographers 20 years ago would “kill” for. What they went out on a limb to buy we now find at flea markets.
Most photography does NOT take or need the best equipment, but it needs the best in you, the photographer.
Good luck
Bob – Tucson
Well, you cam look at a P&S camera with a 18x – 20x optical zoom, but you will have some issues to overcome when shooting at dawn and dusk (when animals are out eating).
* You will need a tripod when shooting with the zoom out all the way.
* You will have to use high ISO’s to shoot at shutter speeds fast enough to prevent subject movement (this will introduce a lot of noise in your images).
* Since the sensors are at least 15 times smaller than an expensive DSLR, you will find the resolution will be low and you may fine making enlargements difficult.
* All P&S cameras have some level of shutter lag, so you may find yourself missing shots.
The problem with wildlife photography is that the equipment is very expensive. The cameras and lenses used by sports photographers are nearly identical to those used by wildlife photographers
* Full frame 35 mm (Under $200 used, $1,500 new) or DSLR (best choice) is going to cost you around $5,000 and up. A APS-C sensored camera can cost as little as $450 with a standard lens.
* 200-400 mm f/4 ($5,000), 400 mm f/2.8 ($7,900) and 600 mm f/4 ($9,500)http://geolepp.com/
You will notice that Mr. Lepp is using a 600 mm f/4.0 lens mounted on a Canon DSLR camera
8:35 pm on September 27th, 2009 1
For starters, point & shoot cameras just won’t cut it much here, but any SLR or D-SLR cameras and any size lenses will work. There are however, lenses and cameras that offer better abilities over others and these are often much more expensive.
Many wild life and sport photographers are either on assignment being paid by someone or work for the ‘someone’ and often have access to wonderful equipment. Some, but not all, own all the bling bling seen around their necks. A lot is from the companies – locker..
Now, to get started, your just beginning, right..? 1st thing, don’t get discouraged. Nothing happens over night or on the 1st few tries. Any of the D-SLR’s in the $500 range are a good place to start if you haven’t one already. If money is flowing, go up a few steps and look for camera bodies in the $1000 range. Look into used as well..
Regardless of bodies, you will need lenses. Here the choices can be rather easy, to a degree. Refocus your desire on what part of nature / wild life you want to focus on. Meaning, there are things both near or far you can – focus on.
Buy a very expensive super telephoto lens at around 3 to 5,000 bucks or buy a 70 to 300mm zoom and a 100mm macro and look at things closer to your feet. Really..! There is a hell of a world just under your feet and with in a hundred yards of you, or less.
Use your local Zoo or park as a practice area to hone your skills and help in seeing, understanding light and in just handling your equipment. A camera with a longish lens setting on top of a tripod can be a monster sometimes and can be come most awkward at the worse times. Learn how to deal with it with as little fuss as you can.
Don’t be afraid to look into used equipment. While a f/2.8 – 3 or 400mm lens would be great, a 4.5 or 5.6 work equally as well and offer few disadvantages. I work with a 500mm f/8 mirror lens bought used and it produces for me..!
Mama Red tail – http://lensmen2.smugmug.com/gallery/5537… – This was hand held shooting almost straight up over head.http://lensmen2.smugmug.com/gallery/5537… – A tripod shot of a desert coyote.
You CAN do good things with less expensive equipment, you just have to know and understand the limitations the equipment ‘may’ impose on you or your camera. Higher ISO’s now in many digital’s don’t induce as much noise as did just a couple years ago so this is one way to compensate for a ‘slower’ lens. Watching your lighting will help too.
Remember, and look at earlier photographs, photographers and equipment. We take for granted and common place lenses and bodies photographers 20 years ago would “kill” for. What they went out on a limb to buy we now find at flea markets.
Most photography does NOT take or need the best equipment, but it needs the best in you, the photographer.
Good luck
Bob – Tucson
8:44 pm on September 27th, 2009 2
Well, you cam look at a P&S camera with a 18x – 20x optical zoom, but you will have some issues to overcome when shooting at dawn and dusk (when animals are out eating).
* You will need a tripod when shooting with the zoom out all the way.
* You will have to use high ISO’s to shoot at shutter speeds fast enough to prevent subject movement (this will introduce a lot of noise in your images).
* Since the sensors are at least 15 times smaller than an expensive DSLR, you will find the resolution will be low and you may fine making enlargements difficult.
* All P&S cameras have some level of shutter lag, so you may find yourself missing shots.
The problem with wildlife photography is that the equipment is very expensive. The cameras and lenses used by sports photographers are nearly identical to those used by wildlife photographers
* Full frame 35 mm (Under $200 used, $1,500 new) or DSLR (best choice) is going to cost you around $5,000 and up. A APS-C sensored camera can cost as little as $450 with a standard lens.
* 200-400 mm f/4 ($5,000), 400 mm f/2.8 ($7,900) and 600 mm f/4 ($9,500)http://geolepp.com/
You will notice that Mr. Lepp is using a 600 mm f/4.0 lens mounted on a Canon DSLR camera