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Bird photography is probably one of the most challenging activities for a nature photographer to tackle. I started out like most people, trying to take a photo of a bird in a tree with a short (200mm) telephoto lens. When I look at my old photos, I sometimes have to squint to see the bird in them! Now I’m very happy with my bird photography, and as you’ll see it takes skill, patience, and a little bit of luck to really get a dynamic bird photo. I recently presented a live online webinar on bird photography, during which I shared some of my favorite photos and shared camera settings and tips on gear and processing. If you have some free time, I hope you can check it out.
Hi Jason,
I really enjoyed your webinar today. The lens discussion verified what I had thought. I currently have the the Nikon 70-300 with a D7100. I had been thinking about the Nikon 300 F4 Afs with the 1.4 teleconverter. The Tamron 156-600 is another option. Problem with the Tamron is I’ve seen some reviews that it’s soft past 500mm. Do you have an opinion on either of these?
Thanks for the great info today.
Don
This is an excellent video about birding photography. I am not a beginner but benefited greatly from this lecture. I don’t think there is anything as good out there for an introduction to birding photography. I highly recommend it as well as Jason’s ebooks on various photography subjects. The books on Moving to LightRoom and Get Sharp with LightRoom are especially helpful for understanding and implementing post processing of bird and nature photos. I have been photographing birds for a number of years and got a lot out of these practical well presented learning materials. I wish I could have had access to these years ago. Thanks Jason.
Hi Don-
Thanks for the feedback. I haven’t used the Tamron, but my experience with these types of lenses in the past is that they tend to be slower to focus due to smaller max apertures and reverse-engineered AF systems than Nikkor lenses. That’s not to say that they are bad; and to be able to get 500-600mm on a sub-$2000 lens is fantastic.
On a DX body, I’d really take a look at either the 300/4 TC combo or the 80-400 AFS G VRII. Those are excellent, sharp lenses that will be maximally compatible with your D7100 and future Nikon DSLRs.