Wildlife and sport
This page is a summary. For anything more specific, ask: /ask/what-camera-and-lens-for-bird-photography, or any question as words after /ask/.
Wildlife and sport are the hardest things to photograph, and the most gear-dependent. The subject is far away, it moves fast, and it won't do it again.
Reach
Focal length is the first thing to sort out.
- Sport from the sideline and larger animals: 70-200mm to 100-400mm on full frame.
- Birds: 600mm full-frame equivalent and beyond. Birds are small and far away; a common saying is that you never have enough reach for them.
Smaller sensors help here. A 100-400mm lens on APS-C gives the view of about 150-600mm on full frame, and on Micro Four Thirds it gives the view of 200-800mm, in a kit you can carry all day. Cropping a high-resolution full-frame image does something similar.
Long zooms like 100-400mm and 150-600mm or 200-600mm are the usual answer. Big fast primes like a 600mm f/4 are wonderful, very heavy, and very expensive.
Autofocus and speed
- Subject detection. Modern mirrorless cameras recognise animals, birds and vehicles, and track their eyes. This is the single biggest reason to buy a recent body for wildlife.
- Frame rate and buffer. Fast bursts catch the wing in the right place; a deep buffer means the camera doesn't stall halfway through the action.
- Electronic shutter and rolling shutter. Shooting silently at high frame rates is great for skittish animals, but a slow sensor readout bends fast-moving subjects. Stacked sensors read out fast enough to avoid it.
Shutter speed
To freeze motion: about 1/500s for people running, 1/1000s for most sport, 1/2000s or faster for birds in flight. That pushes ISO up, so a body that stays clean at high ISO matters, and so does modern noise reduction software.
My picks
- Starting out: an APS-C mirrorless body with a 100-400mm-class zoom. The best value reach there is.
- Hiking and travel wildlife: Micro Four Thirds with a 100-400mm. Light, long and stabilised.
- Serious sport and birds: a full-frame body with fast readout and a 200-600mm or 150-600mm zoom.
Buy used: long lenses hold their value and change hands a lot, and the savings are large. See buying used.
