DX vs. FX for Bird Photography

[AlanKlein]

I'd recommend buying a good tripod, but I'm not a bird shooter unless it's sitting on my hand. Should bird shooters rely on tripods?

 

[West -]

Sounds like your just starting out. Your best bet is the D7100 for action type shots in jpeg. You can get away with a cheap combo like a Sigma 18-250 for around $400 and get pretty good results.

 

[Overread]

I'd recommend buying a good tripod, but I'm not a bird shooter unless it's sitting on my hand. Should bird shooters rely on tripods?

Tripods are great for static wildlife shooting. That is when you've set yourself up in a hide or other position and you're going to sit there for a fair while waiting for the shot to come to you. In that situation they provide an ideal means to holding the weight of your setup and also providing a stable shooting support when the shot comes along.

When you're more mobile and walking around they can be a hindrance - yes they are giving you that support, but chances are if you're moving the tripod is going to take a few moments to deploy; plus its adding weight so your arms are going to be even more tired (which means you need it deployed all the more).

Some people drop one leg and use a tripod like a monopod so that it can be used faster; however its honestly easier (if you do this a fair bit) to use a monopod - its quicker to use and a lot lot lighter than a tripod.


Note a lot of the versatility of a tripod comes from the tripod head. That is why good tripods are sold with a removable head (or no head at all). So that you can change the head for different situations for best performance.

 

[xzyragon]

not much experience in birding, but i use my canon 7D for action shots, and the buffer is huge. At full raw, its 25+ shots at 8 fps before it slows down to 4fps, and once you're at that point, it's continuous. The Mark II surpasses that and shoots at 10 fps.

But a 7D body refurbed from canon is probably around $700 or $800 right now, so it really depends on your budget.