Choosing a lens for bird photography

Bird photography is fascinating. You work with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet. In order to get good pictures, you need a good telephoto lens, often with a long focal lenght like 400 or 600mm. Sometimes a smaller lens like a 70-200 is enough.

The following list describes the various options you have when choosing a lens for bird photography.

70-200mm

This is a popular zoom range. Nikon offers a 2.8/70-200 VR. Canon offers a 2.8/70-200 IS, a 4/70-200 without IS and a 4/70-200 with IS (which I use). VR stands for “vibration reduction” and IS for “image stabilization” and describes a technique to reduce the vibration of the lens when hand holding it or even when on a tripod (some older lenses don’t support IS on a tripod). The 70-200 lenses are too short for most bird pictures, but can be handy if you want to photograph a landscape with birds in it. In same places, for example in some bird colonies at the coast or in parks, birds can be quite tame and then a 70-200mm zoom lens may just be perfect.

Artic Tern, EOS 40D, EF 4/70-200L IS

300mm

A 2.8/300mm lens is used by many photographers. Both the Nikon and Canon lenses are extremely sharp and have very fast AF (Autofocus). But 300mm is still to short for most situations. That’s why you will see most photographers who use a 2.8/300 using 1.4x or 2x extender with the lens. The 2.8/300 lenses are not cheap and cost several thousand Euros or Dollars. A cheaper choice is a 4/300 like the Canon 4/300 IS (which I use). Those lenses are also very sharp but much lighter and cheaper. The downside is that you will lose AF with some cameras. My Canon EOS 40D will not autofocus with the 4/300 and a 2x extender. With Canon, only the cameras from the 1D series provide AF with f8, for the other cameras, AF is turned off at f8. Nikon does not switch off the AF at f8 for their cameras. At the time of this writing, Nikon’s 4/300 does not yet offer VR (the Nikon 2.8/300 does have VR).

400mm

Canon and Nikon both offer a 2.8/400 with VR/IS. That’s a heavy beast (the Canon weighs more than 5kg ) and very expensive. I do not recommend that lens for bird photography. It’s too heavy, in my opinion and 400mm is still not very much when it comes to birds. But keep in mind that many photographers use that lens successfully, especially with good 1.4x and 2x extenders.
Canon also offers a 4/400 IS which is very light. That would make a great lens for flight photography and many photographers use it successfully. Some claim that it’s not as sharp as Canon’s 4/500 and 4/600. If you think about getting the 4/400 from Canon, try it out first on your camera and see if you like the results. Canon also offers a very light and small 5.6/400 (without IS) which is very popular for birds in flight as it can be handhold for a long time. The 5.6/400 is a very sharp lens and hopefully, a version with IS will follow soon. Nikon does not offer a 5.6/400 at the time of this writing.

200-400mm

Currently only Nikon offers a 4/200-400 lens. Canon does not although many Canon photographers (including me) would love to see such a lens. The Nikon lens is a dream of a lens. Very sharp and fast AF. Together with Nikon’s great D300 and it’s 1.5 crop factor, that lens would be like a 4/300-600 – a dream for bird and wildlife photographers. The downside of the lens is the high price. If you are a Nikon shooter, you should definitely consider trying that lens and see if the 400mm are long enough for your type of shooting. If that’s the case, the zoom advantage of the 4/200-400 can save you many pictures that you wouldn’t get with prime lenses, because sometimes you have to change focal length so fast, that changing a lens is not an options. Zooms win here by far.

100-400mm

Canon offers a very good 4.5-5.6/100-400 IS and Nikon a 4.5-5.6/80-400 VR. They are much cheaper than the 4/200-400 from Nikon and also much lighter. The sharpness is good, although not as good as with the 4/200-400 or 2.8/300. AF is slower due to the smaller f-stop. Nikon’s 4.5-5.6/80-400 is particularly slow, especially when used with an entry level DSLR from Nikon. When you have that lens and want good AF, use A D300, D700 or D3.

500mm

Canon and Nikon both offer a 4/500. Canon already introduced IS many years ago for this lens. Nikon recently (finally!!) came up with a new version of it’s 4/500 with VR. For me the 4/500 is the perfect bird lens. I love my Canon 4/500L IS. Those lenses are very sharp, f4 is still good, and they deliver amazing quality with a 1.4x extender and even with a 2x. I can handhold it for a while and have used it successfully for birds in flight like Black-headed Gulls, Griffon Vultures and Cinereous Vultures. It will still fit in a backpack that you can take with you on a plane. It’s cheaper than the 4/600 and although heavy (the Canon around 3.9kg). it’s still much lighter than the 4/600. That are the reasons why I chose the 4/500 over the 4/600. I use it a lot with a 1.4x extender on my Canon EOS 40D. That’s a dream combination for bird photography, as is Nikon’s 4/500VR together with the D300.

Black-tailed Godwit, EOS 40D, EF 4/500L IS, 1.4x

600mm

The 4/600 lenses from Canon and Nikon (recently also with VR) give you a longer reach than the 4/500. That’s the only advantage of the 4/600 over the 4/500, but a significant one. If you are shooting a lot of shy birds and don’t have to travel by plane a lot, the 4/600 might be a better choice than the 4/500.
The best would be to own both, the 4/500 and the 4/600 but that’s quite an expensive option. I do not own the 4/600.

800mm

Recently Canon introduced a new 5.6/800 IS. It’s lighter than the 4/600 but more expensive. I would prefer the 4/600 + 1.4x as this is a more flexible solution but I am sure some bird photographers will be very happy with Canon’s new 5.6/800. At the moment, Nikon does not offer a 800mm lens.

300-800mm

Sigma offers a 5.6/300-800mm lens for both Nikon and Canon. It’s very sharp and the zoom range is perfect for bird and wildlife photography. It’s expensive, heavy and long and it does not have IS/VR. But for some it’s a dream lens because of the zoom advantage. It would be great if Sigma would update the lens with image stabilization or Canon and Nikon would produce one themselves.
If you want a large super telephoto zoom lens, then the Sigmonster (as it’s sometimes called) may be what you want.

200-500mm

That lens does not yet exist. But what’s needed is a 4/200-500 with IS/VR from Canon or Nikon with a weight not over 3.5kg and the optical quality of Nikon’s 4/200-400. That would be the killer lens for bird photography. The zoom advantage would be great and allow for a much better composition of an image without the need the change your position of the lens (which is often not possible). I really hope that Canon or Nikon will come up with such a lens in the future.

What do I use?

Currently, I use the following Canon lenses for bird photography:

• EF 4/70-200L IS
• EF 4/300L IS
• EF 4/500L IS
• EF 1.4x extender

For over 90% of my pictures, I use the 4/500L as the longer focal length is simply necessary for most bird species. The 4/300L is great for tame birds in a park or for flight shots of gulls, gannets and other large birds that fly close to me. The 4/70-200L is only used for very tame birds like some Artice Terns I photographed recently (see image above). They flew just 2 meters above.
For me, the 4/500L is the best option. Lighter, smaller and cheaper than the 4/600L. It’s optical quality is superb, even with a 1.4x extender and also with a 2x extender.
If you use Canon and can afford it, I highly recommend that lens. But be sure to also check out the 4/600L. In the end, it depends on your specific situation what’s best for you.

Be sure to also read my post about Choosing a camera for bird photography.

Recommended books for bird photographers: