What qualities in a camera do you need to photograph birds?

Bird photos I have taken over the years.  Top:  Kestral, Anna's hummingbird, Common yellowthroat.
Bottom:  Female American goldfinch, Splendid Fairywren, Gold-crowned kinglet

Although a brand new, top-of-the-line camera is desirable and fully able to meet all the needs of an avian photographer, the truth is that you don't need to spend that much to capture decent photos.  If you think about it, good photos have been around for a long time, and the modern technology, although impressive, may be more than you actually need.

The things that are important in photographing birds relate to buffer size, rapid frame rate, fast and precise focus acquisition capability, and a decent pixel count.  Each one of these tends to be bigger and better as models go up in price, but often you can do well with good functionality instead of the best.

Buffer size:  The buffer is short-term memory storage, allowing photos to be temporarily held until data can be stored in the memory card.  Lower-end cameras typically have a small buffer size.  For example, my old Nikon D7100 could only hold 5 raw images at a time; try to take a sixth photo and the camera would freeze.  My more recent Nikon D500 can easily take 35 images continuously at 10 fps (frames per second) without locking up - and I have never gone above 20 or so at a time.  Larger buffer sizes are desirable; your camera should be able to do at least 15 raw shots in a row at its maximum frame rate.

Frame rate:  Faster frame rates (number of frames per second on continuous shooting) will allow more consecutive images to be captured during an important moment.  For example, my old Nikon D70 could manage 3 fps while my D500 easily does 10.  Higher-end cameras (Nikon's Z8, for example) can do 20 fps for raw images, and if you are shooting jpegs, it can do 120 fps.  I find 6 fps a bit on the slow side, although for a while it was the standard (D7100).  I find 10 fps a good balance between frequency and not sucking up a tremendous amount of memory.

Focus capability:  a)  Focus speeds are important, although the camera is only part of the equation here.  Good, high-quality lenses with internal focusing and silent-wave motors will allow your camera to acquire focus at its fastest speed.  Speeds of 10 ms or faster are desirable as it allows for almost instantaneous target acquisition.  Remember that you want to test focus speed with your fastest lens, often your best telephoto.

  b)  Focus points are another consideration for camera bodies.  Cameras featuring half a dozen focus points will be useless for focus tracking and only mildly useful for altering the point of focus.  Having over 100 focus points will allow decent focus tracking and will facilitate other possible focusing features, such as bird-eye recognition.  My D7200 could perform basic focus tracking, but the fast processing speed of the D500 allows me to track flying birds with relative ease.  

  c)  Contrast vs phase focus detection:  If you have ever tried to focus on a flat surface without details (blank wall) and found that the camera won't lock focus, you have contrast focusing.  Phase focusing is much better in that it can focus on moving targets with greater accuracy.  The problem is that contrast detection is very standard in most middle-of-the-road cameras, with phase detection being available on higher-end units.  The truth is that my contrast focus systems have been adequate, but I am looking forward to the day when I have a camera with phase detection.

  d)  Eye detection for wildlife:  Near and top-of-the-line cameras may come with bird-eye recognition and will automatically focus at the precise distance that a bird's eye is from the camera.  I have never used one, and I have to say that it would be a great feature, but I have managed with my existing equipment.  The chances are that it would be a nice feature, but unnecessary for those of us who are on a budget.

Pixel count:  Most modern digital cameras within the last 10 years or so boast pixel counts of at least 20 mp.  This is enough for producing decent enlargements or for doing significant cropping.  My photos above have been taken with 20 and 24 mp cameras.  Older cameras, like my D70 (6 mp), D200 (10 mp), D300 (12 mp), and D7000 (16 mp) were more limited in their pixel counts but still allowed me to capture good photos and render excellent prints.  You can buy cameras with higher pixel counts in the 30+ (D810) or around 50 mp (D850 and Z7ii) mark, but I have found that such high pixel densities are generally not required.  In fact, if you shoot a 46 mp body in DX mode, it captures images around 19 mp.  The bottom line is that pixel count should not be too great a worry.

I wrote a book in 2018 called "Photography for Birders and Other Wildlife Enthusiasts."  It is in colour, has 6 chapters, and goes into great detail about how to photograph birds and other wildlife.  Unfortunately, COVID hit soon after and my hopes of marketing it were dashed, furthermore, I needed to buy a commercial insurance policy if I was to sell them online - something that cost $2000 a year and I was unwilling to do.  So, now I am stuck with 400 or so copies. If you are interested in one, please let me know through my blog. I am selling them at a reduced price.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericpix.com