Telephoto lenses are just about a requirement for engaging bird photography. When getting started, it can be difficult and oftentimes frustrating to quickly find birds in the camera’s viewfinder when using these types of lenses. This video will show a few different ways to develop your wildlife photography skills for perched birds and birds in flight.
Affiliate links:
►SHOP TELEPHOTO LENSES:
►Wimberley WH-200 II:
►Induro GIT404XL:
►LensCoat wraps:
Filmed with:
►Panasonic GH5:
►Panasonic 12-35mm:
►Rode RodeLink:
►B+W ND 3.0-1000X MRC:
I am very frequently shooting at extreme focal lengths longer than 1200mm (up to 3000mm, and sometimes even more), and there is a brilliant accessory from Nikon to help with finding your subject without zooming out – Nikon Dot Sight DF-M1. Normally, you mount it on a hot shoe, calibrate at the beginning of your session, and enjoy your shooting. For bigger lenses, probably you would need some kind of extender to lift Dot Sight device a bit higher to avoid occlusion of the subject by lens hood. When using dot sight, I mainly use LCD screen simultaneously with Dot Sight, so you have both real scale and zoomed in view simultaneously. If I go a bit wider and decide to go autofocus, then I even fully rely on Dot Sight – sure you do not get perfect framing and have to crop in post then.
I have some photos of my setup at my gear story highlights at my @kite.observer instagram account, if anyone curious. There is a picture of how Dot Sight looks and while finding a target, too.