Bird photography kit

[Sam_swfc123]

Can anyone tell me what the Canon 20D and 30D's are like and if they are any good for bird photography with a sigma 150-500mm lens. I would probably use it when I got walking through some woods or in the countryside and sometimes down at my local nature reserve. Can anyone help? Thank you

Sam winslow

[big bill]

Hello Sam I have the canon 400D and Sigma170-500mm lens and have no complaints with this combination ,the only difference in your camera is that it is a few steps up from mine and the lens is a newer model so the combination should work well.
What you should think of investing in though is either a monopod or a tripod to take the weight of the lens as hand holding can become quite tiresome and you could end up with ruined shots due to camera shake especially when the speed start to drop down.
A good starting point for you on the lens is about f8 and do not take the lens completely out to 500mm stop slightly shoprt of the full zoom.
Hope this has been helpful,here is some pics withmy set up to show you some of the results achieved .

[glsammy]

The 20D is a fine camera. In fact for AF performance I prefer it to my 40D.
It works really well with a Sigma 50-500mm, so should work just fine with a 150-500mm.

[Geoff F]

I left a partial reply and a suggested link on your thread in the Bird Forum. Here is the link to an older thread which you may find useful Sigma 50-500mm v Sigma 150-500mm

Those cameras are OK but are a bit short on pixels by today's standards. Having said that, they are still capable of taking good photos especially if you don't print above A4. And they should be available at a good price.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

I left a partial reply and a suggested link on your thread in the Bird Forum. Here is the link to an older thread which you may find useful Sigma 50-500mm v Sigma 150-500mm

Those cameras are OK but are a bit short on pixels by today's standards. Having said that, they are still capable of taking good photos especially if you don't print above A4. And they should be available at a good price.

The 20D is quite capable of producing images of a high enough quality to go way over A4.
I've had excellent images at least up to A2 size.

[BillyPilgrim]

Hi Sam, either body and that lens will give you a very decent platform. I wouldn't worry about the pixels either - 8m is plenty. The hard bit is getting close enough to the birds to get decent images!