Lens for Birds in Flight

floridafan

New member
What would the best lens be to photograph Birds in Flight to go with a D850. I would like to spend under 2000. Apparently I am learning that the Nikon 80-400 focuses too slowly to on the moving target to get clear clean results with regularity.

How fast a shutter speed is required to get it right?

Thank you so much!
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
your price range says a tamron 150-600, sigma 60-600 or the nikon 200-500, SS 1600 and above, also check the nikon 300 f4?
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
As Roy said for lenses and for shutter speed,if you go for a zoom go for the longest you can manage you can always zoom back a bit if its too long anytime.
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
I highly recommend the Sigma 150-600C. I own one and it is great. Well within your budget and you could even afford a good 1.4 teleconverter if you want extra reach. If you browse this site your will see that the Tamron 150-600 seems to have too many issues for my taste. For a little more money you could also consider the Nikon 200-500.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
You mention the 80-400, i think 400 may be a bit short on FX but if thats what you want i found the Sigma 100-400 to be very fast focusing on the D500, a couple of sample images.

dsc_1663_35832995766_o.jpg


dsc_4532_36998046791_o.jpg
 

floridafan

New member
We own the 80-400, and have an older Sigma 150-600. I think I will have to expand my price range and suck it up on a Nikon 500mm Prime, used. I bit the bullet on the D850 so, I guess I am all in now... LOL
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
We own the 80-400, and have an older Sigma 150-600. I think I will have to expand my price range and suck it up on a Nikon 500mm Prime, used. I bit the bullet on the D850 so, I guess I am all in now... LOL

Good idea, the main things to consider after price are weight, and fixed focal length, if your ok with those it would take some beating.
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
What would the best lens be to photograph Birds in Flight to go with a D850. I would like to spend under 2000. Apparently I am learning that the Nikon 80-400 focuses too slowly to on the moving target to get clear clean results with regularity.

How fast a shutter speed is required to get it right?

Thank you so much!

This may sound like a crazy idea at first , but hear me out. ;)

With a 2000.00 dollar budget, I would pick up a Nikon 200-500 mm F/5.6 lens and attach it to a refurb D7200. (It might run a few hundred over your budget, but it will be close)
Now you have a nice reach (500mm with a crop camera will give you close to 750mm if you had it on your D850)

Plus, now you also have a spare camera if something should go wrong with your D850 and need to send it out for repairs. It might be worth at least thinking about.

As far as shutterspeeds go for BIF , the faster you can get away with the better. I try not to get below 1600 if I can help it.
 

floridafan

New member
We have a 7100, I know my wife wants to use her new D850. She really loves her new camera and is still getting to know it! I will wait for the Nikon 500PF to get released and just increase my budget to buy this soon to be released lens.
 

desmobob

Senior Member
I can only comment on the older non-Silent Wave Nikkor AF 300mm f/4 ED-IF... it is a s-l-o-w AF focuser. On the other hand, the lens is wonderful and the Kenko Pro 1.4x converter works absolutely beautifully with it.

As for the shutter speeds... as high as you can get!

Stay sharp,
Bob
 

STM

Senior Member
I use a 600mm f/4 ED-IF AIS Nikkor, which of course is manual focus. It takes a lot more concentration to use a manual focus lens, but with practice it is not that bad. I shot this Snowy Owl in northern NH about a year ago or so.That lens is a BEAST at over 14 pounds but it\s IQ is superb but a tripod with a gimbal head is pretty much a necessity!

Snowy Owl.jpg
 

STM

Senior Member
Using the large Primes for birding does take some getting used to, not as easy as people might think

My 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF AIS Nikkor is a pleasure to use but the 600mm f4 ED-IF AIS Nikkor is a BEAST and requires a tripod and a gimbal head for the best results.
 

sutherland

New member
I use a 300 2.8 VRII and a TC-14EIII. I've used a 200-500 5.6 in the past but I found that lens has a tendency to 'hunt'. I find that even the smaller 300mm PF w/ TC-14EIII (which gives you 420mm 5.6) has faster focus acquisition than the 200-500 5.6 and is quite sharp wide open (at 5.6 w/ TC) and will provide fantastic results at 7.1-8.0.

For birds in flight, I aim for no lower than 1250. You can definitely go lower (with birds that are gliding or scanning/circling) however your keeper rate will go down.

There is no magical combination that exists that will result in 100% tack sharp images all the time. Deleting is as much (if not more) of a requirement with Wildlife as is Reach or FPS.
 

editorial_use_only

Senior Member
I am learning that the Nikon 80-400 focuses too slowly to on the moving target to get clear clean results with regularity.
You've already said you're considering the new 500PF, which sounds right for what you want. I'll just point out that if you're finding that focus speed on the 80-400 is too slow for you, you will probably want to avoid the 200-500. the 200-500 is a fine lens in many respects, excellent contrast and sharpness, excellent value and good portability, but its focus speed is relatively slow. Also, be sure that f/5.6 is going to meet your needs. For about the same price, you could get a used 400/2.8, one of the older AFS versions without VR for example. Those two stops, in terms of ISO and DOF, can make an enormous difference.
 

stevehotshot

New member
Hi, I've just acquired the 200-500 and focus seems pretty quick to me... I've only been out a couple of times so far and need to get used to it, but so far I'm quite encouraged.... I've got it on a D7200 and together (new) I got them for £1530....ive been thinking of the 1.4 tc can anyone tell me if the Kenko is compatible... I've seen a pdf from Kenko site and 200-500 isn't there???
 
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