My first experience of wildlife photography was when I was 11 years old; I was invited by a local photographer called Phil Winter to photograph Little Owls in his garden. When I saw those tiny owls perch in front of me, I was captivated by them. After that experience, I knew I wanted to encounter more of our interesting wildlife and capture these moments through photography. Soon after this, I started saving up for my first wildlife photography setup.
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I quickly realised that camera gear is extremely expensive and there’s lots of different features that an ideal wildlife photography camera should include. I would often see professionals using these great big setups costing more than a car and I would wonder how on earth I could possibly achieve that. The answer is that you don’t need to.
My first camera was a Canon 1200D with the kit lens, which I managed to buy by selling brownies to cyclists on the roadside (this became a locally well-known business: ‘Billy’s Brownies’). It was by no means the best camera to start with (it genuinely was the first camera I found that was under £150). As soon as I got my hands on it, I realised I had overlooked something: the lens.
Lenses are by far one of the most important pieces of kit you’ll invest in. You can have the best camera in the world, but with a cheap low-quality lens, your images won’t be any better. The best way to do it, I’ve found, is to invest in a high-quality telephoto lens and spend a little less on the camera body itself. I’ve changed camera bodies many times, but I’ve used the same lens with most of them.
After a few bad experiences with cheap lenses, I finally made enough money to buy a telephoto lens that I was happy with - the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens. This lens has been with me since and is my go-to. It’s got great sharpness throughout the large zoom range and has helped me win various wildlife photography competitions. It is my number 1 wildlife photography lens recommendation.
When shopping for gear, one of the best sites to use is MPB.com. They stock a huge range of second-hand equipment, and they also allow you to trade in your old gear to get money off your purchase. When it comes to cameras, I look for one with three things: a high-ish frame rate (ideally 7fps or more), fast autofocus and decent low light performance (this comes from how well the camera can handle high ISO).
Here is a list of cameras that fit these criteria, ordering from most expensive to least expensive:
I have only listed Canon cameras here, that isn’t because they are better than any other brand, it’s just the brand that I use and love which means that I trust it enough to recommend it to others. The truth is that the more money you spend, the better the gear will be, however that does not necessarily equate to better images.
I’ve already mentioned my favourite lens for photographing wildlife (the sigma 150-600mm), but what are the requirements I look for? There’re two types of lens: a zoom lens and a prime (fixed) lens. The nature of wildlife photography is that you’re distant from your subject, which means that you’ll want a ‘telephoto’ lens (a lens with a long range). A prime telephoto lens will cost you thousands of pounds and isn’t always the best. Zoom lenses are usually smaller, cheaper and allow more flexibility when you’re shooting. Another quality you want in a lens is sharpness, this speaks for itself. Aperture of lenses is also important as this controls the amount of light let into the camera along with depth of field (the amount of image in focus). Unfortunately, wider apertures come with larger prices. The sigma 150-600mm has an aperture of f6.3, which I have never had any issues with.
The gear that I’m using at the moment is the Canon R6 alongside the sigma 150-600mm. I chose the R6 because it’s mirrorless, which allows it to have a silent shutter, incredible autofocus and great low-light capability. I’ve been using this combination for two years, and have had few issues. It’s the set up that I used to capture the image which won RSPB Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 (www.bwpawards.org). This setup is not necessarily the best available, just the one I could afford. The camera gear is not the main part of achieving great images, the great images come from the knowledge you build from spending time in nature.
