What camera for bird photography?

[Wairua]

Kia Ora!


I enjoy watching birds and taking pictures of them, however, my current camera (just a very ordinary digital one) does not take good pictures when the birds are flying and I only have a limited zoom, so I have to get quite close to get good photos and as you know, some birds do not like people getting close...
I also take landscape pictures, especially of Taranaki and the Whanganui river which is less of a problem.

I am not experienced at all when it comes to the technical side of photography and do not look into being a professional photographer but I do want to invest into a camera that will enable me to get better shots of birds, whether they are sitting in a tree or flying above the river. Could you give me some advice on what kind of camera I should get for that? I'd prefer a digital one as I also like editing photos on my computer and share them with friends.

One photo I would love to take would be a seagull in flight. I do have some of them but the quality is just not what I want.

I am grateful for any advice.

[Rick0r]

One nice and relatively easy way - find photos taken by other people that you like, then find what lens and camera they used to take them.

[Redal]

what is your budget?
Are you looking at a digital slr camera or a point in shoot ?

[Wairua]

My budget would be around 1000 NZD, maybe a bit more if necessary.

I'm looking into a DSLR, a friend recommended choosing a camera from the Canon EOS range and I already had a look at a few of them but the technical details all intimidate me a bit. Do you have any experience with the Canon EOS cameras?

[Redal]

My budget would be around 1000 NZD, maybe a bit more if necessary.

I'm looking into a DSLR, a friend recommended choosing a camera from the Canon EOS range and I already had a look at a few of them but the technical details all intimidate me a bit. Do you have any experience with the Canon EOS cameras?

With that budget id look at a canon 20d , they can be found for around $500-600.
That leaves around $400 , you will be limited in your options. Long lenses are very expensive .
Canon has some cheap long zooms but the image quality is not that good ,
the best of them is the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM , which is much better than the 75-300 lenses.

[Wairua]

Thanks for all the advice. I bought a Canon EOS 1000D which came with two different lenses. I have been out to take some photos this morning and am really happy with the outcome, actually the photos are better than I expected.