pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

A friend of mine was recently given a Nikon D-3300 with an 18-55mm lens and has a desire to start photographing birds. She soon discovered her lens was as useless as her phone camera. She asked me for a recommendation but my knowledge is restricted to Minolta/Sony A mounts. She did state my 300 and 400mm primes, 70-400mm Sony and 150-600 Tammy are too heavy for her. Does anybody have a recommendation? I was thinking of the 18-400mm Tammy but possibly something cheaper might be better in case she loses interest. I saw a refurbished Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300 f4.5-5.6G ED VR in the Nikon Store for $199.96. Would this be acceptable in your opinions? Thanks for any guidance.

Charlie'smom

She can get a 70-300mm Nikon or a 55-300mm Nikon used at a pretty good price. That’s where I would tell her to start, and if the photo bug does take hold, she can always upgrade. But she’ll get some decent shots with either of those lenses and camera. And if I remember, they’re not heavy at all.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

I beg your pardon???
Did you not read just this morning that the Editor of Nat Geo uses her phone to shoot pics for the magazine??? LoL
SS

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

The 55-300 AF-S is a good starting point. It's lighter and smaller than the 70-300. I started birding with a D3100 and that lens. What I found to be a good upgrade to that setup was to buy a used Nikon 1 J1 for $80 on ebay and a new Nikon FT-1 autofocusing adapter to use Nikon F-mount lenses on the J1 for about $225, and then use the 55-300 on the J1 with the FT-1 adapter. That gave me an autofocusing lens on a J1 camera with a 1" sensor that boosted the equivalent focal length from 450mm on my Nikon D3100 with the 55-300 lens to 810mm with the same lens on the J1 camera with the FT-1 adapter. For the money and light weight (J1 camera, adapter and lens weighs 2.2 lbs.) that was the best birding solution I found.

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Sharpshooter. You can get some great shots with your phone of some subjects but birds are iffy! BTW, I just bought a cup of coffee at Dunkin and am about to read my National Geographic! I will check for phone photos.

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Charlie's Mom for your advice. I too think either lens will get her off and running.

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Bobspez. Too involved for now but maybe when she gets proficient. Thanks and take care.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

While it is possible to do bird photography with a D3300, it might be a bit frustrating. Even if she were to be able to deal with a 6 lb camera and lens, the lightest setup for good bird photography with interchangeable lens cameras, that particular camera does not offer the frame rate or AF system performance that would help ensure consistently good results.

I suggest she borrow, for a day, a Sony RX10M4 - it is only 2.5 lbs, has the fastest autofocus system I have ever used on a camera, it is dead accurate on focus acquisition and tracks nearly flawlessly, and has a field of view equivalent to a 600mm lens. It certainly is worth considering, even if the price is a bit steep at $1700. Everything else will be disappointing, and only serve to build a collection of cameras and lenses, all of which will be mostly unsuitable for bird photography.

This was taken with a Sony RX10M3, which has the same lens and sensor, but a slower autofocus system. Ok for perched birds, but pretty challenging for active and flying birds. The M4 is far better, but $400 more.

the nice thing is that the lens is F4 at max zoom, a full stop better than even a 70-300, and as you can see it is quite sharp, rendering fine detail with ease. You are not going to see that kind of detail even with the larger sensor with higher megapixels on the D3300 because most of the consumer grade zooms and super zooms are soft at maximum zoom. But she should try these out for herself to be sure

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pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Gene. I will pass along your advice to her. An old friend of mine once told me to never bet againt Goldman Sachs or Sony! Sony does seem to have a way of making top shelf products.

Katydid Loc: Davis, CA

I was never frustrated when I started bird photography with my D3300. I used my heavy Nicon 200-500 in the car only. I now have a Tamron 18-400 that I use with my newer and heavier camera, the D500, when I am out and about walking. It is much lighter than the 200-500 and I don't mind the combined weight. If your friend can't carry those, perhaps she should try out some bridge cameras.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

I shoot a lot of wildlife, including birds, mostly with my D500. I use the Nikon 200-500 with the tripod if I can or sometimes hand-held but it is heavy. My lighter lens to use without the tripod is the Nikon 80-400, sometimes with a Nikon 1.4X teleconverter. This all works fairly well for me, but I'd still like to get closer at times so I do that in post.

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Katy. Sound advice. The 18 to 400 would be my pick too.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Serious options;

Latest Nikon 70-300 FX lens, or Tamron 100-400. With these, she should learn to maximize the image quality and CROP and use well applied pixel enlargement software. The Tamron 18-400 is a relatively light lens - and will "work" - but the IQ quality will pale in comparison to these two lenses.

Ultimately, her best/easiest option is to have a Sony camera ( E-mount) and use the Sigma MC11 adapter with a Sigma 100-400 Canon mount lens - and then use the in camera Clear Image Zoom ( 1.1-2X ) As Sigma has done with other recent lenses, I am expecting them to make a native E-mount 100-400 version available SOON.

As mentioned, the Sony RX10 IV may be the most ultimate option for her - or anyone ! - with weight/size issues.

BTW, I can HIGHLY recommend the Sony CIZ - I use it with an A77II and Sigma 100-300 f4.

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pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Thanks Imagemeister. The Tammy 100-400 is another option. I have read about Clear Image Zoom on my A99 but really never used it. Now we are up to about five lenses to choose from. Hope all is well up in Stuart.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Others made several good suggestions for used lenses to keep you on a budget. Though I might suggest looking for a 400mm to 500mm solution. I own a Pentax FA 100-300mm Zoom. And I find it barely long enough to shoot birds at all with. But since birds are not my big thing in photography, I'll have to live at 300mm.