JohnnyDW Loc: Richmond and Sunshine Valley British Columbia

Nice! Good job on the female kingfisher, hard to get close to them.

See_the_shot Loc: Bluffton, SC

I highly recommend KEH camera if you’re going to look at used.

williejoha

Canon 7DII with a100-400 II.
WJH

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

If you do a lot of cropping from the shots you take, robertjerl, Gene51, and some of the others with the suggestion of D500 or D800 along with a 150-600 lens are very good suggestions. These systems will get the job done that you are asking for although they will be substantial larger and heavier.

If you you do not crop your images a lot ("crop" in camera by positioning or zooming to fill the frame), can save size and weight by going to 4/3rds. It will still be heavier than your all-in-ones, but smaller and lighter than full frame and APS-C. SuperflyTNT is correct that Panasonic is not fast enough for bird photography. But the Olympus older E-M1 mkII and newer E-M1 mkIII are. Using the new 100-400 lens with this combination (200-800 zoom range in 35mm terms) will save some size and weight. And, for birding, I would suggest the Olympus EE-1 viewsight. It makes it easy on any camera to locate the bird you are shooting without zooming in and out.

All the suggestions are fairly spot on and will meet your birding needs. It will come down to what feels good in your hands and what you are comfortable carrying around with you.

TuckSnap Loc: St. Louis, MO

SonyRX10 iv
The improvements on the iv with an amazing zoom, I think you will be happy.
Read the reviews.

Urnst Loc: Brownsville, Texas

I know a professional wildlife photographer who uses a Nikon D3400 with the two kit lenses that came with it and he does great work. He spends a lot of time getting to know his subjects (mostly birds) and their habitats so as to increase his success rate. He likes this kit because it is small, light, and inexpensive and gets the results he wants.

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

I should have talked to him before I spent thousands on a birding rig.

Ollieboy

Sony RX10IV is 24mm to 600mm with zeiss glass. It may fit your needs and in your price range. No lenses to carry either. It has excellent auto focus. Read the reviews

tdozier3 Loc: Northern Illinois

D7500 with Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens

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tomad Loc: North Carolina

What you can do with a Sony RX10 IV...

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-687705-1.html

NRB

Get a used Nikon DF; good value for a Nikon D4 chip.

boredAlan2020

Re: Bird photography and Nikon Coolpix p950:
1. Great telephoto range, BUT...in order to accommodate that large zoom lens they have cut down on the rest of the guts of the camera by using 1/4" sensor and other parts. Translation: The final image to the "brains" of the camera and zillions of tiny pixels. When enlarged, sharpness is compromised.
2. Sharpest images come from any camera mounted and stabilized on a HEAVY tripod. Not very mobile in the field and useless for tracking birds in flight, but telephoto shots will be blurred by any digital camera set on long telephoto just by hand held shaking, even if they say image stabilization.
Don't use Coolpix p95 for bird shots unless you have it on a tripod, and then only with subjects that don't move around a lot or require tracking.
Re: Other cameras on a budget.
1. Absolute best is a DSLR with a prime lens (not a zoom). But that's very, very expensive whether DSLR or mirrorless, like in the 5 figure range between $10K and $20K. How serious are you about bird photography? And that would also need a heavy expensive tripod on top of that.
2. Budget minded: Get a DSLR starting with a 300mm zoom lens, perhaps off brand. The off brand lenses inherently not as sharp, but at least you can start getting better bird shots.
3. Set camera body to aperture priority, then select the most open (smallest number) f stop. This will compensate by giving you a faster shutter speed, up to 1/8000th sec. range. Set camera body to burst mode, firing anything from 6-12 frames per second. Set autofocus to zone if you can and ISO of around 1000 and exposure compensation to -0.3. Try getting some birds in flight by starting to track the bird keeping the subject in the autofocus zone while depressing the shutter release halfway. Once you have got the subject, fire off a burst of at least a dozen shots. Later, pick the ones with the best wing position. For other bird shots, use a tripod and even better if the bird isn't moving much, use a cable release too.
4. Shoot on cloudy days with lightness. It will eleiminate deep shadows and harsh highlights.
5. Try to keep the sun behind you when shooting.
6. Learn and use a good photo editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom. Many to choose from but learning curve is a bit steep. Ask friends to help you learn. It will improve the final product greatly.

Good luck, boredAlan

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

This is by far one of the best well thought out responses yet. Thank you!

HiFromSusan

I've been there, done that with bridge cameras. Their tiny sensors are what gives you an *equivalent* focal length while restricting you in aperture range and shutter speeds. That, plus you are also limited by the contrast-point AF. If you go for the best bridge, you will be spending $1.6K+ for the Sony Rx10, but you will be limiting your reach to an *effective* 600 mm.

For me, it was better to spend that money on an Olympus EM1iii. Or, you could go used and spend that amount on a used EM1ii and a Panasonic 100-300. The 4/3 sensor is still smaller than a DSLR, but at 2x you will be getting an equivalent 600mm reach with the Panny lens. Plus you will have a full range of apertures and shutter speeds along with the best IBIS in the business. Shoot jpg or RAW, either way you will have much less postprocessing to do, as the color engine is amazing, and there are settings that allow you to do much of your postprocessing in-camera.

Just my 2 cents, and with 4 pages of replies you may not even get this far. So, good luck in whatever you choose.

Firstshot Loc: East,tn

Staying in the budget l shoot with a D5600 and a Sigma C 150-600(rented). But also my Sigma 100-400.

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