When photographing birds from distance, are you using viewfinder or binoculars?

3 years 5 months ago #700308 by Little Kate
Morning!  I'm getting into or trying rather, wildlife photography.  I'm shooting with my longest lens (70-200mm) however plan to get a telephoto during the holiday season.  But when you are shooting birds or animals from a far distance, and they are so small.  Are you observing them using your viewfinder or do you have a set of binoculars you use till you are ready to take the shot?  Otherwise, with these being so far away, you could easily lose site of the bird/animal?


Kate


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3 years 5 months ago #700316 by Nikon Shooter
Hi Kate,

my 600 mm ƒ4 / D850 combo outperforms many binoculars
so for observation and shooting that will suffice.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 5 months ago #700333 by Little Kate
But if you didn't have a 600mm would you have used your viewfinder or binoculars?


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3 years 5 months ago #700352 by Nikon Shooter
Your title question said:

Little Kate wrote:  When photographing birds from distance, are you using viewfinder or binoculars?




Little Kate wrote: But if you didn't have a 600mm would you have used your viewfinder or binoculars?


Then I would use the most powerful tool at my disposal to spot the
subject… knowing that when I'd be close enough it could be gone.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 5 months ago #700513 by Paul Velasco
My neighbor is a big bird'er. He's always out there with his camera and using binoculars for spotting.  


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3 years 5 months ago #700604 by Nefarious
I have 2 sets of binoculars and one is always in my car/truck.  Does that answer your questions?  


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3 years 5 months ago #700632 by Shadowfixer1
If you need binoculars or a long lens for spotting the birds, you're too far away to make images of them.
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3 years 5 months ago #700636 by Nikon Shooter

Shadowfixer1 wrote: If you need binoculars or a long lens for spotting the birds, you're too far away to make images of them.


Exactly.

This Kingfisher I could follow for a short while over the waters
of the marsh — a very small bird from my position. It caught
my eye thanks to its colours. I succeeded this capture with the
said combo but to the price of resolution.

I have no chance to ever be able to publish this image because
it is — as you see it — at 100%! I could not resist taking it as im-
ge hunter but this is no bread shot!


Light is free… capturing it is not!
Photo Comments
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3 years 5 months ago #700651 by Piechura
The advantage of binoculars is that it's very tiring to hold a long lens up while you're trying to spot animals. The other thing is that sometimes you don't want to photograph the animal straight away, you want to watch it for a while first. If you start snapping away straight away, you might miss some clues about behaviour that will help you get a better shot later.


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3 years 5 months ago #700760 by Toby J
Binoculars, small pair


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2 years 10 months ago - 2 years 10 months ago #718364 by Joshrichards7
I prefer only big binoculars but it`s just because I got used to it, using them helps me to find animals much faster.
But if you`ve never tried one, it must be quiet difficult to switch on that 


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2 years 10 months ago #718460 by peterock33

Shadowfixer1 wrote: If you need binoculars or a long lens for spotting the birds, you're too far away to make images of them.


This was my first thought when I read this post.  


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