Shooting with a fisheye lens has become more and more popular in recent years, particularly with Nikon photographers. Apart from creating a unique perspective, fisheye’s are an awesome lens for creating some highly dramatic photos. This has made the fisheye lens quite popular with extreme sports fans because you can be part of the action instead of observing from the sidelines. And given that a fisheye lens has an unparalleled depth of field it makes capturing those dramatic action shots a lot easier.

And thanks to new technology it’s now more than possible to effortlessly correct the type of distortion that comes with a fisheye lens – barrel distortion. Incredibly, this can be accomplished without losing most of your photograph through cropping. Of course the majority of people who purchase a fisheye lens love the “fisheye effect” and wouldn’t dream of correcting it. Other photographers don’t like the look but love the 180 degree angle of view that a fisheye lens provides.

Normally, choosing the right lens for your Camera can be a real problem because there are so many choices available. Every lens has its advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to selecting a fisheye lens your options are limited; and that can present it’s own difficulties depending on which Nikon model your taking pictures with.

Nikon of course has two fisheye’s that they make available to their customer base: the Nikkor 10.5 fisheye lens designed for those models with the more compact 1.5x crop sensors, and Nikon’s 16mm fisheye lens developed for Nikon’s FX series of digital SLR’s that have the full frame sensor.

They’re both excellent lenses. Both of them are fast with a maximum aperture setting of f/2.8 and both of them produce photographs of the very best quality. If your shooting with one of Nikon’s FX cameras like the D700 or the D3 the decision is easy: go with the Nikkor 16mm f/2.8 fisheye. If you happen to be using one of the smaller Nikon’s the decision isn’t as simple.

Nikon models such as the D40/D40x, D60, D3000/3100, and the D5000 don’t have self contained focus drives; and neither of Nikon’s fisheye’s are AF-S lenses, meaning you’ll have to do without as far as Auto Focus is concerned if your an owner of one of these models. Nikon plans on upgrading all of its lenses in the near future, but currently that’s the way it is.

If you don’t care about using Auto Focus then the Nikkor 10.5 fisheye is your best option if “image quality” is your prime concern. If using Auto Focus is a need or if you just insist on having it then there are other options: The Sigma f/2.8 10mm fisheye and the Tokina 10-17MM fisheye zoom lens.

The best alternative is the Sigma 10mm fisheye lens. Just like the two Nikkor lenses it’s fast with a maximum aperture setting of f/2.8. Picture quality is right up there with the Nikon’s 10.5mm fisheye lens. More importantly, the Sigma has a super fast AF motor that is practically noiseless with almost no hesitation while its focusing. This feature has made the Sigma 10mm fisheye a big success with Nikon users who need a fast and reliable AF.

The second best option is the Tokina fisheye zoom lens. With a range of 10 to 17 millimeters this lens provides 1.5x crop cameras with a diagonal fisheye at the low end and a wide angle lens at 17mm. Basically, you get two lenses for the cost of one, which is perfect for those who want a fisheye lens but who can’t justify spending the money for a prime. The versatility of this lens is its main selling point but it also has a very fast AF that comes with it. The picture quality is perhaps not equal to the Nikkor or the Sigma, but make no mistake about it – this is a professional grade lens that takes great looking pictures. The Tokina isn’t quite as fast as the Nikkor or the Sigma with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at 10mm and f/4.5 at 17mm. The versatility of a zoom lens always comes with a price – and that’s a moderate decrease in image quality. The Tokina fisheye zoom is no exception to this rule.

There are other choices and possibilities when it comes to buying a third-party fisheye lens but the Sigma 10mm and the Tokina Fisheye represent the ideal choices when it comes to quality and performance. Obviously, most Nikon owners prefer to stick with their own brand names so the nikon 10.5 fisheye and the nikon 16mm fisheye continue to be the best choices providing AF is not an issue.

Technorati Tags: fisheye lens, nikkor fisheye, nikon 10.5mm, nikon fisheye, nikon fisheye lens

 Bird photography can happen anywhere on our beautiful globe. The not so nice thing is that birds are small or shy, and you need to be able to get close enough with your equipment. In this article, we will be looking at the ideal equipment for bird photography. 

This lovely picture by Heather Green

Camera body

We live in the world of digital photography, and therefore we will only be discussing digital camera bodies. I am also a really big Canon fan, so I will talk Canon, and you can translate it to other manufacturers if you need to.

You will need a decent camera body that allows you to set continuous focus while shooting images in the raw image quality. The cheapest body allowing you to do this is the Canon EOS 20D. However, it is not really cheap. The reason for it being not too affordable is that it is actually a very good all-round camera body for the serious amateur or professional. You cannot go wrong with this body…

Lenses

A lot of amateurs think that a really decent long zoom lens will solve all their problems. I have been there guys, and it does not. Do what the professionals do and get that long prime lens.

I used the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM for a long time, and my results were decent but not good enough. It is not the sharpest lens. If you need to use a zoom rather stick with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. It is pin sharp.

I now use the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM and it is the best thing that could have happened to my photography. It is very sharp and very fast at the same time. A bit heavy at times, but I need the exercise! With this lens I mostly use a Canon Extender 1.4x II for an effective focal length of 1 120 mm with auto focus! That is plenty for any bird, and I cannot imagine getting a lot of good bird photographs with anything shorter.

By the way, do not use manual focus. Today’s cameras were not built for manual focus as the viewfinders are small and do not allow you to see enough detail to manual focus effectively.

Photographing flying birds

Okay, now you have all the equipment and you are heading into the field to get that award winning photograph of a flying bird. You have to have enough light entering your lens for a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action. You also want your camera to focus where the bird is in that split second you are going to give it before firing away. So what do you do…?

Set you camera to an ISO speed of 400. In sunshine this ought to be fast enough. The reason for not using ISO 100 or 200 is that you are photographing action and you do not want anything to blur.

You must also make sure your lens is open at its maximum aperture. A Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens coupled with a Canon Extender 1.4x II gives a maximum aperture of 5.6, and this is what I use when photographing flying birds.

Also ensure your camera is set to continuous autofocus. Canon calls this setting AI Servo focus. This is crucial and the main reason why I am not a fan of camera bodies like the Canon EOS 350D. They do not allow you to use this focus with raw images… Thanks Canon!

I also set my image stabilizer to Mode 2 for photographing moving subjects, to avoid it actually working against that sharp photo rather than for it…

Now all that is left is moving that heavy lens around while the birds are flying past. Happy shooting!

Conclusion

We professionals have a way of sometime making it sound like you do not need good equipment to be a good photographer. That is utter non-sense. Get yourself decent equipment and you will see why the pros get the shot and you don’t.

The other thing that makes the professionals so much better than the average amateur is patience. Go and sit somewhere where there are birds, forcing yourself not to move for three hours, and you will get the magic shots. Your patience will be rewarded.

What Type of Photography Do You Do?

I belong to Nikonians and they ask the same stupid question. My photography interest is so varied that I cannot pigeon hole myself into any category. I have shot landscapes, architecture, birds, animals, macro’s, flowers, still life.

camara for birding? in need of advice

i do not know anything about bird photograghy, i usually use a compact digital camara for taking everyday pictures, which are usually not of birds. i would like to buy a camara and a good lens to use without tripoid.

Treading on Moss: Frosty Fog

Who can resist a foggy morning in the garden. Add on top of that, frost, and you get MAGIC. Ever fef ything is traced in white. Hoar-Frost. Posted by Mon Cheri at 10:37 AM. Labels: Garden Photograghy … David Copperfield – Dickens; Wives and Daughters – Elizabeth Gaskel; To Kill A Mocking Bird – Harper Lee; At The Back Of The North Wind – George MacDonald; Ben Hur -Lew Wallace; Freckles – Gene Stratton-Porter; Perelandra -C.S.Lewis; The Lively Lady – Kenneth Roberts

Help – Wildlife and Environment Forums

I am an absolute beginner in the photograghy stakes but am keen to learn as much as possible, I would like to take photos of birds and animals and wildflowers, can anyone recommend a good starter camera which will be easy to use.

About The Author

Dries Cronje is a freelance nature photographer operating in Southern Africa. He has a passion for teaching and has dedicated one of his sites, http://www.africa-nature-photography.com, purely to helping his fellow nature photographers.

Technorati Tags: bird photographs, Bird Photography, birds photography, wild bird photography