However, all other things being equal, a good camera can make life a lot easier for wildlife photography. I'd suggest getting a full-frame DSLR with a zoom lens with a maximum focal length of at least 300mm, preferably 400mm or more.
The point is obviously that a good camera doesn't necessarily make a good picture, and it's mildly insulting to photographers if you ask about their equipment without complimenting them on their talent!
Can I just ask: what typewriter do you use.? I'm actually a big fan of your work, too, Mr Hemingway. Photographer: Well, I use a Leica with a 50mm lens for most of my shots. He went to a photography exhibition in New York and was so impressed he asked to meet the photographer. People often ask me what camera I use, and it reminds me of a story I heard about Ernest Hemingway. It's obviously too late to do anything once you're on safari, so it pays to get your equipment sorted out beforehand. In order to avoid moments like that, here are my answers to a few obvious questions: What equipment do I need? What I really needed was a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 of a second. That would normally have worked, but not for a jumping impala! I was using an 80-400mm lens, so I had my camera on 1/320 and f/8 with auto ISO.
Unfortunately, I was using my default camera settings that were designed to capture animals that were standing still. They were galloping fast, but there were five or six of them, so I did have time to focus on each of them, one by one, as they crossed the road in turn. I was parked in a jeep in Botswana when a herd of impala came chasing across the road. If you look closely, you can see that the whole body is slightly out of focus, and that was simply because I didn't think to change my shutter speed. You can improve your photos even further by reducing camera shake by way of a tripod and a remote shutter release (or your camera’s self-timer).This would've been a great shot. Choosing a mid-range aperture will give you sharper images throughout. While that can be true, focus does not always equal overall sharpness. You’ve probably heard that apertures like f/16 and f/22 are best for keeping everything in focus.
And because your camera still chooses the ISO (if it’s set to Auto ISO) and the shutter speed automatically, it’s very easy to use. Shooting in Aperture Priority allows you to choose the aperture setting you want, which gives you more creative control than Auto mode.īy controlling the aperture setting, it’s much easier to get a sharp image. To perform the test you’ll need to shoot in Aperture Priority mode. Once you know the mid-range aperture of your lens, you can do an easy test to get your sharpest image. There is some wiggle room in what counts as mid-range, so anything from f/7.1 to f/10 will capture a sharp image.
Two full stops from there would bring me to a sweet spot of around f/7.1. On my lens, the widest aperture is f/3.5. The rule for finding that mid-range sweet spot is to count up two full f-stops (aperture settings are called f-stops) from the widest aperture. When zoomed all the way in to 55mm, its widest aperture is f/5.6. This means that when my lens is zoomed all the way out to 18mm, its widest aperture is f/3.5.