I feel that the best lenses for bird photography solve a significant problem. Most birds are small by nature and you have to keep a respectable distance, otherwise all you’ll do is scare them away rather than getting great shots of them. A long telephoto or super-telephoto lens is the order of the day, whether you’re shooting birds at a feeder or in flight. The same goes for taking photos of animals in the wild, so I’m here to help you pick the best lens for your camera system.
With that in mind, I’ve included some of the best telephoto lenses in this guide, that are available right now. I’ve listed a mixture of zooms and primes that bring distant subjects closer, so you can fill the frame with birds and animals, and make the most of your camera's sensor to capture them in glorious detail.
My guide caters to all the major mounts and systems, for all the latest camera makes, so whatever your system, I should have you covered. And if you can't get enough birdwatching, you might also want to sneak a peek at our best bird feeder camera guide as well!
As Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer, he brings his seasoned expertise to picking out the best lenses for bird photography – and the lenses on this list are my top recommendations.
The Quick List
Making 800mm photography more affordable and accessible than ever before, this clever Canon prime for RF-mount gives you exceptional reach.
I like Canon's EF 100-400mm zoom for birding on DSLRs – it offers superb image quality and effective stabilization, with weather sealing on the outside.
Providing impressive zoom reach, this lens for Nikon DSLRs earns points for its constant maximum aperture and 4.5-stop stabilization system.
This powerful telephoto prime incorporates a Phase Fresnel optical element – the kind used to focus the beams of a lighthouse! It also boasts effective VR.
Especially effective for tracking the unpredictable movements of birds in flight, Sony's FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens is a high-end winner for mirrorless.
Paired with a high-speed X-mount mirrorless camera like the X-H2S, the Fujifilm XF100-400mm lens will deliver outstanding results for bird photography.
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Delivering sumptuous image quality from a lens body that, all things considered, isn't too heavy, this Sigma prime is ideal for bird photography.
The 2x crop factor makes this lens an effective 600mm beast, bringing even the sharpest birds in nice and close. Having f/4 is great for shallow depth of field.
Best lenses for bird photography
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Best Canon RF
✅ Phenomenal Reach: Provides excellent reach with an 800mm focal length, ideal for wildlife and sports photography.
✅ Compact and Lightweight: Smaller and lighter than competing DSLR lenses, weighing only 1,260g, making it suitable for long periods of handheld shooting.
❌ Fixed Aperture: The f/11 fixed aperture may be considered too narrow by some, limiting low-light performance and depth of field control.
❌ Lack of Aperture Adjustment: The inability to alter the aperture might be disappointing for photographers who prefer more control over exposure settings.
This Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM super-telephoto lens for Canon EOS R-series full-frame mirrorless cameras gives phenomenal reach but is much smaller and more lightweight than competing lenses for DSLRs.
This lens has a fixed aperture of f/11, and many birders might consider that rather too narrow, while others might be unimpressed that you can’t alter the aperture. However, the modest f/11 rating enables a relatively compact and lightweight build with smaller-diameter lens elements
At 1,260g, it’s perfectly viable for long periods of handheld shooting, aided by a highly effective optical image stabilizer. It also has a retractable mechanism to cut down on stowage size, making it ideal for use anywhere and everywhere from local sporting events to wildlife shoots in far-flung corners of the world.
Read more: Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM review
Best Canon EF
✅ Improved Zoom Mechanism: Replaces the original trombone-style push-pull zoom with a more conventional twist-action zoom ring.
✅ Refined Optics: Features a refined optical path with fluorite and Super UD elements, along with advanced Air Sphere coating for improved image quality
❌ High Cost: Considered expensive for a 100-400mm lens, which may deter some buyers.
❌ Limited Telephoto Reach: Lacks the extended telephoto reach offered by more recent 150-600mm lenses from independent brands.
Canon’s original EF 100-400mm zoom was something of a classic, but wasn’t to everybody’s taste, especially in regard to its trombone-style push-pull zoom mechanism. The second edition of the lens has a more typical twist-action zoom ring and a host of upgrades. These include a refined optical path with fluorite and Super UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements and high-tech Air Sphere coating.
There’s a more effective, triple-mode image stabilizer and the Mark II also gains weather seals and fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements. It’s a very good lens but rather expensive for 100-400mm and lacks the outright telephoto reach of more recent 150-600mm independent designs.
Read more: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM review
Best Nikon F
✅ Constant Aperture: Features a constant f/5.6 aperture throughout the zoom range, providing consistent exposure and depth of field control.
✅ Great Value: Offers excellent value for an own-brand Nikon lens, especially with its constant aperture and advanced features.
❌ Limited Compatibility with Older Nikon Bodies: On older Nikon DSLRs, you can only shoot at the widest aperture, limiting versatility.
❌Slightly Shorter Reach: Comes up slightly short in maximum reach compared to Sigma and Tamron 150-600mm zooms, though the difference is minor in practical use.
Compared with Sigma and Tamron 150-600mm zooms for Nikon DSLR cameras, this own-brand competitor comes up slightly short in maximum reach. Even so, the difference isn’t particularly noticeable in practical terms and the Nikon lens has the advantage of a constant-aperture design, so f/5.6 remains available throughout the zoom range, rather than dropping to f/6.3 at the long end.
Fancy features include a dual-mode, 4.5-stop VR (Vibration System) system and an electromagnetically controlled diaphragm for adjusting the aperture. As in the Sigma and Tamron lenses, this enables more consistency in rapid-fire exposures but, with older Nikon bodies, you’ll only be able to shoot at the widest aperture.
Autofocus is fast and image quality is impressive in all respects, making this lens great value for an own-brand Nikon.
Read more: Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR review
Best Nikon Z
✅ Reliable for Wildlife Photography: Designed to capture definitive moments in wildlife photography with great reliability.
✅ More Affordable: While not cheap, it is less than half the price of the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S, making it a more accessible option for serious photographers.
❌ Modest Aperture: The f/6.3 aperture, while helping to reduce weight, is relatively modest, which might limit low-light performance and depth of field control.
❌ High Price: Despite being more affordable than some alternatives, it still represents a significant investment.
This lens gives you telephoto superpowers in a relatively lightweight package. The downsized build has been achieved by a modest f/6.3 aperture rating and a Phase Fresnel optical element, a technology that’s commonly used to focus the beam in a lighthouse. The addition of highly effective optical VR that works in tandem with IBIS in Z system full-frame cameras should ensure exceptionally sharp avian images.
A useful range of handling extras ensures top-quality results time after time, with excellent consistency even in handheld shooting. When you need to nail the definitive moment in wildlife photography, this is a lens you can surely count on. It's not cheap, but less than half the price of the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S.
Read more: Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S review
Best Sony FE
✅ Super-Fast Autofocus: Features DDSSM (Direct Drive Super Sonic Motor) autofocus, which is exceptionally fast and precise, with customizable focus-hold buttons around the barrel.
✅ Excellent Image Quality: Delivers sharpness, contrast, and consistency throughout the entire zoom range.
❌ Imposing Size and Weight: While typical for its class, the lens can feel a bit imposing on lighter Sony Alpha mirrorless bodies, which might affect handling.
This recent addition to Sony’s E-mount line-up has the same 600mm maximum focal length as Sigma and Tamron 150-600mm zooms for Canon and Nikon SLRs. The Sony’s size and weight are fairly typical but feel a little more imposing on comparatively lightweight Sony Alpha mirrorless bodies.
The maximum ‘effective’ focal length stretches from 600mm to around 900mm when shooting on an APS-C camera. Triple-mode image stabilization is switchable for static and panning shots, with an additional option for applying stabilization only during exposures. This makes it easier to track the erratic movement of birds in flight. DDSSM (Direct Drive Super Sonic Motor) autofocus is super-fast and comes complete with customizable focus-hold buttons mounted around the barrel.
The optical image stabilizer is effective on its own and even better when coupled with in-body stabilization, featured in later Sony Alpha A7 and A9 mirrorless cameras. Sharpness, contrast, and other image attributes are excellent and very consistent throughout the entire zoom range.
Read more: Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS review
Best Fujifilm X
✅ Effective Stabilization: Equipped with a high-performance 5-stop optical image stabilizer to reduce camera shake and improve sharpness.
✅ Designed for APS-C: Built specifically for APS-C format cameras, optimizing performance for this sensor size.
❌ Sharpness at Long End: Outright sharpness tends to drop off a bit at the long end of the zoom range, which might impact image quality for some users.
❌Weight: Despite being an APS-C lens, it is relatively weighty for a 100-400mm zoom, which may affect portability and handling.
Impeccably turned out, the XF100-400mm looks and feels like a high-quality item... Looks aren’t deceiving either, as the internals include a super-fast autofocus system based on dual linear stepping motors and a high-performance 5-stop optical stabilizer. The optical path is top drawer too, featuring no less than five ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements plus a Super ED element.
A full set of weather seals is incorporated, and a fluorine coating on the front element helps to repel moisture and fingerprints.
Built from the ground up as an APS-C format lens, it only needs to produce a relatively small image circle, compared with a full-frame compatible lens, but is still pretty weighty for a 100-400mm zoom. Overall performance and image quality are excellent, although outright sharpness drops off a bit at the long end of the zoom range.
Read more: Fujifilm XF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR review
Best L-mount
✅ Fast Aperture: The f/5.6 aperture is pretty fast for a 500mm lens in this day and age.
✅ Speedy and Silent Autofocus: Autofocus is both fast and silent, making it ideal for capturing quick-moving birds without disturbing them.
❌ Lacks zoom versatility: 500mm is a good focal length for full-frame bird photography, even better for APS-C, but lacks the flexibility of a zoom lens.
❌Bigger than some: It's refreshingly lightweight for a 500mm f/5.6 prime lens but can still feel a little large in handheld shooting.
Super-telephoto primes are generally thought of as being two things — prohibitively expensive, and weighing an absolute ton. The Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports, however, is something of a welcome corrective in these regards. At 1.3kg it's not light, but it's a lens you can use handheld for extended periods without wearing out your arms. And at a list price of £2,779/$2,999, it's not cheap, but it's much more accessible than the top-end super-telephoto primes, which can and do rack up five-figure price tags.
It's also a pretty brilliant lens in its own right, and is ideal for sports and wildlife shooting, with an effective five-stop stabilisation system and super-fast autofocus action. The resolving power is more than capable of keeping up with the detail demands of high-resolution Sony sensors, and as I found in testing, it consistently produces images with plenty of punch and contrast, even on dull days.
Read more: Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports review
Best MFT
✅ Fixed Focal Length: Offers a fixed focal length equivalent to 600mm in full-frame terms, which is often ideal for birding and wildlife photography where long reach is crucial.
✅ Fast Aperture: The f/4 aperture is relatively fast for a lens of this focal length, providing better performance in low light compared to zoom lenses that often have slower apertures (f/5.6 or f/6.3).
❌Potentially High Cost: As a high-end prime lens, it may be priced higher than some zoom alternatives, which could be a consideration for budget-conscious buyers.
❌Lack of Versatility: The fixed focal length means it lacks the versatility of a zoom lens, which might be a limitation for some users who prefer adjustable focal lengths.
You need a pretty good reason to trade up from Panasonic’s 100-400mm zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras and it might just be this Olympus prime. It has fully professional-grade build quality with comprehensive weather seals and dust-, freeze- and splash-proof construction.
Naturally, it has a fixed focal length, equivalent to 600mm in full-frame terms, and lacks the versatility of a zoom. Even so, that’s rarely a disadvantage for birding, as you’re likely to use a zoom lens at its longest available focal length anyway.
A major plus point is that the aperture rating of f/4 is relatively fast, compared with most zoom lenses that drop to f/5.6 or f/6.3 at a similar focal length.
Handling highlights include a customizable Lens-function button, a four-stop image stabilizer that gives up to a six-stop benefit when combined with in-camera stabilization, and an autofocus range limiter that can lock out either short or long focus distances. Autofocus itself is very fast and the image quality is fabulous.
Lab data and comparisons
The graphs below show the comparative performance of the lenses in this guide, based on our in-house lab tests. The Nikon Z 800mm leads the way for sharpness, which is exceptional for such a long super-telephoto lens. The Canon RF 800mm also does extremely well, despite its relatively inexpensive selling price, while the Sony FE 200-600mm is excellent for a super-telephoto zoom lens.
Scores for sharpness and color fringing are averaged from data taken across the entire image frame, from the center to the edges and corners, throughout the aperture range. For zoom lenses, the scores are also averaged from data measured at all marked focal lengths, and the same applies to distortion. Bear in mind that these average values don't fully reflect specific areas of performance. For example, a zoom lens might have noticeable barrel and pincushion distortion at its shortest and longest focal lengths respectively, which tends to average out when looking at the data overall. For more detailed graphs of each lens's performance, which give the full picture, check out the graphs in our full standalone lens reviews.
How to choose a lens for bird photography
Birds are tricky subjects for even the most experienced wildlife photographers; they move quickly, don't stay still for long, and they generally won't let you get very close without flying off. Therefore, the best lenses for bird photography need to provide you with enough magnification to fill the frame with a feathery subject, while also offering fast enough autofocus to track it as it moves. This realistically means a telephoto lens – either a zoom or a prime. Both have their advantages, with zooms offering greater versatility and primes generally providing superior image quality.
When looking at lenses, consider how they'll interact with your camera sensor. Should you use a full frame or cropped sensor camera for bird photography? For sensors smaller than full-frame, there is a trade-off in terms of image quality but you'll get the advantage of a crop factor that amplifies the telephoto reach of the lens. For example, the best 100-400mm lenses on a full-frame sensor will cover 150-600mm on APS-C and 200-800mm on Micro Four Thirds!
While telephoto lenses used to be prohibitively heavy and expensive, these days the best telephoto lenses are getting lighter and in some cases more affordable. Plus, the proliferation of optical image stabilization systems make it possible to capture sharp images at the outer edge of a telephoto zoom, without having to use a tripod. That makes it easier to capture sharp, frame-filling images of birds.
How we test the best lenses for bird photography
We test lenses using both real world sample images and lab tests. Our lab tests are carried out scientifically in controlled conditions using the Imatest testing suite, which consists of custom charts and analysis software that measures resolution in line widths/picture height, a measurement widely used in lens and camera testing. We find the combination of lab and real-word testing works best, as each reveals different qualities and characteristics.
Bird photography lens FAQs
How do I get started with bird photography??
When it comes to bird photography, one of the best things you can do to start off with is research. Look up the different types of birds that live in your local area – get a sense of their habits, their preferred habitats, their favourite foods.
If you have a garden then find a good spot to set up your camera and lens – if not, then a local park is a good bet. As well as your telephoto lens, it's a good idea to have a tripod, as you're likely going to need to be set up for a while. If you find a spot that local birds frequent, simply set up your camera and lens and wait for them to return. It may require some patience, but a sharp eye and a quick trigger finger will reward you with gorgeous birding images.
What camera settings should I use for bird photography?
The key is to get as fast a shutter speed as possible without compromising the quality of your image. Birds move quickly and erratically, and so you want to be able to freeze the action. Open up your aperture nice and wide, as this will not only allow for the use of fast shutter speeds, but also nicely throw out the background for a portrait-style image of a bird.
If your lens has a focus distance limiter, this might be handy to use in order to keep focus on the spot where you expect the bird to land, stopping the camera from focusing on the background. If you need to push the ISO a little, you can, but be careful – too much and you'll end up with a grainy, unappealling image.
