Finding the #1 wildlife camera: DSLR vs Mirrorless! 

An excellent choice 😍

Solid choice. I just don't like where Nikon is headin. Pretty sure they recently said they are moving all production to China.... cutting R and D, seem to be getting swamped by Sony and Canon and losing ground.

I also have the 500 with the 200-500 I won’t be changing this setup for wildlife anytime soon, it’s a magnificent combination 🤘

You did the right thing, a combo that can't be beaten at that price range. Mine lives on the 200-500.

I have both the D500 and D850. It is a great combo to have. If I want speed I go with the D500 and if I want image quality for landscapes I go with the D850

You do not need to spend trillions on most expensive, newest gear to create award winning images - especially in case of wildlife photography! If you take a minute to visit the Natural History Museum website and brows the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards entries Gallery and look at which cameras the images were shot on, you will mostly see older DSLR cameras, to name a few of the most common: 5Ds, D7100, D7200, 5Dlll, 1DX, a99 and so on. The three most used cameras for 2020 WPY entries, are the D500, D750, 5Dlll, 5DIV and 1DXll. Almost every 2020 WPY entry is shot with one of these five cameras. Get yourself a camera, a tool that fits all your needs and then use it to create art. Don't stress or overthink about your camera that much! Also, spend your money wisely, regardless of your wealth level!

I just want to dance with you

Sony α9 + 200-600, around $5k. Budget option, Sony α6100/6400/6600 with a 70-350. Nikon D500 is somewhere in between.

That was what Chelsea was using.

That's what I have and wouldn't trade for anything !!

Best setup and highest value for sure

@@geraldheitman7687 :| :\

Steve Perry is Da Man.

Yes ans no. They give a good perspective for more casual shooters.

The 2x crop factor helps a lot there, because it makes the DOF twice as deep.

Good for you 🙂

@@RodrigoBejarano not just good... Amazing!

True, though the AF in this mode is extremely poor. Even a Z6 with the original firmware had better AF than that

SL2 shooting mode in Liveview. I had to look that up - didn’t know that! This is great! Don’t know about the AF performance. It is DX crop mode, but it shoots blazingly fast without blackout (!!) (contrary to the SL1 mode, which is is FX but blacks out major big time). Thanks for the hint. When I find myself in the situation to shoot some wildlife, I’ll definitely try it out!! PS1: the D500 does not have this. PS2: Chelsea should demand a rematch! ;-)

If you enjoy MF then that may be an option....D850 LV focusing is next to unusable.

You know they hate Olympus. M1mii is cheaper than a6400. In Europe in some countries even 2 times cheaper than m1miii. I have two mii and one miii. Compare 6400 with m1mii- ridiculous.

I have an Em1 mark 2 with a 100-400 for wildlife and it’s great. ProCapture is a lifesaver!

@@andreasthegreat8509 I use 100-400 for astro and motorsport photography. I was skeptical, but this lens surprised me. Mine is much sharper at f8 than at f6.3 at 400mm. Did you notice it too? I don't know if it's just my copy. The difference is really noticeable. I think the 40-150pro with mc20 is sharper than the 100-400 wide open (both at 300mm). Sometimes I use 100-400 with mc-14. Unreal range!!

@@kamilrakowski23 strange, mine is pretty sharp vide open.

@@andreasthegreat8509 Thanks for the answer. Today I made another, but more controlled comparison (electronic shutter and camera on a tripod, iso chart 12233 and photos of the wall.) Already at f7.1 it is great, definitely better than wide open. I guess it happens sometimes. My 45mm 1.8 is a good example. At 1.8 it is really soft, but closed to f2 or 2.2 .. it's like day to night. Small difference in the aperture but big difference in sharpness. I also found something interesting about the 40-150 pro. Closing it down to f4 gives minimal improvement, but with a teleconverter there is absolutely no difference between f4, f5.6 and f8. Regards!

And being a Nikon it will LAST so you can let your Grand Children pass YOUR DSLR Kit down to their children long after the R5 made its last piece of toast in 8K

A Nikon DSLR is a reliable tool.

Same here..

nikon dslr with it's versatile and wide range of lens setup still give good performance at affordable price, and that is the big plus for majority hobbyist (because not all of us have infinite amount of cash).

Yes I found that out in 1972 when Sony came about making some great Analog TV;s and Canon was in the Printer /Copier game

Nikon is 103-years-old, it will continue to exist after us.

Xt4 wasn't really a good choice in first place i think

@@-_--le3zk absolutely, plus oly has 300 f4 and 150-400mm witch is perfect for wildlife

@@silviugheorghe7118 nope. The oly has a 1/4 area sized sensor = 2 stops worse noise performance. The field of view of a m43 lens is half of a FF lens, and a F4 m43 lens has the equivalent look, DOF as F8 on a FF.

@@nordic5490 why do you compare m43 with ff, the xt4 has an aps-c sensor?? And Em1 isn’t a bad camera, it works for everything. Please compare ff to medium format, ff is like a fourth the size.

I am deeply in love with my D850... I feel it is one of the most versatile...

Using my 90D and a telelens for macro...you can crop till you see the atoms....😄

Good catch Eric, I was gonna say the same.

@@shang-hsienyang1284 Can't really agree on that. I have both lenses and the 200-500 is way slower than the 500PF. Like literally the 500PF is twice as fast. Not sure though how they perform on the D7500. The thing about the 500PF is its ridiculous sharpness. Because of that you'll spot minor imperfections much easier than on the 200-500 which becomes quite soft beyond 400mm (and is at no focal length nearly as sharp as the 500PF)

The 500 PF is AWESOME !! I had it, and now switched to Canon, and sorry they do not have something like that exceptional lens; just my 2 cents

@M Tech yeah i loved the ergonomic of 90D but low light files and DR were not like even Nikon D3400. That surprised me most, i had D750 before.

How does the D7500 have better video than the D850?

@@lukes5533 well I’m not a pro videographer and relied only on autofocus, d7500 I believe is using phase detect like the d780 in video..I’m using it from time to time with my afp lenses..I believe the d850 is still using contrast detect in video…correct me if I’m wrong.

@@voodudelmobile5629 All Nikon Dslrs use contrast detect Autofocus for video except the d780 which gets the same internals from Z6 and uses phase detect in liveview.

I guess a6600 would be better in this regard. I mean, it has more buttons and an IBIS that theoretically in pair with lens OSS will lead to better percentage of sharp images. And also a decent battery life. In my experience with Sony's the Sigma 100-400 is a better lens for birding than 70-350 - never tried new Tamron or Sony 200-600 though.

I have an Olympus Em1 with the 100-400 and I love it, got many nice pics with it.

Disagree, the 70-350 is a really light lens and is imo very balanced, maybe a bit better on the A6600 but not by that much. The A6400 light and small when it needs to be, really like the small footprint it has compared to an A7III which i own 2.

@M Tech we absolutely have a different point of view on what the camera A6400 should be and is. I like the small footprint and build, it’s the reason we bought it. When i need something bigger, heavier with more robust controls I personally choose FF over Apsc, the cost difference between a FF mirrorless body’s and high end Apsc is negligible.

@M Tech What you’re describing already exist it’s named Sony A7III. I agree that the A6300 and A6400 grip is to short and it could borrow the grip of a A6600 and maybe add a front dial on it, thats would make it better. Ok man i get your point, but i have both FF and Apsc and i like the smaller camera and i love the small design for it, i am fully aware that it is a compromise.

ProCapture is wonderful!

I think it's a bit harsh to say that you won't be able to handle birds in flight with the G9. It's just that you have better options even within the MFT system.

Really? Have you ever used the combo you've mentioned? I'd rather get an old D7200.

Andrei Maxim Agreed. Me not being able to handle BIFs is most likely a reflection of my skill level.

Shang-Hsien Yang I have a G85 and have used the G9 on occasion. I don’t see why it can’t go head to head with some of the options that Tony had short listed.

D500 is the best APS-C camera, no other APS-C camera currently in production compares to D500.

Even for me, have been using Nikon Gears for more than 10 years, when I bought Sony a6600 for systematic transition, I was mesmerised the beauty of OVF and accuracy of autofocus. Still waiting when Nikon will come upto that level of Autofocus. Mirrorless is the future if not the present for camera industry.

@@sudiptabhattacharya1592 Z9 is just around the corner.

Mirror slap, no eye tracking, and calibrating lenses for autofocus are things SLR shooters still have to deal with. Silent electronic shooting won't quite be there yet for either configuration until there's more development for global shutters. Still, a Nikon DSLR + a 300mm or 500mm PF gives the most quality for the least cost and weight

Works better with the Tamron 18-400, believe it or not. But the FTZ adapter does tend to get in the way and ads more weight too. From experience, I say the Z50 definantly needs INIS, as the VC in the 18-400 with the FTZ adapter doesn’t seem to work as well, compared to how it works on the D7200. The D500, with the 200-500, is the best for wildlife. But my D7200 is much better than the Z50. Mirrorless can never achieve the tracking ability of a DSLR, even with blackout free EVF. The Z50 battery is its Achilles heel. My D7200 sometimes runs weeks without a charge, even after a full days of shooting. Seems I’m always charging the Z50, like my iPhone.

@@ytr8989 Great comment. The issue with the 18-400 is that it is not very sharp at full zoom. The 150-600 G2 is great but the Z50 does sometimes get lost at 600mm and I have to turn the focus ring manually to assist the Z50 on what subject to focus on - the D4 did not experience this issue and was able to recover quickly. Aside from this, believe it or not the Z50 actually exceeded my expectations. Eye AF works quite well and the focus, while not D4 like, is still pretty good. I used the Z50 to shoot car track events and it did very well. VC actually works great on the 150-600 paired with the Z50 and I saw no difference whether mounted on the D4 or Z50. I have a D7200 that is now written off after it tumbled from a moving vehicle and it had good autofocus but unfortunately it was a bit slow in burst rate for fast paced action. I will say my D4 still has much faster and accurate AF - only downside is the sensors are crammed in the central area. The battery life of the Z50 indeed is not great; I achieve 600-800 shots per charge dependent on how I use it and also weather. I have 3 spare EN-EL25's now but even then it can't outlast the D4 which easily takes 6000 shots on one charge from personal experience. There is no doubt the D500 + 200-500 5.6 is the best bundle but in Australia brand new that's easily a $4000 bundle vs the Z50 Tamron FTZ bundle at $2800 including the 2 extra batteries. Nikon mirrorless AF has a long way to go before it equates the performance of their DSLR's. The only mirrorless cameras I've used that have DSLR like AF (or better) are the A9 II, R5, R6, and A1. Nikon will definitely introduce a more advanced DX Z body soon with IBIS, but for the price of the Z50 it makes sense why IBIS wasn't implemented. The tests with the Z50 were done with latest firmware V2.11. I remember trying the Z50 in 2019 with its first firmware version and it wasn't great, but they've sinced tweeked the algorithm to enhance its capabilities.

I have a Z50 with both kit lenses. I use it as a travel and family camera though and I only rarely do wildlife.

@@HybridBell That's probably another plus for Nikon mirrorless the full time manual override using either FTZ or native lenses. I don't think the Sony's or Canon let you do that without going back into the menu. Plus the focus peaking pops up to help out as well. Love the Z50 and Tamron 70-200G2 combo I recently used at a wedding. I also have the Z6 which I mainly have the 35mm 1.4 attached to it. Next purchase is probably the Z7ii with the new 105mm micro. At the end of the day I don't think any other system beats the files that Nikon cameras produce. Just look at the D850 images at the end.

Couldnt agree with you more >> it comes from the Camera Company , not the Printer or TV company

Yeah, surely 9fps is fast enough for wildlife lol

@@shang-hsienyang1284 of course it is. If it's not; bring extra memory cards if you spray all day...

@@LMoProVisualComm I use AF priority with my a1, which cuts the actual speed to 20fps. I cannot imagine if I had to delete all the odd number photos. 20fps and 10fps is a great difference.

@@shang-hsienyang1284 whatever it takes to get the shot. The D850 is 4 years old but there's very little it cannot do... I'm not into the brand wars. But since I own (20) Nikon lenses (8) bodies, I'll wait until the Z9 comes out and add that to my collection of bodies. Good luck shooting out there...

@Siddharth Sriram of course.. even D500 with 200-500 was my favourite combo couple of years ago...

@Siddharth Sriram oohhh... I can't say buddy... I haven't used any mirror less camera... hopefully I'll buy one day .. 😅

@Siddharth Sriram canon 600D with kit lenses 18-55 and 55-250 also 10-18 😅

Nikon Spoilt for Choice >> its a problem>> I had the D3S , Would have loved the D6 (Budget constraints ) and settled for the Allrounder King DSLR D850 and am now on the Z7 Mirrorless..Watching on the sidelines with Glee as the Z9 kicks the R1/3/Toast maker Champ R5 and A1 into orbit

@@Mr09260 just be thankful sony let them use their sensors

No problem!

How do you up grade the glass?

Well it depends on how he has started his day!

@@networm64 haha, that one really made me chuckle…theres quite some truth to that statement!

Cameras , what cameras ?

@@noelchignell1048 Exactly. You know what it is.

Now you are talking Great DX camera and awesome Lenses>> Nikon Tech shining through

Can't beat the Sony α1 if budget isn't a concern. Also Sony α9 with 200-600 > R5 with 100-500.

Nice Lens for sure >> Canon s only claim to fame the Great MK II and MK III big white glass .. Competed fairly with the Nikon ED Big timers

Probably because they didn’t had to bring that many lenses, when sticking to Nikon DSLRs.

The Nikon's have better sensor and AF (viewfinder) than the 7dii.

The D500 is a bit newer with better sensor , etc.(although already discontinued apparently) but the 7Dii is definitely still one of the best for bird photography. I have one with a battery grip and it works great with my EF100-400ii .

I agree with all the comments on newer sensors, AF and other upgrades. I still think the 7Dm2 seems to hold its own from what I have read (can't afford to buy one at the moment unfortunately!). One extra 100-400 lens would not have made that much difference to the load in the back of the car. it was an interesting video non the less.

You tell ‘m how thing work in the real world. 👍

shutter noise 0 is a zero problem, if the noise is >0 then it is more than a zero problem and that is how it is. I agree with birds, about 1 out of 20 flies away because of shutter noise, some birds are particularly shy and some are not.

Not really a shutter issue but the mirror flipping out of the way to take the photo lol