I recently spent some time on safari and in the bush in Zimbabwe and whilst it is always fun to photograph the larger animlas like Elephants, Rhino, buffalo and Giraffe (you can take a look at my MyFinePix photo blog of some of them here), it is the birds of Africa that I really love to photograph.

Why? Well what I like about bird photography in general is that you can find them everywhere and you don't have to go somewhere special, this can even include your own garden. But the main reason for me is that to get a great photo of a bird is often a real challange. This is because for the most part they are much smaller than the most commonly found "safari" animals and they tend to be a whole lot more shy - meaning that to get close enough to them often requires a bit of luck, a whole lot a patience and the right equipment.

The right equipment does not however mean that you have to spend a fortune and in the video below l go through what I used on my last trip as well as give a few tips and examples of some of the photos that I managed to take.

What I would like to point out is that I am very far from being a profesional photographer and in no ways do I pretend to know everything about photography. I regard myself more as an enthusiastic amateur and it is for that reason that the amount of money that I spend on my equipment reflects this. I do however like to take good photos and so this is my beginners guide to the equipment that I use to take what I think are pretty decent photos of birds without having to sell my house to buy the equipment!

Equipment used:

• Fujifilm Finepix HS20EXR Camera
• 2.2x Raynox DCR-2025PRO Telephoto Conversion Lens
• Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT Tripod
• Vanguard GH-100 Pistol Grip Ball Head
• Fujifilm RR-80 Remote Shutter Release

Fujifilm Finepix HS20EXR Camera
A few of the main reasons that I choose to use a bridge camera like the Finepix HS20EXR over an SLR Camera are:

• It is much more compact
• Much Lighter
• Much Cheaper - especially when you take into consideration the equivalent telephoto lenses you would need to buy with an SLR
• Has a huge range: 24mm wide-angle landscapes to super 30x telephoto

A few reasons why I chose the HS20 over other Superzoom Bridge Cameras

• It has a powefil 30x telephoto lens - one of the most powerful currently on the market
• It has a threaded lens so that I could also attach my 2.2x teleconverter to it - for me this was essential
• It's manual zoom ring that feels more like an SLR
• It's large 3.0-inch Tilting LCD - makes shooting at awkward angles much easier

For me the only other Super Zoom Bridge camer that comes even close is the Panasonic FZ100, but it has a less powerful telephoto and does not have the manual zoom ring, which I really love.

Raynox Teleconverter Lens
Even though both the FinePix HS20 has a very powerful Zoom (30x/720mm), I am always looking to get closer to the birds as it makes taking a good picture just that much easier. So for me it is essential that my superzoom bridge camera has a threaded lens so that I can also attach a Tele-Converter lens to it.

I am currently using the 2.2x Raynox DCR-2025PRO Telephoto Conversion Lens. This combined with the 30x FujiFilm HS20 now gives you a massive zoom of 66x (1584mm – 35mm film equivalent).

On the down side, the body of the Raynox does feel a little "plasticky", but that does make it very light. It also comes with very good quality lenses that let as much light as possible get through to your camera, meaning that the quality of the photos is hardly affected. So on the whole I do highly recommend it.

Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT Tripod
This very high powered telephoto lens does mean that even with the very good Image stabilisation that comes with the Fuji camera, it is imperative that you use a tripod.

Currently I am using the Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT Tripod that I simply love. This is especially because of it’s very flexible central column that can be rotated – making shooting high up in the trees that much easier (see below)

Vanguard GH-100 Pistol Grip Ball Head
The tripod head is for me as important as the tripod itself. Cheap tripods often come with a head that cannot be removed, but these are usually not sturdy enough and I urge you to stay clear of them.

Before discovering the Vanguard GH-100, my dilemma was always to choose between the flexibility of a ball head and the panning ability (I also often take film with my camera) and speed of framing your subject that a pan head provides.

With the pistol grip it is just so intuitive, you just pull the trigger and aim your camera in the right direction. This is so much faster than untwisting levers and knobs, turning the camera and then tightening them again. On top of this, you get all the flexibility of a ball head and as I demonstrate in the video above, you can also pan using the Vanguard tripod.

The photo below also shows one of the big advantages of combining the Vanguard GH-100 Pistol Grip Ball Head with a tripod like the Alta Pro 263AT that has a central column that can be rotated – it makes shooting high up (like into trees where you often find birds) very simple. What I have not shown is that because the Fujifilm HS20 has a LCD screen that can be pulled out from the camera, whereby you can look down on it, which in makes framing birds in this position much easier.

Fujifilm RR-80 Remote Shutter Release
This is another piece of kit that will really help you to get the best possible images  when you are shooting at very high zoom levels.

Whilst some bridge cameras come with cordless remote shutter releases, I actually prefer the FujiFilm RR-80 HS20 that is attached to the camera via a cord as this prevents me from loosing it when out in the field. I also can be sure where it is at any time,  rather than having to rummage around through my pockets as that once in a life time shot flies off into the sunset! 

More Information
For more information and full reviews of each of these pieces of equipment, please take a look at the article on my site: Bird Photography Equipment used on Safari