Whether you’ve wanted to click birds at your local park or some fancy winged wonders at foreign conservation reserves, seeing the costs of long telephoto lenses can put you off from wanting to buy them. We’ve rounded up a set of lenses that will make your birding photography options more accessible and affordable for everyone. These won’t be as pricey as some super telephoto primes can be, and the pricing on some of our choices here might be downright surprising to you.
How We Test and Choose the Best Affordable Birding Lenses
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups.
If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. You can read more about our ethics on this on our Disclaimer page.
When we test products we’ve got various things in mind. First off, we consider who might want to buy the product and what they might do with it. With that in mind, we try to tackle at least three genres of photography with that product in a variety of situations. For example, if a lens has weather resistance, then we’ll test it accordingly with a weather-resistant camera. We also test the autofocus of the lens in continuous mode, single mode, with exposure preview effects, without those effects, and then with all the major image quality parameters. These days, no one really makes a bad lens — but some are far better than others. And that’s what we’re trying to find in our reviews.
In all of our roundups, we’re basing our findings on the reviews that we’ve done. We’re choosing a favorite, but we’re also giving photographers a bunch of others that they might like, depending on how they shoot.
Our Choice Amongst the Best Affordable Birding Lenses Of 2024: Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L IS USM
We love our telephoto lenses here at The Phoblographer. And we’re excited to be testing out some of the newer releases in the coming months. But in recent times, no other telephoto lens won our hearts as much as Canon’s RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 lens did. It weighs only around 3 lbs and is less than a foot long when zoomed in, which makes it super convenient to carry around for long hours. And it feels really well-built too in your hands. Canon mirrorless users who want to look at getting their first telephoto zoom can seriously consider this one.
Tech Specs
These specs are taken from the Adorama Listing
Focal Length & Aperture100-500mm, f/4.5-7.1Maximum Aperture1/3 steps, 1/2 steps:Wide: 4.5, 4.5, Tele: 7.1, 6.71/3 steps, 1/2 steps:Wide: 32, 32, Tele: 51, 54Minimum Focusing DistanceAt 100mm: 2.95′ (0.9m)At 300mm: 3.28′ (1m)At 500mm: 3.94′ (1.2m)Maximum MagnificationAt 100mm: 0.12xAt 500mm: 0.33xLens Construction20 elements in 14 groupsSpecial ElementsOne Super UD, Six UDFilter Size Diameter3″ (77mm)Aperture Blades9Dimensions (Max Outer Dia x L)Shortest (wide): 3.69 x 8.17″ (93.8 x 207.6mm) Approx.Longest (tele): 3.69 x 11.71″ (93.8 x 297.6mm) Approx.WeightNo tripod mount: 3 lbs (1365g) (Approx.)Tripod only: 0.35 lbs (160g) (Approx.)
What We Think
In our review, we state:
Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L IS USM is an excellent lens. There isn’t really a single flaw about it. It’s compact compared to some competitors, the image quality is wonderful, and it’s weather sealed. And $2,699 for what you’re getting isn’t too awful of a price point, though it’s also not a no-brainer purchase. For what this lens is, it’s exemplary, and I think that any serious birding photographer will really enjoy it
This lens took home our Editor’s Choice Award. It’s really that fantastic.
For Some Photographers, These Might Be The Best Affordable Birding Lenses To Choose From
I get it, affordable is a very subjective word. But rest assured, these lenses are all considerably cheaper than having to buy a car (many of which these days can be cheaper than some telephoto lenses I have my eye on). Here are some lenses across various brands that you can trust to give you fast autofocus (when used with capable cameras) and great image results
Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS Super Telephoto
There is quite a few things that make this lens a worthy addition to your Sony kit bag, as we noted in our review
The Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS Super Telephoto combines snappy and precise autofocusing performance, robust build quality, and stellar image quality into a superb lens that is worthy of being added to any sports and wildlife photographer’s arsenal. The fact that Sony was able to keep it relatively lightweight and compact just adds to its versatility. Sony Full Frame Mirrorless shooter specializing in sports and wildlife photography, you will definitely want to get your hands on the Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS.
Fujifilm 150-600mm f5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
Fujifilm has a wonderful option, but it does come with some limitations as we observed during our review:
The Fujifilm 150-600mm f5.6-8 R LM OIS WR finally brings big telephoto capabilities to X Mount. And, since that’s a crop sensor mount, this lens offers a focal length difficult to find on full-frame options. The lens delivers Fujifilm’s lovely color science on more distant subjects, like sports and wildlife. While the reach is long, the lens is compact enough that photographers can still hike with it. And an excellent stabilization system means the hike doesn’t have to include a tripod. While the lens offers a big reach for the X-Mount, quality is best at the wider and middle range. The f8 on the long end means pushing the ISO to get the shutter fast enough for moving subjects. That, mixed with some corner softness at 600mm, makes getting a sharp shot at 600mm challenging. Buyers should also beware that it’s not fully compatible with any X-mount camera — it’s listed for the X-H2s, X-T4, X-T3, and X-S10. With other bodies, the extra controls on the lens are incompatible.
Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 II
This lens works well within the few quirks we observed during our tests with it. But on the cool side, it has 1:2 macro capabilities. In our review we noted:
The Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 II is a prime example of both the advantages and limitations of Micro Four Thirds. The lens offers an incredible reach considering it is closer in size to a 70-200 than an 800mm equivalent. For sports and wildlife, this lens can get photographers close to the action because it’s small enough to hike with or navigate the sidelines with. Add in beautiful colors, sharp details, a Leica metal build, weather-sealing, and a reasonable price, and the lens is easily a win. But, on the flip side, the f6.3 aperture on the long end and the Micro Four Thirds sensor is a challenge for sports and wildlife. Freezing the movement of birds on an overcast day requires really pushing that ISO up high, and if you come across wildlife at dusk, even ISO 12800 isn’t enough to freeze the movement. The autofocus miss rate also seemed a little high considering the narrower depth of field. While the 1:2 macro focusing capabilities are excellent, a macro position on the focus limiter would have been beneficial.
Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S
Nikon has been bringing out some versatile lenses for its Z-mount camera owners, and this one took four stars in our review:
The portability and semi-palatable price point makes the Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 a solid choice for many wildlife and action photographers. While there’s less bokeh than the Z 400mm f4.5 or the 400mm f2.8, the lens is easy to shoot handheld and it fits in a typical camera bag. Image quality is excellent with great sharpness and color.
Sigma 60-600mm f4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports
If 3x or even 5x zoom telephoto lenses aren’t enough magnification for you, why not check out this 10x model from Sigma. You’ll miss out on some sharpness as we found out during our review:
OM System 40-150mm f4 Pro
If you’re an OM System camera user, you’d probably have quite a few options already. But this one we felt is the best of the lost. In our review we said:
The OM System 40-150mm f4 Pro delivers the sharpness of a Pro line lens in a smaller, more affordable package. It’s simple to use, easy to carry around on long hikes, and I even dunked it under a faucet to no ill effects. This lens is pretty durable and feels great in the hands. The images are sharp and the lens flare is fun to work with. But, there are a few sacrifices to get to that smaller size. An f4 lens on Micro Four Thirds means higher ISOs for photographing action, which translates into more noise and less detail.
Tamron 50-400mm f4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD
The last on our list here, but by no means the least of the lot is Tamron’s highly capable 50-400mm. We found it to give the same sharpness as comparable Sony G Master lenses, as we said in our review:
If you want Sony-level sharpness without the price of a G Master lens and a wide zoom range, buy the Tamron 50-400mm. Image quality leaves very little to complain about. And, with a focal range starting at 50mm, it’s a nice complement to the typical focal lengths of a kit lens. If versatility, portability, affordability, and sharpness are important, this lens is an excellent option.
Using This Guide to the Best Birding Lenses
If you’re considering purchasing anything from this list of the best macro lenses, consider the following:
All the product images and sample photos in these roundups are shot by our staff. In fact, we don’t talk about products at length in roundups like this unless we’ve done full reviews of them. But you can surely know that we’ve done all the research ourselves.
Laowa probably makes the best 3rd party macro lenses right now. But they aren’t without their shortcomings, as we noted above
Does macro photography mystify you? Look at our quick guide to understand it better
Macro photography autofocus accuracy also depends a great deal on the camera system you’re using
The best macro photos are taken with a methodology called Focus Stacking
We’d never recommend a product to you that we haven’t tested or that we really didn’t like. You can reference our linked reviews, for more information on this.
Picking the Right One For You
If you’re still a bit confused as to the right birding lens for you, here are some questions to ask yourself
What’s your budget?
How will you use the product?
What lighting situations are you in, and how will that affect what you’re doing? Our reviews hyperlinked in this article can help with that.
Are you traveling a lot with it?
Will you be using it in a situation that’s a bit rougher?
Who else uses this product? How are they using it?
What’s so appealing about this product that I can’t get from what I have already or something else?
When will I really have time to use this product?
Where will I bring this product?
How will this product help bring me joy and joy in my photography?
