As our Africa Geographic Photographer of the Year 2016 competition continues to receive some absolutely stunning entries, Will Burrard-Lucas has been sharing some great wildlife photography tips with us.
So far he has taught us 10 things we can do right now to improve your wildlife photography and 8 things to look for in a camera for wildlife photography, but that left some of us wondering if we really even need a DSLR…
Here Will strives to answer that burning, and hotly-debated question in a nutshell:
There are plenty of alternatives to DSLRs on the market, including super-zooms and mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras.
Super zooms are an attractive option because you get a lot of bang for your buck. These types of cameras offer good magnification and reasonable image quality, however, these cameras are limiting if you wish to progress with your photography.
For this reason Will recommends investing in a system with interchangeable lenses so that you can upgrade your camera body in time, while still keeping your lenses.
Then the other question is whether to get a DSLR or a mirrorless camera? These two systems have many of the same advantages, but mirrorless cameras are much smaller and often less expensive.
However, the current generation of mirrorless cameras can’t compete with the focus performance of DSLRs and thus aren’t great for long-lens photography. In addition, there are much fewer telephoto lens options available for these cameras. That being said, mirrorless cameras are evolving and improving at an incredible rate.
For more great wildlife photography advice from Will Burrard-Lucas, sign up to his free wildlife photography course and get instant access to this ebook. You can also keep up with Will on Twitter and Instagram.
Think you have what it takes to be Africa Geographic’s Photographer of the Year? Enter here.
