Second tier Nature photography setups from each brand.

From a few years back carrying both Canon and Sony gear while shooting elk in the Cataloochee Valley

If you are, or want to be, a nature photographer there is a bit of gear that is actually necessary to be able to do so. Most of us are aware of the high-end gear, those huge lenses that cost as much as a small car, and the high speed, high resolution cameras that the companies show off with all the latest tech (or so we are told), and if price was no object, or if it is your full time job and can write the expenses off, then this article isn’t for you!

For those of us who do this as a hobby (or slight obsession) we can't always afford the biggest and most expensive even if we might dream big. 20 years ago this meant that what you could produce with mid-range gear was unlikely to be on par with what was produced by that from the top tier. Over the past 5 years, with the improvements in autofocus, frame rates and noise levels of current sensors along with the massive improvements in sharpness of almost all lenses, the gap between a 2nd tier set of gear and the best of the best is not nearly as wide as it used to be.

There is still a lower, more inexpensive tier that when I started was very slow and not very sharp. Even beginners looking to get into nature photography can find "reasonably priced" long telephoto lenses along with useful crop sensor cameras that are adequate enough, that is until they start looking in depth at the details. The lowest tier is how many photographers get into nature photography. They either already have a camera that they may use for other genres of photography or they are just looking to purchase their first camera. At this point most will figure out they need a longer telephoto lens to be able to capture birds or animals and they often start with a typical 70-300 or 3rd party superzoom. Back in the early days of digital photography these lenses were really subpar both in terms of sharpness and with how well they could focus on a moving target. This didn’t matter too much at this point, as getting those first shots was a huge part of getting hooked on this type of photography. You could finally get a reasonable closeup shot that at least resembled what you may have seen on National Geographic back when magazines were a thing.

Over time, if you kept on with nature photography, you may have started the incremental journey to better gear. This is where the 2nd tier fits in and it basically consists of all of the options for nature photography except the cost prohibitive top tier cameras and the big super telephoto lenses. Below I’ve summarized the useful gear combinations I would have in my camera bag and the reasons why I made those choices depending on what I'm actually shooting.

Canon

Let's start with Canon since that is also where I started my journey.

First off let's start with the camera. My current choice for a second tier nature camera would be the R5 mark II and up until recently I used the original R5. This camera is not considered the top of the line by Canon but I think for many nature photographers it may well be their first choice. Currently the first tier is the R1 and R3 which may be comparable but neither has the resolution of the R5 II which, for me, has almost always been more important than how many shots I can take per second. There will be some people who like the larger camera and battery in the field, but I have found that it is just as easy for me to carry a few batteries (warmed in my pocket) and I actually prefer to have the smaller body since I mostly hold the gear by the lens. I do not find balance to be an issue as much as weight.

Now this camera and its predecessor have fantastic autofocus for animals and birds, and the new R5 II has a stacked sensor to allow for silent shutter without artifacts due to that quick sensor. If you are moving up from a crop sensor camera or lower resolution full-frame camera, you will find the results to be pretty amazing and you will be able to crop into your shots significantly when you can't quite get close enough to the subject (which happens more often than we would like).

Now the issue at the moment on the Canon side of the world is with finding good but not too expensive second tier lenses for nature photography. The 100-500 RF lens is good and sharp but quite slow at the long end and is a challenge to use with the teleconverters since you don't get the full zoom range when teleconverters are attached. This may not be a big issue if you mostly don't shoot in low light. This is also not an inexpensive lens coming in just under $3000 USD. A good alternative is the EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS II which is very sharp and a little brighter but doesn't have that extra reach. It does however handle the 1.4x teleconverter very well and gives you a full range of 140-560 at around f/6.3-f/8. There is also a new RF 200-800 f/6.3-f/9 which gives a significantly long range but at the expense of being a very slow lens and it extends with a very long zoom throw. Now the leap from this second tier to the top tier lenses on the Canon front garners a huge price increase and there are not any choices between these lenses currently and the big white primes or the 100-300 f/2.8. If you find the 2 Canon RF lenses useful then you have a solid base system but your choices are a bit limited at the moment unless your budget is closer to top tier. There are currently no 3rd party lenses for RF that can be used and 3rd party EF lenses are more on the beginner side of things (except for a few older Sigma lenses that you might be able to pick up relatively cheap).

The two major options on Canon for 2nd Tier are below.

Canon R5 II, RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 approximately $6900 USD

or slightly lower cost option:

Canon R5 II, RF 200-800 f6.3-9 approximately $6200 USD

Sony

Sony on the other hand does have their long telephoto lenses in a similar range to Canon but the options are quite different. There are however not as many choices on the camera side at the moment. The best choice from my perspective is the A7RV which has a 60 MP back side illuminated sensor but does not have a stacked sensor like the Canon (or Nikon). This camera can shoot at up to 10 frames per second with the mechanical shutter and has an electronic shutter which is basically useless for anything other than static subjects as the readout time of this sensor is one of the longest of any current camera. For the same price range, there is also the A9II which does have the stacked sensor but has "only" 24 MP sensor and does not have the latest autofocus algorithms which I also use. For the most part, the A7RV is, for what I do, the best 2nd tier choice at the moment from Sony.

Unlike their competitors, Sony doesn’t currently have a high-megapixel stacked sensor camera at a 2nd tier price point, and likely won't for the foreseeable future now that they have just released the A1 II for their top tier option.

On the lens side of things we have the standard 100-400 f4.5-5.6 that is very sharp. This lens is still not cheap but has a good range and has been a staple for nature photographers for a long time. The standout lens for me is the 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 and is likely my most useful lens. This is a relatively slow lens but has a bunch of features that make it amazing. The internal zoom and short throw on the zoom make it really easy to use. It is not quite as sharp as the 100-400 at 400 but is sharper than using a 1.4 teleconverter on that lens at the top end of the zoom range which is really where I use the lens the most. There are a number of other options depending on your requirements from 3rd party lens makers that are very high quality. The Sigma 500mm f/5.6 is a reasonably priced very light and small prime lens that is a fantastic option. Keep in mind that Sony will not allow you to use teleconverters with 3rd party lenses. I would consider the Sigma and Tamron 150-600 options to be more of a beginner lens option but Tamron does have a really useful 50-400 f/4.5-6.3 which may be a little slow but is great for those times that you may need more zoom range in the field. If you are doing more environmental nature shots, Tamron also has a really fantastic 35-150 f2-2.8 lens which is rather unique in the market compared the to usual 70-200 f/2.8 that all companies have.

The two options I would look at currently for Sony E-mount are ( I currently own both lenses and the A7RV):

Sony A7RV, FE 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 approximately $5300 USD

or

Sony A7RV, Sigma 500 f/5.6 approximately $6100 USD

Nikon

Nikon has probably the most interesting options at the moment for 2nd tier gear with a reasonably priced Z8 stacked 45 MP camera with some fantastic features for nature photography and after some of the latest firmware updates, has much improved autofocus that at least is close to what Canon and Sony currently have. This camera is similar to Nikon’s top tier Z9 camera but with a smaller body at a price that is much lower than the Canon R5II and equivalent to the Sony A7RV.

On the lens front, Nikon has the typical 100-400 option and much like Sony now has a 180-600 f5.6-6.3 which also is an internally zooming and relatively inexpensive option that provides very similar quality as the Sony option. That lens and the Z8 are likely the least expensive high quality option out there at the moment and would be the combination I would likely advise people to choose if they were not currently already using gear from one of the other companies even though I have never really used Nikon gear for any length of time myself.

Nikon also has some options for prime lenses that no one else currently has that are considerably less expensive than the usual big primes. There is a 400mm f4.5 for around $3000USD, a 300mm F mount f/4 at $2000, a 600mm f/6.3 at $4000 USD, and if you really want to go big an 800mm f/6.3 at $5700 USD. These are all Phase Fresnel lenses which make them significantly smaller and lighter than other options (much like Canon's older diffractive optics lenses) and give lens options with prices in between the normal 2nd tier and the $10000 plus top tier primes that currently no other camera system offers. Tamron is also starting to produce some of their lenses for the Z mount including that 50-400 that I mentioned earlier.

Nikon Z8, Z 180-600 f5.6-6.3 approximately $5400 USD

or

Nikon Z8, 600 f6.3 approximately $7500 USD

Other Options

There are few other companies that really try to offer good options for nature photography and are close to but not quite the same as the 2nd tier options above. OM systems is definitely showing some promise but is held back a bit by the lower resolution sensors on the micro four thirds platform even though there are some very good lens options that are relatively small for the effective focal length. They have telephoto lens options from 70-300 all the way to 150-600 at many different price points. The examples I have shown below are rather expensive but if you want relatively small and light gear these are some of the better options currently.

OM Systems

OM system is a great option for those who want long effective focal lengths (narrow field of view) but with a smaller and lighter set of gear.

OM1 II, Olympus 300mm f/4 approximately $4600 USD

up to

OM1 II, OM 150-400 f/4.5 with 1.25 teleconverter $9400 USD

FUJIFILM

Fuji has a couple of options now with the H series cameras and their higher end lenses that can compete with the full frame cameras but have no room to move to top tier later. Fuji also has a new 500mm option for their medium format cameras which may be an option for certain types of nature photography but that system is still a bit behind in terms of autofocus even though the image quality would be superb.

Fuji X-H2, 150-600 f/5.6-8 approximately $4000 USD

up to

Fuji X-H2S, XF200mm f/2 approximately $7500 USD

and

Fuji GFX 100S II, GF 500mm f/5.6 approximately $8500 USD

There is a lot of superb gear out there at the moment that allows a photographer to do things now that only the highest end gear could do a few years ago. None of this gear is cheap but over time you can build up a pretty useful setup that should continue to give you excellent shots for years to come. If you currently are invested in one of the companies above it is likely best to stay in that system from a cost perspective since you can get fairly close to the same level of gear on all of them. If you are currently looking to move up to this level of gear and are not invested heavily already then Nikon offers a compelling set of options at the moment to get up and running. Sony and Canon may make changes to their line up in the near future to change that perspective but Nikon looks pretty good right now. Seems like an interesting conclusion from someone who has been using Canon gear for 35 years and Sony for around 12 years. A venture to another system, at this point, is unlikely.