Also see: Backyard Bird Photos: Basic Tips. The P900 captured a decent level of detail. It can be useful in helping ID and/or document bird sightings and can also be creatively satisfying. This is something you only discover the reason for by digging through the manual. When I use Spot focus, I put the dot on my camera’s screen or viewfinder where I want to focus. One of the questions I am getting a LOT is about bird-in-flight (BIF) settings. Before you go straight out and buy the Nikon P900 you have to realize the P900 is an older model and requires some updates to get up to speed, the Nikon P950 was released early 2020 which solves a lot of the gripes of the popular P900. Depending on your camera, you may have these options to set them: Your camera makes the decisions on the ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Unfortunately, the P900 has just two pano settings – 180-degrees and 360-degrees. Also see my post on my initial D850 setup here. A slow shutter speed stays open longer and lets in more light. No camera is perfect but it’s a really easy camera to carry around can be a lot of fun to use. . We are going to guide you through your options. Hi Lynn, I do like this camera and use it a lot for bird photography. What is in the center of what the camera sees is magnified. Focus is quite fast. The lower the ISO, the more light is needed to create a good exposure. This one is mainly for anyone using the Nikon p900 for astrophotography but a decent, cheap, wireless remote control compatible with the p900 is a great investment for your image quality. I also discovered in the manual that if I choose any Continuous shooting option other than “Continuous H” or “Continuous L” the camera overrides any manual ISO settings. Ideally, something between the 800mm to 1400mm mark just to get the hang of how the camera performs and get a solid feel for how it can perform. Bird photography often gives you the opportunity to capture amazing action shots. Some estimations put it as high as a 75% success rate for birds in flight whereas the various other modes and manual focus can be much lower. Brought to you by Nikon. Even if you have a different camera, the settings in this post should give you ideas for setting it up to work best for you. Help Please? What Basic Camera Settings to Use for Bird Photography. As you can see in the image, the UV filter mounted to the lens is destroyed but thankfully, the actual front element of the lens below the UV filter has been protected and is fully serviceable. Setting the camera to Continuous instead of Single gives you more chances of catching the bird without the blur. So I can use its Aperture Priority mode. * Be sure to check out the website of your camera’s manufacturer. At high zoom levels, it does not add much depth of … In this article, I will give you 10 must-use camera settings that will help you improve your bird photography. I’ve also purchased several of his eBooks as well and have learned a tremendous amount from them. Learn how your comment data is processed. I am currently experimenting with also setting my “Minimum shutter speed” on this camera set to 1/800s.). Good technique is essential for a photographer with a regular telephoto zoom lens never mind for a camera like the p900. This camera’s biggest feature though is its super zoom lens. If you already have this camera or another Nikon camera and you need to get it fixed, check out my post on Getting my Nikon Coolpix p900 Camera Fixed. See if you find an option that makes it easier to more quickly and accurately focus on the bird. The Nikon Coolpix P900 is an ultimate camera for anyone wanting to get closer to their subject. I keep reading that there is a bird watching mode on this camera but have yet figured out what that is. It’s more precise. I set that camera to manual manual mode and … Unfortunately for the Nikon P900 and still with the Nikon P950, you need to dig into the menu structure to get the ideal settings. In automatic camera settings like my camera’s Bird watching mode, the camera is set to Auto ISO. Although the video below shows the Manfrotto 293 being used with the p1000, the process is exactly the same for your p900 and the video offers a good example of how easy the system is to set up as well as how effective it can be during use too. It allows you to remotely trigger your camera to capture your photographs without having to actually touch your camera rig. As I said in the post, I like to set up my own, but this mode gives you a place to start. Nancie, Your email address will not be published. Hi Billie, I’m glad it was helpful. All content of this site is copyrighted Nancie Waterman 2013-2021 unless credited to someone else (who probably then has copyright on it.) Your email address will not be published. I am on my 4th one and still do not like it for bird photography. When in aperture priority mode, the camera will then automatically set the shutter speed. It allows control over composition and accuracy of focus within the frame and helps me to target my subject’s eye. It is light and has tremendous reach and those are real pluses. D850 Bird In Flight (BIF) Settings. Try out different apertures (f/stops) on the same subject and see how the finished picture changes. ISO is the light sensitivity of the camera sensor. The manufacturer may also offer other learning materials, including articles and videos, about their cameras and/or photography in general. Instead, I created my own group of default settings for bird photography. You may find that a narrower focus option is helpful in taking pictures of a single bird. Creating Bird Photography Camera Settings, My Birding Camera: Nikon Coolpix p900 is a Super Zoom Bridge Camera. In our opinion, it is massively underrated, especially their target finding autofocus that is perfect if you are planning to use your p900 for birding or wildlife photography. Continuous – Continuous H (high speed burst), ISO Sensitivity – ISO Fixed Range Auto (100-400 outdoors) or (100-800 indoors). Although some photographers have put this down to the smaller image sensor on the camera, a number of people have done a little bit of testing to discover the optimal F stops. To cut down on this, put the camera on a tripod. They really made the difference for me in using the camera for birding. First, the camera isn’t really reaching further; it is just using digital techniques to make it seem that way. It does make shooting in a mix of bright sun and shade easier. They can explain it better and in more detail. So on my Coolpix p900 I often manually set it to a low 200 ISO as a default for bird photos when the light is good. With a mighty 83x zoom, this light and easy-to-use model offers 4K video shooting and is surely set to rival the popular Nikon P1000 – with its phenomenal 125x zoom – for popularity. It’s the “at dusk” part of things that gets tricky. I try to put the spot on one of the bird’s eyes if possible. One thing that I like about my camera’s Bird watching mode is that it uses Continuous Shooting instead of Single. Say you are working at the upper zoom capabilities of your p900, set everything up, have the subject that you want to photograph in focus and the slightest movement of pressing your shutter release on your camera body ruins your photograph. In building bird photography settings for my Coolpix p900, I started by looking at what the camera’s Bird watching mode was doing. Play around with them to see which ones might also be useful in bird photography. Higher ISO settings can get very noisy and ugly. The moral of the story is to read the manual. Ideally, either a camera could automatically create the picture we have in mind when we press the button. So for example, with the camera lens un-zoomed, I can choose apertures between 2.8 and 8.0 f/stops. Good luck! Secrets of Digital Photography, Tools and Techniques, Getting my Nikon Coolpix p900 Camera Fixed, How to Feed Ground-Feeding Birds in the Snow, Squirrel Buster Standard & Dried Mealworms, Reduce Bird Strikes: DIY Birdsavers Zen Wind Curtains. This camera is amazingly popular and on back order everywhere I tried to purchase! You might experiment with setting the camera’s ISO range to 100 – 800 and see if you like the photos you get. The best part is that you can quickly switch between single-shot and burst shot within seconds to see what is optimal for you and the image quality that you prefer. Sometimes only part of a bird is visible or sometimes there are several birds right next to each other. A high ISO can get you pictures in low light without using a really slow shutter speed and a tripod. In this post I’ve shared how I do things. Second, I’ve found that this camera’s lens sometimes gets stuck when fully extended with digital zoom turned on. Due to this, we have included as much information as possible to try and help everyone from a brand new p900 user all the way up to an advanced user. You can certainly use the camera with the lens not zoomed out. I have a Sony DSLR with a Tamron 150-600 lens that I love, and bought the Nikon P900 which I hate. (On my Nikon D7500 I shoot a little differently. The small fees they provide help cover my site costs. This final point on our list of Nikon P900 tips and tricks is probably common sense to many but so many people like to read and watch YouTube videos that drastically limit the time they have available to actually get out and play. Also, each camera system has its own features and menu items. (Photo and report by Koji Ueda) There aren’t any bird photography camera settings that work in every situation. You want this, but unless you have incredibly steady hands, if the shutter speed slows to something like 1/60 or slower, you are likely to get camera shake and blurry pictures. Also see: Creating Your Own Bird Photography Settings. Optical zoom numbers reflect the actual physical reach of the lens and what it can see clearly. You might use a higher f/stop if you want a more detailed background behind the bird or for a landscape shot. Sounds good right? It worked okay if the bird was out by itself. Additionally, the book is presented in a way where is can be extremely helpful for Nikon p900 owners of all levels of experience too making it a valuable asset for around $20 depending on the retailer you purchase it from. Some key factors to take into account are trying to tuck your elbows in when in the aim, experiment with the amount of camera contact on your eyebrow for stability, work on your breathing control, experiment with capturing the photograph after inhaling and after exhaling, and finally, work on slowly activating the shutter release with a roll technique rather than a pressing motion. You pick the ISO yourself or set it to automatic. Then you have to power the camera off and back on to unstick it. I have a Nikon D7200 and use the Nikon 80-400 AFS for my wildlife shots. (On my Nikon D7500 I shoot a little differently. Keep in mind that your camera may have different settings names. Thankfully, Nikon has put a 67mm lens filter thread on the lens of the p900 allowing you to quickly, easily, and cheaply add some additional protection to your p900 lens in the form of a decent UV filter. You do this by setting the f/stop. (The newer Coolpix p1000 can do RAW though! Thanks! If you do have a few minutes spare then we would strongly recommend that you skim over those reviews to see how highly the community regards the book and read how it has managed to help so many people. We may receive a payment in connection with purchases of products or services featured in this article, please see our privacy policy linked in our main menu at the top of the page for additional details. With a camera like the Nikon p900, any damage to the lens can result in a costly repair bill depending on the level of damage sustained. Shutter Speed is how fast the camera shutter opens and closes to take the picture, measured in seconds or fractions of a second. Higher ISO numbers help the camera take well-exposed pictures in lower light, for example, a bird in shade or a dark day. There are all kinds of other possible settings on my camera. Understanding how your camera works can make a huge difference in the quality of the pictures you take. Sounds like fun, right? . You can alternatively get monthly or yearly memberships. Due to this particular camera’s speed, birds in my photos are mostly stationary or moving on on a surface rather than in flight. Because you'll probably be using a long lens, try to keep the shutter speed fairly high, around 1/500 of a second or higher, if you're hand-holding the camera. They all work in combination to create a good (or a bad) exposure. I’ve been trying the 100 to 400 option to see if this results in good exposure in either bright sunlight or light shade without having to manually change the ISO when the light changes. Those used to shooting a DSLR will have to adjust to the electronic view finder (EVF). So on my Coolpix p900 I often manually set it to a low 200 ISO as a default for bird photos when the light is good.