Shots of birds, taken with your pocket camera (1 Viewer)

[Andy Adcock]

I'll start us off with a few from my walks on a local trail here in Cyprus.

My shots are taken with an Olympus TG2 using the maximum zoom and crop, I just can't be bothered, carrying my big, camera which weight over 4kgs with lens.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Taken with smartphone in Buckinghamshire, UK.

 

[Mike Crawley]

I took this on Scilly using a compact camera held to the eyepiece of my binoculars.
2007 !
I must have some more squirrelled away somewhere.
.

 

[Joe H]

The image used for my avatar, and all but one of the pictures in my gallery were taken with inexpensive pocket cameras. The attached picture was too. The cheeky Kookaburra plonked itself in the center of a backyard table while we were cooking up sausages on the BBQ. Despite our kids’ scolding, it refused to leave until we paid it the tax due: One sausage. Then it flew off with its prize and left us to our share. You’ve got to have a camera with you sometimes, and I rarely have a big one on a stap around my neck.

 

[birdboybowley]

Taken with the phone.....

 

[Paul Chapman]

Taken with an old Pentax K1000 with a 35mm lens whilst it walked inches past my nose in Sunderland... Baillon's Crake.

And two pics with my phone of firsts for Britain. Citril Finch & Acadian Flycatcher.

All the best

Paul

 

[Andy Adcock]

Taken with the phone.....

View attachment 1576214

We might need some context here Adam, how the f***!?

 

[DMW]

Ah, my specialty... getting terrible photos of good birds...

 

[birdboybowley]

We might need some context here Adam, how the f***!?

Jacks are great so long as u approach slowly and quietly 😂😂

 

[YuShan]

You can get reasonably good pictures with a pocket camera with superzoom, as long as there is enough light and the object isn't moving too much. Pictures below with Lumix TZ70.

 

[MiddleRiver]

Even with a full-frame and 'big lens', one quickly learns that conditions have to be optimal. Sufficient light, and lack of heat haze are needed or else no amount of 'firepower' will get the poster-quality shot. So yes, even with a relatively 'big-rig' I find my most gratifying photos are those where I was able to approach closely or the bird was cooperative. The loooong hero shots are good for ID and not much else.

 

[Andy Adcock]

You can get reasonably good pictures with a pocket camera with superzoom, as long as there is enough light and the object isn't moving too much. Pictures below with Lumix TZ70.

View attachment 1576513

View attachment 1576514

View attachment 1576515

You still have to be a lot closer than I was with the shots in the OP.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Even with a full-frame and 'big lens', one quickly learns that conditions have to be optimal. Sufficient light, and lack of heat haze are needed or else no amount of 'firepower' will get the poster-quality shot. So yes, even with a relatively 'big-rig' I find my most gratifying photos are those where I was able to approach closely or the bird was cooperative. The loooong hero shots are good for ID and not much else.

I carry my pocket cam, mainly for insect shots which can be good but you still, have to be able to get close.

 

[kb57]

A screen grab of the iPhone video my partner took of the pied wheatear in a Whitley Bay flowerbed, after I forgot to put the battery back in her camera
@Paul Chapman - the ridiculously tame Baillon's Crake in Mowbray Park brings back some memories...I was doing a part time MSc at the Uni at the time, we all headed down to see it at lunchtime during a Saturday lab session. I have to say the discarded can does give it an authentically Sunderland vibe...just a shame it wasn't Double Maxim..

 

[Val35]

I have a few pics of birds taken with my phone, sometimes phone + binoculars

White Stork, Batumi
Dunlins and Broad Billed Sandpiper (Georgia)

Laughing Dove, Tbilissi
Young Bearded Vulture, Corsica
Leucistic Sparrow, Istanbul
White Winged Black Tern and Great Ringed Plover, Corsica (with binos)
Kentish Plover, Corsica (with binos)

 

[lockbreeze926]

Burrowing Owls, Fort Myers, Florida, in 2014 according to the file.

They were in the front lawn of a house, within 20 feet of the door, but seemed unconcerned about any disruption.

(I know we don't do photos of "nests", but this is in a public street, in full view of any passer-by, and hardly a nest by normal standards).

 

[temmie]

..., I just can't be bothered, carrying my big, camera which weight over 4kgs with lens.

I honestly haven't seen anyone on my tours for the last couple of years since the mirrorless revolution, with a camera set up more than 2.5kgs, except that one dedicated guy with a 600mm F4 on a tripod. My current setup is 2.4 kgs, and I've had people with a crazy light and very capable 1kg set-up by Olympus (and not that expensive either), and someone with a Nikon Z8 + 600mm PF 6.3 for less than 2.5kgs (admitted, quite a bit more pricey).
But weight-wise, there are simply no excuses anymore not to take excellent pictures in the field.

Before I had anything that looked remotely like a camera, I used to take some pictures with a sony cybershot with 3.2 MP and a memory card that was around 24 Mb (not kidding). I could take around 30-40 shots before I had to download everything on my laptop. Here's a shot from around 2006 in the foothills of the Santa Marta mountains while trekking to ciudad perdida:


next, some Brown Pelicans on a beach in Venezuela, back in 2005:


last, a King vulture amidst Black vultures somewhere in the Venezuelan Llanos:

 

[Andy Adcock]

I honestly haven't seen anyone on my tours for the last couple of years since the mirrorless revolution, with a camera set up more than 2.5kgs, except that one dedicated guy with a 600mm F4 on a tripod. My current setup is 2.4 kgs, and I've had people with a crazy light and very capable 1kg set-up by Olympus (and not that expensive either), and someone with a Nikon Z8 + 600mm PF 6.3 for less than 2.5kgs (admitted, quite a bit more pricey).
But weight-wise, there are simply no excuses anymore not to take excellent pictures in the field.

You're totally, missing the point which I won't bother to explain as I suspect you miss that point deliberately.

 

[temmie]

It's best to stay on-topic, constructive and friendly
That's what makes me visit birdforum!

So here are some more "Shots of birds, taken with your pocket camera", all dating back from 2004-2007 (when I had my first pocket camera, before I got a DSLR):

Atlantic Canary, Tenerife

Berthelot's pipit, Tenerife. This one is very easy to approach, so it shows!


Yellow-headed Caracara, near Leticia, Colombia, right next to the Amazon river:

A couple of Pied Plovers, Venezuelan Llanos


and almost 20 years ago, in the summer of 2004: Elliot's Laughingthrush, a bird mainly interested in my bag of chips, on a holy mountain near Xi'an:

 

[YuShan]

One of the biggest problems with pocket camera is that it often focuses on the background instead of the (small) bird on the foreground. Success rate is considerably higher when the background is empty.


Blue-naped Parrot, Philippines