Choosing a Beginner Wildlife Photography Setup

When I first got into wildlife photography I didn't want to spend a fortune, but I still wanted to get great results. I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the different terms surrounding the equipment and ended spending more than i’d have liked to. So I wanted to put together a quick blog to go over what I would suggest buying if I were to start again which is the Sony A6400 and the Sigma 100-400mm as well as why I think they are a great starting point.

How Far Can your Setup Reach?

For beginners coming from phone cameras, zoom is usually described in multiples — 2x, 5x, 10x, which is fine if you know what x is, but this can vary between cameras. However, the easier way to measure reach is focal length, measured in mm. How much focal length you need depends on your subject, for example:

100–300mm is plenty for park wildlife or larger animals at a zoo.
Around 600mm is recommended for more serious wildlife work — birds in trees, or animals you can't (or shouldn't) get close to, like deer during rutting season.

250mm

Taken in a park with a rather curious squirrel

So why am I recommending a 400mm Lens not a 600mm Lens??

Because of the camera it's paired with…

The Sony a6400 uses an APS-C sensor, which is smaller than a full-frame sensor. That means we can apply crop factor (1.5x) to our lens. Which effectively turns the Sigma 100–400mm into a 150–600mm equivalent, meaning we’re getting extra reach for less weight and a lower price than a full frame equivalent. On top of this the a6400's 24-megapixel sensor is also sharp enough that you can crop in further and still retain plenty of detail.

Can It Keep up?

Using this setup for fast-moving subjects like birds in flight, I found that the combo works really well. This generation of Sony really brought forward the performance of mirrorless cameras. Real-time tracking and Animal Eye AF were two big leaps forward. They help to lock subjects focus from a distance and once you're close enough allows the camera to detect the eye. Beyond this, the sensor has over 400 phase-detection points, covering 84% of the frame, meaning the camera can track subjects almost anywhere in the shot. The motors found in the lens really helps to get the most out of all this to ensure faster and accurate autofocus.

Sony a6400 sensor coverage. Image source Sony website

The camera is also able to shoot at 11 frames per second. This is mega useful for capturing different wing positions and increasing your odds of a sharp frame.

When you are shooting for a long time at 11 FPS, eventually you hit the buffer where you camera will slow down how fast it writes. On the A6400, the buffer limits are reasonable for most situations: about 99 shots in JPEG before it starts to slowdown, or 46 frames in RAW (which is roughly 4 seconds of continuous shooting). One tip here for shooting longer bursts, sticking to short bursts avoids hitting the buffer meaning you keep the fast frame per second when its needed.

Low Light Performance

With Wildlife photography low light performance is really important. This is because often the best light is found at the start and the end of the day during the Golden Hour. This means that having a camera that performs well at high ISOs is really important!

Due to their small size the APS-C sensor collects less light than full-frame and as such ISO can't be pushed as hard. But you can still use ISO 100–6400 to produces clean, usable images, especially with noise reduction tools like Lightroom's Denoise or DxO PureRAW.

The lens's maximum aperture of f/6.3 isn't especially bright, so often we will have to drop the shutter speed to compensate. Which can make it harder to get a sharp shot.

Beaver Photographed with the Sony A6400 at ISO 6400, 400mm, 1/500th, f: 6.3

That's where the lens' optical image stabilisation comes in. I found that it performed well even in low-light scenarios like photographing beavers right at the end of the evening allowing me to shoot at slower shutter speeds. This as an experience was phenomenal and I am so happy with how the photos turned out.

MAcro-Ish

The lens's minimum focus distance isn't great being only 44cm. Which does limit the ability to close-up shots of small subjects like butterflies — though the APS-C crop and 24MP sensor help offset this with cropping.

One common complaint with the a6400 is with it’s grip which is rather small, and larger hands may find a pinky finger floating beneath (not an issue for the english tea drinkers). This isn't a dealbreaker for me given how light the overall setup is, though a battery grip or camera cage are both good options if it bothers you plus the battery grip would help to extend the overall battery life.

In regards to the lens, it has a rather large zoom throw is long (roughly a full wrist turn), but it also supports a push-pull zoom mechanism as an alternative to twisting, which personally I prefer.

Alternatives Worth Considering

Tamron 150–500mm — more reach, but pricier, and largely unnecessary once you factor in the APS-C crop advantage.
Sony 100–400mm f/5.6–f/8 — cheaper and stabilised, but a dimmer f/8 at the long end makes it weaker in low light compared to the Sigma's f/6.3.
Sony a6000 — an older, budget-friendly body (~£300–350) with the same 24MP APS-C sensor, but slower and less accurate autofocus than the a6400.

Just The Start…

One advantage of the Sony system is that it's upgrade-friendly. The Sigma 100–400mm is compatible with full-frame Sony bodies like the Sony A7 series meaning if you wanted better low light performance you could upgrade the body. Or if you wanted more reach then there's a wide range of Sony telephoto lenses to move into later.

Price

I purchase the a6400 used for £300 but usual prices used prices are:

Sony a6400 body: around £400–450
Sigma 100–400mm lens: around £600 used

SUmmary

For photographers just starting out in wildlife photography, this setup ticks all the boxes: enough reach for serious subjects, fast and reliable autofocus, solid stabilisation, and lightweight. As an entry point to the Sony ecosystem, it allows you upgrade later without starting from scratch.