There are two very good reasons to take brand into consideration the next time you buy a digital camera.  First, as in other technological arenas, the camera companies with the most capital invariably have greater research and development resources to bring to bear in developing their product lines, and their cameras will therefore tend to offer the best image quality, though they may also have a higher price tag.  Second, and perhaps even more importantly, the more established brands will almost certainly have a more extensive selection of lenses, and those lenses will also tend to be better than those of smaller companies, on average.  In this section we’ll briefly review the brand landscape of DSLR manufacturers.

2.4.1 Leading Brands as of Today

As of today, the most popular brands among bird photographers are Canon, Nikon, and Sony.  If you survey the most successful photographers of birds and other wildlife, such as Art Wolfe and Arthur Morris, you’ll find that the vast majority of them use one of these brands.  Other companies occasionally come out with individual products that promise to rival those of the big three, but for bird photography the wisest choice seems to be to stick with one of the major brands that offer both state-of-the-art cameras and a wide range of lenses useful for shooting birds.  Below I’ll survey the offerings of Canon and Nikon and some of the leading second-tier companies; at this point Sony is also a major contender, though I'm less familiar with their products.  Though this chapter is about cameras (lenses are discussed in great detail in Chapter 3), I’ll be briefly surveying the birding lenses available from these companies as well, since I believe the lens line of a company is even more important than their cameras, when choosing a brand for bird photography.


Canon and Nikon

To my knowledge, only Canon, Nikon, and Sony offer both high-quality cameras and high-quality lenses spanning the range of useful birding focal lengths from 400mm to 800mm.  (As we’ll see in Chapter 3, pro bird photographers do most of their work in the 400mm-800mm range, with an emphasis on the upper portion of that range—though there are certainly exceptions).  In the case of Canon, this range is more than adequately covered.  At the low end, there are no fewer than four 400mm lenses: the 400mm f/5.6 prime lens, the 400mm f/4 prime, the 400mm f/2.8 prime, and the 100-400mm f/5.6 zoom. (Focal lengths, f-numbers, and the relationship between the two are all covered in great detail in Chapter 3). Two of these are highly portable and hand-holdable (the two f/5.6 lenses), while one (the f/4) is hand-holdable by stronger or more energetic individuals, and one (the f/2.8) requires a tripod unless you’re a megalomaniac (which a fair number of bird photographers are).  Only the f/5.6 prime lacks image stabilization (“IS”).  In the mid-range are the 500mm f/4 and the 600mm f/4, both with IS, and at the upper range is the ultra-expensive (roughly $11,500 US as of this writing) 800mm f/5.6 lens with IS.  (I won’t bother discussing Canon’s 1200mm f/5.6 lens, since there are only about 15 in existence, and they cost about $100,000 used).


    Nikon’s current lens line is slightly less extensive, at least within the useful range of birding focal lengths.  Of the really serious, hardcore Nikon birders I’ve seen in the field, the most popular lens has been the Nikkor 200mm-400mm f/4 lens (though the 500mm f/4 is very popular too).  This lens has a reputation for being extremely sharp, and though it weighs about 8 lbs., some people actually hand-hold it (though it’s not easy to do so).  Like Canon, Nikon also has 400mm lenses at f/5.6 and f/2.8 apertures.  Unfortunately, for bird photography the 400mm focal length is most useful for hand-held applications such as BIF (“birds in flight”), and neither Canon’s nor Nikon’s 400mm f/2.8 is at all hand-holdable for extended periods, unless you’re the Incredible Hulk.  Though Nikon’s 80-400mm f/5.6 VR zoom is easily hand-holdable, the older version of this lens can be truly painful to use for birds in flight, since its autofocus mechanism is extremely slow.  However, in the spring of 2013 Nikon finally upgraded this lens and it is now reported to be excellent (though expensive); just make sure if you buy it that you are getting the "G" version, which is the newer one.  Nikon does produce excellent 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 lenses.  To my knowledge, they do not offer an 800mm lens, though the Sigma 800mm f/5.6 is available in both Canon and Nikon mounts. 
    In summary, given that both companies offer equally great cameras and equally great lenses at very comparable prices, either brand should be considered excellent for bird photography (and now that Sony has entered the market in a big way, they should also be considered a major contender).  I personally prefer Canon because of their two other 400mm lenses (the fixed-aperture f/5.6 and the lightweight f/4 with Diffractive Optics), which Nikon doesn’t currently offer.  But otherwise Nikon is fully as good as Canon in the quality of their cameras and lenses, and in some cases may be better (though the two companies tend to leap-frog each other every few years).


The Others

Among the other brands of DSLR available today, only a few others even warrant mention here.  Besides Canon and Nikon, the only other brands I think I’ve seen actually used in the field by really serious bird photographers are Sony and Olympus, with Sony in particular releasing a number of very impressive cameras recently.

2.4.2 The Issue of Quality Control

No matter which brand you end up going with, know this:  Whatever model of camera you buy from that company, there is a very real possibility that the individual unit you get is defective.  This is just as true for Canon and Nikon as the others.  Two consumer-grade Canon bodies that I purchased had defective autofocus modules, and even after sending them back to Canon for re-calibration (one of which was sent back twice), I felt they were not up to my standards, and returned them for a refund.  Those were, as I said, cheap consumer-grade models (just slightly over $1000 US).  The case of the infamous Canon EOS 1D Mark III is now well-known: a $4500 camera with a defective autofocus module, which the manufacturer initially denied until Rob Galbraith, a prominent sports photographer, irrefutably demonstrated the defects publicly and forced the company to issue a massive recall of its flagship product.  Over a year after the initial recall, the company is now announcing yet another “fix” for these “professional” grade bodies.  Make no mistake: I love my Canon EOS 1D Mark III bodies (both of them), and often sleep with one or both under my pillow, but newer photographers have to realize that any camera from any manufacturer, even the top-tier manufacturers, can turn out to be defective. 
    I’ve heard it said that the reason Leica (or is it Zeiss?) lenses are so insanely expensive is that the manufacturer tests each and every lens before it leaves the factory, rejecting any lens that doesn’t meet its rigorous testing regimen.  The story goes that Canon and Nikon, in order to cut costs, don’t test their lenses until after a lens is returned by a customer complaining of a defect.  Because many customers are too inept to notice any defects in their lenses, this saves the company many thousands of dollars by not having to pay workers to test every single lens that leaves the factory.  The residual cost is, of course, borne by those discerning photographers who find that they have purchased a defective lens which needs to be returned to the factory for a week or more for re-calibration. 
    The moral of the story is: don’t assume that your brand-new camera (or lens) is defect-free, even if it’s the most expensive model offered by the most prestigious brand.  Spend the 14-day return period aggressively testing the unit, so that you can return it for a refund if it turns out to be defective.  If you can’t afford to spend the time testing the camera right away, then wait to buy the unit until you know you’ll have some time to test it during the return period.

2.4.3 Safe Buying Practices

In addition to being careful as to which brand of camera you buy, you should be careful in choosing the merchant you buy that camera from.  Make sure the merchant accepts returns due to defects.  Check that the merchant doesn’t charge a restocking fee.  Some merchants have a maximum actuations policy: if you take too many photos with the unit and try to return it, they may say that the actuations are too high for the unit to be re-sold, and won’t accept the return.  Check the merchant’s return period; it should be at least 14 days.  Amazon.com has (last time I checked) a 30-day return period for cameras, and to my knowledge they don’t check actuations on returned cameras.  
    If you miss the return period deadline, you’ll have no choice but to try to resolve your issue directly with the manufacturer.  So far I’ve dealt with two manufacturers regarding product defects: Canon and Sigma.  On the positive side, both companies were immediately willing to examine the unit for defects, and in several cases they even paid for shipping both ways.  On the negative side, I’ve found that Canon repair technicians don’t always fix the problem, though they’ll claim that they made some adjustments and have “returned the product to factory specifications”.  Others have reported the same issues, both with Canon and Nikon.  The problem seems to be hit-or-miss, possibly depending on which technician ends up working on your unit.  Just keep in mind when buying new cameras (or lenses) that it’s best to find any defects during the return period so you can return the product to the merchant, rather than having to deal with the (sometimes lengthy) repair process involved in dealing directly with the manufacturer.
    If you’re buying used (which I don’t recommend), you should first check to see if Adorama or B&H have the item in stock in their “used department”, and at the price you’re looking for.  Returning a defective used item to these companies is generally hassle-free, in my experience.  I once returned a 400mm f/2.8 lens that I bought used from Adorama.  It wasn’t sharp enough, in my opinion, and they accepted it for a full refund, even paying the return shipping.  You can also sometimes find refurbished items at these shops.  Factory reconditioned items typically come with a fairly reasonable warranty from either the manufacturer or the merchant, which you won’t get if you buy from some bozo on eBay.
    If the reputable camera shops don’t have your item in their used department, and if you really have to buy used, then there are other options besides eBay.  Although I’ve never bought a camera on eBay, and have never been scammed by a seller when buying other items on eBay, I have been (almost) scammed by buyers on that site, especially by Nigerians.  I recommend steering clear of eBay altogether, either for buying or selling (at least for photography gear).  If you’re a member of any internet photography forums, check whether any of them have a Buy-and-Sell board.  I’ve heard that buying items on reputable forums such as Fred Miranda’s Buy/Sell forum can be relatively safe, as long as you do your homework and check the seller’s post history to see what kind of character you’re dealing with.  There’s also Craig’s List, though I’ve heard of people getting scammed on there as well.  I personally don’t buy used equipment anymore, because I view buying used equipment as “buying somebody else’s problems.”
    If you do have to buy used, then consider sending the used item you’ve purchased in to the manufacturer’s service center to be calibrated.  Calibrations of out-of-warranty equipment generally aren’t free, but I highly recommend having this done, given all the new equipment that I’ve seen that needed calibration.  Indeed, I’ve heard that some pros automatically send every piece of gear they buy (even brand-new cameras and lenses, fresh from the factory) in to the manufacturer’s service center for calibration as soon as they receive it from their supplier.  If the cost of calibration is an issue, there are some things, like autofocus accuracy, that you can test yourself, to see if calibration is needed.  In section 3.11 you’ll learn how to check the calibration of your cameras and lenses, and in section 2.7.3 we’ll discuss autofocus “microadjust”, for those cameras that support this feature.