Backyard Birding Forum

I have a Cannon Rebel XT, my feeders are about 15 feet from where I  snap pictures.I have the 18-55mm lens the camera came with. My problem is every time I take pictures they come out crappy. Should I try a tri-pod to help me keep it steady, and would auto focus or manual work better, or should I just break down and get a better lens? I am seriously concidering taking a photography class also.

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Ryan

i would start with what you mean by crappy?  are they out of focus or "shaky"?

try resting your arm/camera on a stool or something and see if it helps matters first.

As Gil said, "crappy" is meaningless.  Can you share one of your photos or go in to detail about what is wrong with them?  Also remember it takes practice to get good at this, I don't regularly shoot that kind of thing so my first few times shooting may not yield much to be proud of but after a few goes I'll get back in to the mood and get the feel for it again and I'll shoot consistently better photographs.  For some people that's just how it is.

A tripod can't hurt, but you're probably fine on shutter speeds so that's likely not that big of a problem right now.  What you need is a longer lens.  I'd prefer at least 200mm, but for relatively little damage to your wallet you can get a 75-300mm lens (or something similar) for under $200.  These aren't the best lenses in the world but they're affordable and will let you get closer to the action.  You'll probably want to bump the ISO up in order to maintain fast enough shutter speeds to minimize motion blur.

Also with a lens like that, a tripod really is a good idea.  You don't need to spend a lot on a tripod either, but if you have an idea of a budget, and have some room to spare I really recommend getting a bit more tripod than the bargain ones you get at Target or WalMart.  Ultimately though, you can get sufficient tripod to get you started for around $100, I wouldn't really go much lower than that and I'd suggest spending a bit more.

If you provide a budget I can give you better suggestions but I'd really recommend starting with a tripod like this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=222200&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

or even this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=319528&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

The second one has what is called a "ball head" which some people find easier to use and to allow faster changes to position on the fly.  That certainly isn't high end gear but bogen/manfrotto is quality made equipment that will last much longer and serve you much better than some of the bargain stuff you can find.  Tripods can cost much more than that (I just spend $340 on a ballhead alone, nevermind legs or the mounting plates).

I'd say you're looking at a total cost of somewhere around $300 for a 75-300mm zoom lens (start with the Canon made lenses, and then look at Sigma and Tamron as well, look for reviews online) and a tripod such as that and it'll be a good place to get started.  You can always replace the lens, but you probably won't find yourself needing to replace a tripod like that for quite a while, if ever.  It all depends on how seriously you get yourself involved in photography.

I deleted all the crappy pics. When I downloaded them onto the computer and zoomed them in to make the pictures smaller so that I could post them the bird was real blurry, like it was out of focus. If I zoomed out to where it was not blurry it was too small to see what it was. I was thinking the auto focus was focusing on the wrong thing. The next time I am going to use my tri-pod and try the manual focus.

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Ryan

Sounds like you need more optical zoom, so you're not trying to overzoom the picture on the computer.  Any image will get blury/grainy if you overzoom on the PC.  If you don't have the money for a new lens right now, maybe a 2x teleconvertor will work with your current lens.  Although, with 18-55, that's really not going to be much help.  I'd recommend getting at least something like a 70-210 or even better, something going up to 300mm.

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This space for rent.

I just bought a Sigma 55-200 mm f4-5.6 lens for $169.00. It is on back order, but should ship by 22 of September. I looked at a canon 55-200 and a Tamron 28-300 and the Sigma had the best review.

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Ryan

Glad to hear you're looking for a solution.  Although it doesn't sound like you completely paid attention you're still going in the right direction.

Once you get that lens I suggest aiming to maintain a shutter speed that's as fast as you can with an aperture of f/5.6 to f8.  Your camera is good enough that you can be flexible on ISOs so bump them up if you need to so that you can use settings such as I mentioned.

And a tripod really should be on your short list of things to get, particularly if you're going to do much of this kind of shooting.  In fact I'd really recommend considering a lens that reaches to 300, it's sometimes nice to have that extra reach when shooting birds.  Almost any lens that hits 300 will be a better option than putting a teleconverter on a shorter lens.

OK I am a little confused. I already have a tri-pod, and I bought a lens that goes to 200mm. The 300 was not as good a lens in the reviews. What did I miss? I am a bit of a SLR noob, so i might have misunderstood something you said. And thanks for the help.

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Ryan

Ah well you should have said you had a tripod!  From what you said it sounded like you didn't have one.  By all means use your tripod!

Also I'd suggest finding some shooting tutorials online in addition to what is said here. 

The 200mm lens you chose may be better than the 300mm lens you mentioned, but you need to compare them to 75-300 mm lenses, rather than a 28-300mm "superzoom" (the longer the zoom range, the worse the lens tends to be).  The 200mm is probably a good lens for the money, it's just my suggestion that you consider something longer for small birds.  Consider other lenses, including the Canon, Sigma and Tamron 75-300mm lenses (they may be 70-300 or close to that).  You can use any EF lens on your camera.

Ok now I undestand. I will try the lens I bought and if I need more I will pick up something else for Christmas. I was planning on taking a photography class this fall, but I am waiting on the National Guard to decide when they are sending me to a school, so now it is up in the air. Hopefully this spring. I reread throught the canon book and I am going to play with some of the settings. Thanks again for the help.

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Ryan

update: Well the new lens got here today. I have taken some pics around the house and I like it alot. Hopefully this weekend I will get to take some bird pictures and post some. Thanks again for all the help.

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Ryan

Sorry it took so long to post some pictures I forgot all about it. so here you go

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Ryan

another

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Ryan

this one was without a tripod and was about 20 feet away. it is a bit blurry, but a big improvement over before

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Ryan