I planned out a road trip I want to take soon, the idea is just to challenge myself to see how quickly I can capture my first 100 animal species. I don’t want to start until I have something better than just my iPhone camera though. It seems like to be satisfied with getting bird pictures I need at…

your iPhone camera is plenty good enough, especially for getting started - and for small things like insects, you can buy a small macro lens that attaches to the phone personally I use a compact digital camera that is quite popular for field use (at least for bugs!) - the Olympus/OM Systems TG-7

What model of iphone do you have? You could try looking up how to guides for your phone’s camera settings. I get pretty good shots with my Samsung Galaxy S21, and the only thing I know how to do is adjust the zoom. It can be a pain to get it to focus on the right thing sometimes, and forget about mo…

In my experience a lot of general naturalists seem fairy happy with “bridge” cameras which act like point-and-shoots but have the zoom range of DSLRs. You can get more zoom with them than even high magnification DSLR lenses and don’t have to switch lenses for different subjects, but compromise on th…

Honestly honestly, keep going with your phone. If I see something flighty, I am strict about getting a phone photo first. Often a pixelated blurry colourless phone photo is better than the animal disappearing while I faffed with camera gear! Some of the phone cameras are pretty good, the 10x optica…

I also think that for starting the iNat adventure a decent smart-phone should be enough. Getting a camera involves is a bigger commitment of time (learning the functions, layouts, basic photography ideas, processing). Having said that, almost 10 years ago I decided that I want to take good photos of…

If you have binoculars those also really help with distant birds/mammals/larger insects if you get some practice putting your phone camera through the binoculars! [image] Help! My Turtle Pics Look Like Crap! with some practice and patience you can get photos with your phone through your binocula…

[image] sporkquack: I’m completely clueless about photography at the moment i think this is all the more reason to start with what you have (your phone camera), and then figure out what you want based on what sorts of limitations you find in your current equipment. if you think you’ll need ne…

[image] sporkquack: It seems like to be satisfied with getting bird pictures I need at LEAST a 300mm zoom lens right? FOR BIRDS: I would agree that you will need at least 300mm focal length to routinely produce quality (or even “good enough” bird photos. But it does not need to be a zoom le…

[image] tom_reichner: In fact, I recommend staying away from zooms at this point. A 400mm fixed focal length would serve you better than a zoom. I would not recommend a 400mm telephoto for a beginner on a small budget, particularly since this is someone who says they have no prior experience …

I wasn’t going to weigh in but I have to say I disagree emphatically with a lot of the advice here. I know next to nothing about photography but I do know that my 100-500mm zoom lens on my mirrorless camera has served me bettter than any other lens in my kit for everything. I’ve tried using a macro …

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upupa-epops July 14, 2026, 2:20pm 11

If you have binoculars those also really help with distant birds/mammals/larger insects if you get some practice putting your phone camera through the binoculars!

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Want to get my very first camera and start contributing to the site, suggestions?

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