Guide: Cameras for animal photography 2025

Animal photography has been trending again since 2023, which is why we would like to present the best current cameras for animal photography to the beginners and professionals among you:

Camera requirements for wildlife photography

If you are not yet familiar with cameras and perhaps do not yet know what you need for photographing wild animals, we explain the most important technical data for choosing the right camera below, and briefly go into each aspect:

• Continuous shooting speed: The higher the continuous shooting speed, the more likely it is to capture the moment of action. A camera should ideally achieve at least 9 frames per second, cameras with an electronic shutter can often achieve a much higher continuous shooting speed, in top models even up to 120 frames per second! The camera should of course have a large internal buffer so that you can take photos for several seconds at a time despite the high continuous shooting rate.
• Megapixels: They offer scope for cropping and the possibility of capturing more details, but limit the ISO performance in dark situations, as megapixel monsters start to produce noise more quickly in the dark. We have an article on this: Megapixels explained
• Sensor type: Professional cameras for wildlife photography often rely on so-called "stacked BSI" sensors. These are characterized by a fast readout speed and high light sensitivity, thus reducing the unsightly rolling shutter effect and keeping the camera's viewfinder smooth - especially important for shots of birds in flight! There is now even the first camera with a so-called "global shutter" sensor: with this, the rolling shutter effect can even be completely avoided.
• Sensor size / crop factor: As the focal length of a lens is always calculated for a full-frame sensor, you have to factor in the so-called crop factor to calculate the effective focal length of a lens on a camera with a smaller sensor. The crop factor extends the effective focal length of your lens and you get "closer" to your Lens. A full-frame sensor is calculated with a crop factor of "1x", an APS-C sensor has a factor of "1.5x" or "1.6x" and an MFT sensor has a crop of "2x".
• Example calculation: Full-frame sensor with 200mm Lens x crop factor 1 = 200mm APS-C sensor with 200mm Lens x crop factor 1.5 = 300mm (converted to full-frame equivalent) MFT sensor 200mm x crop factor 2 = 400mm converted to full-frame equivalent. However, the individual pixels of the sensor are smaller, which leads to poorer noise behavior.
• ISO performance / noise behavior: The sensor size also affects the noise performance of the camera. The larger a sensor is and the fewer megapixels it has, the larger the individual pixels can be, which is known as the "pixel pitch". The larger a pixel is, the more sensitive it is to incident light and the better the noise behavior. In practice, cameras with a full-frame sensor are therefore much better suited to low-light photography than cameras with APS-C or MFT sensors. For wildlife photography, a camera should be able to reach at least ISO 12,800, as animals often show particularly exciting behavior at sunrise or sunset!
• Sensor stabilization: Mirrorless system cameras usually offer sensor stabilization (IBIS), which is particularly helpful for taking sharp handheld shots despite a long exposure time. Together with a modern lens with integrated lens stabilization, you can take good photos even in low light! Advanced systems even make it possible to record videos from the hand.
• Autofocus: Thanks to AI support for the autofocus system, modern cameras are able to recognize and track subjects independently. In addition to people, many animals can now also be reliably recognized and focused, with the camera automatically focusing on the eye! Even in dark situations, modern cameras offer very good autofocus performance. While some entry-level cameras use a limited area of the sensor for autofocus, advanced and professional models use the full sensor.
• Pre-recording / Pre-capture:
  Many advanced and professional models offer a pre-recording function, whereby the camera takes photos even before the shutter release button is fully pressed! This function is particularly useful for photographing unpredictable moments such as a kingfisher diving into the water or a bird flying off a branch.
• Weather resistance: The camera should at least be able to withstand drizzle, because if you go out into nature, you always have to expect unpredictable weather. Many modern cameras are now particularly well protected and can withstand a rain shower.

The best cameras for wildlife photography

Now we come to the highlight, the selection of cameras that are particularly suitable for wildlife photography. We have already written an article about good Lens for wildlife / safari photography in the past.

Below you will find our entire range of system cameras:

All system cameras

Cameras for beginners and ambitious amateurs

The following cameras convince us with their excellent combination of technical capabilities and an attractive price, perfect for hobby wildlife photography.

Professional cameras

Here the prices go up quickly, but so does the performance. These devices also offer further advantages in terms of button assignment, handling and so on, which alternatives do not always offer. If you don't want to leave anything to chance, you'll find what you're looking for here:

Why MFT is exciting for wildlife photography

Very few people talk about the MFT system because it is often talked down, but the biggest advantage lies in its compactness and sensor size. The sensor size has a crop factor of 2 and the MFT system offers small compact Lens with a long focal length. In full-frame format, 200mm = 200mm, but in the MFT system these 200mm are directly 400mm.

Our MFT camera range

Tips for wildlife photography

If you are traveling in a new area and have some time, it is a good idea to work with wildlife cameras to find the paths of the animals and perhaps also to record the times when they are most likely to be encountered. (Please research whether you are allowed to use wildlife cameras in your area before using them)

Our range of wildlife cameras

If you want to track down animals from a distance, binoculars are a good choice. They should have a diameter of at least 30 mm and a magnification of 8. You can find suitable binoculars here:

After the research comes the "hunt" for the perfect photo! In addition to camouflage clothing, it also helps to camouflage the Lens and yourself. A practical camouflage tent is ideal for this (please research whether you are allowed to use camouflage tents in your area before you use them):

Our camouflage tents

Perfect camouflage is particularly important for long lenses such as telephoto lenses, as their shape and color make them stand out from their surroundings. Lens camouflage is ideal for this:

Our lens camouflages

The best gadget, the dot sight

Many wildlife photographers like to use a dot sight to learn how to photograph with long focal lengths. Once mounted on the camera's hot shoe, it allows you to quickly and easily see where the camera is pointing - especially handy for quickly finding a subject like a flying bird in the sky, even when working with a long fixed focal length!

Settings for animal photography (for beginners)

The following settings are a rough guide; they should be adjusted further depending on the situation and lighting conditions. The most important component for animal photography is the shutter speed, which should be as fast as possible to freeze movements.

Here, anything from 1/640 is a good value, especially if the camera has an electronic shutter, extremely short exposure times of less than 1/8000 can be achieved. This works particularly well when the sun is shining so that the ISO does not have to be too high.

Even 1/10 can be used if the lighting conditions require it, but then the camera should be used on a tripod to avoid motion blur.

An aperture should be decided according to the subject and the time of day, often a value between f2.8 - f11 is suitable, which of course also depends on the Lens you are using and whether a telephoto adapter was used. Many wildlife photographers shoot as wide open as possible to get a nice bokeh.

If you want, you can also switch to the aperture priority mode of your camera, which has a different name depending on the manufacturer, then you select the aperture and ISO yourself, but the camera sets the exposure time itself.

Our conclusion

Wildlife photography has so many requirements that you have to consider in detail, for each subject area you want to photograph the requirements can be completely different.
Even if new cameras are significantly more powerful and superior, in theory you can use any camera for wildlife photography. The most important thing is to simply get started, as this is the best way to find out which functions you need. If you want to spend less at the beginning, you should keep an eye on our used cameras, because it doesn't always have to be the latest, even older cameras allow you to get started in wildlife photography.

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