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Education Sponsored Your Phone's Camera Can't

Your Phone’s Camera Can’t: Getting Better Bird Photos

Chris Gampat
No Comments
09/05/2022
3 Mins read
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Your phone is incredibly capable as a device overall. But the camera in it just won’t replace what a dedicated camera can do. We’re all aware that zoom lenses are one of the biggest and best reasons to get a dedicated camera. In fact, this is also one of the best ways to go about getting better bird photos. And in this post, we’ll talk about why your phone can’t cut it.

This piece is presented in partnership with OM SYSTEM. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

Why Can’t Your Phone Do This

Modern smartphones have a few tricks that make them more versatile. Some have an extra set of lenses that let you believe you’re zooming in. But, at times, you’re actually not. Instead, you’re artificially cropping unless you’re using one of the dedicated lenses on the camera. This is digital zoom, and all it’s actually doing is cropping the image, which is the same as zooming in on your screen.

If you’ve ever watched CSI, you’ll see lots of scenes where they’re on an investigation and saying things like “enhance.” That’s using digital manipulations, and while it’s good for record gathering, it’s not good for aesthetics and sharing images on social media. To get something that’s good enough to present online, you’ll need to actually have a lens that zooms in. Think of it like a magnifying glass for your camera’s sensor. Unfortunately, most camera phones don’t have those capabilities. 

That’s where a physical zoom lens comes in. And that’s the secret to getting better bird photos.

What You Need

To get these photos, we’re recommending:

This lens will provide you with a decent amount of zoom range you can use to get photos of birds at fairly close ranges.

How to Capture Better Bird Photos

With the OM-D E-M5 Mark III, we’re recommending the following settings for folks who are brand new to photography:

  • C-AF: this is continuous autofocus. It helps keep a subject in focus at all times.
  • Center focusing point: it’s often just easier to use the center point and keep it locked over the bird. With 20 megapixels in the E-M5 Mark III, you can easily crop later. Or, if you use C-AF + Tracking, you can focus using the center point, and recompose by moving the camera around to position the bird on the left or right side of the frame. As you become more advanced, you’ll learn some other cool things this camera can do, but let’s focus on getting the shot first.
  • Adjusting the diopter: this will help you see through the viewfinder easier. They work similarly to the way eyeglasses do.
  • Pro Capture Mode: this setting lets you capture better bird photos you’d otherwise miss. A famous photographer once said that if you see the moment in your viewfinder, then it’s gone. This prevents that from happening. The standard mode also keeps the focus continuous.
  • Aperture Priority: this makes it easier for beginners because you control the aperture of the lens, which controls depth of field and light gathering. As you become more advanced, you can learn about stuff like shutter priority.
  • ISO 1600 through ISO 6400: capturing birds means you need to have fast shutter speeds. And having the E-M5 Mark II set to these ISOs will ensure that the camera keeps them there.
  • S-OVF: the simulated optical viewfinder setting will always make it easier to clearly see the scene and focus your attention on it. However, it won’t give you a preview of what the final photo will look like.

Here are some characteristics of better bird photos:

  • A bird sitting on a tree branch with only the bird in focus and not much else
  • A bird eating or having something in its beak like flies or berries
  • A bird with its babies
  • A bird in flight
  • Birds fighting one another at your local bird feeder

Try looking for one of these five things, and you’ll be on your way to getting better bird photos.

Your Phone’s Camera Can’t is budding a series on The Phoblographer dedicated to educating people on how to step up from their smartphone.

better bird photos bird photography e-m5 E-M5 Mark III lenses olympus OM SYSTEM Photography smartphone Zoom Lens
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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