The shift to mirrorless cameras for wildlife photography has been expensive but rewarding for birders. Sony set the pace, forcing traditional market leaders Canon and Nikon to switch from SLR to mirrorless systems. Since 2020, Canon has released a series of camera bodies with animal eye-focus, one of the main advantages of going mirrorless (see...

Until recently, only professional photographers were likely to have access to an 800mm lens, which delivers 16x magnification on a full-frame camera. The best that amateur birders might have aspired to were a 500mm or 600mm lens; the only 800mm lenses were massive prime lenses with an equally hefty price tag. Canon broke the mould...