The Best Cameras for Wildlife Photography, Ranked! | The PetaPixel Podcast
This week on The PetaPixel Podcast, the team (mainly Chris Niccolls) takes a look at every camera brand that supports wildlife and birding and asks which one of their cameras is the top pick and which one is the best overall.
With a PetaPixel Membership, not only can you support original PetaPixel reporting and in-depth reviews, but you can also remove ads from the website and gain access to some seriously great perks, too. Members get $15 off the Moment Store, 25% off the PetaPixel Merch Store, 5% off certified pre-owned gear from KEH, and now can download full-resolution RAW files and JPEGs from the latest cameras and lenses. Join today! It costs just $3 per month or $30 per year.
Photographers are, admittedly, pretty spoiled when it comes to camera technology in 2025. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, OM System, and even Panasonic Lumix all provide the technology and hardware to take excellent bird and wildlife photos. The thing is, as technology has improved, so has photographers’ expectations. So while all of these brands provide tools that outpace the capabilities of DSLRs, the goalposts have moved. Now, it’s more about which one does better compared to its modern peers.
Check out PetaPixel Merch: store.petapixel.com/
We use Riverside to record The PetaPixel Podcast in our online recording studio.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and we look forward to hearing what you think. If you like what you hear, please support us by subscribing, liking, commenting, and reviewing! Every week, the trio go over comments on YouTube and here on PetaPixel, but if you’d like to send a message for them to hear, you can do so through SpeakPipe.
In This Episode
- 00:00 – Intro
- 11:34 – Canon teased a new cinema camera
- 16:06 – Global market share numbers show how lopsided camera sales are
- 24:46 – Nikon Z6 III firmware adds Bird AF, auto capture, and C2PA
- 27:36 – Viltrox joined the L-mount alliance
- 30:14 – Viltrox 56mm f/1.2 Pro for Fujifilm is less than $600
- 32:30 – DJI announced the Mic 3
- 36:08 – Sigma is changing the price, availability, and name of the 14mm f/1.4 Art due to production shortages: https://petapixel.com/2025/09/02/sigma-changes-14mm-f-1-4-arts-design-availability-and-price-to-address-production-woes/
- 39:29 – Which camera brand best serves wildlife photographers?
- 1:07:58 – What have you been up to?
- 1:14:14 – Tech Support/Never Read the Comments
- 1:33:11 – Feel good story of the week
