3 Best DSLR Cameras for Wildlife Photography [Read Before Buying]

Looking for the best wildlife camera?

DSLR Cameras are the top choice among professionals for wildlife photography.

Capturing animals in their natural habitat and behaving naturally requires fast auto focus, long telephoto lenses, great low light performance and a durable camera you can carry into any environment.

Similar to sports photography, wildlife photography is one of the most demanding from a camera's technical perspective.

You want speed, accuracy, and performance.

High End Camera Comparison

Mid Range Camera Comparison

Entry Level Camera Comparison

**Further below you'll find our detailed reviews, but you can click the links above to quickly get more info about the cameras.

Assuming you aren't already attached to a particular camera company's system and invested in a huge collection of telephoto lenses, you need to find the right fit for you.

There are two behemoths in this category, Nikon, and Canon, but other companies are putting out strong contenders for wildlife photographers every year.

Getting the shot requires planning, preparation, work, and the right equipment... You need the best DSLR cameras for wildlife photography (that fit in your price range).

That's why we've put together this list. Not only are we going to feature the best options, we're going to organize the digital SLR's based on high-end, mid-range, and entry-level. First, we'll look at a quick roundup then we'll go over some more basic information to help you make an informed purchase and to choose the camera that'll suit you the best. 

DSLR Features for Wildlife Photography

Do you need a DSLR? Yes. Mirrorless cameras are on the rise, but DSLRs continue to reign supreme. Ultimately, what you want is an interchangeable lens camera system. While mirrorless cameras do sometimes qualify and appear on our list, they cannot usurp DSLRs for wildlife photography. DSLRs simply offer too many advantages to photographers like superior auto-focus systems, more lens options, and superior battery life.

• Related: 8 Best DSLR Camera Lenses for Wildlife Photography

When shooting wildlife effectively you'll find you rely on fast, accurate auto-focus, good low light capability, quick burst rate, durability, weatherproofing and most importantly telephoto lenses.

Auto-Focus

Auto-focus is an important feature. Nature moves, no matter how still it may seem you will miss some of the absolute best shots if you have a slow auto-focus. You'll find the more expensive professional DSLR cameras generally have more auto-focus sensor points, use phase detection and rely on faster processors and more refined algorithms to find focus quickly.

DSLR technology as a whole wins hands down in the auto-focus realm as it uses a technology called phase detection. You’ll find lower end cameras, camera phones and micro four thirds cameras are forced to use significantly slower contrast-based systems.

Generally speaking, it's better to have more autofocus points than less. More areas you can tell the sensor to pay attention to, more areas in which the processor can track your subject. The number of points isn't the entire story, so don't be deterred if your camera choice happens to have a few less than another.

Newer bodies often have faster processors and more refinements in the AF system, providing faster more accurate results. It's important to look at the AF system as a whole, including your lens pairing.

Low Light and ISO

FYI: ISO was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and originally quantified the “speed” or sensitivity of camera film but now also applies to solid-state image sensors found in DSLRs.

Everyone expects low light in wedding photography or while photographing stage performances, but you'd be surprised how often you are shooting in shaded groves off a hiking trail or catching an animal out eating in the early morning, or after sunset. Those are some of the moments where you can capture the most brilliant shots, but only if you're equipped to do so.

The boundaries of high ISO performance are pushed further with every new camera body on the market. This allows you more flexibility to shoot in lower light without sacrificing aperture or shutter speed. Basically, ISO numbers reflect how sensitive the sensor is to light before the noise makes it unusable.

A note about extended ISO: Once you've pushed the physical sensitivity of the sensor to it's maximum, manufacturers will add 'extended ISO'. This uses the software in the camera to brighten the image even further, this is the same as adding exposure in post processing. It's a number mostly for marketing purposes, as manufacturers can claim your mid range camera has an extended ISO of 102,400 (which is, in practice, useless.)

Low light is also where the Full frame vs. Crop or APS sensor begins. You'll find that a larger sensor captures a wider field of view, has more surface area for light to hit and so will generally outperform a crop sensor for low light purposes. The debate does not end there as we'll see when we talk about full frame vs APS or crop.

Frame Rate and Burst

Anticipating a lion leaping for prey is one thing, capturing its lightning quick movement is another. Sports and wildlife are the two types of photography that most rely on burst or continuous high-speed shooting modes.

Camera specs list MAX FPS or maximum frames per second and maximum burst rate. MAX FPS tells you how many shots, given perfect circumstances, your camera is capable of taking in a single second long hold of the shutter.

Maximum burst lets you know how long you can keep holding the shutter before your camera's buffer is full and your frames per second drop off considerably. Large file sizes take longer to process and record to your memory card so some photographers will shoot JPEG instead of raw to maximize their burst. It's also crucial to pair your camera with a high-speed memory card. Sites like this one will test different cards with different cameras to find the best pairings for best results.

Full Frame or crop / APS-C

Sensor size is always a great debate when purchasing a new camera body. So let's start by throwing ego out, and remembering the camera that gets you the results you want is the right camera for you!

Full frame sensors cost more money and are usually the standard for higher end professionals. Usually, they are housed in larger, heavier bodies which typically have more weatherproof considerations. The physical sensor is larger which, of course, costs more to produce but provides more surface area to absorb light, provides a wider field of view, and some will say a “better quality of pixel”.

Crop sensors are often less expensive, smaller, lighter weight and provide you a magnified image using the same lens. This magnified view can mean a crop sensor camera lets you frame a long distance shot without using lens teleconverters. The 'quality of pixel debate' is ongoing. Often you'll find a newer crop sensor outperforms an older full frame once you 'crop' it to the same size in megapixels, and may provide better burst rates.

At the end of the day, if you are buying in the newer current generation, a full frame image can be cropped and is more versatile but more expensive. You also sacrifice a certain level of portability with full frame but you might find that a fair trade off.

The Art of Wildlife Photography

Watch this brief video on the art of wildlife photography which gives some additional tips and examples:

This is the high-end range of DSLR cameras, where the company flagships sit. While there are other bodies that cost even more out there, none are really suited to wildlife photography where fast autofocus and burst rate are more important than medium format sensor sizes.

In this price range, you’ll find the top of the line DSLR cameras. Each uses top tier technology from each company for the professional market before it’s made it’s way to the mid-range arena. If you want the absolute best of the best DSLR, this is where you look.

The mid-range category contains more DSLRs suited to wildlife photography than any other. It's a crowded space, where the major companies are all putting some of their best value propositions on the table.

This category is where high-end prosumer meets entry level professional. While the high-end category had the 'best of the best' in terms of frame rates and low light performance, the savvy wildlife photographer will notice some impressive flagship features trickle down into newer mid-range models.

The competition is fierce, and while different brands will try and woo you it’s important to keep your eye on the stats that are crucial to the type of photography you intend to do.

Review: The Best Entry Level DSLR Cameras for Wildlife Photography

Wildlife photography is much like sports photography in that you're often capturing fast moving subjects from a distance. The best AF systems and low light performance don't come cheap, but they do trickle down, and great camera bodies may decrease in price after even a year on the market, so you can sometimes find the one-time best, that's now an entry level DSLR for wildlife photography, at a price that may fit within your budget.