The images in this article I took while leading a Japan birding photo tour on Hokkaido, Japans most northern island. Japan is a birder’s paradise, over 600 bird species have been recovered to date, over 60% of these are migratory, such as the Steller’s sea eagle, whooper swan. Species that are either endemic or sub-regional endemic include the blakiston’s Fish-owl, red-crowned crane, black kite there are over 60 species in this category. Japan is latitudily long over 3000 kilometers, with 6,852 Islands, and is 70% unpopulated untamed wilderness. Leading photography workshops throughout Japan is great fun, I enjoy life behind the viewfinder helping others photographers capture their perfect perceptual imagery of Japan.
Lenses I use for wildlife photography include the Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX DG HSM, also the Nikon 200-400 F/4G ED VR II, and the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM. In recent years I have been leaning towards lenses with zoom capabilities especially for birding, zoom lenses make it easy breezy to spot birds then quickly zoom in and capture the moment. My tripod is the Gitzo’s strongest, 4-section carbon fiber tripod the GT5542LS, with G-lock Ultra for secure leg-locks and quick operations, it’s the most rigid tripod of the whole Gitzo range. Having a steady platform for your camera and lens is essential, the gimbal tripod head with arca-swiss plate system is the right choice for the wildlife photographer, for smooth and easy panning!