I've used multiple cameras and lenses to photograph squirrels. If you want to know which camera and lens I used for a particular photo, hover over the corresponding information in the Details section.

Canon full-frame Mirrorless

In April 2025, I switched to the Canon Mirrorless full-frame ecosystem with the Canon EOS R8. I particularly like the silent shutter and improved light-gathering performance (relative to my APS-C DSLRs).

So far, I have acquired the following lenses:

  1. Canon RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM, which is great for photographing squirrels 0.5-2.5m away. Some squirrels will get that close, and this lens allows flexible framing without physical movement toward or away from the subject.
  2. Canon RF35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM, which is great for photographing squirrels 20-50cm away. Few squirrels will get that close but, when they do, this lens produces images with a unique perspective.
  3. Canon RF200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM, which is great for photographing squirrels 2-6m away. Most squirrels are comfortable getting that close. The main drawback is that this lens is large and heavy.

I prefer Aperture-Priority (Av) mode, usually with the widest possible aperture, to maximize background blur and reduce noise.

I've found that the Image Stabilization (IS) in the Canon lenses I chose allows me to reduce the shutter speed when photographing stationary squirrels, further reducing noise.

Nikon APS-C DSLR

In 2017, I started with a Nikon D3400 and, in 2018, I upgraded to a Nikon D7500. Due to their relatively-small APS-C sensors, these cameras effectively multiply the focal length of their lenses by 1.5X.

I used the following lenses:

  1. Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED, which came with my D3400. It's a good lens for photographing squirrels 1-3m away.
  2. Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, which also came with my D3400. It's an okay lens when squirrels get very close, but I preferred a 35mm wide-aperture lens (see below) instead.
  3. Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G, which is great for photographing squirrels 30-75cm away. Few squirrels will get that close but, when they do, this lens produces images with a unique perspective.

Due to the lack of Vibration Reduction (VR) in most of the Nikon lenses I chose, I preferred Shutter-Priority (S) mode with a fast shutter speed.

Ultimately, I sold my Nikon equipment via MPB.com.

Webcam

I used a Raspberry Pi Camera V2 for my Webcam.

Software

I use Shotwell to import my photos. Once imported, I use Shotwell's rating tools to filter out the best ones for publication.

I initially used ZenPhoto to edit and publish this website. To avoid unscalable and insecure PHP, I used wget to convert that into a static website that I published on AWS S3. For more flexibility and faster editing, I eventually developed chillphoto to directly export the static website.

Finally, I use rclone to backup my photos to Google Drive.