What camera setup for holiday in Namibia?

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LucaMsMM

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Luca
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Good day everyone

I am relatively new to photography. This July I am going on holiday to Namibia. I am looking for a camera that I can use there but also outside the holidays. I need the camera mainly for travel photography for family photos/photos of families, cities, for landscapes, but also often for wildlife like birds and other animals (giraffes, hippos, etc.) in Namibia. The camera should not be too heavy and big. And besides the standard lens, it should also have a telephoto lens for wildlife.

But now to my question. I won a CANON EOS M50 Mark II including the two lenses EF-M 15-45mm IS STM + EF-M 55-200mm IS STM in a competition. Hence my question. Is it worth trying to sell this camera now and then buying a new system? Should I just buy a new/used lens (which one) and sell an old one? Should I buy a teleconverter? Do I not need anything new at all? What do you think is the best way to do it?

I don't want to spend a lot of money on this camera (or the profit from selling it). If possible under 300-500$.

Greetings and have a good evening,
Luca
 
Hi and welcome to TP

I will let those who know the M50 well chime in?

Firstly, Namibia sounds like an interesting and wonderful place.....so enjoy the trip and the experience:)

If you are going on safari drives and the guide gets reasonably close 200mm is possibly just about ok for max focal length..for the larger mammals.....but (depending on how close) don't expect to fill the frame!

You mentioned that you are new to photography, is this your first camera (other than say a phone or compact pocket camera). If so, IMO you should learn how to use it as well as you can and only think about a new camera and/or lens(es) when you have learnt any limitations that the M50 has for "you".

Photography is journey, enjoy it :)
 
Box Brownie said:
Hi and welcome to TP

I will let those who know the M50 well chime in?

Firstly, Namibia sounds like an interesting and wonderful place.....so enjoy the trip and the experience:)

If you are going on safari drives and the guide gets reasonably close 200mm is possibly just about ok for max focal length..for the larger mammals.....but (depending on how close) don't expect to fill the frame!

You mentioned that you are new to photography, is this your first camera (other than say a phone or compact pocket camera). If so, IMO you should learn how to use it as well as you can and only think about a new camera and/or lens(es) when you have learnt any limitations that the M50 has for "you".

Photography is journey, enjoy it :)
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Hi,
thanks for the response. Yes, that would be nice!

:) I'm relatively new to photography with these "big" cameras ;). Till now I had the Sony DSC-RX100 IV. With this camera, I would say I have a lot of experience (obviously it's not comparable to the M50). But I know how to operate a camera and I know the most important settings. Of course, I'm very passionate about trying out the camera and learning it asap for my holiday.

My problem is, that I'm not sure if 200mm is enough for the animals (e.g. birds) and I also want to be able to use the camera for wildlife photography (I have a friend who's a photography enthusiast and I was able to test out a lot. From there I know that I really love wildlife photography more than any other photography type.)

But, thanks for the advice, I will definitely try the camera first and then decide later if I really need another lens!
 
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Namibia is fantastic for photography. If you go to Etosha (the game reserve in the north) you will get pretty close to all the animals,, especially elephants, giraffes, springbok, kudu, ie most everything, as you can park close to waterholes. I managed fine with a 35mm film camera (so FF equivalent) and 200mm lens, so the M50 outfit should do fine. For birds you might want to be closer, but a teleconverter should be fine if you don't want to take an extra lens, as the light will be excellent. If you go to the Namibia desert, you'll also be fine as you want the wider angles; if you go to one of the private nature reserves such as the one for Cheetah's, you might need the 200mm, but I haven't been to them so can't say with certainty. If you go to the Kalahari to visit the tradition al villages, your outfit will be fine. I actually used a Bronica 645 (MF) for a lot of my landscape and general photography. If you go to Luderitz or Skeleton Coast, likewise wide angle is perfect.
 
If you're not looking to get really into photography as a hobby, then I would suggest buying a Canon EF-M to EF lens adaptor ($100) which gives you options such as the Canon 400mm L or a zoom such as a Tamron 150-600.

Whilst Canon won't be continuing the M series camera line, it will take good photos now and for years to come and the two lenses it comes with are good for most photographic requirements.
 
Why sell it and waste your money on another set up? From what I can make out the Canon M50 is a perfectly capable camera and will work fine. So just be grateful how lucky you are.
 
lindsay said:
Namibia is fantastic for photography. If you go to Etosha (the game reserve in the north) you will get pretty close to all the animals,, especially elephants, giraffes, springbok, kudu, ie most everything, as you can park close to waterholes. I managed fine with a 35mm film camera (so FF equivalent) and 200mm lens, so the M50 outfit should do fine. For birds you might want to be closer, but a teleconverter should be fine if you don't want to take an extra lens, as the light will be excellent. If you go to the Namibia desert, you'll also be fine as you want the wider angles; if you go to one of the private nature reserves such as the one for Cheetah's, you might need the 200mm, but I haven't been to them so can't say with certainty. If you go to the Kalahari to visit the tradition al villages, your outfit will be fine. I actually used a Bronica 645 (MF) for a lot of my landscape and general photography. If you go to Luderitz or Skeleton Coast, likewise wide angle is perfect.
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Thanks for the advice! As a wide-angle lens, I have the EF-M 15-45mm which should be really wide. Or am I wrong?
 
I think that will be fine for your wide angle shots, yes. What is your trip itinerary, where do you go? It's over 20 years since I was there, but it left a lasting impression on me and I'd love to return - a former colleague is from there and I have a standing invitation to stay at his place in Swakopmund, I just haven't found the time.
 
Okay, thank you very much! My trip itinerary is basically a roundtrip with an all-wheel drive double cab. We stay overnight in various lodges and sometimes also hotels. We also stay 2 nights in Swakopmund (Hotel Pension in Swakopmund).

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I would honestly try the M50 camera & lenses that you've just won for a while. I can't see why they wouldn't do what you want generally. You can maybe go to a local zoo or wildlife park & have a play about with things & decide if you want to pick up a teleconverter or as suggested an M to EF adapter to give you access to a wider range of lenses.

I certainly wouldn't be buying anything straight away though.
 
That's a great itinerary and good choice of vehicle. I did it in a VW Golf, which was surprisingly capable going in and out of dry river beds!
Sesriem is base for the Namib Naukluft national park - the big red dunes, which are unbelievable and superb to photograph. Also the dead trees. Walvis Bay you have the Seal colony which is very smelly but great for photographing those creatures in the wild. Swakop is a nice town, some interesting buildings from German colonial times as well as modern. The drive up north can be tedious - many many miles of fairly unchanging desert and gravel road, but the lodges are great, be prepared to eat really well.Etosha reserve is excellent and easy to self-drive around, though worth having a guide if you care to, to know which waterholes are most in use. The drive back south is very different, with a different landscape for much of it. I should have mentioned the mountains in the area where you are starting, they are pretty impressive too. You should have an excellent trip.
 
Hey, yes that's true. As soon as I receive the camera I will test it out and learn how to properly use it. If I realize that the 2 lenses are not enough I will probably buy another lens (with M to EF adapter). That's a good idea to visit a zoo to test the gear in a real-life scenario!
But are there teleconverters that are compatible with the M50? And are they worth it? Isn't it a problem with the image quality/aperture?
 
lindsay said:
That's a great itinerary and good choice of vehicle. I did it in a VW Golf, which was surprisingly capable going in and out of dry river beds!
Sesriem is base for the Namib Naukluft national park - the big red dunes, which are unbelievable and superb to photograph. Also the dead trees. Walvis Bay you have the Seal colony which is very smelly but great for photographing those creatures in the wild. Swakop is a nice town, some interesting buildings from German colonial times as well as modern. The drive up north can be tedious - many many miles of fairly unchanging desert and gravel road, but the lodges are great, be prepared to eat really well.Etosha reserve is excellent and easy to self-drive around, though worth having a guide if you care to, to know which waterholes are most in use. The drive back south is very different, with a different landscape for much of it. I should have mentioned the mountains in the area where you are starting, they are pretty impressive too. You should have an excellent trip.
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Thank you so much for the great tips and advice, Lindsay! I am really looking forward to exploring Namibia and capturing some beautiful photos along the way. The big red dunes and dead trees in the Namib Naukluft national park sound amazing, and I'm excited to see the seal colony in Walvis Bay as well. I appreciate your insight on the drive up north and the lodges, and I will definitely keep in mind the recommendation for a guide at Etosha Reserve. Thanks again for your help, and I will definitely make the most of this trip!
 
If you are willing to sell and buy with some additional money (assuming I haven't mistaken your original post), I'd advise looking into getting an used Sony RX10iv as a do-it-all one camera solution.
It has a 24-600mm f2.4-4 lens which gives great flexibility and reach for most things you'll want to do on your trip whether it's wide angle landscape or telephoto for birds.
Also since you already have a RX100iv, the camera will seem familiar to you.

Good luck with whatever you choose, hope you have a good trip.
 
Hey, thanks! This could also be a good option!

This has triggered another question for me, would it make sense to sell the 2 lenses I have (EF-M 15-45mm IS STM + EF-M 55-200mm) and buy a 24-600mm lens or something similar. But are such lenses even available for sale? The advantage would be that I would only need to carry one lens for traveling.
 
You could get a Sigma 50-600mm lens, but you end up with a huge heavy lens that isn't appropriate for every situation.
If you want that, get a superzoom compact such as the Canon SX740 HS and accept the compromises for convenience.
 
LucaMsMM said:
Hey, thanks! This could also be a good option!

This has triggered another question for me, would it make sense to sell the 2 lenses I have (EF-M 15-45mm IS STM + EF-M 55-200mm) and buy a 24-600mm lens or something similar. But are such lenses even available for sale? The advantage would be that I would only need to carry one lens for traveling.
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For EOS-M the "superzoom" I'm aware off is 18-140mm.

You could of course adapt EF superzoom lenses like tamron 16-400mm or 16-300mm.

These lenses are f6.3 at the long end and also not very sharp. They are bit of a compromise imo

The lens in RX10IV is sharp across the range at all apertures. Plus it's fast enough to use in lower light situations.
There isn't really a good enough "all-in-one" replacement for the larger sensors.

IMHO if you are going for a all-in-one solution RX10IV is hard to beat. If you are using an ILC it's better to use specialist lenses i.e. separate lenses for wide angle, telephoto etc
 
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I’ve actually got the Canon 55-250 EF it’s a very good lens still use it as a lightweight setup with a 550D
I would consider hiring a second longer lens for the trip and take the gear you already have
For similar trips I take one camera with a 70-200 and another with 300 mm and TC 1.4 and 2.0
 
My wife used an EOS 80D with a 55-250mm in Zambia and came away with some good photographs. So I would say the M50 kit you’ve won will have a lot of bases covered. Some decent practice sessions around where you live and maybe at a local zoo before you go will give some valuable experience of what to expect and what settings to use.

I would also highly recommend taking/getting/hiring some good quality binoculars for your trip. Cheap ones are useless in low light, so it’s worth doing some research and bearing in mind that a decent pair will deliver great views for years to come.
 
If I were going I would take a camcorder and a compact camera for lightness mainly and for videoing. The issue I can see what ever you use is battery power and having enough to last. That was all I needed for my Norway- fareo isle iceland trip . the compact was a panasonic DC-tz95and a PANASONIC hc-x1500.

A lot of camcorders do stills even in 4K which will give you reach and video and distance all in one, so take a couple of minuites to check them out.
 
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realspeed said:
If I were going I would take a camcorder and a compact camera for lightness mainly and for videoing. The issue I can see what ever you use is battery power and having enough to last. That was all I needed for my Norway- fareo isle iceland trip . the compact was a panasonic DC-tz95and a PANASONIC hc-x1500.

A lot of camcorders do stills even in 4K which will give you reach and video and distance all in one, so take a couple of minuites to check them out.
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If I would choose the M50 for the trip I certainly will buy at least one spare battery. But I'm not quite sure how good the battery life for the M50 is, but I think it should be enough. My focus for the trip is probably on photos (more photos than videos), but this camcorder looks cool! I will definitely check it out!
 
LucaMsMM said:
If I would choose the M50 for the trip I certainly will buy at least one spare battery. But I'm not quite sure how good the battery life for the M50 is, but I think it should be enough. My focus for the trip is probably on photos (more photos than videos), but this camcorder looks cool! I will definitely check it out!
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Also take plenty of memory cards
 
GeeJay57 said:
Also take plenty of memory cards
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What is the minimum amount of SD cards? I will use a 4TB Harddrive to save the images on there. Are 2 SD Cards enough? And what storage capacity should it be? 128gb? less or more?
 
In regard to batteries.

Will you be able to charge them up as needed each day? Perhaps the vehicle you are hiring has an inverter or the hire company can provide one?
 
LucaMsMM said:
What is the minimum amount of SD cards? I will use a 4TB Harddrive to save the images on there. Are 2 SD Cards enough? And what storage capacity should it be? 128gb? less or more?
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Better too many memory cards than too few.

Personally I have a minimum of 6 off 32GB ones on the basis of "not all eggs in one basket".

Oh, though I have never taken a laptop and/or an HDD to copy them to, IMO I would not have just that as a backup. By that I mean, I would not copy the cards and then delete/format them again for next days usage.

I surmise the trip is a one off experience therefore IMO do not scrimp on memory card and their costs..... compared to the trip costs!
 
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Thanks for the response. I'm not quite sure if I can charge them in the car. But in the lodges/hotels is probably an option to charge the batteries (I hope so ;) ). So the batteries have to have enough capacity for one day. But I've seen that there is a USB charger for the LP-E12 batteries for around 10$. So in case I cannot charge the batteries overnight I still would have a power bank with enough capacity.

And to the memory cards: I have the 4TB hard drive and my laptop (with 1TB, at least 600GB free). Additionally, I have cloud storage that I could use to back up the photos. But for the day I won't be able to back up the images, so if a memory card breaks, all data from the day is lost. (In the car I could back up the photos to my phone though, I have an adapter).

Currently, I have one 128GB memory card, a 32GB memory card, and a 16GB memory card. But none of them are really fast. So does it make sense to buy another, let's say 32 or 64GB, memory card that has a faster write speed?

If I calculate roughly:
1 raw image is apparently around 25MB. So If I have 200raw images per day (In the evening I can delete some of the unwanted photos), that's roughly 150GB. So isn't this more than enough?
 
I'd take more than that. If you are using a long lens then it is often worth taking extra shots in case you shook the camera or just because animals might be doing something.

128GB cards are pretty good value at the minute. There is no point going above UHS1 spec on the card because the camera won't go any faster.
 
So you would leave it as it is. But buy 1 128GB sd card more? would this be enough?
 
The question is do you want a camera and keep having to change lens? you could well miss that "moment" forever because you have the wrong lens on.
Most on here prefer a camera but wow what a difference is made if you can capture something moving. Don't get me wrong I love my Nikon D810 camera and lenses but I had to give serious thought about lugging it around all day long on my recent trip. in the end I opted for c amcorder and compact and so glad I did. for example I was the only one to get these puffins out at sea out of the group I was with because they were too far out to sea. Others in the group with cameras had the wrong lens on at the time. Many came up to me afterwards saying they wished thay had a camcorder when we sat for a meal and they saw the footage.

No sound forgot to switch on the microphone
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyrq0rZHnKM


The camcorder had the reach to get close up even with the sea movement and I was well chuffed with what I took considering. A camera even if a picture was taken it more than likely be blurred.

My aim was to go light get decent still with the compact camera using 4k yet also give a better idea of the places with the camcorder.
So not only visual but sound as well I think improves the holiday experience that much more. Oh and in playback in the camcorder I can take a print of a vidoeo frame as a still as well. Just a still of this below won't give any impression of what it was like being there

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIqJfg7nPz8

S
 
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Congratulations on the win. In terms of commenting on the camera kit, for the birds you will definitely need a longer focal length lens than 200mm.

I have been to Namibia twice. I stayed in Swakop 1st time around in 2009, but drove past last year. last year we tested positive for Covid which limited our adventures for the second week. It's a very civilised country and I am sure you can keep your batteries charged.

If your trip includes Spitzkoppen then I would suggest a wider angle lens for the arch....

Enjoy the trip - my photos are in my Flickr page.
 
Now that memory cards are so (relatively!) cheap, I'd get a couple more just in case.
 
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