Kit for a safari

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canaryherd

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Andy
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I am planning a safari holiday to Kenya for this summer and I was wondering if anyone could advise on equipment to take? Some of the internal flights restrict baggage to 15kg so I have to travel quite light. I was thinking of two bodies so I don't have to change lenses in the dusty environment. Was planning on a 10-24mm lens for landscapes and a longer lens for wildlife. Any suggestions for the longer lens? How about the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 with a 2x converter or should I go with (say) the Sigma 150-500mm? Don't have an unlimited budget...

And I thought I'd take a monopod as well - does that make sense?

Appreciate any advice you can give me.
 
canaryherd said:
I am planning a safari holiday to Kenya for this summer and I was wondering if anyone could advise on equipment to take? Some of the internal flights restrict baggage to 15kg so I have to travel quite light. I was thinking of two bodies so I don't have to change lenses in the dusty environment. Was planning on a 10-24mm lens for landscapes and a longer lens for wildlife. Any suggestions for the longer lens? How about the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 with a 2x converter or should I go with (say) the Sigma 150-500mm? Don't have an unlimited budget...

And I thought I'd take a monopod as well - does that make sense?

Appreciate any advice you can give me.
Click to expand...

Forget about the 2x TC on a zoom lens, seriously effects the lens performance and image quality..... So a budget of £1900/2000 (nikon 70-200mm f2.8 £1600/1700 2x TC £250/300) or abit less?....... as the sigma 150-500 is only £700

It depends what type of safari your going on as to the lens(es) that are recommended and abit more idea on a budget. Have a read below

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=173730&highlight=safari

But I would go with a prime lens like the 300mm f4 (+ 1.4x or 1.7x TC), 70-200mm f2.8 and a general walkabout lens like the 17-35mm or something similar.

Instead of a monopod, not much room in the vehicles, think about a bean bag to rest the lens on.
 
I'd go for something around 400mm at the long end, or the 150-500mm. You don't have to buy it if you think this will be the lens' only outing - just rent it instead.


+1 for the beanbag suggestion. You'll most likely be taking shots from inside a vehicle, probably a converted Hiace type with pop-up roof.

But most importantly... don't spend all of your time looking through the viewfinder. Take time to see the animals with your own eyes and enjoy the experience. :)
 
Best piece of advice I've got is, don't call it a Safari. We stayed in South Africa with friends, and kept using the term 'Safari' and they hated it. Apparently the correct term is 'game drive'. Safari makes people sound like real tourists (although I guess we were really!)

Although maybe that's just in SA.

Anyway, my next piece of advice (non kit related), is to get all your settings sorted early (WB, ISO etc), and stick with it. You will be blown away by the scenery alone, even more so when you find some animals, so you don't want to be spending all your time thinking "now, have I got the right aperture here, is my white balance setting correct, should I change the exposure slightly". Get a setting and stick with it. Enjoy it. It'll blow your mind
 
Have you seen this from Paul - http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=47862

Having only ever done one safari trip I'd say your original idea was not too far wrong. You go out early morning or late afternoon so the light is not at its best and f2.8 would help there, plus most of the wildlife is not that far away so whilst 400mm is nice to have its not essential.
 
Thanks to everyone for the feedback, all very useful. Certainly relieved to ditch the monopod for a bean bag! I was thinking of the rental option but I'd rather spend more to buy outright than spend hundreds on a rental...

For what it's worth, I'm going to a camp called Saruni Sanburu and then to Cottar's camp outside the masai mara. Then on to Zanzibar for a relaxing end to the holiday, although I hear it's also good for photos!

And a very good point about not obsessing about the photos. Easy to get distracted from enjoying yourself.

Thanks again.
 
It is awesome for photos, I took over 2000 when I was out there and have not binned one :lol: hoping to go back in September. The Masai Mara is incredible, no words to describe it. Have a great time.

Don't forget to take a pillow case to change lenses in when in the vehicle stops the dust.
 
I am recently back from the Mara. I saw people struggling with tripods and monopods, luckily, following advice from here I had my beanbag. The envy of all my friends I was with! The cars/4x4's do move around so always ask the driver to switch the engine off.

I took basic cheap kit up to 300mm and that was fine a but a little more would have been nice. At 300mm I was on max aperture at f5.6 and it was a real pain. With 'game drives' at 6:30am, there isnt a lot of light about so bigger appertures are a must, I have some grainy high ISO photos that I like, but the noise ruins them slightly.

Larger aperture will also help in the day for action shots. A cheetah at 60mph and a 4x4 off road at 20mph plus a lumbering tog meant that very fast shutter speeds are required sometimes.

As mentioned before, take some photos then put the camera down. You are not there to get a photo of everything that moves, if you miss some then so be it, gives you something to go back for.

The worst part is being up so early, having been on a drive and done with breakfast by 9am, It was a real struggle to make it to 12 without a few Tusker's!! I mostly failed!
 
Can be bought here in some branches of Tescos did you know that just turn the heating up to about 90, crack open a bottle of Tuskers, put your slide show on your safari pictures and there you go "Kenya" revisited :lol::lol:
 
I am fortunate to be able to spend 8 days each October camping in Mana Pools (Lower Zambezi Valley). This is a very special park as it is both a UNESCO World Hertage site and the only National Park in Africa where you are able to walk without a guide (at your own risk, of course).

Camping facilities are extremely limited (a brai stand & a 'long drop' toilet....that's your lot), it is easy to go for days without seeing another person, and the wildlife is fantastic.

But....it is a very harsh, dusty environment for camera equipment.

I would of course recommend a decent camera bag for your equipment, but remember to keep everything zipped up when on the move.

I don't attempt any cleaning whilst in the bush (other than careful wiping of filter fronts which need to offer some protection to lenses).

We have no source of power - you should have - I take a small solar battery charger & lots of spare batteries...I suggest that in your case with power to re-charge batteries overnight(??), 2 or 3 batteries per body should suffice.

I prefer to take lots of smaller capacity (reputable make) CF cards rather than 1 or 2 huge cards. Even though this means changing cards more frequently (and potentially allowing dust into the card slot) I have (only once) had a card corrupt - I would hate this to happen to a card containing a weeks worth of photo's taken in the wild.

If you can get your hands on a 400mm or 500mm lens, I would recommend taking it - there are plenty of times when 300mm (even on a 0.6 crop camera) just isn't long enough!

Have a great trip!
 
I took my 120 - 400 and found it most useful and I used this most of the time as some of the animals were just of of reach with the 200.
 
We went last November to Tsavo East & West, it was brilliant and we hope to go back again next year to Masai Mara
When we went I took a Sony DSCH9 and had some memorable shots, but some of the animals were just out of reach with it, especialy the cheetah. I think this was the main reason for me getting into DSLR photography.
Some photos in link below if you want to have a look.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029043&id=1014489018&l=de0c316e87
 
You will defo need longer lens for Masai mara it is vast, but the most magical place to go to.

Hopefully going back In September.
 
Briony said:
You will defo need longer lens for Masai mara it is vast, but the most magical place to go to.

Hopefully going back In September.
Click to expand...

I've purchased a Sigma 150-500mm and a X2 converter about a month ago.
although I'm not expecting miracles with the converter.
I would love to stay there for a month just driving round taking photos.
 
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