Just ‘cos you’ve got lots of lenses doesn’t mean you have to take them all.
If at all possible, try to take a combination that means you won’t need to constantly be changing lenses. Dust is a massive problem in Africa and every time you change lenses you are opening up both camera and lens to a potential dust invasion.
Probably one of the most frequent questions we get asked by clients is “What lenses should I take on safari?”
This question is not limited to first timers either; because the equipment you need to take depends very much on where you are going and what the conditions will be like. Photographing lions on the plains of Masai Mara requires a different approach to photographing gorillas in the rainforests of Congo or Uganda, and photographing birds is very different to photographing elephants.
So how do you make the right selection?
I love my Nikon gear but, if I take everything I might need I find myself lugging 15kg of equipment. Heading out in the car this is not a problem, but when flights are involved, especially flights in smaller aircraft, this becomes a bit of an issue.
I think I’ve found a workable solution.
It’s been tough not being able to get out on the Chobe river for the past 3 months as 2020 has seen some of the highest water levels in Botswana for many years.So it is not surprising that there’s been great excitement for our friends at Pangolin Photo Safaris as the lockdown starts to ease for local travellers in Botswana[…]
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Photographing Birds in Flight Pied Kingfisher, Chobe River. 1/1250, f8, ISO 320. Nikkor 300mm lens + 1.4x tc The thing about birds is that they rarely sit still just to make it easy for you to photograph them. Sometimes you’re lucky and they’ll stay put long enough, but more often then not they will take to the air as[…]
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Probably one of the most frequent questions we get asked by clients is “What lenses should I take on safari?” This question is not limited to first timers either; because the equipment you need to take depends very much on where you are going and what the conditions will be like. Photographing lions on the plains of Masai Mara requires[…]
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Farne Islands, open air classroom There is no doubt that the more you practice something the better at it you become. This is as true for wildlife photography as it is for anything else. It is very common for people to spend the first few hours in Africa just ‘getting their eye in’; familiarising themselves with the way animals move[…]
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Limpopo Lipadi is a private game reserve located in Botswana’s Tuli Block, just a short drive from the Zanzibar border crossing with South Africa, it is a place where your safari will be delightfully exclusive.
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Olympus Stylus 1 – It’s a dream to use and the photos I’ve taken with it are consistently bright and sharp.
Read moreLet’s make it clear from the start that this is not an in-depth technical review; rather a series of first impressions based on 2 field trips. Having said that; is there a better way of finding out if a camera will do what you want? I’ve used Nikon cameras for many years and have no quibbles about the image quality[…]
Read moreFor some years now the first lens that goes into my camera bag when I’m loading up for a safari has been my 300mm f4 telephoto. Sure, it may not be as versatile as a zoom lens but the image quality more than makes up for that. I’ve got so used to this lens that I’m not even tempted to[…]
Read moreOne of the things I try to do at the start of every year is to look back over the photographs I’ve taken in the previous year. I do this for 2 main reasons: Firstly: I like view to them with fresh eyes and form an opinion on whether or not I think they are any good. After every safari I[…]
Read moreElephants at Kanga Pan Our first sight of Kanga Pan did not fill us with optimism. What we saw was a lot of mud, with a few small pools full of stagnant green water and it certainly bore little resemblance to the year round waterhole we’d been expecting. Appearances can be deceptive though, and over the course of the 2[…]
Read moreLike many wildlife photographers, when I travel I find that my camera bag usually weighs more than my check in luggage. This is largely due to the need to carry long lenses. I try to keep up to date with the lenses that are available for my camera and when I get back from safari – if I haven’t had[…]
Read moreThe recent release of Tamron’s SP150-600 zoom lens has got tongues wagging. When the lens with the massive 4x focal range was announced not everyone was excited. Tamron have made some good lenses in the past but they’ve also made some average ones. The big question being asked about the SP150-600 was whether it would perform well enough to be[…]
Read moreIt’s official! Zimbabwe is the must visit safari destination for 2014. Since we introduced our select range of safaris in Zimbabwe a few months ago, the response has been incredible. However that doesn’t mean we’ve been resting on our laurels. Quite the opposite in fact. Although we (naturally) thought our Zimbabwe itineraries were the bees knees, we realised that because[…]
Read moreOn my latest safari I took along my AF-S Nikkon 70-300mm lens instead of my usual Sigma 120-400mm. It was just a question of weight; I would be doing a lot of carrying and I wanted to keep my gear as light as possible. It still tipped the scales at 11kg! I almost never use the VR on the Sigma[…]
Read moreThis is the second part of my review of the Tamrac Expedition 6x camera backpack. The first part of the review covered first impressions of the backpack and how well it could accommodate all my gear. This second part is my impressions of the Tamrac Expedition 6x as a camera bag to use in the field. If you missed the[…]
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