Best camera to take on a safari?

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willow839

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Michelle
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Hi

I'm buying a DSLR in the New Year and need a bit of advice. I'm new to buying a camera and the main reason for it is that I'm working on a game reserve for 2 weeks next September. I will be using it on a regular basis before and after the experience but my main thing is getting one that is good for taking photos of animals at a distance.

Can anyone advise on what camera would be best and what type of lens?

Thank you

Michelle
 
I think any current DSLR or Micro 4/3 will do. However, when I went on Safari to the Masi Mari in Kenya a few years ago, most of the jeep treks were either early in the morning or later on the afternoon when it was cooler and the animals were more active. Unfortunately that also meant much lower light levels than I was expecting.

TBH my 70-300mm F5.6 consumer zoom, just about coped, but I had to up the ISO at 800-1600 most of the time on my Nikon D200 (which wasn't that great at high ISO), and even then, the lens was usually wide open.

That's why I hesitate to recommend a superzoom bridge camera, as usually at the longer focal lengths they are down to F5.6-F8 ish, and the high ISO performance of nearly all the brige cameras still can't match that of the larger sensor DSLR's.

So in conclusion, my recommendation would be an APS-C DSLR (to give the 1.5-1.6x extra magnification factor), such as a Nikon D7000 or Canon 7D, as both of these allow easily to use ISO3200 or faster whilst still retaiining excellent image quality. Of couse the full frame cameras (D3S and 5DMKII) would be excellent, but might be a little too prohibitive price wise. Couple this with as fast a 300mm or longer prime or zoom that you can. Canon have the excellent 100-400 IS F5.6 zoom, or in Nikon maybe the 300mm f4 AFS or even the 70-300 F5.6AFS VR?. Also, a Canon or Nikon 70-200 F2.8 IS/VR zoom coupled with their matching 1.4x and 2x converters also makes an excellent combo.

Don't forget a standard FL zoom or primes and a decent wide angle as some of those african skies just cry out for a wider view.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I was looking at £450 max really.
 
For £450 you're going to be better off looking at a non-SLR solution. Something like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 is within your price range and will give you the equivalent of 600mm on a 35mm camera. That should be plenty for most stuff in Africa.

In the dSLR world, £450 isn't going to buy you half a lens that'd be good for safari.
 
I bought a second hand Nikon D70 for when we went on safari last year, I teamed it up with a 75-300 Nikkor and an 18-105 VR Nikkor and it produced some excellant results I think I paid about £550 all together.

There are some pictures on my flickr if you want to take a look

HTH

Paul
 
A good fast telephoto lens costs megabucks and is a very specialised bit of kit which you might not use much when you get back. The camera on the other hand will probably be used before during and after your trip.
Therefore I would suggest you get a dslr body and something like a kit lens to practice with now and hire a telephoto or zoom lens for the duration of your trip.
 
willow839 said:
...I will be using it on a regular basis before and after the experience but my main thing is getting one that is good for taking photos of animals at a distance.
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The camera body doesn't really matter that much but the lens does and you need a longish one. However the length of the lens will depend on the size and approachability of the animals.
 
daugirdas said:
The question was best camera for safari

Well that would be the upcoming Canon 1Dx with 500mm f/4L IS and 300mm f/2.8L IS II lenses.
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it would be one hell of a combo but not on a £450 budget

I would be looking at a bridge camera for your budget as like said you will not get a second hand DSLR with a decent lens for that sort of money.
The wife bought a canon powershot SX30 IS for our hols in uSA last year and to be fair I was amazed at the shots it took. we did not exactly go on safari but we went to a wildlife park and it was great, it did everything she was expecting and the shots where great.

spike
 
If you are keen on a DSLR, I would have a look at MPB (banner at top of the page) for second hand kit.

I don't use Nikon kit, only Canon, so can only recommend their kit (the prices in brackets are prices I have just found on MPB).

I would get something like a 400D / 450D (£259) / 500D (£300), a 18-55 (£40 ish), or the better 18-55 IS (£74), and that would do for general shooting.

Depending on how long you are going away for you could rent a lens from Lenses For Hire (another member / advertiser here) they have the Sigma 50-500 for £52 per week, the Canon 100-400 IS L for £70 per week and the Canon 70-300 IS L for £72 per week. These are the normal recommendations for lenses for safari's when money is less of an issue if buying (each lens is around the £1000 mark), or for short durations if renting.

However, there are cheaper alternatives; at the cheap end of the market you can buy the Canon 75-300 USM for about £170 new, or about £120 second hand. This isn't the best lens in the world (it is generally seen to be Canons worst lens), however, I own it and found it fine on film for two years in Botswana (galleries on my Smugmug - travel / Bots 2004/2005 and Bots 2007) and my Dad found it to be fine on his 400D a couple of years ago - here is one of his shots with it: http://gembobs.smugmug.com/Travel/Bots-2010/Bradfields-Hornbill-Dad/1007392864_UrJAo-X2.jpg (no idea why he was on ISO 1600, that is straight out of camera as he shot in Jpeg) The 55-250 IS sells for a similar price and is a better quality lens, but not as much reach.

To go up in price, Canon has a well respected 70-300 IS (the black barrelled non L lens) for about £300 second hand, Tamron and Sigma may have similar lenses around that price too.

If you do a search on Flikr you should find groups showing shots taken with the specific lenses you are interested in, this will give you an idea of the picture quality to see if it is something you would be happy with. If you go down the Canon route have a look on Photography On the Net as they have a sub-forum dedicated to shots taken with specfic lenses too.

I would also recommend you buy a tripod (do a search on here for specific recommendations) as you will probably want to take some night shots (the skies in Botswana are amazing, so I would imagine the same is true elsewhere in Africa!) and also for any sunset / sunrise shots too.

Also don't forget to factor in memory cards, take plenty so you don't have to delete shots while over there.

I know of a few people who have gone to Africa with a regular compact camera and have been happy with their shots. I also know people who have gone on safari with only a pair of binoculars too, so horses for courses really. On here we are all keen photographers and are pixel peepers (either out and proud or closet pixel peepers :lol:) but at the very least we want the best possible picture quality we can get, and for many, that means only the expensive lenses will do - your needs and desires may vary!

Hope that helps to give you an idea of what you can get for your budget and hope you have a great trip!
 
Very interested in the comments on this topic. I'm new to the dslr world, only got my first one in July. A nikon d5100 with 18-55 kit lens and 70-300 zoom.
I'm going on honeymoon to kenya in January and 4 days safari included. Will this kit do? Should i start a new thread to ask this? Sorry!
 
If you do decide on a dSLR then instead of renting the lens for a fortnight I'd be tempted to buy one and re-sell it on your return. A decent lens (Canon 100-400 is the definitive safari lens for EOS bodies) will lose virtually zero value. Indeed, there's a fair chance you'll be able to make a profit. But that does depend on you having the £1000 for the initial purchase.
 
phil_b said:
Very interested in the comments on this topic. I'm new to the dslr world, only got my first one in July. A nikon d5100 with 18-55 kit lens and 70-300 zoom.
I'm going on honeymoon to kenya in January and 4 days safari included. Will this kit do? Should i start a new thread to ask this? Sorry!
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There are always 'better' options but you have a pretty good set up there that will get you some nice images. If this is the Tamron 70-300, it would be worth trying to move slightly away from wide open if there is enough light.

Realistically, to get any meaningful upgrade to this kit is either going to cost you a lot or a fortune!
 
gad-westy said:
There are always 'better' options but you have a pretty good set up there that will get you some nice images. If this is the Tamron 70-300, it would be worth trying to move slightly away from wide open if there is enough light.

Realistically, to get any meaningful upgrade to this kit is either going to cost you a lot or a fortune!
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Thanks Graham. I had thought of maybe a 1.4 teleconverter for extra distance, the afs version is about £360 or a second hand 50-500 sigma, about £660 for the OS Hsm version. Or hiring a lens, about £120. Not sure how much use i would get out of the 50-500 other than the holiday.
 
phil_b said:
Thanks Graham. I had thought of maybe a 1.4 teleconverter for extra distance, the afs version is about £360 or a second hand 50-500 sigma, about £660 for the OS Hsm version. Or hiring a lens, about £120. Not sure how much use i would get out of the 50-500 other than the holiday.
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you wont get a 50-500mm os for £660 more like £1250, maybe a 2nd hand 150-500mm.
 
phil_b said:
Thanks Graham. I had thought of maybe a 1.4 teleconverter for extra distance, the afs version is about £360 or a second hand 50-500 sigma, about £660 for the OS Hsm version. Or hiring a lens, about £120. Not sure how much use i would get out of the 50-500 other than the holiday.
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You'll need to check that a tele-converter would actually work with your lens. Some simply won't and even if it does, I suspect they really work best with lenses with quite wide apertures to start with.

The Nikon AF-S 70-300 VR is a really nice lens and can be bought s/h for £250 or so but won't offer you anything new other than sharper images. It's a damn fine lens though if you feel like treating yourself.

I'd agree that after that the cost of effective options are the 'bigmas'. Hiring is a nice option but maybe you could also consider buying a used one and then selling it when you get home. Might work out cheaper.

It's a shame that Nikon don't offer something on a par to Canon's 100-400. I'm sure that if they did, hiring one of them would be the default answer.
 
Also remember if you are thinking about getting a 1.4 converter for your existing 70-300 it won't work. Even if you could get it to fit, your maximum aperture would shoot up to F8, and the focussing would be terrible. Chances are though, that you won't actually be able to couple a Tele converter to a consumer zoom. They are really designed for Pro F2.8 and F4 Primes and zooms.
 
Thanks Andrew and Graham for the advice. Its hard to know what to do without spending a fortune. I also keep being reminded by the new wife that it is a honeymoon and im there to spend time with her, not sit with a camera stuck to my face for 4 days;)
 
Paul_H said:
If you have a good guide / driver a lot of the time you won't need 300mm or a converter, it's amazing how much the animals fill the view finder when you have a decent driver :)
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this is a honeymoon with 4 days safari booked through 1 of the main travel companies. I dont know how good the vehicles or guides will be for photography.
 
willow839 said:
Hi

I'm buying a DSLR in the New Year and need a bit of advice. I'm new to buying a camera and the main reason for it is that I'm working on a game reserve for 2 weeks next September. I will be using it on a regular basis before and after the experience but my main thing is getting one that is good for taking photos of animals at a distance.

Can anyone advise on what camera would be best and what type of lens?

Thank you

Michelle
Click to expand...

Where are you going? I assume it's Africa, but where? September is the beginning of spring in sub-Saharan Africa, but the topography, vegetation (rainfall pattern is a factor here) and type of animals you can expect to see all have a bearing on your choice. Will you be on foot or in a vehicle? It's easy to cover all the bases if you have enough budget, but you're a bit limited here, so let's see what's going to work best for you?
 
phil_b said:
this is a honeymoon with 4 days safari booked through 1 of the main travel companies. I dont know how good the vehicles or guides will be for photography.
Click to expand...

There'll be plenty of time to spend time together, when we went last year we did an earlyish morning game drive and a late afternoon / early evening game drive.

We did book the safari seperate to our main holiday and it worked out a lot cheaper! We also had the van to ourselves whereas some of the other vans we saw had upto 12 people in them which was a little cramped.

HTH

Paul
 
I'd get a canon 550D with a kit lens as it would fall into your budget and its ideal for safari as it applys 1.6x magnification to any lens which would make a 200mm lens the equivalent of 320mm on FF and a 400mm a 640mm. The high ISO is brill for low light, you can go up to 12800 if I'm not mistaken although at that ISO it will get a bit grainy. Hire a lens for 2 weeks you'd probably pay around £50-80 for a Canon 100-400mm L or the 70-200 f/2.8 is
Or the sigma 150-500mm
 
Paul_H said:
There'll be plenty of time to spend time together, when we went last year we did an earlyish morning game drive and a late afternoon / early evening game drive.

We did book the safari seperate to our main holiday and it worked out a lot cheaper! We also had the van to ourselves whereas some of the other vans we saw had upto 12 people in them which was a little cramped.

HTH

Paul
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Our transport is a 7 seater safari van with a pop up roof so hopefully wont be too bad and the view out the roof should be good. Beanbag for support?
 
lucky_13 said:
I'd get a canon 550D with a kit lens as it would fall into your budget and its ideal for safari as it applys 1.6x magnification to any lens which would make a 200mm lens the equivalent of 320mm on FF and a 400mm a 640mm. The high ISO is brill for low light, you can go up to 12800 if I'm not mistaken although at that ISO it will get a bit grainy. Hire a lens for 2 weeks you'd probably pay around £50-80 for a Canon 100-400mm L or the 70-200 f/2.8 is
Or the sigma 150-500mm
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The crop factor doesn't increase the magnification at all, and the focal length remains the same. It reduces the field of view, so a 200mm lens on a Canon XXXD or XXD body gives you the same FOV as a 320mm on full frame. It's not the same thing.
 
phil_b said:
Our transport is a 7 seater safari van with a pop up roof so hopefully wont be too bad and the view out the roof should be good. Beanbag for support?
Click to expand...

Phil

That's exactly what we had they are a HIACE type van very good if there are a few of you in the 4-6 max I would say

There are a few of my pictures on my flickr site most of the animals were within 10-20 yards of the van, the furthest was the stalking lion at about 400 yards but that was taken with an old Nikkor 75-300mm and then cropped

Paul
 
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Are they still known as High Impact African Culling Equipment out there? ;D
 
Paul_H said:
Phil

That's exactly what we had they are a HIACE type van very good if there are a few of you in the 4-6 max I would say

There are a few of my pictures on my flickr site most of the animals were within 10-20 yards of the van, the furthest was the stalking lion at about 400 yards but that was taken with an old Nikkor 75-300mm and then cropped

Paul
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Thanks for the info Paul. Just got a chance to check your flickr now. If i can get photos like that with the kit i have i will be happy. Cheers.
 
I took a Sigma 150-500 with me to Uganda earlier this year and was pretty happy with the results. Have a look here: clicky for a few of my photos.

The lens is a bit long if you end up getting cosy with elephants but otherwise it's pretty spot on for the job:)
 
yaaan said:
I took a Sigma 150-500 with me to Uganda earlier this year and was pretty happy with the results. Have a look here: clicky for a few of my photos.

The lens is a bit long if you end up getting cosy with elephants but otherwise it's pretty spot on for the job:)
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Thanks for the link. Like your photos. When i checked through your exif data for them, the majority of them were taken under 300mm so im hoping my 70-300 lens will be enough.

Phil
 
MartynK said:
The crop factor doesn't increase the magnification at all, and the focal length remains the same. It reduces the field of view, so a 200mm lens on a Canon XXXD or XXD body gives you the same FOV as a 320mm on full frame. It's not the same thing.
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True it doesen't increase the focal length of the lens...however if you take a photograph @ 24mm on a FF camera let's say a 5D and from the same spot with the same focal length using a 7D and print these pic's on an A4 print Ithink you'll find that the subject on pic taken with the 7D would apear closer than the subject taken with the 5D! in fact it would apear 1.6 times closer....have a go @ this experiment or look on google...click the link below.
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/10/02/full-frame-vs-crop-sensor-comparison/
 
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hollis_f said:
If you do decide on a dSLR then instead of renting the lens for a fortnight I'd be tempted to buy one and re-sell it on your return. A decent lens (Canon 100-400 is the definitive safari lens for EOS bodies) will lose virtually zero value. Indeed, there's a fair chance you'll be able to make a profit. But that does depend on you having the £1000 for the initial purchase.
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Thats just what I did bought a second hand 100 -400, but be warned once you see the results you will not want to sell it. I never thought I would ever spend that much on a lens and had every Intention of selling it on my return but 4 months later it’s still in my kit.

You can see some of my results here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=376280
 
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