Safari camera

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I have recently posted regarding the difference between various canon models and two sony alphas, need to know which are best for safari's got £800-£900 budget, small hands and my steady hand held goes quick with a heavy camera, have held the canon 50d and it did feel oversize and heavy in my hands.
Help!
Thankyou:)
 
The camera won't make much difference, but the lens will.

You need a long one. Probably a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 or thereabouts will give you the best reach/weight relationship. And if you're hands are unsteady, make sure either the camera or lens has image stabilisation.
 
I'd recommend Canon or Nikon rather than Sony which have some great features but I find them Creaky and plasticky, lenses are a little thinner on the ground.

Lots of my clients have been on shoots in Kenya and SA and the key points seem to be good highish (400-800) iso performance and an image stabilized 70-300mm lens as an absolute minimum. I'd currently suggest the Nikon D90 as the best image qual for the money and 70-300 lenses - check the reviews.

If you want a single lens for travel and occasional safari stuff some of the new superzooms are reviewing very well, someone bought along the Tamron 18-270mm which really suprised me with it's IQ. Perhaps not the route to the best quality though.

John
 
OP I'd recommend a micro 4/3 system, A) it's small and means it won't take up to much space in your luggage..

B) This would mean that any lenses put on this camera will have a much longer focal length than that of a canon,nikon or sony.. But I'm not sure on the price or availability of new and used lenses.

But it should be worth considering as I'm pretty sure the lens focal length is doubled! Where as most canon and nikons (non full frame) only extend the lens by 1.6
 
I've just come back from Africa where we did various safaris and I can agree with the above, 300mm is a minimum I would want for the long end and 400 would be better.


High ISO is used more than you would think with animals in the shade or early morning/late night drives.

Other than that, I'd almost say the camera doesnt matter, maybe get a D40 and the 70-300 if on a budget.

Nick.
 
Good point Richard, We run a micro four thirds system based on the G1 (we call it the Grannycam as it's compact and light and they love it) I've recently added the 45-200 to the kit. it's very compact and equiv to 90-400 in 35mm. Unfortunately it's not really a very good lens the IS and the sharpness both being a little under par, that said though, in good light it performs quite well with low flare. It's useless on my GF-1 with the LCD but great on the G1 with the electronic viewfinder.

John
 
I did think that might be a problem.. I thought you could get a sigma 70-200 f/2.8 (quite a good lens!) but it seems there's limited stock.

I think something like this: http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/us...a-80-400mm-f/4.5-5.6-apo-dg-os,-canon-ef-fit/

It's got OS and sigma lenses aren't to bad! Should work out about £650 - £800 inc P&P

And maybe a 20D or a 30D would do a good job, With quite good AF and 5 FPS, Or a 40D if you could stretch to it.

Edit: Quite a sharp lens! http://www.flickr.com/photos/flavio_schrenk/2436711728/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanndo2b/3342379888/sizes/l/
 
I used my 450d and a 70-300 IS lens on safari, was really very happy with the pictures it returned :) (Both could be had within your budget)
 
My advice is pick up a D90/70-300 VR because that's the best combo for your available money. The IQ is really very good, you can push the ISO when you need a faster shutter speed too. I've been on easily 100+ safari game drives and the truth from that experience is you really need 400mm plus much of the time and the best combo is usually a long prime, perhaps with a 1.4x tcon, and a shorter zoom like a 70-200 or 70-300. On cheaper gear (all gear actually, but cheaper stuff tends to offer less leeway in terms of contrast) I would definately stick to shooting earlyish morning and later afternoon as other times glare really washes out your images badly - these are the golden hours for safari shooters. On bodies the fast pro bodies are best to help capture rapid movement, eg 1D and D3 style. If you want to save some cash on the body the a nice, low clicks, second hand D200 has better build and nicer to use IMO than D90. You might also be able to then afford a Sigma 150-500mm OS.
 
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