Shadow merchant

I am leaving next month on safari to Tanzania. I have a Nikon 5200 with a Nikon70-300, and a Nikon 5100 with a Nikon 18-200.

Two questions, one with this much shooting should I stay with RAW or go with large file JPEG? Secondly should I bother with/need a 1.4 TC on the 70-300?

Thanks

Dan Copeland Loc: Hamilton Ontario Canada

I would shoot raw, only because of the added information in the image file that you can never photograph again.

The weight and size of a 1.4 TC why would you not take it. It could mean the difference of getting a shot or not.

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

As to RAW/JPEG I've always been a JPEG shooter. I don't believe the TC will fit a 70-300...

banjonut Loc: Southern Michigan

Raw, Raw, Raw!!!!

davefales Loc: Virginia

My opinion: Unless you are going to shoot birds, the 70-300 should be more than adequate without the TC. That's what I used and got fine results. Our guides in South Africa and Botswana were pretty good at getting close to the big mammals.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Raw will let you make more modifications when processing, although the files will be much larger. For a situation like this, I'd err on the side of caution and bring lots of memory cards. Maybe shoot RAW + JPG. When I travel, I bring an Acer netbook with a 350GB drive and transfer daily. I also bring a small external HD. When I get home, I have the SD cards, external drive, and netbook. Pretty good insurance.

sbesaw Loc: Boston

TC not compatible with your lenses so no sense to carry it.
see:

http://www.nikonsupport.eu/europe/Manuals/DrdIaQvRZv/TC_converter_compatibility-EN_01.pdf

Shadow merchant

The TC is a Kenco pro 300 and does work on the 79-300

Shadow merchant

The TC is a Kenco pro 300 and does work on the 70-300

sbesaw Loc: Boston

And it will autofocus ??

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

If you have enough storage capacity I would shoot both RAW and JPEG Fine. If you don't have enough capacity then I would get more! Compared to going to Africa, buying more cards is cheap. Take plenty.

sbesaw Loc: Boston

Ok then go for it, some comments from other forums by those that have tried this combo,

"Welcome, and in answer to your question, yes, it is possible, I've done it with the 70-300 VR. Sadly, I was not happy with the results. Very little more detail with the TC than just cropping a regular shot at 300mm, and the autofocus became slow and erratic in anything but very bright light so I gave up on the idea."

"I've tried out a 70-300mm VR with a late-model (manufactured last year) Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 DGX 1.4X teleconverter, but the result was quite soft, with rather heavy chromatic aberration. AF speed takes a minor hit, but the image quality is the deal-breaker; I'd rather just shoot at 300mm and crop at that point."

I only bring this up because the Safari is probably not an every year event and one may never get back, Photo's on the camera LCD always look good. Be a shame to shoot once in a lifetime shots and get home and get them on a computer screen and find out they are soft. Now if you have tried the TC in various lighting conditions and are happy with the results then no need to ask the question, better to have and not need than need and not have. On these safari's they usually get you close enough that a 300mm is fine.

Oh I'd shoot raw

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

I have the 70-300 also and looked in to the TC for it. No go. Why Nikon sells these without making that a bit more clear bugs me. Or am I bugged because I did not check it out enough?

And I meant to add that I found somewhere (you can google it) a nikon list of which lenses are compatible with which TC.

philo Loc: philo, ca

I just got back from Africa and my advise is
1. shoot raw and take extra cards and batteries.
2. take the longest lens you can. I purchased a Tamron 150-600 for the trip and shoot 90% of all my images with this lens.
3. If you are going to use a 1.4 plan to use it all day long. You will not have time to think between shots.
4. plan on using manual focus, because there is so much bush that the af get confused. Plus the fact the animals keep moving.
5. This was my most interested trip. Have a get time and come home with lots of great stuff. I did.
6. Are you going with OAT

Girl with A Canon Loc: Myrtle Beach,SC

I was there in April I took two camera with me. I wanted a back up just in case. As the animals where all moving around and I did not want to "monkey" around with setting I shot in the sports setting. When the leopard was moving it got it. When to hippos went under the water or where wrestling with each other I got it. Sports only does Jpegs and as someone who is new to photography they all came out good. The camera I ended up using the most was the new Canon SX50 that I got. I could get much closer to my subjects then all the others with there lenses. If you are not going back ever again then don't fool around with settings and go sports.