Lilka

Am looking for a good camera to take on safari. Am concerned about weight restrictions and my ability to hold heavy cameras steady. Can not take a tri-mono pod. Any help would be appreciated.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Get one with a viewfinder. It's much easier to hold it steady with it held to your eye. I often recommend the RX100 series, but the reach of the lens is limited. The new Sony a7R II sounds excellent. Fortunately, you have a huge assortment available, and members will recommend virtually every one out there. :D

When you narrow down your choice, do some comparisons.

http://camerasize.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://snapsort.com/compare
http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/cameras?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

What type of camera / lenses do you have already? When are you going?

May make a difference....

teesquare Loc: USA

The truth is...
ALL of them are pretty darn good nowadays. I went with an Olympus EM-5 MkII - and number of lenses. It all fits into a SMALL camera bag.
I considered Sony, and still love them - but the cost of high quality lenses is astronomical! And - there are not as many choices of lenses than the Micro 4/3 consortium has ( 17 manufacturers are now involved in the M4/3 system. It is here to stay...)

What about budget? If that is a concern then consider a good bridge camera. Panasonic FZ200 is still a great value, tho there is a newer model. Canon makes a good one as well.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Sony Mirrorless - A6000. Lightweight, great reach, simple to use, several lenses available. Weighs about 1 lb.

Fellow Hog spotted a Costco ad for the camera bundle - $800!

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-333320-1.html

le boecere

But, wouldn't the problem be in finding a compact, lightweight, 25-600mm (equiv) f/2.8 zoom lens for the a6000? (comparing it to inexpensive travel zooms with their tiny sensors)

CO

You might want to rent first to see if you would like the electronic viewfinder of a mirrorless camera. I don't like them. An EVF can be sluggish.

Jcmarino

Love my Sony a6000, just saying. Check it out and see if that will meet your needs.

Dsrapa Loc: Outside of nyc

Best for safaris is a bridge wth a big zoom. Changing lenses is a pain in the bumpy vehicles and often dusty conditions. And you want to be able to get the glorious sunset across the vista and then focus on the leopard 50 yards away sleeping in a tree. Canon sx50 (refurb from canon), lumix rx200 or new version, or even smaller the lumix zs 30,40,50.
It's a fabulous trip! Enjoy!

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

What is the end use of your pictures? Even the tiny sensor in a point-and-shoot like the Nikon P-520, which I have, is capable of producing very good 13 x 19 prints. Almost anything with a zoom up to 500mm (35mm equivalent) or so should be fine for most of your photographs. There are several brands to choose from, and even 10-12mp is adequate unless you want extra-large prints.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

lots of useless advice. get a canon sx50hd and it is all you need. light with lots of reach and decent wide angle

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Lilka,
Someone brought up a very good point about a possible scenario that might happen on your safari---wind. Others have also made the suggestion that a bridge (superzoom) camera would give you an advantage because of the lens' ability to shoot wide AND zoom close. One camera that you might consider that would cover all of this is the Fuji Finepix S1. It has a range of 24mm to 1200mm, a 16.4mp CMOS sensor that is rated as having very good image quality, the aperture ranges from f/2.9 to 5.6, it has a 3" LCD variable-angle monitor as well as an eye viewfinder, full HD video, a very fast 10 frames per second shooting, you can shoot in timelapse photography, it has image stabilization built-in, it shoots RAW, has a hotshoe, is threaded on the lens for adding filters, it has WI-FI capability, weighs only 24 ounces, and, as mentioned, is WEATHER SEALED. Right now you can find this at several places for about $399.99 with some places offering no extra cost for shipping. Check it out (and click on the blue link underneath the photos of the camera that will show you a demonstration of this great camera's features and abilities):
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/fujifilm-finepix-s1-16-4-megapixel-digital-camera-black/3526008.p?id=1219091822793&skuId=3526008&ref=06&loc=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=3526008&extensionType=pla:g&s_kwcid=PTC!pla!!!80451796119!g!!47857572999&kpid=3526008&k_clickid=7ca818bf-5c73-4241-9e5f-b5a4e00437be&lsft=ref:212,loc:1&ksid=7ca818bf-5c73-4241-9e5f-b5a4e00437be&ksprof_id=14&ksaffcode=pg2006&ksdevice=c&kpid=3526008

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Get one with a full-frame or APS-c sensor. You will surely want to print some of those photographs to 11x14 or larger. The smaller sensors do not produce adequate quality after you've done a little cropping. You're lucky to get more than 8x10 prints.

Right now, the Fuji X aps-c and the Sony are largely your only choices. The MCLE cameras are wonderful to carry.

marmot Loc: U.S., now South America

I now carry an Olympus EM5II camera with several lenses, but using only their 14-150 lens which is water repellent as is the camera (or the brighter & heavier 14-150 f2.8 lens which works better in darker conditions) is very versatile and not outrageously heavy or large. You can make fairly large prints with micro 4/3 cameras like this, and for me visiting third world countries for months at a time, it the most that I'd carry.
Also for me, I want a viewfinder, as a view screen is simply unusable in very bright desert type light unless you cover yourself with a cloth.
I also second the motion previous to this and consider smaller sensor bridge type cameras also. I carried a Panasonic f2.8 version of these type cameras, and people were very surprised as to the quality of many of the prints, and these type cameras focus closely, and some have bright lenses (f2.8). The Fuji mentioned above is nice, and Panasonic makes several capable bridge cameras. Some of these repel rain too. Again, I'd try one of these bridge cameras for a day; they work very well. Try reading about them in DPreview.com.
For me personally, the larger full frame and asp-c cameras are simply too large and heavy to carry around when I carry my own stuff in other countries. That being said, the larger formats will make some very large quality prints, if you stomach the weight.
Have fun choosing what you like, and esp enjoy your safari! Don't forget to actually look at the scenes without a camera, as I used to try so hard to get great photos that I'd miss seeing things with my eyes and not a viewfinder.

Grammieb1 Loc: New Orleans

If you want light weight in a DSLR, Canon makes the SL-1 which is a very nice little camera & they are due to bring a newer version pretty soon. As far as mirrorless goes, there are many nice ones out there. With my eyesight, I need something with an eyepiece & holding it to my eye helps to steady the camera. Canon makes EF-s lenses that are lighter as well & some of the new STM versions are pretty good. The 55-250 is STM might be good for this type of trip. Bab