Charlie7

We are planning an African Safari next year. Will my Sigma 100 - 400mm have a sufficient reach?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I'd go with Robert Capa's advice. "If your pictures aren't good enough, you weren't close enough".
--Bob

fredtoo Loc: Houston

I used a 70-400 in Africa several years ago and thought it was perfect. There will be some wide shots to will want though, and it is not good for that,

windshoppe Loc: Arizona

Most of the time. Last year I took a 1.4 extender just as insurance and did find use for it on a number of occasions.

sroter Loc: Montreal,Quebec. Canada

Hi Charlie, my friend just came back from Masai Maa in Africa. He used a Nikon D500 and a 200-500mm lens. I asked him what the other photogs in his group used. He said he had the largest lens in the group. He said he used the 500mm range on the lens less often that say 200mm to 400mm range. ( He also brought a 55mm-150mm lens)He said they got very close more often than not. Your 100-400mm lens will be alright. He said some people used their phones ???
Here is my friend's Mike page, you can see what to expect http://www3.bell.net/mikestreicher/index.html.
Have a great time !!

larryhav Loc: Charlotte, NC

Hi Charlie, my wife and I just returned yesterday from a 3 week trip to Namibia and Mala Mala in South Africa. I brought my Canon 5D4 and rented a Canon 7D2. Started with the Canon 100-400 lens on the Canon7D2 and the 24-104 lens on the full frame sensor 5D4. The animals were so close I switched the lenses and used the 5D4 with the 100 - 400 lens and it was plenty. The other main reason I did this is because I wanted high shutter speed to capture action shots. I needed to push the ISO over 1600 many times to get that high shutter speed even during the day and the 5D4 with larger pixel size allowed me to reduce noise better than the 7D2 does (based on past wildlife trips). The only time I really needed longer than 400 lens was with some birds. Depending on where you go, you will be surprised how close you will get to the wildlife. I was able to use the 24-104 lens for almost all the big 5 animals. Even the Leopards were close where I was (except when they were in the trees). Keep in mind that if you are taking small plane flights (6 - 12 seat planes) there will be a weight limit and the camera equipment I took combined with my limited clothing was just barely below the weight limit. Africa is an amazing place and I am sure you will have a great time. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

Rineal Loc: Copake NY

I traveled around Kenya in January. I had the Sigma C150 - 600 on my D500. For 90% of the time 300mm would have been plenty but that other 10%!!! You will be close enough to all of the animals except the birds - and Africa has many beautiful birds! For those shots I was very glad to be able to go to 6oomm.
Richard

DesT

As many of you have pointed out, the drivers of the safari vehicles do a great job in getting you really close to the larger animals so 400 mm on the top end is plenty. Again, the birds can present a greater challenge but if you have a decent rig, you can crop. I grew up in South Africa and have been on many game spotting drives, including recently. One thing I highly recommend is a good monopod which you can use inside the vehicle. There’s a lot of movement in those trucks and the roads are quite rough, so stability is more of an issue than lens reach.

ELNikkor

yes

jedcardio

It should be fine. Rarely will you need a wider lens. If you are using a crop frame camera the 400 will be equivalent to 600.Most of your shots will be fairly close and the 100(150) will be fine.

Mazoon

We went on an African Safari in Southern Africa in June/July of this year. We stayed at 3 different Safari Camps for four nights each. I took 2 cameras, a Sony a7RIII for my self and a Sony A6500 for my wife, that way our lens were interchangeable between cameras. the lens we took were a 24-70 which was usually on the A6500, because of the crop factor that became 36-105, a 70-200 which was usually on the the A7RIII and a 2X teleconverter. I often used the 2X tele with the 70-200 on the A7RIII so it stretched to 140-400 which was plenty for most any situation. If I really wanted to reach out I put the 2X tele and the 70-200 on the A6500 which effectively made it a 210-600 and was more than we need. The drivers/guides pretty much always got us in close. It's amazing how used to the safari vehicles the animals are and are not spooked by them.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If it is on a cropped sensor camera, yes. On a full frame, border line but should get you through.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Been on three safaris and the guides got us so close that all I used from the long lenses was a 70-200mm.

Have fun...

Charlie7

Thank you for your responses. My wife really did not want me to buy a new lense. Would you suggest safari companies you have used?

Rineal Loc: Copake NY

We went to Kenya with Gamewatchers Safari. Great company with excellent social and ecological values. They did a fantastic job.
Richard