I have been to Africa 5 times, my wife 6. Destinations include Tanzania with Ngorongoro Crater & Serengeti, Maasai Mara area of Kenya, Chobe river and Kalahari desert in Botswana, Sabi Sand in S Africa and Etosha National park in Namibia.
All were wonderful.
I can highly recommend CNP Safaris because of their unique vehicles. On the Chobe river they have two boats that seat about 7. Each person has a seat the rotates 360 degrees with a an attached tripod with a Gimbel (Wimberley) head and the loan of a 600 mm f/4 lens. The guide and driver know the river and its best photo spots for wildlife. Shooting from a nimble boat gets you up close and at the animals eye level. We love the place. See
https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel and in particular
https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel/Africa-August-2016/ and
https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel/Africa2013/For land (Etosha, Maasai Mara, Serengeti, etc) they have specialized land vehicles with the same custom rotating seats with tripods, gimbel heads and 600 mm lenses. Compared to other safari outfitters where you may be 3 abreast in a jeep the CNP vehicles allow much better photo ops (my personal opinion).
See
www.coetzernaturephotography.comThe owner is Lou Coetzer. We also like Johan Greyling very much.
I am in no way affiliated with CNP but I have been very happy with their photo safaris.
Walt Custer
We have had the Sigma 150-600 Sport for almost a year. We love it.
Agreed.
Need to know safari location, vehicle setup, how many people/vehicle, handheld or stabilized mount, etc.
We have been in many place in Africa. Sometimes a short (28-300) zoom was right, other times a long (600 w/extender was best). Two bodies, one with a shorter lens and one with a telephoto will be helpful.
Need to get details on terrain, number in group, and vehicle BEFORE heading to Africa.
Walt
We have been to Africa 5 times - Tanzania, Masai Mara in Kenya, Chobe river in Botswana, Etosha park in Nambia, Sabi Sands in S Africa. In all cases i used and appreciated a long lens. I have a Nikon 600 f/4, Nikon 200-400 f/4, Nikon 80-40 and a Sigma 150-600 sports. During our first trip (Tanzania) I shot a Nikon D300 with the 600 mm lens on a beanbag. Worked fine. On subsequent trips we were in a boat or land vehicle which had special seats with attached tripod mounts with Wimberley (Gimbal) heads. The seats (with attached tripod & lens) rotated 360 degrees. Our last trip the seats were outfitted with tripods with dual Gimbal heads allowing the use of two cameras/lenses side by side. In this last case (Botswana & Kenya) I shot D5 & a D4s using a 600mm w/ a 2x extender side by side with the 200-400 mm.
I appreciated the long/shorter lens combo.
On a budget ($$ & weight) I think the Sigma 150-600 would be a good choice. I love ours. I don't have the Tamron 150-600 but I believe that would be a good alternative. If renting a bigger lens is an option then the 600mm with a 2x extender would be great. Consider bringing a second camera body if possible (both as a backup and also for a shorter (hand held) lens).
A lot depends on where you will be, in what type of vehicle and of course your $$ & weight constraints.
See
https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel for my various travel photos including those from Africa.
You will undoubtedly have a wonderful time. We love Africa!
Walt Custer
We have two. They are our "standard" walking around lenses. Have used them for years. Currently used with D800e and D5 but have been on many of our full frame bodies over the years. Good, general purpose lens.
Walt
We have had the Sigma 150-600 Sports for over 6 months. Love it.
Just returned from 3 weeks in Africa.
Walt Custer
I did this a while ago with my Lenovo W530 notebook.
I have two 2TB SSDs, one internal in my computer and the other in my DVD drive slot using a caddy. Total of 4TB of of solid state drive storage. Very handy.
Walt Custer
Excellent review!
We have a D5 & a D500. Autofocus is much better on both cameras compared to our earlier Nikons but I have struggled to find the "best" settings - d25, d74, d153, group, 3d, auto for action wildlife. This review offers good advice.
Walt Custer
At the risk of being considered too promotional take a look at:
www.coetzernaturephotography.comLook at the boat and land vehicle on the first web page. Both are custom designed for photography. Each photographer has a seat that rotates 360 degrees with an attached height-adjustable tripod and Wimberley head. Loaner 400mm and 600mm lenses are provided. Shooting from these is a far cry from the commonly used 3 bench vehicles that are often crowded and have limited viewing access and no chance to use a tripods.
Many of the challenges discussed in this thread above go away with the accessibility these vehicles allow.
My point is there are a variety of tour operators, some with better equipment than others for photographers.
I am not affiliated with Coetzer Nature Photography in any way but I have gotten some nice photos on its tours.
See:
https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel/Botswana-2011/https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel/Botswana-Kalahari-2011/https://waltc.smugmug.com/Travel/Africa2013/Walt Custer
Experiences vary depending on locations, guides, vehicles, camera & lens technology and fellow travelers.
I used my 600 mm f/4 a lot (with & without extenders) and almost always on a beanbag.
I used my 28-300 often (animals close to vehicle, large or groups of animals, landscapes, people, etc).
I used a 80-400 when hand holding was the only option but a longer reach was desired.
We now have a Sigma 150-600 which I see as value for hand holding.
Our first trip to Tanzania in 2011 was with a Nikon D300. It was a good camera for its time but by today's standards it is limited in high-ISO usage due to noise. Newer cameras have much more high-ISO/noise latitude - allowing much faster shutter speeds without a tripod. Hence shooting a long lens without a camera support and getting sharp photos is much easier.
In all of our Africa trips we were able to exit the vehicles (after checking for predators). Picnics, "sun downers", bio breaks, rock climbing and general sightseeing were allowed in areas where the guides felt it was safe.
I agree that having two bodies - one with a long and the other with a wider (zoom) lens is good.
I have been to Tanzania (including Ngorongoro Crater & the Serengetti), Botswana (including the Chobe river area and the Kalahari desert), Zimbabwe with Victoria falls, S Africa including Sabi Sands and Namibia and its Etosha area. The vehicles varied a lot by region (open tops with a roof perimeter for beanbags in Tanzania to 3-tier bench seating with no easy camera supports in other countries). However in all places I was VERY happy to have both a very long lens and also a wide angle.
This August we are headed to the Masai Mara area of Kenya and also back to the Chobe river in Botswana.
As I posted earlier I think you should get the trip details BEFORE going including pictures of vehicles to see seat configeration, number of people/vehicle, planned itinerary, etc.
It is also my experience that photographers should go on trips dedicated to photography. A mixture of birders and sightseers and photographers can be toxic. Birders often want to maximize their "life list", taking a brief photo and moving quickly to the next species. Photographers by contrast are willing to wait quite a while for the perfect shot, are concerned with proper light, etc.
You wrote: "Most suggest you do not use above a 1.4 because your camera can only focus down to f8." ??????
If it is an f/4 600mm lens with a D810 it will autofocus with a 2x extender. If the 600 mm lens is not f/4, i.e., has a smaller max aperture (f5.6 or f6.3) then a lesser (1.7 or 1.4) extender would bee needed.
adding a 2x extender....
Yes, if it is a 600 f/4 then it will function effectively as a 1200 f/8 on a full frame body.
I use a genuine Nikon extender, a AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III Product 2189
I believe a D810 will focus fine with this 600 f/4 + 2x extender combo.
Make sure extender is compatible with your lens. Some lenses will not accept extenders. They physically won't fit.
Also autofocus will not work or will be very slow when the extender+lens combo is above (aperture smaller than) f/8. That is a f/5.6 lens with a 2x extender will likely have slow or no autofocus abilty. The camera body is also key. Most of the newer Nikon bodies will autofocus to f/8. I use a 600 f/4 +2x extender which is fine with a D800, D4s, D5 and D500. Can't speak for other brands but I think situation is similar. Of course a 1.4 or 1.7 extender is an option and offers more latitude in lens selection.
Walt
Depend on vehicle. Our open top vehicle (see profile picture) was ideal for beanbag usage.