Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

I am going on a photo safari to Africa. Should I leave my AFD 80-200 and AFS 300 at home and buy or rent a AFS 70-300? The body is a D810. Also considering taking a TC-20e III. Thanks for comments.

jsimp3 Loc: Tennessee

You are shooting with an excellent body, especially for landscape and stills. If you are looking for a piece of glass that will give you distance, I would suggest renting the Nikon 80-400. This will allow you to capture animals and other subjects reasonably close, as well as giving you the distance. Sigma offers two 150-600mm (the Sport model is heavier) for little longer reach.

Instead to using a TC... I suggest putting your camera in Crop Sensor (DX) mode to get the extra reach. You will lose some mega pixels but you have more than enough on the D810. You will not get quite as much reach as with the TC, but you'll not lose any stops.

Happy Hunting

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

[quote=Fotomacher]I am going on a photo safari to Africa. Should I leave my AFD 80-200 and AFS 300 at home and buy or rent a AFS 70-300? The body is a D810. Also considering taking a TC-20e III. Thanks for comments.[/quote

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You had purchased those two lenses to take high quality images, didn't you ? Why would you not take them with you on a trip of a lifetime just so that you will have no worries about something unforeseen happening to them? My advice to you would be for you to put your best foot forward and don't worry about it getting stepped upon! Who knows, you may end up capturing images with one or both of your lenses that you otherwise would not had been able to make happen with a rented lens ~ a lens that may not had been taken good care of like the care you have given to your lenses ~ and, don't overlook the fact, when a rented lens goes haywire in the bush, their won't be much that you can do about it ! As for your taking your D810, it doesn't get any better ! Excellent choice !!!!!

I send with you my very best wishes when on your safari and may you and yours return safely and in the very best of good health !

~ Doug ~

deepdiverv Loc: arizona

My go to lens for Africa is my trusty 80-400mm(newest version). Changing a lens in the dusty conditions in the bush is asking for trouble. The 80-400mm and a good pocket camera ( like a sony rx 100) will take care of just about any thing you will need. I have friends that live in the bush in S.A. and this is their usual set up.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

If you are going to rent a lens, take at least a 400mm zoom or prime. I know someone that recently went and they took a 100-400 on a crop body and got really great results. They've used big primes, but after using this much smaller and easier to use zoom they won't be taking the 600mm prime again. I would probably take 2 bodies with a large (500mm) prime, and a 70-200mm zoom. But that's me.

Violameister Loc: michigan

You are going specifically on a photo safari. These are organized such that expensive, heavy equipment is more easily handled than if it were simply a tourist excursion. Many of your fellow travelers will be doing likewise. I would take all your "good stuff" because there are plenty of opportunities in the bush to take landscapes, closeups, telephoto shots, and, yes, even macro. And take plenty of storage; you can't take too many pictures.

Newsbob Loc: SF Bay Area

My advice is to take 2 cameras: your full sized Nikon with a nice long zoom lens, as well as a smaller camera with a wide angle lens. We saw lots of animals while on safari in South Africa, and I shot most of my images with a 150-600mm telephoto, although many were not a full maximum. But then one time, a rhino came right up to our LandRover. They have terrible eyesight, and he was just curious. I grabbed my other camera and managed to get off some really nice closeups of him before he wandered off. That shot was with the little camera at full telephoto, i.e. 70mm. If I had more time, I would have widened out, but it was such a quick thing that I was happy to get this shot.

Our vehicle did not have windows, so sandbags were not an option. I was pleased with the performance of my monopod since the long lens is tough to handhold for a long trip.

Taken with 150-600mm at 150mm

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Taken with 28-70mm lens

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Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

Thanks VERY much. I may be overthinking this situation! My lenses are great and I don't think I will heave any of my glass behind.