African Safari: Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September. We each have nearly current models Samsung phones. Sony RX100 VI Canon EOS...

CharleM Loc: Cornwall, NY

Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September.

We each have nearly current models Samsung phones.
Sony RX100 VI
Canon EOS 70D
Lenses EF-S 18-200, EF 70-300, EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55

What to take or leave? not planning on publishing photos.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

I think phone reception may be limited there. As for actual cameras, the longer the lens the better. Close-ups of lions and rhinos shouldn't really be taken from close up.

Zooman 1

Take the 18-200 and the 70-300 leave the other 2. You might consider something longer than 300mm. I would recommend a 400mm zoom or prime which ever fits your budget. I used the EF 100-400mm 90 percent of the time.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

300mm isn't enough! Neither is 400mm!

Maxpixel

I am into my 4th week of a southern Africa safari, including areas in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. I am using 2 Canon R5s, one with a 100-500mm Canon zoom and the other with a Canon 600mm f4 lens and 1.4X and 2.0X extenders. Many of my lion photos and all of my rhino photos were taken with 1200mm, sometimes hand held. Some lions were shot with only 100mm. Birds have been photographed usually at 600mm and up. I feel this camera/lens combination has allowed me to take advantage of all the wildlife opportunities I have been given. If I were only in areas with more dense vegetation, I wouldn’t require such a wide range of focal lengths.
For landscapes I use Canon 16-35 and 24-105 zooms and for night sky Milky Way a Sigma 20mm f1.4 lens. I mostly used a Canon 70-200 f4
lens for native people.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you want one lens, take the 18-200. If you want two lenses, take the 70-300 and the 10-18 (or 18-55). Have the Sony as the 2nd camera and have fun!

Hip Coyote

Please search UHH for this topic..there are at least 20 threads about this. You will get a wealth of knowledge. Bottom line you need two cameras that cover from wide angle (maybe 24 mm) to telephoto...minimal would be 400. Witgh a crop frame sensor, I would think a 100-400 would suffice most of the time. (It depends if your guide can drive off road or not to get to the animals.) Changing lenses in the field is not advisable due to dust and fact that conditions change so quickly. Advice that you will not be shooting lions up close is completely wrong...we were close enough to almost pet them in some cases. I encouraged my wife to try it but she declined. Rhinos...not so much...pretty cantankerous critters.

You are about to spend some large coin on a trip...there is a lot of research to be done. Start with the search function of UHH.

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

For your cell phone, you may want to increase its memory size (if it is relatively small), and empty it of most photos (save to computer), before you go.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

CharleM wrote:

Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September.

We each have nearly current models Samsung phones.
Sony RX100 VI
Canon EOS 70D
Lenses EF-S 18-200, EF 70-300, EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55

What to take or leave? not planning on publishing photos.

Get the RX10m4 to go with the RX100. If you MUST take the 70D, Get a Tamron 100-400 to go with it and leave all the other stuff home.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

CharleM wrote:

Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September.

We each have nearly current models Samsung phones.
Sony RX100 VI
Canon EOS 70D
Lenses EF-S 18-200, EF 70-300, EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55

What to take or leave? not planning on publishing photos.

With 3 safaris under my belt, the longest lens I use is 200mm. The guides will get you very, very close to the action. So close that I often used a shorter lens. The trick is not changing lenses in the dusty environs and losing a shot. Take a fast lens for the very early AM drama. Have fun!

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I love my Tamron 18-400 for travel and actually just about everything else

Have fun and share some of your photos

Chuck

photoman43

CharleM wrote:

Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September.

We each have nearly current models Samsung phones.
Sony RX100 VI
Canon EOS 70D
Lenses EF-S 18-200, EF 70-300, EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55

What to take or leave? not planning on publishing photos.

It depends on what type of safari you are taking and what countries and locations you will be seeing. A dedicated photo safari will justify more equipment as it is geared to getting you to the right places for the best shots. A general safari, with more people in the land rover will limit your opportunities and require very flexible equipment and usually less equipment. If your location limits the land rover to the roads, you need longer lenses. If you are allowed to drive off road and closer to the animals, than shorter lenses may work.

On my two photo safaries, my longest lenses differed: 500 f4 with 1.4x tc for Tanzania and a 300mm f2.8 with 1.4x tc for Botswana. Two cameras for each trip. Cell phone is a must, or a small point and shoot.

Is this your Sony camera? If not, consider it especially if you will be on a general safari.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1361560-REG/sony_sony_rx10iv_digital_camera.html?sts=pi

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

CharleM wrote:

Once again i need advice on camera and lens suggestions, this time for a safari in September.

We each have nearly current models Samsung phones.
Sony RX100 VI
Canon EOS 70D
Lenses EF-S 18-200, EF 70-300, EFS 10-18, EFS 18-55

What to take or leave? not planning on publishing photos.

18-200 and 70-300, at 300 you are equal to a FF 480mm.

BigOldArt Loc: Seminole, FL

cahale wrote:

I think phone reception may be limited there. .

The capability of your pocket computer to make phone calls may well be limited. If you can get WiFi someplace you will usually be able to make phone calls. The lack of cell service does not affect note taking, game playing, using pre-downloaded maps, using pre-downloaded translation dictionaries, compass, photo taking with location data in EXIF, etc.

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

When planning our trip there in the 80's (back in film days) we received many suggestions on film speeds to take, lens(I've forgotten which kit lenses came with the premiere Canon camera), what to be sure and visit in the area we planned to visit, etc. The absolute best suggestion we received, which may not be possible today, was to pay a reasonable premium and have a driver and vehicle all to ourselves. Everything functioned on our time and interests; we took breaks if and when needed, meaning we were not limited by those with small/weak bladders and did not necessarily go where everyone else went.