imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

The Tammy 100-400 is very GOOD.

The Sony RX10 IV is the acknowledged best camera for back up on safari.
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LXK0930 Loc: Souh Jersey

I have been on several safaris. Most leave very early in the morning, so light is not too good. I would advise getting the fastest lens that you can afford.
Note: I do not own one, but the Panasonic FZ200 or FZ300 (better weather sealing, which is really important in Africa) seem to provide a great combination of zoom range, lens speed (constant f2.8) and price. Unfortunately, only available used.

Adrienne

Last year I took my Fuji X-T1 to Botswana! Perfection. However I got the X-T3 at Xmas so took it to Kenya with me in August. The 100-400 lens is perfect for those distant photos of a majestic cheetah sitting high at alert on an ant mound. If you have two bodies, take both one already set for a something like a 50-200 - for those many opportunities when the elephant, zebra, water buck, lioness, cheetah walks between you and the next Safari vehicle. PS - Go with a photographer who is intimately knowledgeable of the terrain, and, has a well developed relationship with the local driver/trackers. As a photographer, you need a photo guide who can position your vehicle in exactly the right place pre-dawn with full knowledge of “the lion pride and six cubs were sighted under these bushes last night.”
The quality of the photos you take are in direct relationship to your goal. If you can live with “drive by’s” with another thirty photographers jostling for position that’s one thing. If you want to be the first vehicle in the best position to get the lion backlit with his breath visible, go with the best photo safari guide you can. I only travel with Piper Mackay Photography so far. Piper has lived in Kenya for13 years and has driver/trackers she has “developed.”

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

A couple of things to consider:

(1) When and where are you going? Be sure you know if it's the dry season or wet or just after wet season as animal viewing and dust are significantly different in each time. Dry season is good for animal viewing but your longer lenses will be more useful then. Also dust will be up so no changing in the field. Wet season is much greener and you have to get closer to the animals and watch for them in the bush.

(2) How are you getting around? On both my Africa trips we had to make jumps in very small panes and were limited to a total of 35 pounds for carryon and checked (not really checked--we just tossed our duffels in the back of the plane). If this is the case you may want to reconsider how much gear you take.

(3) For me I found less is more. First you may only be shooing a short time but you'll be viewing a lot more. Our trips were to equatorial East Africa and sub-equatorial Southern Africa. On the first trip I took a bridge camera (Nikon p-600) which had good zoom and I got a lot of good pictures. However, I missed a lot of good pictures too because the camera was too slow in focus and because of battery limitations required it to be shut off between shooting and it took too long to start up when the action started (a lot of action starts very quickly). The second trip I took a Nikon d7100 w/Tamron 18-400mm lens. This worked very well for me as I shot mostly at close to the 400mm limit but fairly often had to drop it down to the wide end quickly a lot as well. I I also had along a 50mm 1.4 lens that I used for night drives. This allowed me to get some decent (but not good) shots of animals in the dark. I think the d7200 is better for low light than the d7100.

(4) Unless you are on a dedicated photo-safari you probably won't need two bodies or lots of extra gear. The ones on our trip had to fudge the weight and I almost never saw them use the backup body.

African safaris are wonderful adventures and you will want to come back with some good pictures to remember it and to show others and to do whatever else you do with photographs but you shouldn't let your need to get pictures overshadow the overall adventure of the trip. There is just so much to see and do. Hope you have a good one.

appealnow Loc: Dallas, Texas

To the Serengeti I took my Nikon D5300 with Nikkor 18-300 mm zoom and for really long shots I bought a Nikon P900 so I would not have to carry a heavy lens. If you are on a photo tour, however, they are more set up for the big lenses.

JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

I have had in the past Nikon D3400, D5300 and now have D5600 all with 18-200mm lens and/or 18-140mm. Recently have settled for 16-85mm on he D5600 for general and landscape photography, Travel photography I use an Olympus OMD-E-M1 with Olympus 12-200mm lens. This a weatherproof combo with which I don't need to change lenses. Very happy with this system. I have had the Fuji S1 you mentioned but found it only reasonable in bright conditions and even then its poor dynamic range limited its value As with most superzoom cameras I found 1200mm useless without a tripod which really kills its use for travel. Personally I would recommend
a Nikon 18-300mm for your D7200 - my daughter has one on her D5600 and gets brilliant results from it.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I'd 2nd the suggestion of a RX10 IV (or III). Excellent 1" sensor cameras and both have the same ZEISS 24–600 mm, f/2.4–4.0 zoom lens.

bwa

Sally A

I am off to the Falklands (penguins!!!) in the new year with the same camera as Larry - Sony RX10 IV. Since it was getting harder and harder to carry around a lot of gear, I figured this will work. I'm still learning all its features, but thus far, I like it. I am not as in love with it as my Nikon stuff, but it is more practical when traveling.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I said in my thread that a Bridge camera with a good focal range would be good for a Safari. I know about that camera. There is a version 1 and a version 2 of that camera. Both are very good. I may purchase one, if I ever decide to sell my 4 year old Nikon Bridge camera, that has a maximum focal range to 855mm. Nice pic too.

jefflane

Last time I went to Kenya, I brought my Canon 7DII, 1DxII, 500, 100-400 and a landscape lens. I would highly recommend a "Photographic" or private safari with only one person per row in the vehicle. I used both large lenses a lot. I never used the tripod.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Yes, the Nikon P900, that has a 2000mm fixed lens focal range. That is more than enough.

timbuktutraveler

If you are going on a SAFARI, you do NOT want to purchase the SONY RX 10 1 or 2.

Both have a 24-200 lens which is too short.

The RX10 3 or 4 both have a 24-600 lens,
but the RX10 4 has much better light sensitivity, better 4K video, can record longer, improved auto focus and shooting speeds.