willy6419

visiting 3 national game parks.

Gear recomendations. Have D750, D850 and Sony A6500. Nikon lens choices are 200-500, 70-200 f4, 300 pf.

Take both Nikon bodies, or one and the Sony? which lenses?

Special tips?

Realize, dusty, must be prepared for the moment.

Thanks,

Bill

LESTAHL Loc: Colorado

Need a 375 H&H and a 270 Winchester also. Iron sights on the 375 and a scope on the 270.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I would not go without having a Sony RX10 IV as a back up......

Unless you are working for Nat-Geo, I like the idea of a Sony 24-240 or 70-350 on the 6500 and using 2X CIZ to get you to 480mm or 700mm. I like the idea of traveling light.
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craneman

Excellent choices.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Though I confess a heavy rifle,375 H&H or 416 Rigby would head my list as well, here is a very useful link. https://www.bythom.com/photographic-travel/africa/index.html

craneman

I'm going to South Africa in August with a Nikon D7500 and a P1000. I wish I could afford the high end cameras. I wish I was taking the 375 H&H also but this trip is with the wife.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Not sure? Are you using the Nikon lens on the Sony? I would not travel on a trip like that without 2 bodies(1 as a back up or the 200-500 on the 850 & the 300pf on the 750. Your going in a Safari vehichile?, Y/N?

Hip Coyote

I recommend that you search this site for prior Africa trip recommendations. Second, here is a repost of something I wrote a while back on Africa. I altered it slightly to hopefully help you.

First of all, I am envious of your trip. I've been to Africa and cannot wait to go back. Remember, you go for the animals and come back for the people. Seriously.

When I was there I found it absolutely necessary to have two cameras set up for the scenarios I was going to run into in the bush. I carry M4/3 equipment (which is much lighter btw and was perfect for my trip). I had one body with a 12-100 (24-200 FF equivalent) and one body with a 100-400 (200-800 FF eq). I was THE perfect set up. The roads can be quite dusty so changing lenses in the bush is not an option. In fact, I had a backpack on the seat between my wife and I and eventually kept my cameras in some light weight sacks on my lap to keep the dirt off (it was way beyond dust..it was dirt.) Keep a blower with you at all times. Clean all gear at the end of the day.
You will be surprised at how close you will be getting to animals. Double check the parks you are going to...in some parks, guides drive off road and get very close to animals and in some they are limited to the roads...if your guide goes off road and you have some 500 mm lens on your camera, it just wont work. The opposite is true for the longer range shots..so you need to be prepared for wide and tele shots.

I also went to Namibia. People go for the dunes...ok...fine...everyone goes there. for the dunes. But Namibia has some tribe villagers there are quite accommodating for photography. And lovely people. There, in the dunes, I used my 7-14 Pro lens which worked well. But I could have left it at home. Roads there are awful. I know...we did over 1000 miles on their roads.

I'd skip the tripod. I would have never used it. Cant use it in the bush because you cannot get on the ground usually, lest a critter might want to eat you. And if you do (we did...had an interesting encounter with a rhino), you have to be mobile. There may be a way to do some nighttime astro stuff, but keep in mind, animals are active at night.....eating. You cannot just go out and start shooting away.

Most of the animal photography i did was far more close than I would have expected. Like maybe 20 feet. I could have left my long telephoto home and only missed a few shots.

Be armed at all times! Meaning take a camera everywhere you go. We were walking to dinner in Namibia (kind of freaky in that we were in a camp with no fencing and no escort to dinner and a watering hole nearby) and some bush babies were poking their heads out of trees. I slapped the camera into Auto with a high iso and got some decent shots.

I found no need for a computer. I just put my little SD cards in a holder and hoped for the best. Having a drive back up makes sense. You need a lot of dust and dirt mitigation stuff...blowers, leaf blowers, what ever.

I set up a pre-set on both cameras to capture very fast movements of animals in case we were lucky enough to see a chase. Never happened except at a cheetah preserve in Namibia. But I suggest you do it. When and if that happens, you will not be able to respond fast enough to capture the chase without a preset. I usually shot in Aperture mode. Animals were not really active.

I took a flash and never used it. Some folks bring one with a snoot. Most game reserves do not allow it for obvious reasons.

Remember, you are a rich American (assuming here). Tip generously. You will find that the Africans will try to make your trip as pleasant as possible. In Namibia, I tipped $100 for a two night stay and the receptionist got teary-eyed. You visit a village, try to buy things and leave some money there. You will see some people in very dire circumstances. Covid has drastically impacted the Africans. Be prepared and be generous.

I know that is more than what you asked for. But I want you to have the best trip possible. Two last pieces of advice. 1- Sometimes, put the camera down and just BE THERE. I did it a few times and it was memorable. Thinking I was in the middle of the bush, watching a lion eat some critter, I was with family, and darned lucky to be able to do it. 2- Talk to people. We were at Robben Island where Mandala was imprisoned for 25 or so years. The crowds went off and I was left with the Robben Island tour guide...who was a prisoner there for about 15 years. Very long story short. He was an anti-apartheid fighter. He was a convicted terrorist (from the ruling White perspective). Was trained in Angola by the Cubans to fight the white ruling party (Afrikaans) in South Africa. He and his fellow resistance blew up bridges, power stations, etc. They were careful to not harm people (so he said) because they knew they would eventually win and have to live with the whites. We talked about weaponry, philosophy of their strategies, family, struggles, etc. It was a memorable day.


Enjoy. PM me if you have any need for follow up...or need a driver on your trip!

timbuktutraveler

Having been on 3 Safaris, I would not overdo it on equipment.

I would take one of your cameras and also I agree with one of the other contributors:

Rent a Sony RX10 IV as a back up..it has a 24-600 lens ...very sharp.

Actually it is the only camera you would probably need.

Alexander White's book on the camera is the best one available in my opinion.

APSHEPPARD

Looks as if you are getting the proverbial Heinz 57 varieties answers so might as well add another. I have been to Africa game parks five times, spanning from Namibia to Kenya. They are great. If you have the flexibility, I would most of all, try to stay at reserves near the National Parks. Many of the National Parks will not let your vehicle off the established roads. in the private adjacent parks they can go anywhere on the reserve. I have seen a South African guide near Kruger find animals within 500 yards of a trail that could not even begin to be detected from the trail. That said, given my experience, I have always been in or very near my vehicle so equipment weight is not a big thing in my experience. Therefore, I would take the two Nikons and the two Nikon lenses. Most likely, you will use the 70-200 the most on the 850 body. But as you can see from all the answers, there is no one great formula.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

If I may ask a question to imagemeister, do you lose quality if you use CIZ? I'm thinking of taking my a99ii and 24-105 to France next year.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Safari gear -
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-473761-1.html
https://fstoppers.com/animal/essential-camera-features-and-settings-safari-photography-176678
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/8065882473/gearing-up-for-an-african-safari
http://www.bythom.com/photographic-travel/africa/how-to-think-about-equipmen.html
http://www.elliottneep.com/#!/p/gear-guide-safari
https://luminous-landscape.com/digital-safari-equipment-tips/

Photo gear -
https://www.safaribookings.com/blog/15-african-safari-photography-tips
https://digital-photography-school.com/10-tips-to-photograph-an-african-photographic-safari/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/lists/activities/photography-tips-africa-safari/
https://www.porini.com/blog/essential-photography-tips-african-safari/
https://www.gadventures.com/blog/tips-photos-african-safari/
https://www.tripsavvy.com/taking-great-photos-on-safari-1454103

photoman43

Two bodies for sure. 70-200mm on one and your long lens on the other. If both bodies took same batteries and charger, even better.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Great answer though not what the OP is looking for in my opinion. I took a scoped 375 for my small rifle and a scoped 416 Rigby for the big stuff. Fired the 416 once for buffalo and was done. No better rifle for African game than a 375.

My apologies to the OP. I could not resist.

Dennis

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

This is not really part of the OP so I will try to be very succinct ......The short answer is it depends on your exact definition of what "quality" is and exactly how hard you are looking. I have compared results using a Canon 2X tele extender on a Canon 300 2.8 lens and 2X CIZ. The results were very slightly different when viewed closely side by side - but I cannot honestly say that one had a higher "quality" than the other - just a slightly different look. Just as with telextenders, the higher the strength of the CIZ, the higher the potential for negative impacts. Personally, I have no reservation using up to 1.7X CIZ and only slightly hesitant going to 2X. Naturally, the more perfect your native capture is, ( lower ISO is a huge component here) and the higher your pixel density, the better the CIZ outcome will be ! Compared to extenders, CIZ is FREE, does not consume any extra size or weight, and does not consume any light loss !
Bottom line, going to Africa, and wanting to travel light, CIZ would be one of my tools. CIZ is one of the main reasons why I switched to Sony.
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