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.
I went on a 3 week guided safari in 1988. We started in Tanzania (2 days or so) and from then on it was almost all in Kenya, until we returned to Nairobi to catch the plane home. We ere not allowed to leave the vehicles unless we were within the fenced hotel grounds or were at a rest stop. The fencing was made of barbed plant limbs. That stay in the vehicle rule may be relaxed now, because I see photos of folks walking around in locations we were not allowed to. And I recently got a DVD set from The Great Courses that gave a lot of info about many, many different African parks and areas to tour. Seems there is a great variety of flora and fauna to see as well as many different levels of accommodations from fancy hotels to sleeping in tents and a wide range of locations to visit to fit many different ranges of interests.
The vehicles we had were Toyota vans, not quite as large as a VW van. The tops were open with an accordion-like collapsing fabric panel that allowed us to stand up to take pictures, and it was not too crowded when it was open. I can't remember the seating, but I think there were only 3 people in the back with one riding shotgun, and a 5th had 4 + 1, and of course we had a native guide-driver. The van may have had 2 or 3 seats in a semicircle, because there was lots of room to jump up and point your camera. The little vans could have held more passengers, but they did not book more, and I imagine the fare was higher to cover the roominess. The roomy seating allowed us to easily stand and move around to take pictures, and so we all could take lots of photos, usually shooting only from one side then trading places for the next one to shoot.
I am unclear as to why you mentioned your phones. It is Africa--you know, lions, and water buffalo, and hippos, and leopards. You certainly will not want to get out of the car to take photos out in the bush or get closer to the animals than your guide will let you. As I said, at the time or place I went it was illegal to leave the car unless you were in an enclosed place.
I made an aluminum bracket to mount and lock my small 4 inch Meade Schmidt-Cassigrain 1,000MM focal length, f/10 astronomical scope on a Olympus body, so I was always close enough for anything I could see while out in the bush. Everyone else had standard ~x to 200 or x to 400 mm telephotos. I was the only one who got reasonable photos of eagles which were a few hundred yards away. The Olympus body was dedicated to the 1,000mm scope/lens. I also had a 50mm lens for my Minolta SR-T-102 body.that was handy for people, hotels, and grounds or for the commercial zoos where we could get up close to the enclosed animals. I also had a Vivitar F3.5 70-210 mm zoom lens, but it was to cumbersome to shift from one camera to the 1,000mm set up and back, so I just stuck to the very long lens/camera in the vehicle.
I shot aperture priority almost exclusively with Fuji Color 400 ASA slide film which is now rated as ISO film. The 400 ASA was fairly fine grained, and very useful for astrophotography. I have a 16" Newtonian F/5.5 (2,235mm focal length) and an 8" Schmidt Cassigrain and the 4" at f/10 in my observatory, so a fast film was most useful for short astro exposures of 10 to 30 minutes.
I hope you have a wonderful time in Africa. It was one of the two best trips I ever took. We were planning to go back, but the violence stifled those plans, and then Covid showed up. And now we each have health issues, so oh well.