The hands down vehicle on safari is Toyota Land Cruiser. Take a look at some pic’s to get an idea of what you might want. Only go in open top, not open side ! Open side, you just sit and will have no support structure anyway. I strongly recommend no more that 3 in a vehicle. I’ve had no problem just using seat cushions — or ask the guides what they will provide, which should be no issue. You should be able to get that clear before leaving States. Another big thing, so easily forgotten — be ready to get down on the floor and shoot through the windows. The lower angle gives some great views that you don’t get when shooting out the roof. The problem is, when you see some great images, it is easy to forget this. Keep the windows open and live with a little extra dust. I like some kind of cover or bag just to keep the camera in when the action is slow and your on the move.

I would recommend a micro-bead neck pillow that you can use on the flight as designed and double as a "bean bag" - - - @ 7.2oz, it is super lightweight.

Check with the folks at your destination - this item might be exempt from the empty/refill policy...

This was the first resource that came to mind. The menus are Nikon but at least give you some ideas.

A tip is to get some small cheap memory cards (SD?) and store your settings periodically so if you screw up and panic you can reset with out reconstructing everything. Nikon has that ability so I assume all contemporary cameras do also. It has been twenty years since my mind was at peak performance during my mid twenties so that helps. Also if you use BBF I would devise a plan to quickly switch it off and back on it you hand your camera to an unwashed.

My primary cameras have three "user customizable" options (C1, C2, C3). I don't use them. To me, they just over-complicate things and I like to keep it simple.

To me, those are similar to the "Scene Modes", such as "sports", "scenic", "portrait", etc. These automate far more than just exposure... limiting AF modes, only allowing certain file types to be saved, don't allow Exposure




Compensation or Custom White Balance, and many more things that I want to choose for myself. In fact, two of the three cameras I use most of the time don't even have "Scene Modes". The third has them, but not on a dial.... "buried" down in the menu.

I shoot a lot of sports, followed by some wildlife, a few portraits and macro... very few landscapes.

The only button or dial assignments I use:

1. Much of the time I have "Back Button Focusing" set up. On my cameras, that means "unassigning" AF from the shutter release button, so that only the AF-On button on the rear of the camera starts and runs AF. This allows me to leave my camera in continuous focus mode all the time, ready to shoot the vast majority of both stationary and moving subjects without having to pause to reset anything.

For the occasional landscape or macro shot I might turn off AF and use manual focus or switch to Live View, instead. I also prefer manual focus for street photography. I did a lot of that in the past, but not much recently. (I usually used lens distance scales to pre-focus manually, for very fast shots.)

2. I also have my cameras' "Set" button assigned to "call up" the last image I shot. This way I can use either of my thumbs to recall an image for review, to check focus, composition and the histogram for exposure. (I don't let the camera auto review every image... the default setup. That isn't necessary, wastes a lot of battery power and can be distracting.)

3. Also, my cameras have a "joystick" that's used to select AF point(s). I've got that set up so that when it's "clicked" it returns to the center AF point(s).

Besides those three things, most of my other settings aren't reassigments. They're selections and fine tuning for various exposure, white balance, AF-related, frame rate, Exposure Compensation, etc. features... as needed for different shooting conditions.

If I were to be using a specialized technique such as Focus Stacking or HDR, or if I were shooting video with my DSLRs, I might be more inclined to set up one or more of those C1, C2, C3 options.