We are leving for Botswana next week. Have made 2 previous trips to southern Africa for 2 and 3 months.

Your gear selection is just right - fast camera with a long lens and slower camera with a wide lens. You will not want to do any lens changing in the field due to dust. Bring plenty of batteries (3/camera body) and memory cards. Figure a very high volume of once-in-a-lifetime images so you will want a laptop for nightly downloads and a portable external drive for your third back-up. Figure you will shoot a lot of burst mode and likely will capture 500-1000 images every day (if you are a careful shooter!) Make sure you have your chargers and a reliable power source for everything to charge overnight. Some places have limited outlets so a multiple outlet charger helps. Have the proper electrical adapter for your charging box. Have your smart phone for close-up videos. Bring your lens and sensor cleaning gear - it will be dusty.

Have fun - Africa is an amazing experience.

I just sold some older dSLR gear and did several comparisons regarding buying price of the 3 major vendors.

B&H offered almost nothing for my used gear.

KEH had the best selection of used gear to buy and was the easiest and most efficient to work with, but while their costs to buy were quite good, their purchase payment for used gear was not as good as MPB. KEH down-grded the payment for one piece of gear below their on-line offer but returned it at no cost when I declined.

MPB offered the best payment for every piece of gear I sold. That said, they significantly down-graded the payment price for one camera body. So let the seller beware.

For a low-cost L bracket it is great. Everything fits perfectly, as expected and it is adjustable on the vertical side. It has two additional 1/4" mounts for any accessories.

What I like best is the grip extension on the bottom to make the small Sony body fit my large paws better. Access to the battery compartment is good and memory cards are unaffected by the bracket. It is a bit tight to get to all of the electronic connectors but that's true will all brackets.

Sorry you are correct SmallRig (my vision is getting bad!) I also was told it was out of stock but I ordered it and it arrived in only 2 weeks.

Check B&H for a SmartRig model. It is a fraction of the price and has a great grip extension that makes the Sony's fit your hand better. I think mine was $59.

Check B&H for a SmartRig model. It is a fraction of the price and has a great grip extension that makes the Sony's fit your hand better. I think mine was $59.

They are everywhere! Last weeek I tried to use the Facebook Market place to sell my Canon 600mm F/4 and a series of accessories. I got an offer to pay my asking price of $4,000 plus a $150 bonus for 2-day shipping. I arranged the shipping and asked to be paid through PayPal. The "buyer" would not send the cash to me but wanted a PayPal invoice. Seemed reasonable so I sent the invoice via PayPal and got a confirmation that the buyer had transfered funds into a "pending account" and I would receive the PayPal transfer as soon as I sent the FexEx tracking number that the package had been shipped.

I was surprised that the shipping name and address did not match the "buyers" name and looked carefully at the PayPal payment receipt. Although it had the PayPal logo, the exact format, and even PayPal copyright information in the footnote, when I looked carefully at the hidden sender email, it was not PayPal but an outfit called PayCenter and was associated with many scams. I reported this to PayPal (who had done nothing as yet) but am certain that they would have got my lens and accessories and I would have gotten a thank you.

The shock came when I later posted the same gear on eBay. I got a sales offer in 24 hours asking that we conduct the transaction directly through PayPal and bypass the eBay fees. The "buyer" offered and extra $110 for FedEx shipping and I would get full price for the gear. I asked where to send the gear and it was the SAME Glendale, CA address!

Let the seller beware!

Anyone need a excellent condition Canon 600mm F/4 with 1.4x M2 converter, Lenscoat, Wimberly-ARCA-Swiss release plate and all extras for $4k?

I have seen Canon 600mm f/4 used lenses for just over $5k. I bought 600 used a few years back and have never regretted the $4k I saved below a new lens price.

I have shot Canon for 10 years and have 6 "L" lenses from 16-600mm. Three years ago I started the transition to Sony, first using my Canon glass with a Metabones IV adapter. It works flawlessly will all of my Canon lenses with the exception of the original Canon 100-400mm (autofocus is slow and erratic.)

I have used the Sony A7Rii, A9ii, A7Riii, and A7Riv Sony bodies. Now, Sony has a good selection of quality lenses that are generally smaller and lighter than the similar Canon lenses with the Metabones but they are also significantly more expensive. I think you will be happy using the adapter in your transition.

I also have had this problem occur with my 7D and the CF card. The problem was intermittent and would occur with only about 10% of the shots when it happened. I regularly change my cards and always reformat the card in camera before every shoot.

First - DO NOT RE-FORMAT YOUR CARD!

What I found after about 5-6 of these intermittent occurrences was that if I deleted the the corrupted images from Lightroom, removed the card from the reader, and reimported all non-duplicates from the card, most of the images were fine. Sometimes I would need to repeat the process 2-3 times but I never lost an image.

I did a major clean of my card reader and have not had a problem again. My conclusion was that the issue was not a bad card or camera error but was due to dirty pins on the card reader.

Have others had this issue?

When you arrive you will be in a huge line in the immigration hall. The last 3 times for us there were more than 1000 visitors jammed together in the long maze line, passing each other about 8 times before reaching passport control. I can't imagine a more dangerous place on earth during the pandemic.

Cabo is very safe in the tourist areas but I wouldn't carry anything more than a point and shoot on the streets at night. No problems bringing gear in or out of the country. Carry a list with all serial numbers and have good insurance and you will be fine.

Both can be used with Sony. I have usable shots at 1/4 second at 24mm.

I have been a Canon user for more than 10 years and used the 100-400 as my work horse when I couldn't get the 600 f/4 quickly enough. I have more shots with the 100-400 than any other lens.

Three years ago I started experimenting with Sony and started with the A7Riii and a Metabones adapter for my Canon lenses. Last year I got the Sony 100-400 and now uses it on the Sonay A9ii - it is outstanding and is clearly a sharper lens with faster focusing on the A9ii. It is pricey but worth the money if you are a Sony shooter.

Continued:

I just did a comparison of the Canon vs the Sony 100-400 and was totally shocked by the much better image quality of the Sony over the Canon. The Sony 100-400 has the best IQ of any zoom lens I have used in this focal length range and I highly recommend giving it a try. Combined with the Sony 1.4x converter it could be a perfect hand-held birding combination.

I have a variety of Canon glass and recently have moved to Sony bodies and a Metabones iv adapter. My A7Riii does great with all the Canon glass except for my old 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 lens - original not the Mark 2. This lens is slower to focus than on the Canon bodies and at times will not auto-focus at all. I recently got the Sony A9ii and it does much better with all of the Canon glass.