For shooting and "Big-5" and plains game, be prepared to shoot in low light. The animals generally are most active at dawn and dusk. And bracket your exposures if you have time.

I live in the Cannon world but did Costa Rica last spring. My advice is more general. I had a 28-105 F4 and a 75-300 F4-f5.6 on a 7D. I had enough lens for everything but my tele lens failed to auto-focus quickly enough in low light for the fast moving monkeys. Bring the lenses with the fastest low light auto-focus. Also remember that you are going to be on moving boats in the mangroves so a good image stabilizer is a must.

I have found a simple and cheap solution for protecting both my on-site and off-site drives while in storage. I use military grade steel 50 caliber ammo cans - surplus or new production. When closed, they are sealed against water and humidity and the steel case provides protection from magnetic fields, static electricity and probably lightning.

Being somewhat paranoid about my data, I put the drives in anti-static bags, have a thin sheet of packaging foam on all sides inside the box and toss in a couple of desiccant gel pack available in bulk on eBay.

For the actual storage media, I use anything from the WD MyBook drives to old EIDE and SATA hard drives from expired PCs connected using cheap USB adapters available on the Internet. Over kill - maybe, but I have been doing this for at least 20 years and never lost a drive during storage. The trick for data protection is fancy equipment, but being redundant and paranoid! Remember, Murphy was an optimist!!

I totally concur with your recommendation. The Geek Squads, Best Buy service, etc. are not experts and will most likely hand you back a nicely formatted drive -- without any data. My daughter brought in the Geeks not once but twice with the same results. Fortunately, I had most of her data and photos backed up on my server.

I have not read the entire thread, but try hooking it to a WinTel PC running a Microsoft OS (e.g., Windows 10). The Windows machines tend to be more tolerant to third party hardware than Apple products.

If you are using a APS-C camera, multiply the focal length of any FF lens by 1.6 before applying the reciprocal rule. So if the lens is FF, then 70mm is actually 112mm on the camera and the minimum shutter speed becomes the closest you can get to 1/112 sec. (i.e., 1/125). If you have an image stabilizer, you theoretically can show the shutter down by the power of the VR. My Canon 300mm L lens on a APS-C camera has a 4X IS (VR) so 300 x 1.6= 480mm = 1/500 sec. without IS engaged. Now if I really believe canon's claim 4 f-stop vibration reduction, I could shoot at 1/30th sec. I have tested it at 1/60th and with me holding the camera, that is the limit for a usable image.

The only thing Apple in my house is my wife's iPad and that POS has been replaced twice by Apple! Everything they make in MADE IN CHINA with corresponding quality. I still remember compatibility problems with Apple systems and the rest of the world .............

I had a similar issue that evaded me for over two years and drove me nuts! I even had a Dell service rep replace the CPU board and processor under service contract. There should be a low level diagnostics program in your BIOS accessible with a computer specific key sequence (F2, etc,) on Boot up. Run every diagnostic available. Usually this diagnostic tool will identify hardware problems. but not always. I finally traced it to a bad memory sick that I isolated by removing one of the memory sticks and running the computer for days until the problem did not recur. Fortunately, my computer has 32GB of memory and ran perfectly with one of the 4 sticks removed.

I suggest that you unplug every connector and card including the on-board memory to make sure you do not just have a dirty contact (do the simple things first!). Also, make sure you have the correct memory and compatible memory in all slots.


Second, I would run TrendMicro's HouseCall remote antivirus scan that digs into everything on your computer searching for malware. https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html

If that doesn't work, go after the memory removing one stick at a time and running the computer for some period of time longer than the normal frequency of the BSOD. If the problem persists, replace the stick and remove the next one. Alternatively, if you have spare memory sticks, just substitute the spare set for the ones in your computer and see if it fixes the problem.

PS: The BSOD was supposed to have died with DOS 6.22 !!

I have a TG-5 and used it for both the Galapagos and the Great Barrier reef. The camera is rugged, easy to use and takes great photos. However, their post processing processing software package is from H*ll compared to Canon's Digital Photo Professional. If you are looking to mark and sort images and then converting them to TIFF before sending to PhotoShop. it is a frustrating chore! I like the camera and photos but would not buy it again because of the post-processing software - definitely not professional grade!

I was on safari several years ago and carried a 28-105 and a 75-300 Tele on an APS-C Canon camera. I have since upgraded my lenses to "L" but would carry the same focal lengths again. Most of your big game opportunities will be at dawn and dusk so bring the fastest lenses you can afford! If you will be on foot, weight can eventually be an issue. If you are shooting the "big five" they fill up the frame rather quickly and you should not need more than 300! On my next trip I will be carrying a 1.4x extender on the chance I might need a longer lens for an odd photo but got everything I wanted to print 12x12" with crop & PhotoShop post processing.

As others have said, make sure the camera feels comfortable in your hands with a variety of lenses. I just added a Canon L Telephoto lens to my collection replacing my earlier and lighter tele lens. It feels great on my 7D-II but does not feel right on my Rebel.

Another consideration: If you have high end lenses that will work on a DSLR, you may want to stay with the same manufactured since the lenses is where the real investment is.

I cannot comment on the Nikon lens since I live in the Canon world but I have been using a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro on my Canons (currently 7D MKII) for years. The Sigma is as good as or perhaps slightly sharper than my Canon 24-105 F4 "L" lens. If I am doing a dedicated macro session, I usually reach for the Sigma.

I have used Wilson brand aftermarket batteries purchased from B&H and have found that significant degradation after about a year in my Canon 7D MKII. At the two year mark these batteries (I had purchased 2 units) would not hold sufficient charge to operate the camera more than 5 minutes. The original Canon battery that came with the camera shows no signs of degradation after 4 years. Two other Canon OEM batteries are still working perfectly after 2 years. The canon batteries that I purchased with my Rebel in 2006 still hold a reasonable charge but the backup aftermarket batteries have long seen the trash bin! Unfortunately, my experience with aftermarket batteries proves you get what you pay for! B&H sells OEM batteries at a discount.