I just got back from a phtot safari in Northern Tanzania (Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire). I went with Thomson Safari out of Watertown MA. It was just my family and my sister's family, 7 people total, and we had two Land Rovers so there was plenty of space for everyone. Good thing as we had a load of gear.
I brought:
20D
100-400L
17-85 EF-s (hardly used)
Sigmaflash and better beamer (not used much)
Kinesis bean bag (used a lot)
Visible dust artic butterfly (for the sensor dust)
3 x 2gig CF cards
vosonic 8360 PSD for photo back up and viewing (and music)
British and european plug adapters.
a small AC/DC inverter for the vehicle
3X 20d batteries and various chargers for all equipment
a panasonicfx-01 which I carried in my pocket all the time
probably some other
a Lowepro orion AW bag
All of this weighed about 16 pounds. I didn't really inend to use the 17-85 as my plan was to keep the 100-400 on the camera all the time to avoid dust. There was a lot of dust! I had made sure my sensor was completely clean before the trip and traveled with the 100-440L attached to the body to avoid any possibility of dust entering the body due to lens changes. Unfortunately that plan pretty much went out the door in the first couple of days as I started noticing sensor dust in the sky os some of my shots. This was in shots taken at F8-F11 and without enhancement using phtotoshop. In other words, big dust. I ended up cleaning the sensor most evenings with the artic butterfly, which worked pretty well. I was a little disapointed to see so much dust when I was not changing lenses between cleanings. One day I did use my 17-85 and had no dust problem. I have to conclude that the 100-400L was reponsible for most of the dust entering the camera. Not really surprising, as when my copy is zoomed in and out quickly you can actually feel it blow air out by the rear lens element. As a result I trid to zoom very slowly, but frequently this was not possible with fast moving animals. Fortunately the lens was otherwise perfect for the trip and allowed me to get a great many shots I am pleased with.
For comparison, my older son brougt a 300d with the 70-300DO (my old set up) and had no dust problem - though the lens did develop a problem during the trip when the zoom ring started binding and the lens barrel required a little manual help to extend or retract. My niece brought a 20d with the 70-300DO and also appearred to have no problem (though I did not check her photos closely). My wife brought her new Sony alpha SLR with a KM100-400 lens (she also brought her KM5D as a back-up and for wide angle work). The Sony started and ended the trip with the same couple of spots on the sensor. Since they did not seem to be mutliplying we did not remove the lens the entire trip. This camera worked quite well. With the good light we had most of the time she was able to keep the ISO low and avoided noise. Resolution wise it was at least as good as my camera and gave quite pleasing color (in my view). Quite a capable and cost effective system.
My brother in law brought his 1Ds mark II, 100-400L, 24-105L, 16-35L and the canon 1.4X TC. He used the better beamer for many of hist shots. This combo also worked very well although he had some dust problems as well. In his case it may be because he frequently changed lenses in the Land Rovers (a very dusty environment). He ended up with one spot he could not brush off, and later in the trip he started seeing a strip of light at the top of some of his frames. This seemed to be a camera malfunction. Fortunately it was right at the top and easily cropped.
Overall a very successful trip. Between the my son wife and myself we took nealry 6 thousand photos and now the real work of selecting and editing images is underway.
For reference, these links illustrate some of the dust challenges!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220094440/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220094435/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220052769/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220035397/
--
Rich G.
I brought:
20D
100-400L
17-85 EF-s (hardly used)
Sigmaflash and better beamer (not used much)
Kinesis bean bag (used a lot)
Visible dust artic butterfly (for the sensor dust)
3 x 2gig CF cards
vosonic 8360 PSD for photo back up and viewing (and music)
British and european plug adapters.
a small AC/DC inverter for the vehicle
3X 20d batteries and various chargers for all equipment
a panasonicfx-01 which I carried in my pocket all the time
probably some other
a Lowepro orion AW bag
All of this weighed about 16 pounds. I didn't really inend to use the 17-85 as my plan was to keep the 100-400 on the camera all the time to avoid dust. There was a lot of dust! I had made sure my sensor was completely clean before the trip and traveled with the 100-440L attached to the body to avoid any possibility of dust entering the body due to lens changes. Unfortunately that plan pretty much went out the door in the first couple of days as I started noticing sensor dust in the sky os some of my shots. This was in shots taken at F8-F11 and without enhancement using phtotoshop. In other words, big dust. I ended up cleaning the sensor most evenings with the artic butterfly, which worked pretty well. I was a little disapointed to see so much dust when I was not changing lenses between cleanings. One day I did use my 17-85 and had no dust problem. I have to conclude that the 100-400L was reponsible for most of the dust entering the camera. Not really surprising, as when my copy is zoomed in and out quickly you can actually feel it blow air out by the rear lens element. As a result I trid to zoom very slowly, but frequently this was not possible with fast moving animals. Fortunately the lens was otherwise perfect for the trip and allowed me to get a great many shots I am pleased with.
For comparison, my older son brougt a 300d with the 70-300DO (my old set up) and had no dust problem - though the lens did develop a problem during the trip when the zoom ring started binding and the lens barrel required a little manual help to extend or retract. My niece brought a 20d with the 70-300DO and also appearred to have no problem (though I did not check her photos closely). My wife brought her new Sony alpha SLR with a KM100-400 lens (she also brought her KM5D as a back-up and for wide angle work). The Sony started and ended the trip with the same couple of spots on the sensor. Since they did not seem to be mutliplying we did not remove the lens the entire trip. This camera worked quite well. With the good light we had most of the time she was able to keep the ISO low and avoided noise. Resolution wise it was at least as good as my camera and gave quite pleasing color (in my view). Quite a capable and cost effective system.
My brother in law brought his 1Ds mark II, 100-400L, 24-105L, 16-35L and the canon 1.4X TC. He used the better beamer for many of hist shots. This combo also worked very well although he had some dust problems as well. In his case it may be because he frequently changed lenses in the Land Rovers (a very dusty environment). He ended up with one spot he could not brush off, and later in the trip he started seeing a strip of light at the top of some of his frames. This seemed to be a camera malfunction. Fortunately it was right at the top and easily cropped.
Overall a very successful trip. Between the my son wife and myself we took nealry 6 thousand photos and now the real work of selecting and editing images is underway.
For reference, these links illustrate some of the dust challenges!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220094440/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220094435/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220052769/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90004016@N00/220035397/
--
Rich G.
