most practical Canon for African safari trip

My wife and I are doing a trip to Africa (safari & Zanzibar) in a few months, and we're looking for a 3rd Canon camera to bring with us. We currently have the S500 with underwater housing, good for small still images and scuba/snorkeling; we also have an A620, good for larger still images and nice video (underwater housing to be purchased).

However, for the land/safari portion, we also want to add a 3rd Canon to bring with us, primarily for large stills (and some video) of the wildlife. The local tour operator, who has gone several times, has concluded that a long zoom lens is impractical given how close we will get and how inconvenient and expensive zoom lenses are compared to new generation optical zooms.

So far, we have narrowed down to the S3 IS, the A710IS and A640; as with most Canon cameras, it seems there is no "perfect" camera, every single one has upsides and downsides.

We do want to stay away from the cost and bulk of SLRs. We love using AA batteries now, which seems particularly important for this trip to avoid bad battery moments. And we want to stick with SD cards since we have a few, they're cheap, and they work with our laptop media reader.

Which leaves us with a few other variables: LCD swivel screen, pixel resolution, Image Stabilization, Zoom capability and overal picture quality. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments between these three, or even any other model we've ignored? Right now we're leaning towards the S3 with the only downside being pixel resolution...

Many thanks in advance,
Bryan

--S3 you will need the Zoom
p,

http://www.pbase.com/patnapolio

Since you already have the A620, the other A cameras would not be significant improvements, I'd think. Even though your operator says you will be near the animals, it seems to me that it would be pretty sad to miss great opportunities because you didn't pack enough zoom.

So to me the choice is cler, especially given the other cameras you already have : get the S3. Movies are the best you'll get, resolution is probably more than you need, the IS will help you take sharp pictures even when the eingine makes the truck vibrate, the zoom is the best you can get, the lens is very fast, you have the swivel, amazing speed, full range of features, very long battery life, even advanced features like bracketing.

One thing that might prove important : many people going to Africa say they would have liked to have more wide angle capabilities for landscapes. So whatever your choice, consider a wide converter (visit http://www.lensmateonline.com for pointers). Also, an apadter might help protect your lens, if equipped with a UV filter. Search other threads with relevant keywords and you'll find plenty of information.

I know if and when I go to Africa, the first thing that will go in my suitcase is my trusty S2.
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

I'd also recommend the S3 out of the cameras you are looking at. It's the best handling super zoom P&S I've used at its long end. It's also a joy to use in movie mode.

I don't like screwing on a wide angle adapter to the S3 (and probably the A series cameras as well). It's a pain to attach them and take them off. It also makes the camera really long.

One drawback about the S3 for me is the fact that you can't get an underwater housing option for it (the A series is better in that regard).

If you do use the movie mode a lot, be sure to be able to offload your images to a laptop or some other storage device. Or bring lots of flash cards....

Thanks for all the fast feedback; the S3 definitely seems to be the one to get - it's really cheap now too.

The lack of an S3 underwater housing isn't an issue for us, since we'll have 2 underwater cameras anyways (S500 for stills, A620 for stills/video). Thia also ensure we'll have at least one dry camera for the safari!

Per your suggestion, we'll be stocking up on tons of SD cards, and will also have a couple laptops to download every day. Being paranoid, I'll also bring many DVDRs so that the photos/videos are always backed up at all times...

There does seem to be a pro/con regarding the additional wide lens adaptor. Do you think stitching in panoramic mode is an acceptable compromise to the time/bulk/cost of the adaptor/lens?

I just hope an S4 doesn't come out the week after we leave

Thanks again!
Bryan

Marcos Villaroman said:

I'd also recommend the S3 out of the cameras you are looking at.
It's the best handling super zoom P&S I've used at its long end.
It's also a joy to use in movie mode.

I don't like screwing on a wide angle adapter to the S3 (and
probably the A series cameras as well). It's a pain to attach them
and take them off. It also makes the camera really long.

One drawback about the S3 for me is the fact that you can't get an
underwater housing option for it (the A series is better in that
regard).

If you do use the movie mode a lot, be sure to be able to offload
your images to a laptop or some other storage device. Or bring
lots of flash cards....

Click to expand...

I recently returned from a three week photo safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa. I used the S2 and loved it. The video clips are also very clear. The S3 should be even better. Check out my website at http://philhouse.smugmug.com/gallery/1920308

For downloading, I had an 80 gig Epson P4000. It's a fantastic portable storage device with an unbelievable clear screen.

Have a great time.

Phil

Does it have to be a Canon? Don't overlook the Panasonic FZ50. It would make a killer 12x safari cam.
--



Regards,
Kirwin
http://timebandit.smugmug.com

bliew said:

Per your suggestion, we'll be stocking up on tons of SD cards, and
will also have a couple laptops to download every day. Being
paranoid, I'll also bring many DVDRs so that the photos/videos are
always backed up at all times...

Click to expand...

Sounds like you got the backup thing covered.

Watch out for heat warping your DVDs.

bliew said:

There does seem to be a pro/con regarding the additional wide lens
adaptor. Do you think stitching in panoramic mode is an acceptable
compromise to the time/bulk/cost of the adaptor/lens?

Click to expand...

I like photostitching because it's so easy. I got an Epson printer with the long paper attachment. A panaramic 4" tall and 40" wide has great impact! : D

You could buy a 3rd party adapter and lens hood to save a little money. Then you'll go into shock seeing how expensive the wide angle attachment is (the telephoto isn't as expensive). But, you got plenty of cameras and so you can probably plan things better than I was able to --- like having the wide angle attachment on one camera body just for wide angles (probably your A series camera) and the S3 for telephoto work.

bliew said:

I just hope an S4 doesn't come out the week after we leave

Click to expand...

It will. So be ready to take plenty of pictures the moment you buy the camera.

Have a great trip.

MarcosV said:

Kirwin wrote:
Does it have to be a Canon? Don't overlook the Panasonic FZ50. It
would make a killer 12x safari cam.

Click to expand...

Doesn't have to be a Canon; just that the 3 we've had so far have all been put through the ringer, and are solid as hell, so we like Canon (despite all their silly model variation strategies). That Panasonic looks fantastic, with better specs - but the big downside is lack of AA batteries; having had first-hand experience with proprietary battery problems when travelling abroad, not sure I'm up for that risk! Where is that perfect camera? ;-)

MarcosV said:

Marcos Villaroman wrote:
Watch out for heat warping your DVDs.

Click to expand...

Argh! Excellent point - I think we'll make backups on each laptop + DVD then. Would not have thought of that.

MarcosV said:

You could buy a 3rd party adapter and lens hood to save a little
money. Then you'll go into shock seeing how expensive the wide
angle attachment is (the telephoto isn't as expensive). But, you
got plenty of cameras and so you can probably plan things better
than I was able to --- like having the wide angle attachment on one
camera body just for wide angles (probably your A series camera)
and the S3 for telephoto work.

Click to expand...

Does anyone have any suggestions/links for a combination adaptor/wide angle at a reasonable price? If there is such a thing. The whole attachment thing is new to us.

Phil, you posted some photos from your own recent Safari trip with the S2 - did you use or find yourself wanting for a wide angle attachment?

MarcosV said:

Have a great trip.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Is it time to go yet? How about now?

Cheers!
Bryan

bliew said:

Phil, you posted some photos from your own recent Safari trip with
the S2 - did you use or find yourself wanting for a wide angle
attachment?

Click to expand...

I was really content without having a wide-angle attachment. If I wanted a wide picture I simply took several shots and stitched them together automatically with Photoshop Elements 5.0

Phil

I would go with the S3, the zoom is great but can be slow sometimes. One of the best feature if you like movies is the dedicated movie button, you don't have to be in Movie Mode to start shooting, added benefit, you can still take picture (with a gap in the movie) while filming.

--
Stephane

Bryan,

For a wide adaptor at a pretty reasonable price point check out the DCR-5000 http://www.digitaletc.com/raynox.php at about $80.

IMHO the S3 is positively the ticket for the trip, the 12x zoom will do the job perfectly and going to 35mm at wide is also really enough. I just came back from Africa about 1 month ago and found that if anything I was surprised how close the tour operators got us to the animals and also how often I found myself shooting at wide when both lions and elephants came within spitting distance of the Land Rover.

We did not have any issues with heat - but its hotter now. but we did learn very definately that one should not smile to the lions.

If anything, stick a wide on your A camera, but for views Im 100% in agreement with Phil that you can easily stitch a few frames together. I have made a habit of shooting a shot of my hand to indicate a start of a sequence for stitching. just to make it easier to sort later.

Bo

http://www.bophoto.com/panos

I just returned from my Honeymoon, a 2 week Safari in Botswana, where I took the S3is along. I'm still sorting through the 2000 plus pictures and 25 videos I took over 9 days of game drives, plus Victoria Falls and Jo'Burg, so as soon as I have them organized I will post them here for your review. Here are my thoughts and reviews of the S3.

First, I used a UV Filter for most of my shots, except when I used a Linear Polarizer for a few, and then a Raynox 6600 Wide Angle for others. At almost no time did I use the plain old S3 lens without something covering it.

I brought two 4GB SD cards, a Transcend and an A-Data. Both were 98% full when I was done. Neither one was better than the other, both high speed, both performed perfectly for me.

I brought along a Wolverine MVP 60 GB PSD, which I used to back up the cards every night. Turns out I didn't need it, but I was sure glad to have it just in case.

My thoughts on the camera as it performed on Safari: The first thing I'd point out is that I was accompanied by other folks who brought along small point and shoot Sony, Olympus 3X cams, and frequently I found myself showing them a zoomed in shot that captured incredible details that they were missing - A hippos face, vs a brown blob in the water.... or a Lions scars on his nose, vs just an image of a lions head. I heard "wow, that's a nice one" too many times.... they were jealous. Essentially, you will LOVE having the 12X zoom, and anything less and you will find youself wishing for more zoom. We were then joined by a guy with an Eos 30D DSLR, a bag full of lenses, and a stick to hold it steady. He spent more time changing lenses, fooling with the stick trying to get a different angle, and complaining about not knowing how to use the camera... It felt pretty good knowing I could just point, zoom, and shoot, using Program Mode, and get a near perfect shot 90% of the time. On some occasions, usually dark shadowy scenese, or twilight/dusk times, I'd tinker with Ae (Aperture Priority) to force a longer exposure and get more light on my subject, at the expense of a washed out background or sky. It was also nice knwoing of the camera didn't give me the settings I wanted, it was an instant change to adjust it and get what I was looking for. Out of 2200 shots I took, I already have at least 500 that I'd like to print and put in an album... almost too many good shots. In summary, the S3 was incredible for a prosumer type who wanted a little more than just point and shoot, but did not have the time, carrying space or budget for a DSLR. One set of four 2500mah rechargable batteries lasted for two full days os shooting, so I never once found myself needing to change out to the backup set I was carrying... I eventually stopped carrying them. (Note I used the viewfinder exclusvely for framing all shots, but the LCD for reviewing quite a bit).

All in all, I'm ecstatic with taking the S3 on Safari. It was all I needed.

However, it's not without some weakness. In low light, it rarely focused well (this is a known issue, it's not the S3's strength). So when it turned gray and cloudy, or late in the evening, I had to really tinker to get good shots. Also, while the 12x Zoom was wonderful, the focus at max zoom was often blurred, even with the IS on, especially in any lower light or slower shutter speed situations. I backed it down from 72mm (max) to about 66 or 68mm (near max zoom) I got much better results with not much loss of zoom length. In bright sun, with fast shutter speeds, you can get sharp images at max zoom, but only if your hand is stead (that is, if the people in your jeep are not fidgeting around a lot) Our first lion spot was during the rain, and from long range, so those shots were not very good at all. Fortunately the lions came out in the sunlight later and posed for us quite well, so many thanks to them for that

I will post a few pics shortly.

A few S3 pics from an African Safari. These were all slightly challenging to me, because they were either in twilight (Hyena) or in shadows (Leopard, Cheetah and Lions). Also note these have all been edited for size, shrunk down a bit... I'll be posting all the full size originals sometime soon and providing a link if anyone wants to browse.







In this one, I used Ae mode to slow the shutter down a notch or two, to get a nice exposure on the lion in the shade, at the expense of washed out grass behind him.





Here again, at max zoom, the camera wanted to under expose the Leopard, so I pushed it down about one stop to get better lighting under the bush.

Those pics are amazing, very good detail and nice composition. I think the S3 shares my S2's "weakness" in bright sunlight : images sometimes turn out a little bit washed out (not much, and it might be my monitor, I'm not sure). Anyway, I tend to lower the EV value by 1/3 or even 2/3 when in bright light.

About your user report, that's a very interesting and detailed overview of what to expect on a safari. I have a hard time understanding how people can go on such a trip (where one of the main goals is, after all, to take pictures... that's why we call it a "safari-photo" in French) and bring along a cheap automatic camera. For family candids, almost any camera will do, but for a safari? It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing!

If I had to bring a DSLR to a safari, I'd get one like the Sony or Pentax that have built-in IS, and one good does-it-all lens or two.

About dust, did you find that it was a problem during your trip? I wonder if it's that much of an issue.

Congratulations on your wedding, by the way!

--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Great pictures.

I personally would be out there with a lot of DSLR gear, but, I always bring along a P&S (usually S1 because I own a waterproof enclosure for it) as a back up. Easy to quickly whip out that smaller P&S than to unpack the DSLR or to swap lens at times.

Was curious: how easy/hard was it to adjust the polarizer on the S3? I tried it a few times on the S1 and gave up. LCD screen too small to easily figure out if I got the polarization right and was too much of a pain to attach/detach the adapter or stuff the whole thing in a bag (camera took too much room when you can't effectively retract the lens due to the adapter being attached).

How dusty was the enviroment? Did you find yourself cleaning your camera frequently?

Do you do aperature/shutter priority shots or mostly stuck with P mode?

When you had trouble getting good shots at long telephoto in dim light, did the S3 focus well and your shot blurness was mostly due to the low shutter speed?

Did you use the built-in flash much and if so how effective was it? Personally I love being able to do fill flash at long range with an external flash, but, others I talked to say they find post process tweaking to bring out detail in the shadows worked OK for them and they didn't miss using a flash.

Again, thanks for sharing pics and look forward to seeing more.

bdery said:

Those pics are amazing, very good detail and nice composition.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I found if I took 20 pics, I got 2 good ones

bdery said:

About dust, did you find that it was a problem during your trip? I
wonder if it's that much of an issue.

Congratulations on your wedding, by the way!

Click to expand...

Thanks again. As for dust, it was not a major problem, but I would note that we were in Botswana for the beginning of the rainy season, and our first day of game drives was wet with rain... and at least twice we got a mid afternoon shower... that had to help keep the dust down. The camera was fine on the more dry/dusty days. I had a converter and UV Filter, so no dust got into the mechanisms inside (AFAIK).... also, I picked up a Lens Pen cleaning doo-hicky, and it was nice to have. About every hour or so, I'd pull it out and give a quick brush off of the UV filter. I'd say dust was a bigger problem for my eyes and mouth, than for the camera

Dave

bliew said:

So far, we have narrowed down to the S3 IS, the A710IS and A640; as
with most Canon cameras, it seems there is no "perfect" camera,
every single one has upsides and downsides.

Click to expand...

S3 IS. 12x zoom, great video capability (the only one of these which can use the optical zoom while shooting video, I believe, and with great sound and wind compensation on the stereo mikes). 6 megapixels is plenty (my first DSLR was 6 mp and my 20D is 8.2 mp) for good sized prints.

And uses AAs (four), not all that large, and plenty of shooting flexibility.

EVF works well for me, even in adjusting my polarizer. And it has the articulated LCD.

I would add a Lensmate nose extender and UV filter to keep dirt out of the lens system .. optical and mechanical concern. And take a spare UV filter and lens cap (of the standard type, not the type supplied with the S3. My Lensmate extender never leaves the camera.

Phil

Marcos Villaroman said:

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Great pictures.

Click to expand...

Thanks much

MarcosV said:

Was curious: how easy/hard was it to adjust the polarizer on the
S3? I tried it a few times on the S1 and gave up. LCD screen too
small to easily figure out if I got the polarization right and was
too much of a pain to attach/detach the adapter or stuff the whole
thing in a bag (camera took too much room when you can't
effectively retract the lens due to the adapter being attached).

Click to expand...

Um, if I'd known I needed to "adjust" the polarizer, I'd be better able to answer your question. I suppose through boredom, I figured that I got a slightly brighter image when the dot on the polarizer was at the bottom (180), so I generally left it there. I rarely used the polarizer though, only on the boats. I used the UV Filter most other times.

MarcosV said:

How dusty was the enviroment? Did you find yourself cleaning your
camera frequently?

Click to expand...

See above post... I would pull out the lens pen every hour or so, or as needed, but it was not extremely dusty out due to the rains. I did notice the DSLR guy one time take his shirt tail and wipe off his lens filter... I just smiled inside and offered my lens pen, which he declined.

MarcosV said:

Do you do aperature/shutter priority shots or mostly stuck with P
mode?

Click to expand...

I stayed in P mode about 90%, but for some shots where I wanted the change the emphasis, or take in more light, I would go to Shutter Priority mode - Tv, incorrectly referred to as Av in my posts above. I'd gather the stettings the camera wanted in P mode, then set the shutter speed one or two stops slower. I only used M mode for a bonafide night shot with a tripod, but that was in the city, not in the bush.

MarcosV said:

When you had trouble getting good shots at long telephoto in dim
light, did the S3 focus well and your shot blurness was mostly due
to the low shutter speed?

Click to expand...

Yes, I'd say that's the biggest issue I had. Here is an image that shows the problem. The branch is in focus, but in the low light, even at ISO400, the low shutter speed meant that my subject had to be motionless, and the lion just would not sit still for me to get many good shots. At this time I was wishing for a camera that took good shots at ISO1600 or even 3200, but the DSLR guy with his 30D, didn't get any good shots here, (mainly because he didn't know what he was doing) while I got a few usable ones.

One of the few acceptable low light shots of the feeding Lion right before sunset.



Here's an example of what most of the shots looked like... blurry subject but focused surroundings. Note that if I used P mode, I'd get nothing but shadows here.





Here was the whole scene, the feeding Lion was on the right.

MarcosV said:

Did you use the built-in flash much and if so how effective was it?

Click to expand...

I only used the flash for shots of people at dinner back at camp... Most all the game drives ended at Sundown, with a drink called, oddly, a Sundowner. I found the flash shots of people to be average, and my wifes Sony P&S did better in indoor flash situations, but the S3 was usable.

MarcosV said:

Again, thanks for sharing pics and look forward to seeing more.

Click to expand...

You're quite welcome... .the entire gallery of game pics is now up at this link:

http://kicksavedave.smugmug.com/gallery/2193333/24/114145155

Enjoy, and please comment and critique at will, I am relatively new to this, so any pointers are warmly welcomed.

I am contemplating buying a G7 as my all purpose travel camera, including a trip with a 5 day Safari.

As I usually print at 6x4 or 7x5, I am hoping that I can manage the Safari bit with either a 2x tele lens, or at a stretch, digital zoom which would offer me a maximum of 420mm with something like 2.5mp.

Anybody care to comment on the best useable option here.

Thanks,

Nick