Safari advice: Oly 40-150 Pro, Pany 100-400 or Oly 50-200?

anupamkatkar wrote:

Hi,

I'll be going on many safaris in central India in February 2019. These will include the regular daytime drives, but also walking safaris and night safaris. My primary lenses have been a Canon FD 300mm prime (f4, now f2.8L) and the Oly 40-150mm f4-5.6

For context, the terrain in central India is a lot like South Africa: thick foliage interspersed with grassy meadows. There are large & medium-sized animals (tigers, leopards, wild dogs, wild cattle), as well as birds. In the past, I have missed many shots because either the Oly was too slow (and too short) in fading light, or I lacked autofocus on my Canon teleprime.

So I'm looking for a lens that would pair with the 300mm f2.8 on game drives. My budget only allows me to buy one lens around $1000 - $1500.

Here are some options I'm considering:
- Oly 40-150 Pro with 1.4x TC (optional). This will pair nicely with the 300mm prime, but I'll hardly ever use it at the short end (I've found that my environmental shots are 70 - 100mm).

- Pany 100-400mm. I like the idea of this lens because it can allow for photos from many perspectives (environment, portrait, details of the fur etc.). It's slow, but I have my 300mm f2.8 for low light. On the flip side, since I already have the 300mm prime, I'm concerned about spending all that money, only to decide that I could have gotten away with an Oly 75-300 / Pany 100-300.

- My third option is the Oly 50-200 f2.8-3.5 SWD + a used E-M1 body. It's brighter than Oly 40-150+ TC, and I can have it + a new body for less than the price of the other lenses. But the photos I've seen look a tad soft (Lenstip agrees). Also, is the autofocus fast enough for moving wildlife?

- My fourth option is to save the money, stick with my cheap but awesome 40-150mm f4-5.6, and compensate for low light with a Godox flash.
I wish I had an easier choice of 40-150 Pro / 12-100 Pro + 100-400mm. However, since I already have the 300mm prime, I want an autofocus lens that complements this.
If you're a wildlife photographer, what focal lengths do you prefer, and what would you do in my position?
Many thanks in advance for your responses!

My obvious (to me) choice would be the M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro + 1.4xTC. It gives you the 40-150mm range, plus 210mm f/4 with TC, which all complements the FD 300mm f/2.8 nicely. Once you have it, I suspect you will use the 40-70mm f/2.8 range. 

I've been on safari in southern Africa. Lens speed is important, as I believe you already understand. Having a lens limited to f/5.6 or f/6.3 at the long end relegates it to mid-day sunny shooting or embarrassingly high ISO. Having f/2.8 lets you shoot earlier and later in the day, and more easily into the woods at the edges of the clearings. I would even consider taking along the M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8 to gain another 1-1/3 stop of speed, which is up to a whopping 3-2/3 stops advantage over some of the slower zooms! In low light, a sharp 150mm equiv at f/1.8, possibly needing to crop, is far better than a blurry 300mm equiv @ f/5.6, due to too slow a shutter speed.

Enjoy your safaris!

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Life is good in the woods