Camera and lenses for first Safari

I'm going on a safari in Tanzania and I'm trying to figure out what cameras and lenses to bring. It's my first safari and a dream trip. One constraint is that we'll be taking bush planes that have a 33 lbs weight limit on bags.

For sure bringing:

Nikon Zf

Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 G2 (likely)

Nikon 40mm f2 (likely)

I'd like to bring a second body. I own:

Fuji

Fuji XT-3

Rikonon 12mm f2, Fuji 23mm f2, 27mm 2.8, 35mm f2, 56mm 1.2, 16-80mm F4

Nikon

Nikon D7100

Sigma 16-50mm 2.8

Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 AF-D

And a few Nikon primes I probably wouldn't bring.

My current thinking is to bring the Zf with the Tamron and then purchase or rent a 180-600mm Nikon. The question is what should my second body be? Leaning Fuji + 16-80mm.

My budget is probably $2,500 for new stuff and maybe I'll sell some of the existing kit.

Thoughts?

You might find these useful:

https://www.bythom.com/photographic-travel/africa/how-to-think-about-equipmen.html

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67428714

bscharf said:

I'm going on a safari in Tanzania and I'm trying to figure out what cameras and lenses to bring. It's my first safari and a dream trip. One constraint is that we'll be taking bush planes that have a 33 lbs weight limit on bags.

For sure bringing:

Nikon Zf

Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 G2 (likely)

Nikon 40mm f2 (likely)

I'd like to bring a second body. I own:

Fuji

Fuji XT-3

Rikonon 12mm f2, Fuji 23mm f2, 27mm 2.8, 35mm f2, 56mm 1.2, 16-80mm F4

Nikon

Nikon D7100

Sigma 16-50mm 2.8

Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 AF-D

And a few Nikon primes I probably wouldn't bring.

My current thinking is to bring the Zf with the Tamron and then purchase or rent a 180-600mm Nikon. The question is what should my second body be? Leaning Fuji + 16-80mm.

My budget is probably $2,500 for new stuff and maybe I'll sell some of the existing kit.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Your problem is that you are straddling among three different lens mounts. It makes a lot of sense to bring (buy or rent) a 180-600mm Z lens. However, in case your Zf fails on the trip, neither your Fuji XT-3 nor your Nikon D7100 can work with any Z-mount lens.

At this point it is probably time, or actually somewhat late, to sell your D7100 and those old F-mount lenses. In particular the 80-200 AF-D will not AF on any Z body. The problem is that old F-mount stuff won't fetch much money now and are difficult to sell.

It may make sense to perhaps buy a used Z body to work as a backup to the Zf. Of course it may be best to have a second Zf, but otherwise perhaps a Z5 makes sense since the Zf and Z5 use the same battery and share SD memory cards. The first generation Z6 and Z7 are XQD/CFexpress only, and based on this post, the OP has no camera that uses CFexpress. The second generation Z6 and Z7 give you the SD + CFexpress option.

Rent a second Zf. I’ve been to Botswana, and I know different parts of Africa require different lens combos. If Tanzania is similar in that regard (e.g., early morning excursions in low light, and you don’t get too close to the animals) you should have a shorter fast lens (35-150 or 70-200) and a longer lens (180-600 or 400 or 600)

But you should have compatible lens mount cameras for redundancy, and having both lenses available at all times. You don’t want to change lenses in the field

I would 100% recommend buying/renting a long lens like the 180-600mm and possibly a second body as well.

I was in Kenya in April (still shooting Fuji at the time), and brought my X-H2s and X-H2, as well as 150-600mm (900mm equiv.) and 50-140mm and 16-55mm. I used the 150-600mm for 99% of my shots and only ever used the 16-55mm for some wide landscape shots. Make sure you also have adequate memory cards and ways to back things up.

The camp we were at provided Canon R6II + 100-500mm lenses, and in several cases that wasn't enough reach without cropping.

We took a couple bush plane rides and just paid the $50-100 extra as to not have to worry about the weight limit.

Enjoy your trip!

When I went on my first safari six years ago, I will still shooting my D800 so I bought a used D800 so I would have two identical bodies. I used my 70-200 on one body and I bought a used 200-400f4 for the second body. When I got home from the trip, I sold the 2nd D800 as well as the 200-400 for about what I paid for them. Yes it was a bit of a hassle but it worked out great.

Bottom line is that I agree with the above posts and recommend that you take two identical or similar bodies. The 180-600 will be great and I'd pair it with a 70-200 or something similar.

Good luck and you'll have a great time!

With the Zf as your main camera, I would suggest you consider the Zfc or Z50 as a second body. They use all the same lenses, and if you find you need more reach, instead of the 10mp crop mode of the Zf, you would have 21mp crop mode with the Zfc or Z50. Besides either DX body being exceptionally light.

bscharf said:

I'm going on a safari in Tanzania and I'm trying to figure out what cameras and lenses to bring. It's my first safari and a dream trip. One constraint is that we'll be taking bush planes that have a 33 lbs weight limit on bags.

For sure bringing:

Nikon Zf

Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 G2 (likely)

Nikon 40mm f2 (likely)

I'd like to bring a second body. I own:

Fuji

Fuji XT-3

Rikonon 12mm f2, Fuji 23mm f2, 27mm 2.8, 35mm f2, 56mm 1.2, 16-80mm F4

Nikon

Nikon D7100

Sigma 16-50mm 2.8

Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 AF-D

And a few Nikon primes I probably wouldn't bring.

My current thinking is to bring the Zf with the Tamron and then purchase or rent a 180-600mm Nikon. The question is what should my second body be? Leaning Fuji + 16-80mm.

My budget is probably $2,500 for new stuff and maybe I'll sell some of the existing kit.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Hi!



Different parts of Africa require different lenses. Often in Tanzania you won't be able to get really close to

When I was in Tanzania (12 years ago) , there were many times that I needed at least 500mm reach.

I basically kept a 500 VR f/4 on a D4 and used a D3 for other lenses.

A few pictures:




































































































































More pictures HERE



As you can see these pictures were from 12 years ago.

Now, I'd be taking other photo equipment...





Best Regards,



RB







--

shuncheung said:

bscharf said:

I'm going on a safari in Tanzania and I'm trying to figure out what cameras and lenses to bring. It's my first safari and a dream trip. One constraint is that we'll be taking bush planes that have a 33 lbs weight limit on bags.

For sure bringing:

Nikon Zf

Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 G2 (likely)

Nikon 40mm f2 (likely)

I'd like to bring a second body. I own:

Fuji

Fuji XT-3

Rikonon 12mm f2, Fuji 23mm f2, 27mm 2.8, 35mm f2, 56mm 1.2, 16-80mm F4

Nikon

Nikon D7100

Sigma 16-50mm 2.8

Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 AF-D

And a few Nikon primes I probably wouldn't bring.

My current thinking is to bring the Zf with the Tamron and then purchase or rent a 180-600mm Nikon. The question is what should my second body be? Leaning Fuji + 16-80mm.

My budget is probably $2,500 for new stuff and maybe I'll sell some of the existing kit.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Your problem is that you are straddling among three different lens mounts. It makes a lot of sense to bring (buy or rent) a 180-600mm Z lens. However, in case your Zf fails on the trip, neither your Fuji XT-3 nor your Nikon D7100 can work with any Z-mount lens.

At this point it is probably time, or actually somewhat late, to sell your D7100 and those old F-mount lenses. In particular the 80-200 AF-D will not AF on any Z body. The problem is that old F-mount stuff won't fetch much money now and are difficult to sell.

It may make sense to perhaps buy a used Z body to work as a backup to the Zf. Of course it may be best to have a second Zf, but otherwise perhaps a Z5 makes sense since the Zf and Z5 use the same battery and share SD memory cards. The first generation Z6 and Z7 are XQD/CFexpress only, and based on this post, the OP has no camera that uses CFexpress. The second generation Z6 and Z7 give you the SD + CFexpress option.

Click to expand...

I agree with this analysis. I would tend to stretch the budget ( postpone car replacement for example, if necessary) to get the Z 180-600mm lens and a second Z body. If budget allows, it would be a Z 7_2 for SD card compatibility and its 45 Mpix. The travel set would include just the two lenses: the normal zoom 28-75 mm that to OP already has, and the 180-600. With the Z7_2 on the ...75mm lens you bridge the pixel resolution gap to the 180... lens somewhat. With the Z 7_2 on the ...600 lens you max out the reach. Perhaps the new hardware could be found used at reduced price.

Two cameras with lens on ready to take an image, speeds up the process of what to grab when something interesting comes up.

On reserve battery may do, as the safari vehicle may have AC line power from an DC-AC converter. So the spare could be reloaded while driving, and of course at the camp.

150 MB was enough to hold my images of a 12 day Tanzania trip, I had some reserve with a total of 500 MB at the time (one 45 Mpix camera and two 20/24 Mpix)

The Tanzania vehicles I used and saw were suitable for beanbag long lens support. Our vehicle even provided a real, heavy, beanbag. Fortunately, I had my much less weighty buckwheat filled beanbag with me: much less weight lifting to the roof at the stops where you want to use it.

Outstanding.

I was in Kruger Park, South Africa ~1 month ago. Spent 5 days at the park (guided game drives) and and 5 in Cape Town. Gear I took:

- Nikon Z6ii

- Nikon Z 100-400

- Nikon Z 24-70 f2.8

- Nikon Z 26mm

Your Zf should have better AF performance than my Z6ii, although I did not struggle. I was in dynamic AF most of the time so a lot more moving around the point with the joystick.

The 100-400 was glued onto my camera in the bush! Never used the 24-70, and the 100mm as opposed to the 180 if you were using the 180-600mm was actually used quite a lot, as the animals can approach the car. I would not have liked having a 400mm/600mm prime unless I was doing some dedicated shooting.

I used the small prime in Cape Town where I wanted to be as discrete as possible with my camera.

I've been on a safari in Tanzania (Serengeti) and the lens I used the most was my 80-400mm on my D500. It really depends on the animals. Some animals were reasonably close and pretty easy to shoot. Others were farther away - or you really didn't want to get too close (hippos & crocs for example) - and I really needed the reach.

There are also a lot of pretty amazing birds that you will want to photograph. I was blown away by the sheer quantity of wildlife. It was literally everywhere and all around. At the time I just had my D500. If I was to do it again, I would definitely want two compatible bodies. Three lenses would do the job for me. My 24-70mm, 80-400 mm and my 500mm PF plus my FTZ converter just in case.

When I went we were in jeep style vehicles with tops that opened up. So we were standing in the vehicle and looking out of the top to get photos. A particularly useful piece of kit was a beanbag because that gives a platform to rest the lens on for a bit of stability when shooting with the long lens.

My wife and I went to Tanzania several years ago. Here is my take on the principles of choosing gear. Take two compatible bodies. Fit one with a wide to short telephoto zoom. Fit the second body with a zoom with continuous focal length coverage to the first and 400 mm (DX) or 600 mm (FF) on the long end. You want to be ready to shoot as soon as you encounter a scene. No time to consider, select and mount the best lens.

Consider the type of vehicle and number of fellow travelers you will be going with. Some vehicles may have 10 or more fellow travelers. Keeping the gearlist short will help in this situation. I wouldn't give you any special slack just because you brought too much gear, or gear that was too large.

While a bean bag would be helpful, I used my hand as a substitute. Worked OK.

Don't neglect needed accessories. two batteries per camera, lots of memory cards. Because were traveling in a vehicle with just us two, I took an invertor that plugs into the cigarette lighter, so could charge during the day.

I took 6000 photos in 10 days. Could have taken more

Lastly, practice, practice and practice some more. Dry run with all of the gear on one outing. If you have a pickup, or a friend has one, practice standing up in the bed shooting over the cab.

A smart phone could cover some of the close in and more static subjects.

the area tends to be dusty especially with a car. If it's high season, there could be several cars around a pride of lions or => dust factors goes up, meaning it does not make a lot of sense to risk changing the lenses. So one main camera with the long tele zoom and one landscape camera as a back-up sounds perfect. If you do Mount Kili, just stick to the landscape lens.

Hi there, I'm going on my 6th safari next month. So far, been to South Africa (where animals are often very acclimated and close to vehicles and Zambia where the cats, baboons, some elephants, and giraffes were acclimated but most other animals, including hippos, we had to give a bit more space most of the time. Heading to Kenya/Tanzania next month and all my internet photography friends are saying I will need "reach" much more often.

I think one of the most valuable pieces of advice I've seen in all these posts so far is to have 2 bodies that can use the same lenses. Period. Done and done. I've gone with this on 5/5 safaris and can't imagine doing it any other way. There are times you may want to do a different 2 lens combo while you are out. For instance, early morning and and sunset, I have something wider with at least f2.8 to do a sunset or sunrise shoot. Then your longest lens to be able to capture whatever you are coming up on.

sunrise for interest

So for reach: I'm using a 200-600 and will have a 1.4 teleconverter if needed. In S.A., sometime that 200 is too much reach. I can only imagine how awful it would be if I had the teleconverter on when this lion strolled past our vehicle. This was, camera on the lap and "hail Mary rapid fire with the shutter as he walked by"

"Oh, so close"

So I've usually had either 2 long range lenses mounted: 200-600 and 100-400. OR 200-600 and 16-35 (replacing after awhile with a 28-70. I carried a 14mm in addition once to try to do the night sky but in reality, after being out all day, I crashed after dinner. I shoot sony so add to this my a1 and an a7riii and my bag is ridiculously heavy. I buy an extra luggage supplement with the airline. Watch out if you do this, once the airline booked my luggage supplement as an extra passenger and the staff was afraid to take off thinking they were missing someone. When we looked over their should at the manifest, I was able to see it was my extra luggage supplement - oops;-)

Kudos to @Wahrsager for the link on equipment! It reminds me to

1. bring a beanbag and review my luggage allowance to see what I can afford to use as filling.

2. check out my monopod, I bought one used for a Zambia trip and my recollection was it was a bit tough with my "long lens"

All this reminds me as well to bring equipment to blow / wipe dust off your lens in the field. Clear my sd cards, I go WAY overboard on the amount I bring. I also bring at least 2 battery chargers and 6 batteries (remember, mine are all interchangable with my cameras).

Finally, you don't have to "BUY" new equipment. I have used lensrentals.com more than once and they make it SO easy. It has been especially helpful when I wasn't sure what lens I might want to buy so I could try it out on the trip and invest later.

Last (I know I already said finally, but I can't help myself), I've sold equipment through B&H and bought used from them as well. First safari, I was shooting with my Sony 6500 and thought "Oh, I'll just buy a used 6000 to have as a backup". I got it and tried using it. Hated it, returned it within a couple of weeks, and no problem. That was before I even ordered something else to replace it. Love them.

--

~TM

Chrissi_82 said:

the area tends to be dusty especially with a car. If it's high season, there could be several cars around a pride of lions or => dust factors goes up, meaning it does not make a lot of sense to risk changing the lenses. So one main camera with the long tele zoom and one landscape camera as a back-up sounds perfect. If you do Mount Kili, just stick to the landscape lens.

Click to expand...

Hi!

Agree.



When I went to Tanzania, it was my first(and so far only!) trip to Africa.

So I took too much photo gear.

Our guided was savvy enough to explain this to me, so I left some of the lenses behind at our initial stop in Arusha.

I ended up taking:

D4

D3

500 f f/4

24-70 f/2.8G

70-200 VR

Zeiss100 Macro Planar

10.5 Fisheye (small lens )

1,4 and 2,0 TC's

Nikon 800 Flash

Bean Bag (traveled with it empty; bought beans in Tanzania)







Fortunately, we had 3 empty seats in our vehicle, so I was able to hog up the last row:

(Taken with D3 and fisheye 10.5)

D4 with 500 VR; Zeiss 100 f/2 Makro Planar; Binocs; 24-70 f/2,8G; 70-200VR, SB 800 Flash;



With my own particular equipment, if I were to go now, I might take:

Z8

Z9

400 TC

2x TC

24-120 f/4S or 24-200 (not optically as good as the 24-120)

8-15 Fisheye (not a huge lens)

Flash (rarely used, but critically useful a few times)

Best Regards,



RB

--