Bean bag or not on safari in East Africa

C Sean wrote:

Chizuka wrote:

C Sean wrote:

Can I ask you how many safaris you been on?

The reason why I'm asking you this because I do believe you're over complicating what could be a once in a life time trip. All you need for your trip is a few camera bodies, binoculars, a hat and sun glasses. Then there's the factor 50 suncream, bug spray etc.

To answer your question, you don't need sand bags and most people can get along without them. You can rest your elbows on your thighs and there's your tripod. You don't need all this support unless you're shooting with something like the 600mm 4.0 and my advice for you is good luck. Luckily most safari vehicles in East Africa often supply sand bags if anyone need them so you don't need to bring your own.

BTW sands bags don't effect your sightings and it doesn't effect how many people in your vehicle. Your main goal on day one is to find the right people to share the vehicle with or there will be tensions like in your typical Big Brother house. Here is an example, my last safari, the sightings of big cats were low and we had a lot of birders in our group. The birders stuck together in one vehicle and I made sure I stayed in the other.

A friend knows some people who went to Kruger for four days and they didn't see a single lion. It does happen and nothing is guaranteed except for your common herbivores. You might have some exciting sightings and you might have some animals eating grass.

Thank you for your comment C. This will be my first safari. I probably would not have any questions if it was my 2nd or 3rd, but I doubt that will happen.

There's nothing wrong with asking questions and it's great to have people here who been on safari who can give advice. What you don't want to do is over complicate things and when it comes to big animal sightings, you need to get the camera ready.

What you should be looking at is Back Button Focus and set different custom settings for your camera for different scenarios. So you have a custom setting for good light, setting for low light and shutter speed setting.

Yes that is something I have to do i.e. set custom settings. I keep meaning to do it but still have not. I do use the Back Button focus. Thank you very much for all your help. Much appreciated.

This way you don't have to tweak so much of the settings to get the expose correct and after you done the camera revert the settings back to how they were before the minor adjustments. This way you don't have to manually input the camera setting from good light to low light and to good light again. All you have to do is adjust the dial, tweak the exposure triangle and you're done.

Chizuka wrote:

C Sean wrote:

Chizuka wrote:

C Sean wrote:

Can I ask you how many safaris you been on?

The reason why I'm asking you this because I do believe you're over complicating what could be a once in a life time trip. All you need for your trip is a few camera bodies, binoculars, a hat and sun glasses. Then there's the factor 50 suncream, bug spray etc.

To answer your question, you don't need sand bags and most people can get along without them. You can rest your elbows on your thighs and there's your tripod. You don't need all this support unless you're shooting with something like the 600mm 4.0 and my advice for you is good luck. Luckily most safari vehicles in East Africa often supply sand bags if anyone need them so you don't need to bring your own.

BTW sands bags don't effect your sightings and it doesn't effect how many people in your vehicle. Your main goal on day one is to find the right people to share the vehicle with or there will be tensions like in your typical Big Brother house. Here is an example, my last safari, the sightings of big cats were low and we had a lot of birders in our group. The birders stuck together in one vehicle and I made sure I stayed in the other.

A friend knows some people who went to Kruger for four days and they didn't see a single lion. It does happen and nothing is guaranteed except for your common herbivores. You might have some exciting sightings and you might have some animals eating grass.

Thank you for your comment C. This will be my first safari. I probably would not have any questions if it was my 2nd or 3rd, but I doubt that will happen.

There's nothing wrong with asking questions and it's great to have people here who been on safari who can give advice. What you don't want to do is over complicate things and when it comes to big animal sightings, you need to get the camera ready.

What you should be looking at is Back Button Focus and set different custom settings for your camera for different scenarios. So you have a custom setting for good light, setting for low light and shutter speed setting.

Yes that is something I have to do i.e. set custom settings. I keep meaning to do it but still have not. I do use the Back Button focus. Thank you very much for all your help. Much appreciated.

This way you don't have to tweak so much of the settings to get the expose correct and after you done the camera revert the settings back to how they were before the minor adjustments. This way you don't have to manually input the camera setting from good light to low light and to good light again. All you have to do is adjust the dial, tweak the exposure triangle and you're done.

Creating custom settings right before a trip seems like a recipe for disaster. You need time to learn the settings so you don't struggle on your safari.

I personally don't use custom settings. It's impossible to customize your camera for everything you might encounter.

Part of my enjoyment is using my knowledge and experience to set the camera for the conditons I find in the field- not set up my camera's presets in the living room and turn it into a P&S. Might as well use the Scene mode. But then, some P&S and cell phone users have fun, too, even if they don't increase their knowledge about photography.

I went on a photo safari in Kenya last year. They supplied bean bags which I found to be a nuisance. I used the 100-400 primarily and used the anti vibration on the lens with excellent results. You don't need the bag. I did take three cameras, rented a backup 100-400 which I never used, brought lots of other lenses, chargers, batteries, and a laptop for continuous backup. Shot mostly in burst mode to catch the right expression. It was a fabulous trip. Enjoy!

In TZ you will be in vehicles like the one shown, so your shots will be either through the window or standing in the pop top.  While waiting you can keep your gear resting on tne window or roof frame if needed, I’ve never used a bean bag or other support as I always shoot wildlife handheld.

If you’re using Good Earth Tours ask for Goodluck Msemo as a guide and say hi for me!  He’s a really good guide and nice man.

When in Tanzania, I used the hockey puck sized screw-on bean bag and found it to be helpful to rest on the pop-up roof windows of the vehicle.  Didn't take up much space.

1. Chizuka wrote:

Hello again,

for those of you who have been on a safari in East Africa, would you recommend a bean bag for a MFT camera (and PL 100-400)? If so, which one would you recommend (with weight being an issue, even if it would be empty on the way to)?

Thank you in advance for all your valuable help.

Yes, hello again.

In my experience, good operators will supply bean bags - suggest you ask your agent (I do know you are staying in multiple places).  Personally, I wouldn't be too concerned because as often as not the shot will not be just alongside your window ledge.

Incidentally, literal beans may not be a good idea - the monkeys tend to eat them 

Dave

John, yes I have one of these as well.