Chobe River Photo Safari

[dartymix1]

We just got back from a Botswana photo safari (Pangolin Safaris). We had a great time. If you like taking pictures of animals, you need to add it to your bucket list. 7 of us were on a houseboat for 3 nights and went out on boats on the Chobe River for the first 3 days and then were at a lodge and did game drives most of the rest of it. I liked being on the boat best because you had more room to move and move your camera. The photo guide and guide were excellent and found all kinds of critters for us to point our cameras at and had good tips for getting the shot. The food was good too. I mainly used my D7500 and my 80-400 G, but I brought a ZII and a 24-120 for landscapes and close up. Here are a few shots.




It took a few hours and several bags of peanuts to get these guys lined up and then they got photobombed!




Bee eaters with bees for his nesting mate.












Kicking up dust.




Grrr.




You again?




Home sweet home.




African galinue




Sunset.




Sunset.




Mom baboon with baby.




Getting in a quick snuggle.

 

[UIW 1980]

Amazing series. How challenging was it to get these photos on a boat that was constantly swaying? I can only assume that by bumping up the shutter speed that some of the boat movement would be negated.

 

[dartymix1]

Thanks. Yes, we did a lot at 1/2500 or so shutter speed when the light allowed. In the early morning it was harder. Where I was missing focus most was the little kingfishers with busy backgrounds. They have a single color chest that my camera and I had trouble with. Even when they were still I missed a lot, though I took enough shots that I still got quite a few. I did better with the Jacanas and bee eaters. I used single point focusing. mostly. I missed on some of the hippos, but got most and the big animals were less of a problem. . We were out from 6:30 to 10:30 ish in the morning and 3:00 to 6:30 in the afternoon so some of it was fatigue, boat movement, user error, equipment error, etc. The drives are a little harder unless the target is on your side of the vehicle.

Here are some of the little rascals.

 

[dartymix1]

PS. The photo guide was really good about reminding us about shutter speed depending on the light and subject. I shot manual with auto ISO and it worked well for almost everything.

 

[tripleC]

Both are excellent series, you lucky devil. My animal pictures are shot at the zoo.

 

[dartymix1]

Thanks! It was a great trip and I know we are fortunate to be able to go. It was a once in a lifetime trip that we would like to repeat (ha ha)I was surprised that 3 of our group had been on several photo trips to Africa.

 

[Mark Carr]

Hi Darty,

Sorry for the late reply.

Congrats on what sounds like a wonderful trip. I think Africa is on every photographers bucket list, and for good reason. I frequent the Pangolin Safari's website often, and even spoke with Toby a few weeks ago via email. They seem like wonderful people, thoroughly enjoying themselves. I enjoy watching their YouTube videos. Hopefully, one day I'll have the resources to book a similar trip.

You should be pleased with the pics you have. I'm sure it's a difficult environment to shoot in. Living in Central America, where it's hot and humid, I know how frustrating it can be at times. I pray for blue skies, no wind, and low humidity every day, but it rarely happens.

The ISO is higher than I thought it would be for daylight pics, but if you had the camera set to Auto-ISO, then it's out of your hands. This is where big, expensive, and fast lenses come in handy. They afford you opportunities you won't have with slower, variable-aperture zoom lenses.

Thanks for posting the pics. I enjoying viewing them.

Kind regards,

Mark

 

[toomanycanons]

I have one, it's a great camera

Others would only consider taking some higher mp full frame (Z9, D850 etc). Did you have your choice of what bodies to take and decided on the D7500 or was it and the Z6II your only options?

 

[dartymix1]

Thanks. Without buying another camera, those were my choices. I thought about buying a z8, but it is a little bigger and heavier than I wanted. Also, I am usually happy with the results from my d7500. I Got a most of shots, but missed a few too. I thought about putting my zoom on my z6ii, but I was afraid I would need the wider focal length and I didn’t bring a wide angle zoom that fit my d7500. Most of the misses were small birds so who knows.

 

[dartymix1]

Mark.
Many days we had weird light because of the Dust in the African sky. The early and late sun did not produce lot of light even high in the sky. The sun was a really pretty orange, but not bright if that makes sense. And it was hard to capture the color.

I prefer the zoom lens, though most shots were at 400 mm I think. Here are some of the sun sets and sunrises showing the sun.thanks

Marty

 

[dartymix1]

PS. We really liked the Pangolin group. Sarah Jenner, our phot guide tried to put us in the best spot with best settings for the shot.