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Another photography question
First of all, off topic: We are going next August 9 and indeed have purchased tickets business class Dulles round trip for ~$6800 for 2 business class. Thanks again to all those who helped me out in the long Q&A below.
Now....
I am not really a photography camera person. However, I do have a Canon EOS Rebel with 75x200 as the longer lens. I have been debating whether to do one of 3 things:
1. Take the camera as is.
2. Buy a longer telephoto lens
3. Do neither but use an IPad.
Does anyone have thoughts? We usually don't make photo books but this is really a different circumstance. Also does a camera interfere with everything we are taking, particularly if we were to switch out lenses, which sounds like something that is not worth doing in a Jeep.
Thanks as always for your thoughts.
Barry
Now....
I am not really a photography camera person. However, I do have a Canon EOS Rebel with 75x200 as the longer lens. I have been debating whether to do one of 3 things:
1. Take the camera as is.
2. Buy a longer telephoto lens
3. Do neither but use an IPad.
Does anyone have thoughts? We usually don't make photo books but this is really a different circumstance. Also does a camera interfere with everything we are taking, particularly if we were to switch out lenses, which sounds like something that is not worth doing in a Jeep.
Thanks as always for your thoughts.
Barry
0
Comments
Besides dragging the weight of multiple lenses along, you'll often be in a very dusty environment and you won't want to change lenses.
Ipads have cameras, but they aren't cameras. To track quick moving game you don't want to be holding up a tablet and trying to zoom with your fingers while seeing the display under very bright sunlight.
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"Photography Question" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=40189#post40189
"Jeep Access" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=10637
"Best clothes to bring" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=10177
"Bumpiness" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=7177
"Arriving for August 8 Safari" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=6635
"December 17 trip getting close" https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=11305
There are tons of K&T posts about cameras, go through the forum archives and read them. Some get pretty technical. Here is an interesting one - mhilbush and HandyAndy took the kitchen sink! https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&t=3323
I'm going on the Feb 2nd trip and am pretty excited, been thinking about the photography issues for months, and have talked to some friends who are more advanced than me, about equipment. However, the kinds of folks I hang with are the "photo nuts and nerds", as they might refer to themselves. So they are avid, but good to go to for advice.
1. As I looked through the Tauck forum, I began to understand that their are all kinds of folks at all kinds of levels as far as photography is concerned, that go on Tauck tours. Most other tours that I've taken, the majority of customers use a camera casually, and for their needs a point and shoot works. They usually are more interested in learning about and enjoying their cultural environment and the locations. So the safari is different. It's photography oriented.
2. So, seems to me, the context is one of asking oneself what kinds of photos do you wish to take, what are you going to do with the images, and how much into practice and equipment do you want to get into. Kinda sounds like you want mostly to enjoy the safari experience, and document some of it, and hopefully get a few wonderful, stellar animal shots with emotional impact.
3. So what your goals are, and how much effort you want to put into this taking pictures thing shapes the equipment choices one makes. Basically, it would be nice to have a zoom lens that goes out to 400mm. I've seen some scenes from Handy Andy that took pics of predators making the kill -- and they were not close to the animals.
4. But a zoom lens that goes out to 400mm, in a DSLR is heavy, and expensive. If you aren't going to have other uses for the lens, or if photography really isn't that much of an interest, I'd like to suggest that you rent a lens for a couple of weeks, from vendors like borrowlens.com I've gone on photography workshops where the instructors have posed that option.
5. Whether you would be content with a lens that would go from wide angle to super-tele, or from "normal" to super tele is a personal choice. I, myself, will bring several lenses (because I'm a photo nut) and two camera bodies so that I won't have to change lenses). The Landcruiser isn't the only place that has photographic opportunities, so one envisions the types of photos one would try to get (e.g. weird super-wide sunsets) and match the equipment to what you are trying to accomplish. In other threads, there's been the issue of tripod or not -- and I would think that presents the same frame of reference -- if you need a tripod to accomplish a particular purpose, technique, etc., then you lug it. If your photographic interest and skill isn't at the level to warrant lugging that kind of equipment, then, you lighten up.
6. Sounds like it might be fun for you to rent a lens that goes out to 400mm. You might, for example, want to take not just animals in an environment, but animal PORTRAITS in an environment. Some folks might want to get in close with birds, and may go out to even 600mm. Tough, I imagine, in a Landcruiser though, that's an awfully unwieldy piece of equipment.
7. Go with the Rebel, bring lots of SD cards, you'll have much better resolution than an iPad, and who knows? You might just bag a picture you'll want to blow up onto your wall.
Hope this helps.
Doug
On some occasions, in different parts of Africa, we have been out on Safari and hardly seen any animals the whole of the two ours or so, but for us we just love the whole experience, it is so much more fun and life changing than just lying on a beach which so many of our friends prefer to do. So they are not really interested in our photos anyway, they are just for us, oh and to sit down for five minutes with a grandchild and show them the animals and talk about them. It must be working, our three year old granddaughter pointed to a photo of a lion the other day and said she knew he was a male lion because he had a mane, in fact it was a juvenile male, so the mane was not even that pronounced. Yikes, our genes are being passed down! We have our own circle of life happening right here at home!
Ah yes Richard is totally correct. On our first Safari the rest of the group ostracized two lovely ladies who wanted to stop for birds. It became so bad that we said we were happy to have more opportunity to see the beautiful birds and the tour director kept the four of us together in one vehicle so others could pursue more animals, they did not see more, they just did not stop for birds. The most annoying and rude people we have ever been with on all our Tauck tours.
Happy New Year Richard! We are just about to go outside and shovel snow instead of taking the grandchildren to see Peter Pan.
A good camera and lens is important.. an iPad or iPhone is not a good alternative for wildlife shots.. you will be disappointed.. consider renting a 80-400mm lens.. yes rent. We went to T&K in July/August and light wasn't that great due to overcast sky and the relatively high f stop on my lens. I had some great photos but would have liked a better f stop i.e. f2.8. However, I could have auto-pushed the ISO up to 800 to compensate for the high f stop. "Pilot error" on my part...
Bring a lens sleeve with you to cover the camera and lens during the dusty road travel.
Moderately priced is a very relative term. Generally, for someone on a safari trip whose is looking for a better quality camera, I would recommend a superzoom (also know as a megazoom or bridge camera). These cameras have the long telephoto capability you'd like for wildlife and are relatively easy to use (though some have advanced functions for those who are interested). The also have viewfinders (electronic , not optical), unlike almost all point and shoot cameras these days. This means that you can frame your photo even in full sun. They don't have interchangeable lenses. They generally run in the $400 - $1000 range (hope that is in your moderate range).
Some things to watch for:
The zoom range. Some of these cameras have really long zooms. Anything over 600mm full frame equivalent is probably overkill. Don't be fooled by "digital zoom" this is just the camera cropping the picture (i.e. throwing out some of the picture). Concentrate on the optical zoom specifications.
Physical sensor size (millimeters not megapixels). The bigger the physical size of the sensor, generally the better quality of the picture and the better low light performance. Many of these cameras achieve their really long zooms by using a really small sensor. Better to go for bigger sensor and less zoom.
PC Mag has a article on the best cameras of this type (they do leave out the cheaper models). Here's the link:
https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/348745/the-best-bridge-cameras
Also, be sure to protect your camera from the dust. Carry a ziplock bag and a microfiber towel. Have a blower (rubber squeeze bulb with nozzle) for use at the end of each day. Friends of ours went on this trip and got their brand new superzoom camera clogged with dust early in the trip (total unusable). They ended up using phone cameras and having to get the camera repaired when they got home.
Hope this helps.
Not a nerd and I do take pictures but.I rather see the animals by binoculars or naked eyes instead of the pressure of getting that great shot that you might look at once or twice a year ( if that ). To us memory last longer then picture and you can recall it in a blink of the eye .
never said we are normal . To each their own. See you P & M
My best advice - make friends and share pictures with each other. We had an incredible experience with a leopard that wasn't in the tree, but walking through the grass. Needless to say, about 20 safari vehicles were following along. I got an amazing zoomed photo of the leopard - you can count every whisker and every eyelash. But here's the really good part. Astonishingly, the leopard decided to cool off in the shade of a vehicle, and chose ours. At one point, he went under our vehicle. I had my zoom lens on and I peered down and took a picture of the only thing I could see - the tip of his tail. Thankfully, and I am so thankful, someone in another vehicle took a picture of us with me photographing the tail. The difference - their picture captured the entire leopard resting under our vehicle. Many of us had iPADs and the little adapter that allows you to download your pictures. And despite weak wifi, the person that took the picture emailed it to me that evening. WHAT A GIFT!
I also took pictures of people in their vehicles taking pictures of animals. At one point a giraffe came within 7 feet of a vehicle and I was able to capture that moment for those people. There were many other examples of well.
Not as close as CatLover8's leopard, but a bit after I shot this photo the female got up and took a few steps towards our vehicle. My wife swears it looked her right in the eyes and did the little dance house cats do before they charge, pounce, or attack (a toy, foot, etc.). It was convincing enough to my wife that she made a quick dive to the vehicle floor. The cat did not charge. : )
A fellow traveler took this great photo of me discussing the finer points of my camera and lens. But, more likely, I'm asking, "What does this button do?" : ) In the background are Huayna Picchu mountain and Machu Picchu ruins.
Sharing photos....
AirDrop is fabulous, you don’t need to be connected to Wi-Fi at all, you just need to be near the person sharing the photo with you to transfer it to your iPhone or iPad.
Good point British! Air Drop is great for apple-to-apple devices. As long as ipad is 4th generation or newer (or iPhone 5 or newer), and Bluetooth and WiFi are both on, that works. I was still very new to ipad and only had a 2nd generation one on our K/T trip.
I use one of these websites to share all of my trip photos with friends. Really great.