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Camera advice for taking to Tanzania

HMCTech

By HMCTech
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HMCTech

HMCTech

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Not much of a photographer but I am going away in the summer for three weeks to Kenya & Tanzania and I cant let this go by without taking a great camera with me.

 

I will be mostly taking landscape photos with the ability to zoom in on the animals which may be quite far away. I imagine that a camera that takes AA batteries will be best as I will be pitching tent in the evening and there is only the power supply in the truck to charge electrical goods which I have to share with 16 other people.

 

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated on models and lenses. I have around £450 to spend in total.

Ketlane

Ketlane

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My experience is Kenya only and not Tz, but expect that local batteries will last less well than ones bought here; check the "best before" if buying. Hope you don't have the same disaster as I did - battery change needed just as lions were killling a zebra 50 metres from us! You'll likely find yourself taking pix of bird life too, so well worth going for some good quality zoom; consider a monopod or whatever. Dust a BIG prob - take cleaning kit and good camera bags and plastic bags. Binoculars sooo worth having with you. Worth posting a question like this on Thorn Tree travel forum - Lonely Planet - really helpful on loads of other things too.
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teejay

teejay

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My advice would be to get a couple of cheapish compact cameras, keeping one in a sealed polybag as standby as dust can be a pain (along with light fingers). Look for one that does decent video as well and also buy a shed load of memory cards. Don't even bother with an SLR, you won't get any better quality unless you spend a lot of time learning how to use it, even then you won't get really impressive results without spending an absolute fortune on a decent lens.
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laserblazer

laserblazer

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I got my wife a Panasonic Lumix with a x10 zoom when we went to South Africa. We made up a couple of beanbags out of the legs of old jeans. Bought some suitable rice from a supermarket when we got there and filled them up, to keep luggage weight and space down. The missus is just a point and shooter but got some cracking shots on long zoom using the beanbag. The Lumix is quite wide at the other end of the zoom. It has it's own battery packs but we bought a couple of spares and had a car charger.

 

Don't spend so much time looking through the viewfinder that you miss the live action!

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kili

kili

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When I was in Africa I took a video camera which also took digital photos plus a digital camera. I quickly abandoned the digital camera and used the video camera to take digital photos as it had 70 x digital zoom which was far superior to the digital camera alone.

 

Now I just take the video camera so i get video and digital stills photos and only have to carry a single device and charge one item only.

 

Kili

kili

kili

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Forget digital zoom, you may just as well stretch image on the computer, it's effectively the same. You need a big optical zoom and something to steady the camera.

 

That's not been my experince . The pictures I took were great. Unless your a photography enthusiast ( Which AlexPilot is not at this stage) I think any average user will be more than pleased with the output.

 

kili

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HMCTech

HMCTech

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At the moment I am torn between getting an SLR PENTAX K-r Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Zoom Lens & 50-200mm Zoom Lens at cheap prices | PC World this one as it has to larger lens as part of the price. Or an ultrazoom Panasonic Lumix FZ100 14.1MP Digital Camera - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

I want it to be a good camera outside of my holiday so I dont want to spend £400 on something that will be great for my three weeks int eh summer but not so good back home. Been toying for four days now :)

tom_newton

tom_newton

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On my first trip to Kenya I took a decent Canon compact, it did an OK job. On my subsequent 4 or 5 trips, I have taken a DSLR with the compact's replacements for times when I need to be light.

The difference in quality of results is _extremely_ noticeable between the compact and a cheapish, second hand low-end slr with a relatively inexpensive zoom (Canon 350D, 70-300IS). There is a less marked difference when I upgraded to a 40D, and another reasonable jump in quality when I moved to a 100-400L. The Pics on the last trip came out somewhat better than those of a fellow traveller with a megazoom video camera.

 

If you're camping, you may not want the weight, but on the other hand, I have found that my SLR batteries last next to forever as I rarely use the screen. Buying AA batteries will be hard in any game parks (most lodges have a small shop where you can buy stuff.. they vary on the rules for allowing non residents in for lunch!), outside it will depend on where you're staying on wether you can get decent batteries if you go the AA route. In kenya, the Nakumatt supermarket is OK.

 

Beware of advice from those who have been to SA - their game parks are fenced and the animals are more habituated to human contact, so often you wont need so much zoom - in Kenya at least, you may only get once chance at a Lion (depends where/when you go of course) and you don't want to wish for an extra 100mm :)

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laserblazer

laserblazer

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Beware of advice from those who have been to SA - their game parks are fenced

 

The Kruger National Park has fences along the western side but is now open into Mozambique. It is also 4 times the size of the Masai Mara. The animals are no more accostomed to vehicles there as in Kenya. Witnes a recent picture of a young leopard jumping on the top of a truck and playing with the camerawoman. I think there are just more animals in the Kruger and they like the retained heat in the tarred roads.

tom_newton

tom_newton

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The 18-55 will definitely not be long enough, but you'll need something at that end if you want to do any landscape work.

 

I suggest you look at hiring some long glass - though you will need to buy canon or nikon really to do this. Canon EF 28-300mm f 3 5-5 6 L IS USM is a great lens which would cost you 100 quid a week tho there's 50 quid sigmas. Alternatively, the canon 55-250 is great on a budget to buy. Depends if you are looking to do any distance stuff after your safari.

 

Also I can recommend photoguard.co.uk - nice to have peace of mind - if you're worried about your gear you'll not take enough risks :) They paid up when my camera failed to survive 50 drunken Kenyans in Nakuru ;)

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tom_newton

tom_newton

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The Kruger National Park has fences along the western side but is now open into Mozambique. It is also 4 times the size of the Masai Mara. The animals are no more accostomed to vehicles there as in Kenya. Witnes a recent picture of a young leopard jumping on the top of a truck and playing with the camerawoman. I think there are just more animals in the Kruger and they like the retained heat in the tarred roads.

 

The mara probably has animals the most habituated in all of Kenya... go to Amboseli, Tsavo or Samburu (dunno where the OP is going) and it is quite different.

pantscat

pantscat

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Alternatively, the canon 55-250 is great on a budget to buy.

 

Yep... I've got one of these and it's great!

Bought it when I went out and did a tour around Nevada, Utah and such... got some great shots!

laptopsandspares

laptopsandspares

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At the moment I am torn between getting an SLR PENTAX K-r Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Zoom Lens & 50-200mm Zoom Lens at cheap prices | PC World this one as it has to larger lens as part of the price. Or an ultrazoom Panasonic Lumix FZ100 14.1MP Digital Camera - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

I want it to be a good camera outside of my holiday so I dont want to spend £400 on something that will be great for my three weeks int eh summer but not so good back home. Been toying for four days now :)

 

A couple of good options here.

 

Pentax is a good camera, will offer you future upgradeability and better image quality. Trade off is a bit more weight and you'll need to be super careful changing lenses "in the field" as dust can be a camera killer and will almost certainly spoil your pics if it gets in there. Sand will be even worse for moving parts!!

 

Panasonic has a good Optical Zoom on it. Optical is the key. Digital, despite Killi's experiences which I'm not questioning, does throw away pixels as it effectively crops the image. it didn't get great reviews in low light, but where you are going will be fine.

 

My advice would be if you like those two models, ask yourself, how will you use the camera when you get back. If you don't mind lugging round a dslr and lenses ad think you might get into photography, go pentax. If you are more likley to want to throw a camera in a bag and pull it out occasionally, th ePanasonic is more than up to the task and a 25x optical zoom is a lot more zoom for the money than you'll get for the SLR route and your budget.

 

most importantly, lets see some pics when you get back!!

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jinnantonnixx

jinnantonnixx

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Another vote for the Panasonic Lumix range - fabulous lenses. Basically a Leica in a Panasonic case.

 

Have you considered a 500mm mirror lens? You can get one of these in an M42 screw fit for peanuts. Well, not much more than £100 or so. Get an adapter for your SLR (I use an M42 to EOS adapter). You'll loose autofocus, but with a fixed f8 everything will be in focus anyway. Set your camera to aperture priority to match the lens and you're in business. Just a thought....

tom_newton

tom_newton

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Wouldn't go the mirror lens route myself - manual focussing all the way is a PITA (I like my FTM lenses where I can tweak manually, tho in the bright equatorial light I find picking an AF point enough 99.9% of the time). To get good looking shots you'll want to be at a fairly wide apeture to give the blurry background look. If your lens has IS, you probably won't need a beanbag again, partly thanks to the good light. I handheld a ton of shots at 400mm. Get your driver to turn the engine off if you can tho. Also if you are in a matatu-style safari bus, you wont get much option to rest on stuff.

 

It really comes down to how keen you are on the photography side. I'm lucky, I have family in Nairobi, so I got to rectify the "mistake" of taking a compact on my first safari, but for others this will be their one chance. I got hooked on safari photography, hence making some investment in kit. I guess I should use it more in the UK really :)

HMCTech

HMCTech

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I took a small Sony compact £100 job to Egypt with me in April and when I got back I was soo dissapointed in the images I wanted to cry!

 

I have Kenya & Tanzania this summer then next year I have China and New Zealand so I am heading towards getting something that will be great for all my holidays moving forward rather than just specifically a safari holiday.

tom_newton

tom_newton

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Camera Price Buster - UKs cheapest camera gear is a good place to look - apparently the Canon 1000D can be had with the regular 18-55 kit lens plus a 75-300 for just north of 500 quid. Interesting. No indication of the 75-300 being IS, which i'd class as a "nice to have" but not essential for handholding in bright african sun. If I get chance i'll do a bit more looking when I get home.. now.. back to er... posting about web filtering, yes, that's it :)
HMCTech

HMCTech

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A friend loaned me his Canon SLR with a 55-200mm lens this evening and I took it around the local lakes. While the pictures are amazing the lens hardly got close to rabbits or cows 20 meters away. I would have to get a 300mm lens for it to be any good and I cannot afford that as any deals I found for body and lens were £650+. So it was a good excersise to prove that SLR is not the way to go and I ordered the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 24x optical zoom. Should arrive Thursday.
  • 3 weeks later...

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