Safari Photography kit

[JJHACK]

What is the gear you use? What can you get for digital SLR gear for under 1500 bucks

Some features that would be very important to me:

Silent operation,
wide angle  lens for hunters and trophy shots.
200mm lens for wildlife pictures
Adjustable flash for after dark trophy shots.
Quick or instant photo when the shutter button is pushed
Several photo's pulsed at one time for an action sequence
Long lasting battery or AA battery use

What else can you think of?

[Oday450]

I use both a pocket sized and larger Canons for some time and have been very pleased.  You should be able to find a Canon Digital Rebel XTi for about $600 plus lenses and flash.  The EOS 30D models start about 800 plus lenses and flash.  And, they have more sophisticated models up to $6K or so.

[Grumulkin]

I would highly recommend the Nikon D80.

I went digital with the Nikon D80 a bit over a year ago and have been very pleased.  Now my Nikon F5, 2 Pentax 645N cameras and Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II camera get VERY LITTLE use.

[JJHACK]

Will the D80 use "AA" batteries?

I gotta try to find an DSLR that will. The Canon XTi does not use them in the camera, but they make a handle that fits the camera which will use AA batteries. In RSA I can't always depend on having the power to charge my batteries. With AA batteries I will always have power.

It's not a deal breaker but would definitely sway me on a tough decision

[flyboy]

JJ:

My personal recommendation:

The Nikon D40 body, with the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens.  The combo will cost you about  $1300, and the lens has a waiting list.  Spend the rest on a good, powerful flash unit, Nikon or aftermarket.  If you want a good ,light 18-55mm lens, the D40 comes with a dandy.  See kenrockwell.com for his comments on the camera and lenses. Valuable.

My preference:  Keep the 18-200 on the camera ALL the time, since Africa is DUSTY, and you don't want all the crud on your sensor. Either that , or buy a cleaning kit.  Buy a spare battery or three, and be sure that the charger will fit the electrical outlets and match the voltages they have over there.  Several memory cards with high write speed will round out the outfit.  Have your memory cards transferred to CD storage media as soon as you can, and format your card every time you replace it. It will guard against corrupted info making a mess of your photos.  Wear a vest of some sort, only with enough pockets to carry the flash, your memory cards,  a notebook  batteries, and lunch. Try to go light.


Beware of the small Sunpak flashes for  Nikons, and maybe other cameras. ~PZ30X, or close, as I remember.  They are small, powerful, lightweight. I have had very good performance from Sunpak flashes prior, so I bought one for vacation last summer, and it worked beautifully.

Except, when  I put it in my vest pocket, the switch would move from off to on, apparently from the normal motion of being carried.   It happened twice. 

I returned it, and got another, which did the same thing.  It looked like a manufacturing /design defect to me. I contacted Sunpak, and got a ration of crap from a customer service rep, so I returned it and bought  a small Nikon unit, which works a treat! This may just have been a bad lot of flashes, but the customer service was really bad. 

One last thing:  Carry a gallon or larger zip lock bag with you:  It will keep a lot dust off and out of your camera or binoculars, and leave it easily accessible.  It worked great when I was a young newspaper reporter/photog in the Oregon desert, only I used a Forest Service large, yellow garbage bag.  I could leave my car unlocked, and that on the fornt seat, but nobody ever stole the equipment in it.       Enjoy your trip!

[Kurt L]

You got some good ideas above and I will add a few things to look for that might help you.

A 2 gig flash card will hold average of like 500 normal photos at 6 megapixel.
but if something happen to your card you are to loose more that way I would get several 1 gig cards.
you can get these around 20 bucks and less each.

the battery packs on slrs work and last long these days,
1 you could get a 12v charger for the cameras battery pack or
2 get a external battery pack grip for the camera you pick and use AA batteries and you could also
use these for your flash. you could also use rechargeable AA batteries with a 12volt or wall charger but I have no idea
what they have for power sources there.

This would be a good time to pick your future lenses you may like also.
the nikon d40 and d40x has to have  lenses with internal focus motor so a lot of nokon lenses won't work on them body's
most all will work on the d80.

for what you list I think the d40or d40x would be great for you and the 18-200 would work fine also ,i don't think you can
get the external battery pack for these cameras . the d80 you can get the pack and use AA batteries.

canon rebel cameras i think you can check and get the external battery pack for.
also i think the pentex do also.

the metz 58af is a great flash and same for nikon sb800.
this is not a great place to skimp and buy the cheapest,you can get by with a cheap lens but not a flash.
if it don't have the power needed your shutter speeds will be slower and even under exposed you have seen these type photos from some body's point and shoot camera I know you have that's what a cheap under powered flash will do!!!!
get a good high power flash, yes it cost more but you will have it for years and you will be thank full you went that way.
will the pop up flash on these cameras work ,yes ,BUT WAY UNDER POWERED.
I am sure after you get your camera of choice you will take photos of the kids or grand children etc ,trust me get a good flash.

you can stick to the 6-10 mega pixel range and have a great camera set up.
I have made lots of great 16x20 school sports photo's on a 6 mega pix camera in the past.

i dont know how to list these but i will try maybe it will work,
www.bhphotovideo.com

has tons of photo gear and i have used them for years,very well trusted company beware of a lot of others.

the gallon bag is also a great tip you got carry one extra with a hole in it and put around your lens shade with a rubber band and shoot in the rain if needed.

i would get a uv filter to protect your lens from dirt on the class,you can clean this and if it gets scratched get another one and alot cheaper than a lens fix.

a cheap 30-40 dollar tripod from like walmart may come in handy,also a camera remote or a corded shutter release.

[Grumulkin]

Will the D80 use "AA" batteries?

I believe there is an adapter you can buy to use AA batteries with the Nikon D80.  That said, if you get 2 or 3 of the rechargeable batteries, you can take a LOT of photos before you need a charge.  Even using flash, one battery lasts a long time with a full charge.

[Kurt L]

the D80 you can add the vertical grip pack and use AA batteries.

[JJHACK]

I've not had good luck with rechargeable's staying fully charged for a week or more. They seem to go flat just sitting in storage. I think from the replies here it's clear that folks are quite used to America where available power is concerned. In the bush of Africa it could be a long time between charge cycles. Also having the available AA batteries makes the dependence on those proprietary battery packs a bit less important. I've used these cameras with special batteries and had no camera before because they are dead. Once this happens a few times it becomes more important.

[Grumulkin]

I know where you're coming from.  I've not recharged my Nikon D80 for several weeks at times and they hold their charge very well.  A backup adapter to use AA batteries would admittedly be prudent though.

[Kurt L]

Like I posted
The batteries are real good these days in the camera.
also I have no idea as to what they have for power.
If a person was to have 3 oem battery packs for the camera ,chances are you
could get all your pictures taken but what if??

But if you had an adapter pack so you could use AA batteries it might save the day and
they would be used for flash also . if the camera batteries die out and no way to recharge
the adapter and a brick of AA batteries just may make the day.

I agree with the power as i don't have a clue.if you could charge with a wall or 12v charger on
 location the rechargeable AA's would be ok if you had the ability to recharge the cameras battery
pack that would be better than the AA recharge-ables I will agree 100% that they loose charge.
If i was to gamble I would try to take AA batteries from energizer Duracell or other in bulk brick
before i would chance the recharge able one's.

[flyboy]

I've not had good luck with rechargeable's staying fully charged for a week or more. They seem to go flat just sitting in storage.

JJ;
You are absolutely right regarding NiCd and NiMh rechargeables. They DO!  The Ni Cads will lose a fairly large amount of charge per month after initial charge. NiMH are some better, but  there is now a battery...Eneloop... that supposedly does away with most of the self-discharge problem. 

Some people may say that they are not a high capacity as NiMh or NiCd, but they don't have to be.  They retain more usable charge from day one,  not needing large capacity, because you will have more capacity than the average rechargeable will have to start with.  We are talking 2000-2100 Mah (milliamp hours) for Eneloops, and 2700-2800 Mah for comparable NiMh.

Leastways, that's what the guy that taught the photo class when I bought my DSLR said.

HOWEVAH! The propreitary LIthium Ion batteries that come with Nikon or Canon cameras take LOTS of photos, and you can find them on da'Bay for reasonable prices, and at about the same quality as expen$ive Nikon branded batteries. Nikon is international, so, they probably have chargers/adapters for most parts of the world.  But, write your tour vendor and/or place you will be staying, asking pointed questions regarding care and maintenance of cameras and rechargeable batteries, and they probably can guide you appropriately.  You will not be the first to ask.
Also, 1-800-NIKONUSA has techs that are glad to answer your questions. Just call off-hours, when the techs are not running to keep up with calls

Sad but true, that the D40 series cameras need a whole new series of lenses, while the D70 and D80 and D50 will use any and all Nikon lenses since before most of us were born. A D70 is good, but BIG! That's why I chose the D50, after using my office's D70, because it will use all my other Nikon lenses. Don'tcha just LOVE planned obsolescence?? Buuuutt....if you are just starting , and have no older lenses, the newer ones are marvelous, especially the neat little 18-55mm.  I use mine lots.

A 512 MB memory card= 1CD~.  1 Gig= about 2 CDs. 

One thing I did forget, that was mentioned. Tripods are a goodness,  But unwieldy when you are jammed into a vehicle with others.  Take a light one, but a bean bag that you can rest your camera on is a better choice. And, make sure the driver turns off the engine when you are trying to shoot, especially with the camera braced on the vehicle structure.   Man, are you going to have a grand time!

[JJHACK]

Flyboy, Reading your information was interesting, and thanks for the update on battery life. However you must not have known that I own the safari company in RSA I've lived there much of my life.

Thanks for the help and input. I sure wish the Canon AE1 lenses worked with Canon DSLR's I have about 4K worth of AE1 Lenses and a couple like new magnificent AE1 cameras that I simply don't use anymore with the digital future.

[flyboy]

Flyboy, Reading your information was interesting, and thanks for the update on battery life. However you must not have known that I own the safari company in RSA I've lived there much of my life.

Wooops!  Guilty as charged!     Maybe one day...

[josquin]

I've not had good luck with rechargeable's staying fully charged for a week or more...mportant.

Jim,

What about a solar battery charger?  You may have unreliable AC over there but you get a fair bit of sun.
Check out REI or Sundance Solar.

Stuart

[JJHACK]

YEah, great idea! plenty of sunshine, I may be able to have them round up something like that for me on that side, I sure don't want to pack it over there.