First time Safari

[Neil Williams]

Guys<o:p></o:p>
I am going on my first African Safari in January and I amvery excited about it. I will be going to Tanzania on a 9 day private safaritaking in Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Park(Balloon ride included). I am looking forward to posting up some nice pictureswhen I get back and trying out some new equipment.................. any tips or advice regarding the above would be much appreciated
Thanks for having me onboard the forum.<o:p></o:p>
Neil<o:p></o:p>

[David Stephens]

From your other Posts, I see that you have good equipment, so I'm wondering about what "new equipment" you might be trying out. I'd generally suggest not using new equipment on a nice, once in a lifetime event. Be very familiar with your equipment and be ready when the opportunities present themselves. You might talk with Morkel about which focal lengths to bring. If he's not still here on BPN, he's on Facebook and active there. He's very approachable and eager to please.

Have a great trip!

[Neil Williams]

David
The new that I am talking about is my new Nikon 600mm f4e lens. I managed to play with it for about 3 weeks before I left for work and will also have a few weeks when I get home before I head to Africa. What I am planning on taking is;
Nikon D4s
Nikon D800e
Nikon D810
Nikon 600mm f4e
Nikon 300mm f2.8
Nikon 70/200mm f2.8
Nikon 14/24mm f2.8
Nikon 16mm Fisheye
My initial plan is to couple the 600mm with the D810, the 300mm with the D4s and the 70/200mm with the D800e and only change lenses for the wide angle shots as and when the picture arises when hopefully I will have more time rather than the fast action shots.
What do you think?

[Rachel Hollander]

Neil - Are you bringing any tc's with you? That's the only thing I might add so that you have some coverage at focal lengths between 300mm and 600mm. What are you using for support? Does your safari company provide beanbags? If not, you should bring an empty one to fill there.

As I am sure you know, there can be a lot of dust so make sure you have cleaning supplies and some method to protect against the dust.

Rachel

[Neil Williams]

Neil - Are you bringing any tc's with you? That's the only thing I might add so that you have some coverage at focal lengths between 300mm and 600mm. What are you using for support? Does your safari company provide beanbags? If not, you should bring an empty one to fill there.

As I am sure you know, there can be a lot of dust so make sure you have cleaning supplies and some method to protect against the dust.

Rachel
Hi Rachel
Yes I am taking a 1.7 TC
I also have a manfroto bracket that will allow me to mount my Wimberley head to the horizontal hand rail around the open hatch of the 4x4 for when I want to shoot with either my 600 or 300mm. The safari operator told me not to bother with bringing a bean bag as they will have one in the jeep for me.
I have bought some freezer bags to put the small lenses in and also have a cleaning kit should I need it
Neil

[Steve Kaluski]

Just remember Neil how you get all the kit out there, as many 'carriers' may have weight limits, in addition, if you can get your badges that will go into the hold 'shrink wrapped', then do it.

A laptop with two back-ups for 'mirroring' and recharge when available, generators can fail leaving you without batteries at times and always take a spare in the field full charged.

[Neil Williams]

Just remember Neil how you get all the kit out there, as many 'carriers' may have weight limits, in addition, if you can get your badges that will go into the hold 'shrink wrapped', then do it.

A laptop with two back-ups for 'mirroring' and recharge when available, generators can fail leaving you without batteries at times and always take a spare in the field full charged.
Hi Steve
After having quite a few conversations with some friends of mine over at Talk Photography in the UK the plan is to have easy access to my Safari Jacket when checking in and if at that time I get any grief with weight issues then I will fill the pockets of my jacket and if need be hang the D4s and 70/200mm over my neck...................that's the plan anyway, but hopefully it doesn't come to that :) :)

[Steve Kaluski]

As you say Neil, lets see, but do you really want to wear a 'safari' jacket???? :S3:

Unless you have a Private vehicle, you will be sharing and space will then become a premium, plus vehicles do hit holes, on occasions, plus kit can move too, trust me, no matter how you cradle your babies. Also taking three bodies (with lenses attached in the vehicle) may cause you to make the wrong decision when shooting because of the options, as you possibly will be in a dilemma in which one to use, I think two would be fine, leave the other behind at camp in case of emergencies. Take the two ideal for low light as you never know when you may encounter Wildlife.

Fisheye - just remember some large cats have big teeth :bg3:. Flash perhaps for night time?

Make sure you back up and mirror all images before you reformat the card, but check they open once downloaded and always format in camera.

Lastly, if the **** does hit the fan, make sure you have Worldwide insurance and check the small print, I had a 16-35f/2.8 replaced when Nairobi airport did their second security scan and it fell off the scanning belt, irrespective of shouting and pointing this out, it all happened in slow motion.

[Neil Williams]

Steve I love my Safari Jacket......got myself a hat to go with it too :)157218

As for sharing the Jeep its just me and the driver so no worries about pi***ng anyone off.
I do have worldwide insurance for all my gear and medical as well. I work in Nigeria so have all the inoculations up to date.
Fisheye is packed, and taking a SB910 with better beamer.
I have a MBP plus 2 x 1TB external drives and a bunch of SD XQD CF cards
With regard to 3 bodies...............I will wait and see the layout in the jeep before I make my mind up with that one :)
Thanks for the input..........Really really excited about this trip, I just wish my wife would have joined me, but for whatever reason she has I am going alone :( :(

[Steve Kaluski]

Neil, you will blend in no problem with that set up in 'dress code', but you may find you are more of the attraction for the other jeeps, LOL, good luck.

Seems you are 'all good to go', but if you are shooting RAW then 1TB may not be enough, depending on how long you are out there for. A rough edit will help to reduce the storage requirements.

Sorry, meant to add, lens cloth & spare, Rocket' blower' for any dust, B+W lens cleaning fluid and always hold your camera body face down when changing lens.