what kit to take to Africa?

[TheAnimus]

Definitely a time to make sure you've the sensor cleaning turned on, and are happy changing a lens without pointing the body "up".

How much hiking and stuff are you doing? I guess I'm saying are you worried about weight as you shuffle between bus and taxis, or are you going to be carrying everything on your back for hours?

The days that large sensor sizes really matter are long dead, you can tell this because Pentax have just launched a full frame digital camera. Ok that's a bit tongue in cheek but it's probably true for you. If you are renting and doing lots of active things, maybe look at getting an Olympus or similar if you are renting? The 300mm f/4.0 is considerably smaller and lighter than anything in DSLR space.

I really recommend the pacsafe camera strap it will prevent someone snatching the camera.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I get where you're coming from but if I'm hiking 3 days to see gorillas I'm not taking two cameras! I'm looking into whether I can get some ex-army webbing to have the camera kit around my waist and accessible without fouling my day pack. There must be some way of doing this easily.

An EOS-M and the 11-22M weighs about 480 grams. The 10-18mm weighs about 230 grams. Its not that huge.

I mean even the EOS60D and 50-250MM weighs around 1.2KG. Even with a few batteries,the total weight of carrying both cameras is probably under 2KG.

To put in context my Sigma 100-300MM/F4 with 1.4TC alone is around 1.6KG and with my D600 I am looking at 2.5KG alone,plus the weight of a gimbal head,tripod,extra lenses,etc.

The 70-200MMF/2.8 alone is 1.49KG plus the weight of a TC.

Looking at this article even with a full frame body,200MM to 300MM should be enough:

https://photographylife.com/gorilla-photography-tips

I would say ideally take the 10-18MM,17-55MM and 50-250MM.

However,in order to save weight you need to consider whether:
1.)You take the EOS60D or EOS-M,as the EOS-M is much lighter but does have worse AF
2.)You take the 10-18MM(16-28MM) or 17-55MM(27-88MM).
3.)You take the 50-250MM or go for a constant aperture lens which is not only bigger but also much more conspicuous.

If I was in your situation I would probably take the 10-18MM and 50-250MM if weight is a concern. The 17-55MM does give you a 35MM equivalent setting which is a nice focal length,but for landscape 27MM is OKish but the range of the 16-28MM gives you more options.

The 50-250MM will cover everything from the 80MM to roughly 400MM range. Yes,a fixed aperture lens would be better,but they are large and heavy.

I would also invest in some lens pouches for the lens so you can use a standard rucksack and I assume you are using one with a decent arch,etc which will spread the weight well??

The only dedicated case I would take is a holster of some sort - I use an ancient CCS one(and also have a Think Tank one for my tele lens),which is built like a tank and is weather resistant.

If you want something more modern I would look at the ones made by Miggo:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_ud...a+IPX3&_sop=15
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2015/05/29/...ra-bag-review/

[Bobster]

1.)You take the EOS60D or EOS-M,as the EOS-M is much lighter but does have worse AF

start up time of the M takes forever!

The 50-250MM will cover everything from the 80MM to roughly 400MM range. Yes,a fixed aperture lens would be better,but they are large and heavy.

the 400mm 5.6 is very light considering

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

start up time of the M takes forever!

the 400mm 5.6 is very light considering

But he does not want to carry another body due to the extra weight - the 400MM is "only" 1.25KG,but it depends if he thinks he wants to walk around with it.

Edit!!

Having said that,I wonder how one of these might fare:

http://www.photozone.de/reviews/201-...report--review

They can be had for under £300 secondhand.

[mattykhz]

I know this is an old post but I wonder how it went and what would be done differently if doing it again as this kind of knowledge is invaluable.

I took an old Minolta 7xi camera on my first safari to Masai Mara and I still think these were some of my best photos with only a 100-300 lens.

Later safaris I used my Sony a100 and then a700 and a lens that I bought just for the safari and sold after rather than rent.

I guess something with higher speed was required for shooting gorillas due to the lighting?

[ik9000]

Currently on the road with intermittent signal but will respond more fully when I get chance. My recommendation though would be go light and portable as possible so M series eg M5 or M6 which are better than basic M or if wanting better lenses Sony 6500 etc or Micro 4/3 from Olympus/Fuji/Panasonic etc.

I'm currently traveling with M5 and it is excellent but could do with a fast Tele option. My friend had a dilemma a few months back and went and took a full 5Dmkiii yes seriously for a backpacking trip. We warned him it would be too heavy and he both regretted the weight and the constant hassle of not feeling like he could leave it anywhere in case it got nicked when we saw him again. Chump. He did get some epic shots though so it's all about what you want I guess.

Re gorillas on a good sunny day even slower teles are fine. Africa has so much light. If the clouds and rain come in then yes, you are forced to higher iso than I would like, but gorillas are slower than birds etc so you can get down to 1/400 without too much issue.

[ik9000]

ok look this was for a trip i did in 2017 and I replied with updated info when someone restarted the thread in 2020. I think in 2021 we can kill this off now. @mods please close.