Camera for Safari

Nzyme

Nzyme

Nzyme

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Joined
18 Jun 2004
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Darlington//Sheffield
We have booked to go on a safari at the end of May and would obviously like to come back with some nice photos.

I currently have a 12.2 mega-pixel compact Samsung camera picked up less than 12 months ago for under £100.

I was hoping someone could give some advice with regards purchasing something better and more suitable.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography and would prefer to not be lugging around a huge DSLR camera and have a budget of the order of £250.

Any suggestions and advice welcome.

Thanks
 
Not sure how the above really fits his needs at all? ^

You will need something with a decent zoom on it, though I've never been on a proper Safari before, I did go to a Safari park last week. I was shooting with my DSLR at what is effectively 320mm for most of the shots.

You probably aren't going to find anything compact with a decent telephoto zoom, so you would need to be looking at some kind of camera with interchangeable lenses, it doesn't necessarily have to be a DSLR though.
 
While a DSLR and long lens would give you the best results I can understand your constraints concerning budget and size/weight.
Some years ago before I really got into wildlife photography I went to East Africa on a safari and used a Canon S3 IS bridge camera with a telephoto attachment.

Some of the more modern bridge cameras are fitted with superzoom lenses.
Have a look at this:
http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/eq...28893/1/fujifilm-finepix-hs20-exr-review.html
It's (almost) within budget but as always if you can stretch the budget you'll get a better camera.
 
Looks very interesting does anyone have any experiences with the hs20 or bridge cameras generally ? I see a newer model (hs30) is also due out.

Thanks again.
 
My parents have a Panasonic TZ100 which may be within your budget. It has a large zoom and at the time they bought it (year or two ago) was apparently the best super zoom around. In all honesty though it isn't a patch on even a cheap DSLR and zoom lens...
 
Budget is going be the biggest problem here.
If I did not have my DSLR I would get a Sony NEX5N and 55-300 lens.
With the pan cake lens it van be a compact then you have Sony Tele lens for other requirements.
Also there is an adapter to accept older Minolta lens or even canon EF range of lens.
 
The first question is where are you going? The country you go to can have a big affect on the type of camera needed.

If it's South Africa in the private reserves you can get away with a point and shoot with minimal zoon as you can get within a couple of feet of animals, elsewhere it gets harder with a lot of places not allowing vehicles to leave any tracks or roads. Where I go 200mm is quite long enough but have been to places where I wished I had 500mm.
 
From what I have heard from friends, you really need 2 camera bodies or a camera with large zoom. Best is to have 1 camera body with a wide to short tele and a second body with a long telephoto. The animals can vary between next to the land-rover to quite far away, and even if an animal is close, you will often want to isolate just the head & shoulders. Then other times you want to be quite wide to get the whole heard of buffalo/giraffes, lion pride, or a scenic/landscape shot. The sunset setting in africa behind an acacia tree with some elephants is quite a scene.

A lot of the best wildlife viewing is dawn or dusk. My parents just came back form south africa. Up at 4:30am every day, back in the lodge at 10am, relax, lunch, siesta, backout at 6-7pm until nighttime.
The lighting is nicer at these times but there is less of it. The pros use special tripod mounts that clip on to the landrover roll bars etc. For a small camera a bean bag may help a lot.

Given the budget I would look for a bridge camera that had a 35mm zoom equivalent of 28-300mm.
 
z3b3dy said:
The first question is where are you going? The country you go to can have a big affect on the type of camera needed.

If it's South Africa in the private reserves you can get away with a point and shoot with minimal zoon as you can get within a couple of feet of animals, elsewhere it gets harder with a lot of places not allowing vehicles to leave any tracks or roads. Where I go 200mm is quite long enough but have been to places where I wished I had 500mm.
Click to expand...

This is a good point as I just assumed the OP was just going on a normal open savana Safari.
 
yeah a bridge cam would fit the bill here unless you want to spend well over £500+ for a dslr and a big lens.
one with 24x and higher optical zoom
as its going to be nice and sunny low light problems with bridge cameras wont be a factor
 
Where are you going? South Africa safari is scrub and bush, not savanna.


I did well with a compact in SA but other places even 300mm was short.

Take good binos. Not pocket sized ones. Light into the from means everything.
 
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