artsupreme
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anotherhobby wrote:
Greetings. It took me a month, but I read almost every post of the 50 pages of this thread! This is undoubtedly the most unique and complete photography thread on the internet today for those planning an African safari trip. Thank you to all of the contributors that have made this thread such an incredible source of information.
My wife and I have an upcoming trip to Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda the beginning of September. The trip will include a visit to the Mara Naboisho Conservancy in Kenya, followed by the northern Serengeti, then to Kigali and Musanze in Rwanda for the gorillas.
This will be my second safari, having visited South Africa and Kruger National Park about 8 years ago. On that trip, I was almost all Canon with the Eos 1DX (the original Mark 1) and the 300mm f/2.8L. I loved that combo. As a second body I brought the then-new A7Rii and the original 70-200 gm f/2.8. I learned how to use the gear and it was the best photographic experience of my life.
Fast forward to today. I am now all Sony. For this trip, I will be bringing the A7R5, 300mm 2.8 GM OSS, 1.4x Teleconverter, 70-200 f/2.8 GM ii, and 16-35 f/2.8 GMii. I have the A7Rii as a second body that will make the bag. I also have the 24-70 f/2.8 GM ii but it’s probably not making the bag (because of advice I learned here). I have been practicing birding skills on some recent trips to Costa Rica (of which I previously had none). The advancement of technology in cameras is unbelievable. It’s an entire new photography learning experience.
I figured it was my turn to post and thank everyone for the advice. Things I learned here:
1. I will not take a monopod or tripod – everything will be handheld shooting, and I will save the precious weight.
2. I will share the camera weight with my wife (I already see a bartering for pounds scenario during these packing discussions).
3. A photo vest is an option and it fits a laptop in the back sleeve – to avoid the scales.
4. We upgraded to a private vehicle for the safari rides after reading this thread.
5. We were happy to know we would be in a conservancy that limits vehicles and will allow us to go off-road.
6. I will be taking a smallrig cage with the top handle and also smallrig’s BT trigger attached to the top handle to get low and create separation, assuming our driver lets me hang off the side or if I am lucky remove a door, depending on the vehicle. I am hoping with the private rides this will work out. This was great advice by the way, particularly with the A7R5’s swivel screen.
7. I will not only take closeups, but also integrate landscape with medium distance animals, trees, and sense of atmosphere. This was also great advice.
8. Lots more I can’t list them all!
I had a follow up question about a hot air balloon ride in the Serengeti. Based the last few posts, looks like the 70-200 is the right choice. Is it worth bringing a second body and the 16-35 (or any other lens based on my gear list above)? My wife can carry that combo if only 1 camera is allowed. I assume that means 1 camera per person.
Also, I am curious about shooting video. I recognize the A7R5 is not the Sony video camera of choice, but for me it would be more than capable, and I have been reading up on best settings, s-log, etc. Do any of you also shoot video? Seems easy enough to hit the red button once it's all setup. But what do you do with the resulting video clips? Make a movie of clips? narrate it? vlogging? Just curious as I am not a videographer but can certainly practice before the trip. Just curious what the end product of the video might be to engage viewers.
Thanks again everyone.
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It sounds like you are very well prepared to have the best Safari experience possible. You are really doing it right and it will pay nice dividends. IMO you have the ideal Safari scheduled with the locations, gear choice, private vehicle, and time of the year.
A couple things I would suggest:
1. Bring a 2x along as well. It's fun to play with different focal lengths and you also mentioned birds, so it would be good to have it. It works great on your 300mm.
2. Rent another A7R5 if possible. I'm not sure of the differences in Sony bodies but it will be really nice to have two identical bodies, one mounted to the 300 and the other to the 70-200. You will use these 90% of the time. Keep the third mounted to your 16-35 and you don't have to change lenses other than adding/removing the TC. If needed, the only place you could reduce weight is if Sony had a lighter weight 16-35 f/4.
As for the balloon ride, I had one scheduled but I cancelled it so I can't comment on lenses, but 70-200 with you and 16-35 with your wife sounds perfect. I did have some fun chasing the balloons with my drone though.
As for the gorillas in Rwanda, this can be hit or miss from a photography perspective if you only have 1 day scheduled. So I would expect the worst and hope for the best. It's usually in harsh light, they are covered in debris, there's a lot of flies/nats, etc and sometimes it's hard to get a clear shot of them. This is not to say you can't get lucky and score, as I know some people who did. But the experience is to die for.
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