Need advice on choosing Camera for African Safari

[Powelly]

Hi all,

I live in East Africa, so get quite a few opportunities to go on African wildlife safaris. The camera I have at the moment doesn’t do any justice for me, it’s just a small beginners one, I’d like to upgrade!


Can anyone recommend any good camera’s which are going at bargain prices at the moment? I want something that will last me a good 3+ years. My rough budget is around £350, but if the right deal is around then I may go over this.


Thanks

 

[puyjapin]

id say personally for safari you will need a long lens for the animals, say 300mm. entry lenses like that start at about £300, and a basic body say another £250. ive got a nikon D40 and a VR 70 - 300mm and id be happy to take that on safari, assuming it was nice and bright weather

 

[gsgary]

Sorry but you need to up your budget by about 5X if you want something that will get good results, or look at secondhand

 

[Robin Usagani]

Rent

 

[puyjapin]

five times, load of rubbish. if your shooting on bright days a VR lens and a basic body will set you back no more than £700 max. in some ways the basic body will be better as you have a 1.5 crop factor and thus ur 300 will be a 450mm. you will get decent results, shoot in raw,and you wont be that far from the animals anyway i doubt

 

[puyjapin]

i took this image of the heron with a d40 and kit lens 18-55mm in jpeg. ok its not a pro type shot and i could get in close as the bird was not scared but if id have had my 300mm lens on this trip i could have got plenty of shots. id imagine the authour of the post is looking for some shots of animals to remember his safari by and not competition winning images. imho
The Big Picture photography competition: round 125 - Telegraph

 

[gsgary]

five times, load of rubbish. if your shooting on bright days a VR lens and a basic body will set you back no more than £700 max. in some ways the basic body will be better as you have a 1.5 crop factor and thus ur 300 will be a 450mm. you will get decent results, shoot in raw,and you wont be that far from the animals anyway i doubt

Not for me it wouldn't £350 wouldn't even get me a lens i would want to own

 

[puyjapin]

yes i know but you are probably after a different level of final images.

 

[Overread]

With a budget of £350 I have a gut feeling the OP is thinking of a bridge camera rather than a DSLR setup

Some clarification from the OP would help in this regard -but in short a bridge camera can certainly fit your needs and that budget (I can't advise as to models because I honestly don't know them) - however a DSLR setup is far more likely to cost you a lot more.

 

[Powelly]

I am not looking for professional images at the moment, just want to step up from my current Samsung PL55, which is a small beginners camera which gave me very blurry photographs when I used the built-in zoom.

Which one would you most recommend out of these, or an alternative?:
Panasonic Lumix FZ45 14.1MP Digital Camera - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
Fujifilm FinePix HS10 Digital Camera - 3 inch Tilting: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
Panasonic Lumix TZ10 Digital Camera - Black 3.0 inch: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
Sony Alpha a290 with 18-55mm Lens - Jessops
Sony Alpha a390 with 18-70mm Lens - Exclusive to Jessops - Jessops
Canon EOS 1000D + 18-55mm Kit - Jessops

Thanks in advance

 

[Overread]

Just to give you a rough ( and I mean very rough) idea - most of the bridge cameras (ie camera bodies in this price range that don't have interchangeable lenses) are going to have a "Zoom" of somewhere around 400-500mm in focal length when you compare it to the DSLR options. This means that the kit lenses that come with the DSLRs will not get anywhere near the same level of "zoom" which you'll find essential for wildlife work (unless your Steven Erwin good at getting close).

A lens capable of that is going to cost you your whole budget (and likely more) yet again just to get a basic option such as a sigma 120-400mm.

 

[Powelly]

Ok, so what would be your recommendation out of the ones I have listed, or a similar one within the £300-£400 price range maximum?

 

[mrpink]

you will get decent results, shoot in raw,and you wont be that far from the animals anyway i doubt

If I went on an African safari and came back with "decent results" I would be sorely disappointed in myself.

X2 on renting gear.




p!nK

 

[Robin Usagani]

Well.. if he does rent nice gear, will he know how to use it?

 

[Powelly]

I live in Africa - I don't want to rent gear everytime I go out on an excursion, besides I doubt there is anywhere to rent from here in Tanzania.