Alternative long lens strategy

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ricardo00 said:
Seems like you will be leaving soon Rich? We got back a week ago. Went with two cameras, my Z8 with the 800mm and the Z9 with my 400mm f/4.5. Occasionally would put the 70-180mm on one of my cameras. Ended up using the 800mm lens the most. Would have used the 70-180mm lens more if I had brought a 3rd camera and left it on that camera. The Z8 did give me a hot card warning at one point when I had been shooting video of a leopard but the camera never stopped working. The highlights of the trip were seeing a mother cheetah moving her cubs to a new place and watching a serval hunt. Sure you will have a great time Rich!
I have posted some video on Youtube and pics on my Flickr site for those interested:


www.flickr.com

Tanzania:2023

Explore this photo album by ricardo00 on Flickr!
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My plan is to take 180-600 and 800 PF on Z9s. Then either 24-120 on Z 8 (also as backup camera) or possbly 70-200 on Z8 and use my iPhone for shorter images. WIll see what most easily fits in the bag.
 
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ricardo00 said:
Seems like you will be leaving soon Rich? We got back a week ago. Went with two cameras, my Z8 with the 800mm and the Z9 with my 400mm f/4.5. Occasionally would put the 70-180mm on one of my cameras. Ended up using the 800mm lens the most. Would have used the 70-180mm lens more if I had brought a 3rd camera and left it on that camera. The Z8 did give me a hot card warning at one point when I had been shooting video of a leopard but the camera never stopped working. The highlights of the trip were seeing a mother cheetah moving her cubs to a new place and watching a serval hunt. Sure you will have a great time Rich!
I have posted some video on Youtube and pics on my Flickr site for those interested:


www.flickr.com

Tanzania:2023

Explore this photo album by ricardo00 on Flickr!
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
Click to expand...
Great video of the cheetah mom carrying cub

I hope to learn more about video before this trip
 
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I am going to South Africa/Kruger NP in June with Z9, Z6 II, Z 600 f6.3 pf, Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6, Z 24-70 f4. Lightweight and covers a wide range. I switch from FX to DX if more than 600mm is needed.
 
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I was on a photo tour in Botswana, Chobe, Okawango, Kalahari in October and only use the 180-600 mm without TC on my Z9.
For a few shots of the Milky Way I still use the 24-120 mm. The D500 with the 500 PF remained in the camera backpack.
The 180-600 is very flexible and since we were also traveling off-road there was no reason for a longer focal length.
The quality of the 180-600 convinced me once again. So I was able to keep the weight light.
 
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jcgamble said:
I am going to South Africa/Kruger NP in June with Z9, Z6 II, Z 600 f6.3 pf, Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6, Z 24-70 f4. Lightweight and covers a wide range. I switch from FX to DX if more than 600mm is needed.
Click to expand...
Kruger is much more brushy than the Tanzania (crater, sergenti, ...). Though will need to stay on the road in Kruger (unless you visit a private adjacent reserve) the need a longer lens will be minimal.
 
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I've just got back from a week with my son in the Kruger and then Sabi Sands last week. I used my Z9 with 100-400 + 1.4 TC most of the time. He used my 500PF on his D500 much of the time often with a 1.4 TC and at times used his Tamron 100-400 zoom. It was brutally hot - around 42 degrees C every day - the days in an open vehicle in the Sabi Sands were sometimes fairly tough. We often wanted the maximum focal length in the Kruger as wildlife was a fair way off, also very helpful for birds. Heat haze was a real issue for shooting over a distance. Much of the time the ability to crop the Z9 images left us with comparable records of many sightings.
Because it was so hot there was little going on except at the extreme ends of the day, high ISOs were inevitable but Topaz Denoise (me) and LR (him) helped a lot.
Once again I took a lens for night sky photography and a tripod and either got any use - partly because the moon was nearly full but mainly since as we were getting up at 4 am were were asleep very soon after dinner!
 
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pomkiwi said:
I've just got back from a week with my son in the Kruger and then Sabi Sands last week. I used my Z9 with 100-400 + 1.4 TC most of the time. He used my 500PF on his D500 much of the time often with a 1.4 TC and at times used his Tamron 100-400 zoom. It was brutally hot - around 42 degrees C every day - the days in an open vehicle in the Sabi Sands were sometimes fairly tough. We often wanted the maximum focal length in the Kruger as wildlife was a fair way off, also very helpful for birds. Heat haze was a real issue for shooting over a distance. Much of the time the ability to crop the Z9 images left us with comparable records of many sightings.
Because it was so hot there was little going on except at the extreme ends of the day, high ISOs were inevitable but Topaz Denoise (me) and LR (him) helped a lot.
Once again I took a lens for night sky photography and a tripod and either got any use - partly because the moon was nearly full but mainly since as we were getting up at 4 am were were asleep very soon after dinner!
Click to expand...
I don't know enough about Africa weather but in the Serengeti where I was, it was quite cool. Maybe due to the elevation (5,500 feet)? I ended up wearing some of the warmer clothes that I had brought. Heat haze did affect the shooting around noon when we usually stopped. Luckily many of the days were cloudy so heat haze wasn't a problem in the mornings and evenings during most of the game drives.
 
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